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House and Land at 123 Federal Street,
Salem, Mass.
This house was built by Jonathan F Carlton, Salem housewright,
for Robert S Saunders, Salem merchant, in the year 1843.
Th~oughout
most of the 18th century the land of which this lot
is a part was owned by the Ropes family of Salem. Jonathan
Ropes ( 1718-99), eminent merchant and Revolutionary patriot,
ov:ned the land from 1754 until his death in 1799; in the year
1760 the 11 New Street" (Federal Street) was laid out through
Mr Ropes' property. The property descended to Mr Ropes•
grandson, Jonathan Waldo Jr, merchant, who died unmarried
in 1817; his brothers & sisters released their rights to
Iv.Ir Waldo 1 s estate to their step-father, Rev. John Prince Jr
of Salem, who owned it until 6 Dec 1841, when he conveyed a
large piece of the Waldo estate for $6010 to 'rhomas Perkins,
Salem merchant (328:152). Mr Perkins then sold it for $7600
on 15 Nov 1842 to David Pingree, also a Salem merchant (335:246).
On 21 Ap 1843, Mr Pingree, for $1500, granted to Robert S
Saunders, Salem merchant, the lot (fronting 64 1 11 11 ) that
now comprises 123 Federal Street (339:8). That Mr Saunders
intended to build on the lot is reflected in th_e $1,500
mortgage to the property which he gave to Mr Pingree on the
same day, for therein he mortgages not just the lot, but
11
all the buildings which may be put on the -same preVL(j.ls to
the cancelling of this deed 11 (336:213). On 13 June 1843
Mr Pingree assigned this $1.500 mortgage to the same Thoma~.
Perkins from whoin_J:ie hap_-_originally bought the land ( 338 :43);
Mr Perkins discharged the mortgage on 9 Mar 1844 (336:213).
On 1 July 1843, Robert S Saunders and Jonathan F Carlton,
Salem housewright, signed a contract in which Mr Carlton
agreed to do all the carpenter work on the "two story housen
that I"Ir Saunders was 11 about erecting • • • on Federal Street
on land re~ently bought of David Pingree; 11 Mr Carlton also
agreed to provide men to do the work at $1.75 per day, to
provide all materials 11 at fair market prices 11 that Mr Saunders
himself did not provide, and to allow ¥.Ir Saunders' brother,
Philip Saunders, to do "such work as he or they may deem
expedient" ( 338 :43). 'rhe existence of such a contract is
a real rarity; without it, we would never know that Jonathan
F Carlton was the man who actually built the house.
We may surmise that Mr Carlton's men finished the house before
winter, for in the real estate assessments for 1843, Robert S
Saunders was noted as living at 53 Federal Street, ward four.
This notation has been made in pencil, and he was not assessed
a property tax for that year, for by the time the house was
finished the time period for 1843 taxes had expired. The pencilled
�note does indicate, however, that a house was standing the~e
before the end of the year 1843.
On 23 Feb and 8 Mar 1844, Mr Saunders mortgaged his Federal
Street messuage (a messuage is an old term for a house, its
land, and the outbuildings) once to John Russell and thrice
to John H Nichols, both of Salem; these mortgages were discharged
at various times up to ~O Ap 1847 (342:80, 163,179,211). The
terms of these mortgages clearly imply the existence of a house
on the land.
On 13 May 1845 William Whiting, Roxbury lawyer, aa the assignee
of Robert S Saunders, gave to Mr Saunders' wife, Louisa, the
lot of land with the two story dwelling house thereon "being
the same now occupied by said Robert S Saunders" (355:127).
It appears that Mr Saunders knew he was dying, and wanted his
wife to have the estate before his death occurred; he therefore
conveyed it to his lawyer, Mr Whiting, who conveyed it to Mrs
Saunders. There is no Essex County probate record for Robert
S Saunders• He died on 22 July.1846; on 18 Sept 1846,
Louisa Saunders, Salem widow, for $1370 sold the Federal Street .
est&te to Andrew Ward, Salem merchant; the property was still
mortgaged for $2500 to John Russell, trustee (377:94).
Capt Andrew Ward (1793-1860), formerly a sea-captain, and his
wife Abigail Richardson (Abbott) {d.1877) now moved into the
Federal Street house. Capt Ward and his wife lived here for
fourteen years, until his death an 2 Aug 1860. On 21 Mar 1853
old County & Marlborough Streets were incorporated into Federal
Street, and so the house number changed from 51 to 123 Federal
Street. By his will of 3 Ap 1860 Capt Ward left 123 Federal St.
in.trust to his wife and his son-in-law, Rev. George SG Spence,
who had married the Wards' only child, Abby Richardson Ward,
in 1847; on 21 Feb 1861 the house & land were appraised at
$5500 ( #56290) •
Mrs Ward continued to reside at 123 Federal Street until her
death 30 Mar 1877; four years earlier, 23 June 1873, she had
purchased for $7 a triangular piece of land fronting 3 1 on
Federal St f'rom her neighbor to the ·west, Mary Eliza Gould
(974:104 & plan). From 1874 forward, the Salem Directories
show 1'1rs Abby R (Ward) Spence to be the head of' the house;
she seems to have been widowed. Her sons boarded with her at
various times (her eldest son, Andrew Ward Spence, had his
name changed to Andrew Ward in 1 866). In 1887- her three. sons
Bold thei·r ~.rights to the est.ate to· their sister,: Abbie W,. ,
wife of Charle·s F Tay ('1207: 269, 1213.:.37; 39}. - ·_ . ·
In 1900 the trustees of the Winn estate (121 Federal St)
adjusted the boundary of the two estates with Abbie W Tay
(1623:225). In that same year George F Jelly of Boston reconveyed the premises to Mrs Tay (1623:412); she had conveyed
the estate in trust to Mr Jelly in 1889 ( 1243 :509).
�On 18 Sept 1916, Mrs Tay granted the estate to Margaret G,
wife of William F Carney of Salem (2342:442). Less than two
yearn later, Mrs CarneJ" sold the property to Josiah H Gifford
of Salem, on 3 May 1918 (2391 :230). Mr Gifford soon (25 June
1918) sold the premises to May B, wife of Ralph C Browne of
Salem (2392:)79).
Mrs Browne owned the estate until her death on 10 Ap 1952.
By her will of 8 Oct 1921, she left .the property to her
husband, Ralph C Browne (#237424). V.tr Bro~me remarried;
he died 1 Jan 1960 and left the estate to his wif'e F'lorence
by his will o"t 9 Nov 1959 (#263839). Mrs Browne continues
to own and occupy the estate at 123 Federal Street.
L
Robert Booth
8 Feb 1977
Notes
Jonathan F Carlton, the builder of this house, married Mary
Ann Buxton on 9 May 1832. I do not know if they had any children.
Mr Carlton developed much of lower Federal Street, which was
once referred to as Carlton.ville. On 23 Mar 1843--just about
the same time that Robert S Saunders bought this house-lot-Y.tr Carlton was authorized to build a bridge across the North
River (which was then quite wide all the way back to Boston St)
from the foot of Flint-St over to Hasen St. His bridge lasted
until the terrible storm of 18 Ap :851, when it was swept down
the river and came to rest near the North Bridge (now the
North St overpass).
Robert Shillaber Saunders (1805-46) was born in Danvers, the
son of Henry Saunders of Salem and Sarah Shillaber of Danvers.
He married Louisa Courtis of Salem on 27 Jm 1831 and was a
merchant, described as a shoe dealer in the Salem Directories
for 1842 and 1846. I do not know if he had any children. Mr
Saunders died of consumption on 22 July 1846, aged 41 years.
Capt Andrew Ward {1793-1860) was a sea captain who became a
merchant. He married hbigail Richardson Abbott 11 July 1819,
and they had one child, Abby R, who married Rev George SG Spence
of West Wrentham on 6 Ap 1847. Mr Ward was the son o:f Andrew
Ward, a shipwright, and his wife Martha (Babbidge).
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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
Federal 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
123 Federal Street, Salem, MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Jonathan F. Carlton for Robert S. Saunders, 1843
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
1843, 1977
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Donna Vinson
Language
A language of the resource
English
123
123 Federal
Carlton
Federal
Jonathan
Jonathan F. Carlton
Robert S. Saunders