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scy:istoiic
'l!~lJ?orporated
P.O. BOX 865
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 I PHONE (508) 745-0799
34 ENGLISH STREET
Built by
ROBERT HILL, boatbuilder
in 1812
Research:
Donna Vinson
August, 1992
�34 ENGLISH STREET
Built in 1812 by Robert Hill, Boatbuilder
History of the property:
The present-day 34 English Street (formerly 10 English Street and
36 English Street) was built on the seventeenth-century land grant of
Joseph Swasey, seaman.
Swasey conveyed a parcel of his grant to his
daughter Mary and her husband Thomas Mascoll, another mariner, after
their marriage in 1688 <Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 18, leaf
9).
The Mascolls immediately built a large house <pictured on the
inserted map from Sidney Perley's "Salem in 1700. No. 22" Essex
Antiquarian 10 (1906): 21-31) which stood until Hill's predecessor,
Martha Rice, had it torn down in 1798-99.
English Street was laid out at the end of the seventeenth century
by proprietors of adjoining property, including Philip English, who
owned lots on both sides of the new path between Essex and Derby
Streets, and Thomas Mascall.
The way was called English Lane
throughout the eighteenth century, and English Street from 1799.
�The sons and heirs of Thomas and Mary Mascall, John and Joseph,
divided the house between them in 1729 and·moved their families into
easterly and westerly halves <E.C.R.D. Book 52, leaf 87; Book 55, leaf
41).
The westerly half of the house remained in the Mascall family
only until 1734, while the easterly half was retained by John Mascall
for twenty more years.
From the mid-eighteenth century, both sides
were conveyed to a series of mariner grantees <E.C.R.D. Book 68, leaf
114>; Book 101, leaf 90; Book 112, leaf 167; Book 116, leaf 62; Book
150, leaf 167>.
At the end of the century Martha Rice, a widow who
held adjoining property and had served as the administratrix of the
lot's last proprietor, purchased the property and tore down the old
Mascall homestead <E.C.R.D. Book 164, leaf 80).
On her newly-enlarged
lot, Martha Rice constructed a new house for herself in 1800 and
apparently used the Mascall land for a garden.
Martha Rice sold the lot "running westerly by my other land
thirty-three feet or more" to Robert Hill, boatbuilder, on April 15,
1812 <E.C.R.D. Book 195, leaf 256).
in the deed.
There are no buildings mentioned
Robert Hill immediately erected a house for his family,
who occupied the new house for the next thirty years.
Following her
husband's death in 1845, Lucy Hill conveyed the house and lot to Prince
Farmer, a Salem landlord, merchant, shopowner, and purveyor of
"oysters, etc ..• " <E.C.R.D. Book 376, leaf 283; Salem Directory, 1850).
Farmer's residence was on Crombie Street, so he leased the house to a
series of tenants until his death in 1853, after which it came into the
possession of his daughter Sarah and son-in-law William Prescott.
�From the 1850s until the 1920s 34 English Street was seldom
owner-occupied.
William Prescott moved to California shortly after his
father-in-law's death, leaving his wife in Salem.
Sarah Prescott
petitioned the Essex County Probate Court to sell her inheritance in
1859, on the grounds that "her husband has resided for four years last
past in said San Francisco, is engaged in business there and intends to
make his permanent residence in said California .... [andJ said William
has written to your petitioner desiring her to sell her estate
aforesaid and join him in said California" <E.C.R.D. Book 596, leaves
77-78>.
The Court consented to the sale, and Mrs. Prescott conveyed
her property to John H. Nichols of Salem, a member of the large,
famous, and wealthy Nichols family who resided on Chestnut Street
<E.C.R.D. Book 596, leaves 78-78; Salem Directories, 1860-1870>.
During the 1860s 34 English Street was uninhabited; perhaps Mr. Nichols
did not need the rental income.
When he moved to New York City in 1868
he sold many of his Salem properties, including 34 English Street, to
his brother Charles, who also resided on Chestnut Street <E.C.R.D. Book
742, leaf 288).
A year later, Charles Nichols conveyed the property, financing
the sale himself, to John Wright of Salem, a trader, who occupied the
house for the next twenty years, until he was unable to meet the
mortgage payments.
Samuel A. Potter of Salem, the assignee of Nichols'
mortgage, took possession of the property on June 6, 1889 <E.C.R.D.
Book 786, leaves 141-143; E.C.R.D. Book 1250, leaves 514-15; Salem
Directories, 1869-1889).
Several months later, Potter sold a half-
�interest in the house to Calvin Ainsworth of Salem, thus transforming
34 English Street into a two-family house <E.C.R.D. Book 1260, leaves
302-303>.
Neither owner occupied the property; the Potters resided on
Arbella Street and the Ainsworths on Federal Street.
During the 1890s,
both units of the property were leased to a series of leatherworking
tenants <Salem Directories, 1890-1897>.
The heirs of Ainsworth and
Potter sold their interests in the property to Mary E. Dwyer of Salem
in 1897, though 34 English Street continued to function as a two-family
house <E.C.R.D. Book 1514, pages 555-556).
The Dwyer family leased
both units out and resided elsewhere in Salem for most of their term of
possession.
In 1922 Mary Dwyer sold the property to Julian and Josefa
Laskowski of Salem, who promptly took up residence in half of the house
and leased out the other unit <E.C.R.D. Book 2520, page 18).
Mr.
Laskowski was a leatherworker, as were many of his neighbors at that
time.
The Laskowski family owned and occupied <half of) 34 English
Street for the next sixty years.
After the death of Josefa Laskowski
in 1982, her heirs and executors, Jane Latauskas and Stanley Laskowski,
conveyed the property to Sophie B. Myslinski of Salem <E.C.R.D. Book
6944, page 732).
Mrs. Myslinski resided at 34 English Street until her
death, after which the administrators of her estate sold the property
to its current owners, Gary M. Adams and Brian J. Power, Jr ..
Documentation:
�Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 101, leaf 90
Granter:
John Mascall of Salem, Mariner
Grantee:
Samuel Webb of Salem, Mariner
Consideration:
~33.6s.8p.
Conveyance of:
" .•• my late father's dwelling house with a piece
of land thereunto belonging in Salem ••. on English's Lane."
Date recorded:
December 6, 1754
E.C.R.D. Book 116, leaf 62
Granter:
Samuel Webb of Salem, Mariner
Grantee:
William Crispin of Salem, Mariner
Consideration:
~46.13s.4p.
Conveyance of:
"the easterly end" of a dwelling house on English
Street.
Date recorded:
August 6, 1765
E.C.R.D. Book 150, leaves 167-168
Grantor:
William Crispin of Salem, Mariner
Grantee:
David Hilliard of Salem, Ropemaker
Consideration:
~46.13s.4p.
Conveyance of:
"the easterly end of a dwelling house with a
small piece of land thereto belonging .... by the lane called
�English's Lane".
Date recorded:
September 7, 1789
E.C.R.D. Book 164, leaves 80-81
Granter:
John Becket of Salem
Grantee:
Martha Rice of Salem, Widow and Administratrix of the
estate of David Hilliard
Consideration:
$180
Conveyance of:
"the easterly end or half of a dwelling house
with a small piece of land thereto belonging" on English Street.
Date recorded:
June 5, 1798
E.C.R.D. Book 195,leaf 256
Granter:
Martha Rice of Salem, Widow
Grantee:
Robert Hill of Salem, Boatbuilder
Consideration:
$150
Conveyance of:
" .•.. a certain lot of land situate on English
Street in S. Salem".
Date recorded:
April 15, 1812
E.C.R.D. Book 376, leaf 283
�Granter:
Lucy Hill of Salem, Widow
Grantee:
Prince Farmer of Salem, Trader
Consideration:
$575
Conveyance of:
"a certain two-story wooden dwelling house with
the land under and adjoining situate by English Street in
Sa 1 em .... "
Date recorded:
January 15, 1847
E.C.R.D. Book 596, leaf78
Granter:
Sarah E. Prescott of Salem, wife of William H.
Prescott of California
Grantee:
John H. Nichols of Salem
Consideration:
$450
Conveyance of:
a lot of land lying in said Salem on English
Street with the buildings thereon.
Date recorded:
October 19, 1859
E.C.R.D. Book 742, leaf 288
Grantor:
John H. Nichols of New York
Grantee:
Charles L. Nichols of Salem
Consideration:
$300
Conveyance of:
a messuage on English Street in Salem.
Date recorded:
April 9, 1868
�{
E.C.R.D. Book 786, leaf 141
Grantor:
Charles L. Nichols of Salem
Grantee:
John Wright of Salem, Trader
Consideration:
$700
Conveyance of:
an "estate" on English Street.
Date recorded:
November 19, 1869
E.C.R.D. Book 1250, leaves 514-518
Grantor:
John Casey of Salem (agent of transfer>
Grantee:
Samuel A. Potter of Salem
Consideration:
$1300
Conveyance of:
"all that lot of land in Salem, with the
buildings thereon" recently defaulted upon by John Wright.
Date recorded:
June 6, 1889
E.C.R.D. Book 1260, leaves 302-303
Grantor:
Samuel A. Potter of Salem
Grantee:
Calvin C. Ainsworth of Salem
Consideration:
$1 and other valuable considerations
Conveyance of:
"one undivided half of a certain parcel of
�land, with all buildings thereon, with is bounded easterly
by English Street in Salem, sixty-three feet, two inches •.•. ".
Date recorded:
October 5, 1889
E.C.R.D. Book 1514, pages 555-556
Granters:
Martha B. Potter, Singlewoman, of Salem, Annie
M. Ray, Widow, of Everett, and Mary A. Ray, Wife of Jesse R.
Ray, of Boston, "being the heirs-at-law of Samuel A. Potter,
late of Salem, deceased, and Calvin C. Ainsworth of Salem."
Grantee:
Mary E. Dwyer of Salem, Wife of John P. Dwyer
Consideration:
$1 and other valuable considerations
Conveyance of:
34 English Street
Date recorded:
June 10, 1897
E.C.R.D. Book 2520, page 18
Granter:
Grantees:
Mary E. Dwyer, Widow, of Salem
Julian and Josefa Laskowski of Salem
Consideration:
paid ($2300 mortgage obtained>
Conveyance of:
34 English Street
Date recorded:
June 17, 1922
E.C.R.D. Book 6944, page 732
�Grantors:
Jane Latauskas and Stanley Laskowski, executors
of the estate of Josefa Laskowski <by Probate Docket #353649)
Grantee:
Sophie B. Myslinski of Salem
Consideration:
$45,000
Conveyance of:
34 English Street
Date recorded:
June 15, 1982
E.C.R.D. Book 11056, page 333
Grantors:
Genevieve Bencal and Stanley J. Laskowski,
co-administrators of the estate of Sophie B. Myslinski
Grantees:
Gary M. Adams and Brian J. Power, Jr.
Consideration:
paid
Conveyance of:
34 English Street
Date recorded:
December 16, 1991
�: Lambert,;.
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:toll, John .
and Mari.:
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rtain to the." 5
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igail Masuti
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e lot in I 734;.
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in considera·'
Mary Mascolt'
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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
34 English Street, Salem, MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built by Robert Hill, boatbuilder, in 1812. The land originally contained a house built in 1688 by Mary and Thomas Mascoll on land given them by the original poprietor (Mary's father), mariner Joseph Swasey. This house was eventually divided in two and the easterly half was sold in 1798 to widow Martha Rice, who tore it down to build her new dwelling still standing at 30 English Street. Martha Rice sold a section of her land to Robert Hill in 1812, on which he built a house for his family.
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 1812; researched 1992.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Researched by Donna Vinson
Language
A language of the resource
English
1812
34
boatbuilder
English
History
House
Martha Rice
Mascoll
Massachusetts
Robert Hill
Salem
Salem MA
Swasey