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POST OFFICE BOX 865
OFFICE AT OLD TOWN HALL
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 / PHONE (617) 745-0799
30 ENGLISH STREET
Built for
WIDOW MARTHA RICE
CIRCA 1800
Research by,
Joyce King
June 1985
"to preserve Historic Sites, Buildings and objects,
and to work for the education of the community
in the true t>alue of the same."
�30 ENGLISH ST. (formerly #9 English St.)
BOOK 164 PAGE 80
DATE -
June 5, 1798
CONSIDERATION
$180
GRANTOR (seller) -
Martha Rice widow, administratrix of
the estate of David Hilliard
GRANTEE (buyer)
John Becket
DESCRIPTION
East end of a dwelling house with
small piece of land
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being late John Mascoll's
North - Abigail Masury
East - English St.
South - Clifford Crowninshield
West - other part of house
BOOK 164 PAGE 80
DATE -
June 5, 1798
GRANTOR (seller) -
John Becket
GRANTEE (buyer)
Martha Rice, widow
DESCRIPTION
The same premises as described above
The old dwelling house was probably taken down shortly after
1798 as it is not mentioned again after that date.
Martha Rice, the widow of Edward, had her small dwelling house
built on the site sometime after the June 1798 sale. The exact
date can not be determined at this time.
Since she was a poor
widow, her tax must have been abated as her name does not
appear on the tax list.
Rev. William Bentley mentions this house in his diary on
December 24, 1816.
"Martha Rice, pr. sick. Some internal cause of exq. pain.
She is·a daughter of Mr. Hilliard of the Old Rope Walk which
ran between Becket & English streets & he had a house in
English' street upon the site of which this d(aughter) has a
small dwelling H.
She has two children, a son and D. but not
able to afford her any assistance."
Martha Rice, widow died on July 19, 1826.
appendix A)
(see probate
�BOOK 312 PAGE 194-5
DATE -
1832 (recorded in 1839)
GRANTOR (seller) -
The heirs of Martha Rice
GRANTEE (buyer)
William Webb 3rd
DESCRIPTION
All real estate of our grandmother, Martha Rice
North - William Manning's Ct.
East - English St.
South - Widow Hill
West - William Foy
William Webb 3rd died in March 1836. His real estate was
listed as "small dwelling house and land adjoining in English
st. $450".
(probate #29088)
BOOK 312 PAGE 194
DATE -
October 8, 1838 (recorded in 1839)
CONSIDERATION
$25
GRANTOR (seller) -
Thomas Needham administrator of
the estate of William Webb
GRANTEE (buyer)
Harriet Webb
DESCRIPTION
Lot of land and dwelling house
�BOOK 312 PAGE 196
DATE -
February 22, 1839
CONSIDERATION
$1
GRANTOR (seller) -
William and Hannah Foye
GRANTEE (buyer)
Harriet Webb
DESCRIPTION
parcel of land
I
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fo f'e
Harriet Webb died on November 29, 1862. Her real estate was
listed as - "one piece of land and house on English st. $450"
(probate #56469)
BOOK 665 PAGE 138
DATE -
April 14, 1864
CONSIDERATION
$1
GRANTOR (seller) -
Eben W. Kimbal of Boston
executor of the estate of
Harriet Webb
GRANTEE (buyer)
Sarah W. Buxton wife of Charles
DESCRIPTION
All real estate belongin to the
estate - a house and land #9 English
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the homestead of Webb
(Probate of Harriet Webb #56469 - Real estate: 1 piece of land
and house on English st. valued at $450)
�BOOK 1056 PAGE 134
DATE -
April 27, 1881
CONSIDERATION
$600
GRANTOR (seller) -
Sarah w. Buxton of Pelham, Ma
wife of Charles w. Buxton
GRANTEE (buyer)
David Foley
DESCRIPTION
Lot of land and buildings
#30 English St.
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed
to me by Eben w. Kimball exc.
BOOK 1619 PAGE 476
DATE -
September 27, 1900
CONSIDERATION
$1 and other valuable consideration
GRANTOR (seller) -
David Foley
GRANTEE (buyer)
Charles Cousins
DESCRIPTION
Land and building #30 English St.
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed to
me by deed of Charles W. Buxton et ux
BOOK 1619 PAGE 477
DATE -
September 27, 1900
CONSIDERATION
$1 and other valuable consideration
GRANTOR (seller) -
Charles Cousins
GRANTEE (buyer)
Margaret F. Foley
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed to
me by deed of David Foley of an even
date
#30 English st.
�BOOK 1833 PAGE 545
DATE -
July 18, 1906
CONSIDERATION
$1 and other valuable consideration
GRANTOR (seller) -
Margaret Foley
GRANTEE (buyer)
Jacob Rubinovitz
DESCRIPTION
Land and building #30 English st.
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed to
me said Margaret Foley by deed of
Charles Cousins Sept. 27, 1900
BOOK 1835 PAGE 327
DATE -
August 9, 1906
CONSIDERATION
$1 and other valuable consideration
GRANTOR (seller) -
Jacob M. Rubinovitz of Boston
GRANTEE (buyer)
John P. Dwyer and Mary s. Dwyer
DESCRIPTION
Land and building #30 English St.
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Same premises conveyed to me by deed
of Margaret Foley July 1906
(p
I. 3
�BOOK 2675 PAGE 110
DATE -
April 22, 1926
CONSIDERATION
none given
GRANTOR (seller) -
Ellen A. Clark of Peabody
GRANTEE (buyer)
Fremont Czerniawski
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed
to me by Mary E. Dwyer by deed
March 28, 1924
BOOK 2696 PAGE 522
DATE -
September 13, 1926
CONSIDERATION
none given (mortgage $15,000)
GRANTOR (seller) -
Fremont Czerniawski
GRANTEE (buyer)
Fremont and Julia czerniawski
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed tome
by Ellen A. Clark on April 22, 1926
BOOK 6545 PAGE 26
DATE -
December 1, 1978
CONSIDERATION
$18,500 (mortgage $15,000)
GRANTOR (seller) -
Wanda H. Casabona administratrix
of the estate of Julia Czerniawski
GRANTEE (buyer)
Robert c. Bramble trustee
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
\
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed by
deed of Fremont Czerniawski
�BOOK 6607 PAGE 1
DATE -
June 29, 1979
CONSIDERATION
none given
GRANTOR (seller) -
Robert c. Bramble, trustee of
Cook Realty Trust
GRANTEE (buyer)
Robert c. Bramble of Allyn Realty
Trust
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Being the same premises conveyed to
me by deed of Wanda H. Casabona
administratrix of the estate of
Julia czerniawski on Dec. 1, 1978
BOOK 6607 PAGE 2
DATE -
June 29, 1979
CONSIDERATION
$31,000
GRANTOR (seller) -
Robert c. Bramble, trustee
GRANTEE (buyer)
Linda K. Bumagin
DESCRIPTION
Land and buildng
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Same premises conveyed to me by deed
of Robert Bramble trustee of Cook
Realty Trust
BOOK 7562 PAGE 24
DATE -
October 26, 1984
CONSIDERATION
$93,000
GRANTOR (seller) -
Linda K. Bumagin
GRANTEE (buyer)
John P. and Katherine H. Debo
of Arlington, VA
DESCRIPTION
Land and building
PREVIOUS REFERENCE -
Same premises conveyed by deed of
Robert Bramble trustee as recorded
in deed book 6607 page 002
��,
Tm ESSEX AN'llQUARIAN.
lied Becket
Ince been· so
:nue, as it is
r since 1680.
through land
in or before
new highway,
ulton street,
distinguished
on the map
in or before
l "a" show
la new town
tom the Long
70; the new
,7 ; and Derby
in 1770 by
:ailed in 1770
!ft open for a
ened by John
d it out as a
nite street July
t
by Joseph Bla. public way by
: water was in
laid out about
·ere used a few
now a part of
use. The an.ighway against
; and the way
>r in 1770·
:>r was called ye
. harbor, 1664;
:a, 1676; ye sea
" 1682 ; ye harthe salt water,
r41•
, Joseph Swasey,
.ry and Thomas
wn on the map,
of Joseph Swadem, carpenter,
of Salem, sbipds, a house and
. it. lying between
land of Edward Harnett and Ric: Lambert,
April 9, 1655.• This lot included. the
lots of Mary Webb, Sarah Bartoll, John
Becket, Samuel Phippen, John and Mary
Marston, Jacob Fowle, Daniel Webb and
Estate of Job Hilliard, as shown on the
map., The' dwelling house stood on the
Mary Webb lot on the street, where its
site is marked on the map. This land
was a field, called, in 1671, "Job's field."t
In the sketches that follow, after 1700,
titles and deeds referred to pertain to the
houses and land adjoining and not always
to the whole lot, the design being, after
that date, to give the history of the houses
then standing principally.
John Swasey House. Joseph Swasey of.
Salem, seaman, owned this lot and the
lots of Joseph Swasey adjoining, of Abigail
Masury, and of Thomas Mascoll, as early
as 1658. Upon this lot he built a dwelling
house before 1661. He conveyed the
house and lot to his son John Swasey of
Salem, mariner, April 2, 1689.t . John
Swasey died in 17-; and'the house .was
gone before 1763, when his heirs disposed
of the land .
Joseph Swasey Lot. This lot belonged
to Joseph Swasey as early as 1658. He
died in or before 1709, and his administrator, for fifteen pounds, conveyed the
lot to Joshua Tyler of Salem, mariner,
May 10, 1717.§
William and Abigail Masury Loi. This
lot was owned by Joseph Swasey as early as
1658, and he conveyed it, in consideration
of love, to his daughter Abigail Masury
and ht'r husband William Masurv and to
the heirs of the body of Abigail April 21,
1688.U Mr. Masury died before 1717,
and she continued to own the lot in 1734.
Thomas and Mary Mastoll House. This
lot was owned by Joseph Swasey as early
as l 65 8, and he conveyed it, in considera·
tion of love, to his daughter Mary Mascoll
and her husband Thomas Mascoll of Salem,
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•Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1, leaf 26.
tEssex Registry of Deeds, book 3, leaf n4.
:!:Essex Registry of·Deeds, book 24, leaf 244.
§Essex Registry of Deeds, book 32, leaf 137•
llEssex Registry of Deeds, book 16, leaf 7.
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mariner, April 20, l 688. • Mr. Mascoll
built a house on the lot, and they resided
there until their deaths, which occured
before March 101 1721-2, when adminis·
tration was granted upon his estate. Their
house and land were appraised at one hundred pounds. The sons, John and Joseph
Mascoll, both of Salem, the first being a
mariner, and the second a shipwright, divided the house and lot between them by
deeds, Sept. 16, 1729,t though an agreement to the same effect bad been made
Sept. 8, 1725.t John· had the easterly
end of the house, and Joseph the westerly
end.
John Mascoll, for thirty-three pounds,
six shillings and eight pence, conveyed
his part of the house and land to Samuel
Webb of Salem, mariner, Dec. 6, 1754.§
Mr. Webb, for forty-six pounds, thirteen
shillings and four pence, conveyed his
part of the house and lot to William Crispin of Salem, mariner, Jan. 29, 1765.ll
Mr. Crispin, for a similar consideration,
conveyed the same estate to David Hilliard of Salem, rope maker, Aug. 6, 1765.~
Mr. Hilliard died possessed of the lot and
the east end of the house and the barn
before July l 1, 1792, when administration
was granted upon his estate. The half of
the house and land that belonged to it
were then appraised at twenty-one pounds,
three shillings and four pence. His administratrix, for one hundred and eighty
dollars, conveyed the same estate to John
Becket of Salem, gentleman, June 5,
1798 ;••and on the same day and for a
similar consideration he conveyed it to
widow Martha Rice of Salem (the administratrix of the estate of Mr. Hilliard).••
The westerly half of the house and the
remainder of the lot were conveyed by
Joseph Mascoll, for one hundred and forty-three pounds, to Zachariah Curtis of
•Essex Registry of Deeds, book 18, leaf 9.
tEsaex Registry of Deeds, John to Joseph, book
55, leaf 41, and Joseph to John, book 52 1 leaf 87.
tEsaex Registry of Deeds, book 4 7, leaf 120.
IEssex Registry of Deeds, book 101, leaf 90.
llE&aex Registry of Deeds, book 1161 leaf 62.
'![Essex ReP.try of Deeds, book 150, leaf 167.
••Essex Reg\stiy of Deeds, book 164 1 leaf So.
Salem, cordwainer, Feb. 11, 1734.• Mr.
Curtis died possessed of the Jot and westerly end of the house before Sept. 24,
1763, when, for thirteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence, his daughter Abi·
gail Curtis of Salem, spinster, conveyed
two-fifths of the same to Clifford Crownin·
shield of Salem, ropemaker, t Ebenezer
Curtis of Salem, hatter, son of the deceased, for twenty-six pounds, thirteen
shillings and four pence, conveyed threefifths of the same to Mr. Crowninshield
March 30, 1767.t Their widowed mother,
Abigail Curtis of Salem, joined in each of
these deeds.
The house was probably taken down
soon after 1798.
Philip English Houses. This lot and
the John Carter lot constituted the homestead of William Goose, who was admitted to the church here in 1637, and who
died" many years" before 1664, probably
in or before 1656. In 1664, his widow
was distracted and unable to provide for
herself. The town of Salem having been
at great expense for her for eight years,
complained to the court, which appointed
the selectmen administrators of Mr.
Goose's estate June 28, 1664. This house
(which had been built prior to 1661) and
the land were then appraised at fifty
pounds. The Goose house was the one
located midway of the lot on what is now
English street. The administrators of Mr.
Goose's estate conveyed the house and
eastern half of the entire lot of Mr. Goose
to John Clifford of Salem, rope-maker, Feb.
28, 1664-5 ;§ and the western half of the
lot to John Goose of Salem, mariner, on
the same day.II Mr. Goose conveyed bis
half of the lot to Mr. Clifford July 23,
1666.11 Mr. Clifford, who had removed
to Lynn, conveyed the Goose house and
lot to Jacob Allen of Salem, mariner,
Sept. 30, 1693 ;~ and Mr. Allen conveyed
the same estate to Philip English of
•Essex Registry of Deeds, book 68, leaf 114.
tEssex Registry of Deeds, book 112, leaf 167.
tEssex Registry of Deeds, book 117, leaf 210.
§Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2, leaf 123.
n
Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2, leaf 126.
'![Essex Registry of Deeds, book 11, leaf 12.
Salem.
belong
conveJ
died.
has fo1
of Sal•
They
gone,
mar in
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dashe
which
conve
conv~
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1674
the l<
the h
coop
sixty
to ]
1691
and
veye
Sale1
fa th•
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Phil
to
mar
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par I
He
abo
wer
tatc
tbe
inc
Sal
Mr
shi
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YANKEE RELATIONS
IV
for the youngest daughter Sarah and Charlie Buxton. For Dominick,
however, the path of courtship was not so easy. Except for brief intervals, he was away at sea, but the most formidable obstacle to
his intentions must have been Mrs. Webb. She was firm in her opposition to any match between her daughter and the young Italian
she had taken to board in her house. Dominick was a foreigner and
' a "papist" which made him in her Yankee eyes less than desirable as
a son-in-law.
On June 27, 1853 Dominick, by now a first mate, returned from
his first voyage on the Sea Mew, and events moved swiftly, Mrs.
Webb's objections to the contrary. Scarcely two weeks passed before
this notice appeared in the July 12 edition of the Salem Gazette:
-yankee Relations
AND NOW WE MUST TURN from the sea to the land, and go back a
few years in time. The town directory of Salem for i8:;3 contained
two entries pertinent to our story:
Webb, Mrs. Harriet, house 9 English St.
Marsins, Dominick L., mariner, boards 9 English St.
During the period of his voyages on the Messenger and the Sea
Mew, Dominick had forsaken the Seamen's Boarding House of
Ebenezer Griffin for the pleasanter surroundings of a private home.
It was the prelude to another important change in his life. His
landlady, who was the widow of a sea captain, William Webb 3d,
had been forced since her husband's death to take boarders at the
tidy gambrel-roofed house on English Street. In addition to her
husband, Mrs. Webb had already buried three children, but the
household still included two healthy and pretty daughters, Sarah
and Martha, and a son, William 4th.
It will be recalled that Dominick Marsins already knew Martha
Webb before he moved to English Street, and it was partly for her
sake that he had anglicized his name in 1851. Their courtship must
have been a long one, even by Victorian standards. (One of Martha's
descendants remembers her grandmother's saying that she told
Domenico Lagomarsino she would never -marry a man with a
foreign name.)
Another boarder at Mrs. Webb's was Charlie Buxton. A good
deal of pleasant courting must have gone on between the two young
men and the pretty Webb sisters; many strolls beneath the elm
trees of Salem's streets and Common. Wedding bells soon rang out
Adopted Son of Salem
On Sunday evening (July rn) by Rev. Mr. Carlton,
Mr. Dominick Marsinis (sic) to Miss Martha Webb.
MARRIAGES,
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The bride, born in Salem April 4, 1831, was twenty-two. The
groom wa~ twenty-six. Mrs. Webb's feelings may have been soothed
somewhat ;ince the Reverend Mr. Michael Carlton, who performed
the marriage ceremony, was no priest but the minister of the Seaman's Bethel. Perhaps Dominick was no longer a Catholic.
The young people had over two months together before Dominick
<··' embarked again on the Sea Mew at the end of September. Very
shortly, or perhaps, since the bride's mother felt as she did, immediately after their marriage, the young Marsins moved to lodgings of their own. Dominick was not the person to live in the
house with a mother-in-law, even a congenial one, and Martha had
- a mind of her own, too!
On December 9, 1855, while he was absent on the Sea Mew to
Africa, their first child, Harriet Evelyn, was born. Had Mrs. Webb
been won over by her Italian son-in-law? Or was the baby's name,
for her, the grateful and loving extension of an olive branch to a
inother who surely "rallied around" when her young daughter was
undergoing her first childbirth alone, with her husband far away?
· Husband and father, Dominick Marsins was now very definitely
no longer alone, for he was also son-in-law to two prolific Massachusetts families. From the time that he married Martha Webb,
30
- By Buck- (Salem Public Library)
-- 31
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�---ADOPTED SON OF SALEM
YANKEE RELATIONS
the story of the Webb family of Salem and the Browns of Ipswich
became entwined with his: Mrs. William Webb 3d had been Harriet
Evelyn Brown of Ipswich.
The Browns had lived in Essex County since 1635 when John
of that name arriVed from England to become "the earliest settler
in the Candlewood region of Ipswich to clear the forest and build
his house." This first Brown house was "a dwelling containing
only two rooms and the chamber above." Later, John built a larger,
more commodious home which remained in the family through
1909, when Alvin Story Brown was the last of the name to live
there. It is still standing, a fine looking red farmhouse, with numerous stout barns and outbuildings.
There were four generations of Browns between our Harriet and
the first John, all metie'Ulously accounted for in the Ipswich historical records, as his numerous descendants married Ipswich girls
and populated the countryside indiscriminately with Browns and
Brownes, as the fancy took the individual speller. (Those who today
add that final e and feel superior to plain Browns, have only to look
into the e~ily records to be taken down a peg.) They were hardy
farmers and weavers and mariners, for since Ipswich was long a
port, many of the Brown men went to sea.
One of these was Stephen Brown 3d, father of Dominick's sometime landlady and mother-in-law. Ipswich produced a number of
eiptain Stephen Browns (th~e were four between 1810 and 1825
alone), but Ipswich port records, like Boston's, have disappeared,
so no positive identification of Harriet's father's commands can be
made. Although Captain Stephen 3d roamed the seas in unidentified vessels, we can pin-point his activities on shore, for he married
a townswoman, Elizabeth Potter, bought his wife's family homestead on the Old Bay Road for his own, and there sired twelve small
Browns. That many children must have kept their hands very
close to their sides, for the old Potter· homestead is described in
Ipswich records as "a small house." It stood until around 196o, when
"progress", i.e. widening the highway that was once the Old Bay
Road, necessitated the destruction of the last of the historic old
houses on that side.
On May 27, 1798, at the Old South Church in Ipswich, baby
Harriet was baptized and duly started on the right path. And she
must have continued on it, minding her manners and being kind to
old people, for in 1822, when she was twenty-four, she was named
beneficiary in the will of David Brown, her father's first cousin,
who died childless at the age of eighty-seven, leaving most of his
estate to the town, but to Harriet "the rooms in the dwelling which
were bequeathed to him by his father." (This plan of leaving different rooms in a house to different people was an established
custom; William Webb's grandmother had been left "the East
end of her father's house" on English Street in Salem. A foreshadowing of condominiums!)
32
33
Harriet's rooms could not, however, keep her in Ipswich. Two
years later she forsook her birthplace, and skipped off with a
young Salem sailor at least two years her junior. On March 25,
1824, Mr. William Williams, pastor of the Presbyterian Society in
Salem, united in marriage Harriet Brown, who gave her age as
twenty-five, to Mr. William Webb 3d, age twenty- three. The young
couple went to live on Daniel Street in that busy little seaport.
'While Salem was then a picturesque elm-embowered town, it was
also a world port of importance, whose bustling waterfront is unrecognizable in its present deserted condition. There were foreign
ports in those years in which the natives had only believed the map
of Ame:-ica to consist of. a vast commercial metropolis called Salem.
Bearded sailors from distant lands moved about noisy Derby Wharf,
hung around the handsome customhouse. This customhouse still
stands proudly there, a museum now. It is the same building where
for a space Nathaniel Hawthorne, as inspector for the port, chewed
his pen and was miserable.
In this busy seafaring town, the name Webb was an old one. A
·common ending to any news item about a couple of another name
was "she a Webb." William Webbs had grown on every bush from
the town's early days, when on July 22, 1675, "att a towne meeting
. William Web Is Admitted an Inhabitant Into ye towne." There
was a William Webb, contemporary with ours, and also a sea captain, who was so determined to hand on the whole name that he
named three poor little babies in succession "William" until at last
one of them lived, to grow up and name a son of his "William!"
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�34
YANKEE RELATIONS
ADOPTED SON OF SALEM
There was even another contemporary captain William Webb, who
had daughters Elizabeth, Harriet, and Martha, as did ours. They
seem to have rung the changes on the same old names, over and
over, and very few people were given middle names, which would
have aided a researcher in positive identification.
But a number of facts have been clearly established. The William
Webb 3d who was to be Dominick Marsins's father-in-law, was
born in 1"801, the son of William Webb, Jr., ropemaker. The family
was living on Bridge Street when consumption carried off the
father, William Jr., at the age of fifty. Since Mrs. Webb had also
died within the past two years, probably of the same disease for
it was the great killer of that time, William 3d at seventeen faced
life as an orphan. He took the path followed by so many young
men of those days in like circumstances: he went to sea.
Eight years and many unknown voyages later, on his maternal
grandmother's death, he was named one of the seven grandchildren
who were her heirs; the intermediate generation had been completely wiped out. This grandmother had been born Martha Hilliard, daughter of Mary and David Hilliard, owners of one of
Salem's very early historic houses (called "the Thomas and Mary
Mascall h0use") at 9 English Street. Martha had inherited "the lot,
barn, and East end of the house" from her father. She bought the
West end also, tore the whole thing down, and built the two-story
gambrel-roofed house that stands there now. (Although interesting
from an historic viewpoint, it was probably by that time decrepit
enough for such a fate.) This new house was the part of the inheritance that fell to William Webb 3d. Martha, Dominick Marsins's future wife, was just a year old in 189 when her father moved
his family into their new home on English Street.
William 3d had been a master mariner, but as the marine news
gives in sailing notices only the family name of the master - very,
very rarely a Christian name, since every third Salem captain at
this time was a Webb, and every third Captain Webb was a William,
it seems an impossibility to identify the vessel· or vessels he commanded. There could not have been many of them for this young
master mariner: at thirty-five he was dead. Here is a notice in the
Sal.em Gazette. April 1, 1836:
35
DEATHS. On Wednesday, March 30, Captain William Webb, 3d, age
35. Funeral this afternoon. at 3 o'clock, from house No. 9 English Street.
Friends and relatives are invited to attend.
The week after William's death, on April 7, 1836, the following
paragraph appeared in the Salem Gazette:
~;./
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Notice is hereby given that the subscriber has been duly appointed
administrator of the estate of William Webb 3d, late of Salem, in the
county of Essex, cordwainer, deceased, and has taken upon himself that
trust by giving bonds as the law directs. All persons having demands
upon the estate of said deceased, are requested to exhibit the same; and
all persons indebted to said estate are called upon to make payment to
Thos. Needham, admr.
Our sea captain, entitled such in his death notice on April first,
on April seventh is called in a legal document "cordwainer"! In
other words, a shoemaker! What happened to turn this young man,
only thirty-five when he died, from the active, blustery life of a
ship master whose word was law, to a shoemaker, crouching over
his work in a shop on some Salem side street? Had the exposure
tc· which a mariner is subjected undermined his health, and brought
on the common scourge of consumption, of which his daughters
and son were to die in the same house within a few years? Perhaps,
incapacitated for his more robust calling, the now frail father had
. worked doggedly at· a quiet trade up until the last to provide for
his family.
When Captain William Webb 3d died in 1836 at the age of
thirty-five, he left besides his wife Harriet, four little daughters:
Elizabeth, twelve; Harriet Evelyn, ten; Mary, seven; Martha, five,
and a son William, three. Mrs. Webb was also six months pregnant
with Sarah.
In October, 1838, all the legal red tape connected with William's
death seems to have been concluded, and Thomas Needham, ad. m.inistrator of the estate, made over the deeds for "a small dwelling
. house, etc., in English Street" to Mrs. Harriet Webb.
English Street, formerly called English's Lane, is one of the short,
narrow little streets that lead from Essex, Salem's most important
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ADOPTED SON OF SALEM
thoroughfare, down to Derby Street and the waterfront. It was
lined with the houses of mariners; not the imposing brick homes of
wealthy merchants and captains such as are on the Chestnut street
end of town; but modest, charming little two-and-a-half story,
gambrel-roofed or salt-box frame houses of early New England
architecture,. presenting a gable end to the street, and facing their
bit of a flower garden. The House of the Seven Gables was a near
neighbor, only three blocks away on such another little side street.
Even when the Webbs lived in Salem, the Seven Gables was an old
house, for John Turner built it in 1668. Hawthorne's novel about
it was to be published in 1851, two years before Dominick Marsins
came to board around the corner on English Street. The Webbs
must have read a novel about a house in their neighborhood with
a good deal of excitement.
Some time between 1869 and 1872 the house numbers were
changed. Number 9 English Street became number 30, which it is
today. Harriet Brown Webb was not a Bitter, such as her daughter
Martha Marsins proved to be, but a steady occupant of number 9
English Str<"ct until her death. (Of course, she owned the house;
Dominick and Martha were always renters.) Here, with her children
dying around her, Harriet, now head of the family, battled bravely
on to care for the ones that were left. She faced no small task in supporting herself and six children. The Salem directories of 1846 and
1850 give a clue as to how the little family managed to get along:
"Webb, Mrs. Harriet, nurse_. 9 English Street." In those years, there
were no regulations about training and licensing of nurses; any
neighbor woman with two willing hands and feet could offer herself in that capacity. Mrs. Webb also took boarders, one of whom
was Dominick Marsins.
Consumptive William Webb had left a legacy of death to his
young family on English Street. In 1841, Elizabeth Webb at seventeen, Harriet at twenty in 1847, and Mary at twenty-three in 1852,
all died of consumption. Mary, married fo Stephen Curtis, left a
little son, Stephen Jr., not quite three years old. In 1853, three months
after Dominick came there to live, there was a fifth death: the only
Webb boy, William IV, twenty and unmarried, whose room and
double bed Dominick without doubt shared, coughed his young
YANKEE RELATIONS
37
life away. He had taken up his father's tools as a cordwainer, and
the leather dust had helped him leave this world.
Ground 3, where the Webb interments had taken place, is located in Salem's Greenlawn Cemetery. The graves are placed as
closely together as those in military cemeteries. They are on a lovely
green slope, with no headstones, but at the foot each grave has a
small circle of white stone with its identifying number.
It was a deeply tainted house to which the new boarder came, but
its inmates were unconscious of the fact. It was not until the
twentieth century that the medical world began to understand the
nature of the spread of consumption, and how to arrest it. So many
homes were deathtraps, and once started it often ran through an
entire family. An article in the Salem Gazette of December 15, 1846,
ends with these words: "There is perhaps no disease with which
our country is affected, which sweeps off annually so many victims,
as that fell destroyer of the human race, consumption."
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right) with her eldest daughter Harriet Evelyn, c. 1860
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Master of the Barque f ohn Gtlpi-z, c. 1860
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The small, gambrel-roofed house at 9 English Street, Salem (now number
30), where Dominick Marsins came to board with Mrs. William Webb
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�Martha Webb Marsins (above) with two of her daughters, Harriet
Evelyn and Carrie Frances, c. 1865. Below, Cecilia Marsins, c. 1884,
youngest of the three daughters, who became Mrs. Sydney Calvin Buck
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ADOPTED SON OF SALEM
INTERLUDE
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The only definite item that we know of the Marsins family history
during the year 1862 was the death of Mrs. Marsins's mother,
Harriet Brown Webb. In the Salem town clerk's records is the
entry:
born, and was probably not on hand for this arrival either, for at
some time during the year 1864, from the island of Sao Tome,
Portuguese possession off the southwest coast of A&ica, he applied
for a United States passport. As a private citizen living in Africa
he would need this; formerly, as master of an American trading
vessel, a passport seems not to have been necessary.
Either in 1862 or very early in 1863 Mrs. Marsins and the two
children had moved to Swampscott. The Swampscott directories
from 186s, through 1873 all give "Dominic Marsins, shipmaster"
as residing on Burrill Street in that town. Eight years in the same
house: a record for the peripatetic Mrs. Marsins! The Burrill Street
house backed up to the B. and M. Railroad tracks; the little family
left at home were not having an easy time financially.
Mrs. Marsins and the girls were there on Burrill Street, but the
captain was in more exotic surroundings.
'Widow of William Webb. Died Dec. 8, 1862, age 64Yz, erysipelas.
Harriet, born Ipswich, dau. of Stephen Brown. Interred: ground 3,
range 7, grave 28.
·
She was the seventh member of that family of nine to be buried
in Greenlawn Cemetery. The Salem Gazette of December 9, 1862,
carried this notice:
DEAniS. On the 8th, Mrs. Harriet, widow of the late Capt. William
Webb. Sixty-four years, 5 months. Funeral Wed. aft. at 2 o'clock at No.
9 English St., Relatives and friends are invited to attend.
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Mri:. Webb seems never to have forgiven her daughter Martha
for marrying against her wishes. In her will, she left everything to
her only other living child, Sarah, who with her husband was then
making her home with her mother, and specifically stated that
"nothing is to be given to my daughter Martha W. Marsins nor to
my grandson Stephen Curtis, jr.," the son of her dead daughter
Mary. It was definitdy ill-will on Mrs. Webb's part, for a legacy, no
matter bow small, ~ould have been welcome to Martha at any
time. And young Stephen, left motherless at three, could have used
a legacy from his grandmother too. Fortune must not have smiled
too broadly on him, for his page in Salem annals is almost blank.
After his exclusion from his grandmother's will, there is no further
mention of him except once in 1~ when at the age of twenty he
appears on a crew list of the barque Sachem for Zanzibar as a
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seamari.
During December 1863 Dominick was at home; nine months
later, on September 21, 1864, Cecilia Margherita, the Marsins's third
daughter, was born. She was given the entire name of the captain's
long-dead Italian mother. Was he in America when the baby came?
He was in Africa or on the way there when both of the others were
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
English Street
Historic Salem, Inc. House History
A resource made available by Historic Salem, Inc. detailing the history of Salem's houses.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
30 English Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built for widow Martha Rice c. 1800. In 1798 Martha Rice, "administratrix of the estate of David Hilliard," sold to John Becket and then re-purchased the "east end of dwelling house and small plot of land" on this site. According to Dr. Bentley's diary, the land had belonged to her father, David Hilliard, and she had a small house built on it.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc.; Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Built c. 1800; researched 1985.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Researched by Joyce King.
Language
A language of the resource
English
1800
30
English
Federal
History
House
Martha
Massachusetts
Rice
Salem
wood
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/28828/archive/files/95799871061a24bbde730e17ca8d2595.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=OxfO8jLBD0hMOwHDJCYePF%7EXosvDJgs7QQ1SbQ3pgofP5R%7EnHaDry11XNd-o9w%7ErIN0QkF6gvjW6DpsiNcDUiwLPFAkOnGtVN1C4PWTfls7K-cAfdAsjJEG2h-cUHakbCEQUyYH0vhPEACPxGTBEMb0yD30ejjkmrMTPS%7El8v%7EFJPmIcSO-8Bsyx6UWq2%7EFT2rzUNwFindGMolHCWzqclKouuQcfypRxMhyYBuBH%7ENGqjbP7r7JHmvtMpMImyYNhQscUn6dOIiD0s6xTsbg4uXSLcSZx6h%7Ebdmm5El3HRuqmf6IJmMUMkodz0wOqazgtJf5Sm%7EXyAMdlDJA-aV0kBA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
eda4926735a26d1c75ef8cf63da57454
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Forest Avenue
Historic Salem, Inc. House History
A resource made available by Historic Salem, Inc. detailing the history of Salem's houses.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
6 Forest Avenue, Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built for Martha O. Howes, secretary, and Martha L. Roberts, lawyer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1905, 2004
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robert Booth
Language
A language of the resource
English
6
Almy
Avenue
Forest
Howes
Martha
Massachusetts
Roberts
Salem
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/28828/archive/files/de83f3b353ba47c0e55b80411007d377.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=SU2DCZ3P%7EUjUhJXU69lknQP74KInTn-vj4gTtcfrJnBhTfk8UK%7Egf4YZ4U1xpnrYDH65WkPiLIjkdYCu533ym8FZs8bZT79D1Z5FtIx7Zk%7EEQnubOhr5deUBjvFddN8W1IeHql-NPrCjOgFfvaaeyp%7EqDSvB7MkchnG1ARGyc2-Dc09eUPqSA37bqJ%7Euw7eI8pFgISExdeJkFlxQls4TA9v%7EjHjtZNtHlIWMTGjV7gjB%7EwM3jqJY1pMaQKEeo3rtxwgxSMHjsnPLvYLA2uLMFomG25eS4LIyjtmj5OhF35bOKcIDjuR9AQFx2xLV2bwhafVqn3dre8oAFkPtW88ARQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
570fd2d220ef8628883599abf46ef9a1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chestnut Street
Historic Salem, Inc. House History
A resource made available by Historic Salem, Inc. detailing the history of Salem's houses.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
46 Chestnut Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
46 Chestnut Street, Salem
Built for Mrs. Martha Luscomb Webb, 1870
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
House built 1870
Research completed by Robert Booth, December 4, 2000.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Research completed by Robert Booth,
December 4, 2000.
Language
A language of the resource
English
1870
46
46 Chestnut
Chestnut
Luscomb
Martha
Martha Luscomb Webb
Second Empire
Webb
wood
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/28828/archive/files/f0b8b75ffc0ba93dc4c6ddc228a7bb8e.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=Ib-AHuYD6OTA2pj7COvVAZrbe31PWivJ60HREsvwP0MuflFnTM70zti3yvYSC495BFcmH-UMtk9DLIMprAuHPx2Gtz4QtvJ5TECGTvbx7zbBxpZTaGIo3X9SIDVKKs2iD501JZ9uEM07DNzupMWevnYs0jsBoLYwi5H9KhQ8ID%7EHuLkq%7EtlR318GW1peqxneoKF73Oq8uJ0ewkVjBil2HN-KGjNUG6aePioDk9CgcRBM-9aNAvB%7EOw0dIfFZtihDiW57spE2GraNaxyCKmc99URaV%7EhZO2%7EN8TNq-8BNLuIvGKGXSNvvCbB3ikTEqFlS6rpWP6mtdR8N4XUazks1pw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
b052470951bbb5cdde244361f274dd34
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arbella Street
Historic Salem, Inc. House History
A resource made available by Historic Salem, Inc. detailing the history of Salem's houses.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
26 Arbella Street, Salem, Massachusetts 1970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built for Martha P. and Abraham Edwards, cloth folder by 1871
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
by 1871, 1980
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Joyce King
Language
A language of the resource
English
1871
1980
26
26 Arbella
Abraham
Abraham Edwards
Arbella
Edwards
Empire
Martha
Martha P. Edwards
Second
wood