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135 Federal Street
The Captain Benjamin Carpenter House
built in 1802
Historic Salem, Inc.
January 2000
Research by
Donna Vinson
�135 Federal Street
The Captain Benjamin Carpenter House
built in 1802
History of the property:
The house which now bears the address 135 Federal Street was erected
by Captain Benjamin Carpenter, Revolutionary War veteran, Salem sea
captain and merchant, and namesake of the present,day Carpenter Street,
shortly after he purchased a lot bounded by the relatively "new" Federal
Street in late 1801. 1 Captain Carpenter apparently commissioned Salem's
renown architect and woodcarver Samuel Mcintire to design the house, as
an extant plan of the first floor exhibits the legend: "Sketch of ye plan of
Capt. Carpenter's House." 2 Fiske Kimball confirms this commission in his
authoritative survey of Mclntire's work and comments further that as the
house was "much modified" in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
"little survives" of Mclntire's work. 3 The Captain Benjamin Carpenter
house has a connection to another illustrious Salem family: in the later part
of the nineteenth century it was part of an expansive "Bertram Estate",
which included the present,day Salem Public Library and Assembly House,
owned by the Bertram family.
Before he built his new Federal Street house, Captain Carpenter lived
1
Essex County (South) Registry of Deeds (hereafter ECRD), Book 170, leaf 145
(recorded March 11, 1802).
2
3
1940.
Mcintire MSS., Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.
Fiske Kimball, Mr. Samuel Mcintire, Carver. The Architect of Salem (Portland, ME),
�on Essex Street and owned several parcels of property in the adjacent area.
He purchased part of the future "Bertram Estate" lot from Daniel Mackey in
1796, and conveyed the same to the Widow Fisk in 1800. 4 This parcel was
part of a much larger lot that belonged to the Ruck family for much of the
eighteenth century and the Spooner family in the seventeenth century.
Captain Carpenter's fortunes appear to have fluctuated both dramatically
and routinely if his many property transactions are any indication; a year
after he sold his large Essex Street/Federal Street lot he bought back the
northern, or Federal Street parcel and began construction on his new house.
Carpenter lived in his "homestead" for only eight years, perhaps
another indication of plummeting fortunes. In 1809 he conveyed his Federal
Street property, "with the dwelling house and all other buildings thereon
standing" to Richard Wheatland, another Salem merchant. 5 Wheatland
owned and occupied the property for nearly two decades, until his debts, and
the Court of Common Pleas in Newburyport, forced him to auction off the
property in 1828. 6 The buyer was Michael Shepard, another Salem
merchant who maintained offices on Central Wharf. Shepard's income was
apparently more stable than that of his predecessors at 135 Federal Street (or
61 Federal Street, the property's address until 1860), as his family owned and
occupied the estate for over fifty years, during which both the house and the
land were extended substantially.
Neither tax or property records indicate precisely when 135 Federal
Street was enlarged and its exterior remodeled with Italian Revival elements,
but it was certainly after 1847 and probably around 1860. Shepard began
expanding his property soon after the acquisition of his new house with the
purchase of adjacent land from the Buffington Estate, which extended from
Essex to Federal Streets on his western boundary. 7 In 1847 he expanded his
4
ECRD Book 160, leaf275 (July 8, 1796); ECRD Book 166, leaf252 (May 30, 1800).
5
ECRD Book 186, leaf240 (September 6, 1809).
6
ECRD Book 249, leaf97 (April 28, 1828).
7
ECRD Book 265, leaf 170 (June 7, 1832).
�lot further with the acquisition of another adjacent Federal street property
"bounded northerly on the street forty,six feet, more or less, [and] easterly
on land of Shepard one hundred twenty feet more or less." 8 Later in that
same year he procured an additional adjacent estate, bounded "westerly on
land of Shepard, and northerly by Federal Street." 9 There was now
considerable room for expansion and outbuildings. The fences separating
the Shepard and Bertram estates on the former' s southern boundary were
realigned in 1859, conveying Michael Shepard an additional fifteen feet of
property. 10 Tax assessments on the Shepard property increase noticeably
after 1860, indicating both the increased size of buildings and lot.
The Shepard family conveyed 135 Federal Street to their neighbors,
the Bertrams, in 1880, though the latter never occupied the house. At that
time the Bertrams still lived in their adjacent homestead on Essex Street,
now the Salem Public Library, and they owned several other properties in the
immediate neighborhood and on Chestnut Street. Captain Carpenter's
house was leased to the Robson family, headed by Matthew Robson, a
prominent Salem tanner and currier. 11 The house is commonly regarded as
the "Robson House" in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, even
though the family did not take legal possession of the property until 1910.
According to Henry Oliver's 1885 reminiscences of Federal Street, "the
three,story large and convenient house [is] now occupied by Mr. Matthew
Robson (currier) and family. It is no. 135. I do not learn the date of its
erection. In general shape it is square with an addition on the westerly side
of one story for a dining room. On this westerly side is also an ample fruit
orchard." 12
8
ECRD Book 380, leaves 190-191 (April 13, 1847).
9
ECRD Book 389, leaves 233-234 (November 5, 1847).
10
ECRD Book 597, page 12 (November 9, 1859).
11
Salem City Directories, 1880-1910.
12
Essex Institute Historical Collections 82 (April, 1946): 179-185.
�The Bertram heirs conveyed 135 Federal Street in its present form to
Fidelia E. Robson, the wife of Matthew Robson, in 1910. 13 The plans
accompanying the partition of the Bertram estate at this time established and
illustrate the present-day property. 14 Members of the Robson family now
owned, and continued to occupy, the house well into the twentieth century
and brought about interior modifications which Fiske Kimball refers to as "in
the direction of restoration." 15 John C. Robson, Treasurer of the William G.
Webber Company, was primary householder until the late 1930s, after which
Alice Robson, President of the Salem Seamen's Orphan and Children's
Friend Society, resided in the house until her death in 1953. 16 Richard
Connelly, a Salem physician, took up residence in 1955, and the Connelly
family purchased the Captain Benjamin Carpenter House at public auction
in 1968. 17 Its present (2000) owners, Richard A. Stevens and Victoria H.M.
Stevens, came into possession of the property in 1996. 18
13
EIHC Book 2014, page 558 (April 29, 1910).
14
See attached. The plans accompanying the above transaction could not be found in the
Essex Country Registry of Deeds, but those corresponding to a later transaction illustrate 135
Federal Street as lying between the letters "BCDJ" and occupying 19,030 square feet.
15
Fiske Kimball, Mr. Samuel Mcintire, Carver, p. 100.
16
Salem City Directories, 1910-1960
17
EIHCBook 5540, page 119 (July 2, 1968).
18
EIHC Book 13710, page 167 (August 15, 1996).
�Transfers of title/property acquisitions:
Essex Country (South) Registry of Deeds (hereafter ECRD), Book
170, leaf 145
Grantor: Sarah Fisk of Salem, Widow
Grantee: Benjamin Carpenter of Salem, Merchant
Consideration: $1150.00
Conveyance of: "a certain piece of land in said Salem bounded as
follows: viz., northwardly by running westerly on Federal Street, there
measuring one hundred and three feet, westerly running southerly
on land of Nehemiah Buffington there measuring ninety.-five feet two
inches and a half an inch, southerly on land of the said Sarah Fisk
running eastwardly seventy.-six feet four inches and a half an inch,
easterly on land of Ovid Dickerson, running northwardly one hundred
and twelve feet and eleven inches to the first.-mentioned bounds as the
fences now stand."
Date recorded: March 11, 1802
ECRD Book 186, leaf 240
Grantor: Benjamin Carpenter of Salem, Merchant
Grantee: Richard Wheatland of Salem, Merchant
Consideration: $6000
Conveyance of: "a certain lot of lands situated on Federal Street
in said Salem bounded as follows ...beginning at the northeasterly
corner thereof on Federal Street by land of Ovid Dickerson, then
running westerly bounds northerly on said street one hundred three
feet to land of Nehemiah Buffington, then running southerly on said
Buffington's land ninety.-five feet, two inches and a half then running
easterly on land of Mrs. Orne seventy.-six feet four inches and a half,
then running northerly on land of said Dickerson one hundred and
twelve feet and eleven inches to the bounds first mentioned with the
dwelling house and all other buildings thereon."
Date recorded: September 6, 1809
�ECRD Book 249, leaf 97
Grantor: Robert W. Gould of Salem, Master Mariner
Grantee: Michael Shepard of Salem, Merchant
Consideration: $3530
Conveyance of: "a certain messuage on the southerly side of Federal
Street in Salem aforesaid consisting of a dwelling house and
outbuildings and land under and adjoining the same having been
formerly the homestead of Captain Benjamin Carpenter and by him
sold and conveyed to Captain Richard Wheatland and taken from
the said Wheatland on Execution against him in favor of the said
Gould issued on a judgement recovered at the Court of Common
Pleas at Newburyport .... "
Date recorded: April 28, 1828
ECRD Book 380, leaves 190-191
Grantor: Ephraim Brown Jr. of Salem, Trustee and Executor of the
last will of Ephraim Brown, late of Salem deceased
Grantee: Michael Shepard of Salem, Merchant
Consideration: $1520
Conveyance of: "a certain parcel of land on Federal Street in said
Salem bounded thus: northerly on the street forty~six feet, more or
less, easterly on land of Shepard one hundred twenty feet more or
less, southerly on land of Goodhue forty~four feet more or less,
westerly on land of heirs of Ephraim Brown deceased one hundred
twenty feet, more or less, with all the privileges thereto."
Date recorded: April 13, 1847
ECRD Book 389, leaves 233-234
Grantor: Michael Shepard of Salem, Merchant and Executor of
the last will and testament of Ovid Dickerson late of Salem, Laborer,
deceased intestate
Grantee: Michael Webb Shepard of Salem, Merchant
Consideration: $1000
Conveyance of: "... having given public notice of the intended sale
�by causing a notice thereof to be published in the Salem Gazette, and
having first given bonds and taken the oath by laws in such cases
required .... a small piece of land, with a dwelling house thereon,
situated westerly by land of Shepard and northerly by Federal
Street."
Date recorded: November 5, 1847
ECRD Book 597, page 12
Agreement as to Bounds between John Bertram and Michael Shepard.
Date recorded: November 9, 1859
ECRD Book 1040, pages 68 .. 69
Grantor: Michael W. Shepard of Salem
Grantee: John Bertram and Mary Ann Bertram, both of Salem
Consideration: $12,000
Conveyance of: "the messuage in said Salem which is bounded
and described as follows: beginning at the northwesterly corner
thereof on Federal Street by land of Mrs. Walcott, thence running
southeasterly one hundred and twenty feet to land of Wheatland,
thence northeasterly by land of Wheatland forty.-four feet, thence
northwesterly fifteen feet and nine inches by land of Bertram, thence
northeasterly by land of Bertram seventy.-three feet eight inches,
thence southeasterly by land of Bertram twenty.-six feet and two
inches, and northeasterly again by land of Bertram twenty feet and
eight inches to land of Williams, thence northwesterly by land of
William Ropes and Emery one hundred and forty.-nine feet to Federal
Street and thence southwesterly by Federal Street about one hundred
and seventy feet to the point begun at."
Date recorded: June 25, 1880
ECRD Book 2014, page 558.. 559
Grantors: Jennie M. Emmerton, Widow and Annie B. Webb, Widow,
both of Salem, and David P. Kimball and Clara B. Kimball, his wife
in her right, of Boston, the residuary legatees under the will of John
�Bertram
Grantee: Fidelia E. Robson, wife of Matthew Robson of Salem
Consideration: $1 and other good and valuable considerations
Conveyance of: "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon
situated on Federal Street in said Salem ... containing 19 ,030 square
feet more or less, being part of the premises conveyed to John Bertram
of Salem by Michael W. Shepard."
Date recorded: April 29, 1910
ECRD Book 5540, page 119
Grantor: Thomas F. Fitzgibbon of Wenham, Commissioner,
"to make partition under Decree of the Essex County Probate Court
Docket no. 295197"
Grantees: John J. Connelly, Jr. and Eleanor J. Connelly of Salem,
husband and wife as tenants by the entirety of Salem
Consideration: $27,100 .00
Conveyance of: at public auction: "the land with the buildings
thereon, situated in said Salem at 135 Federal Street... containing
19,030 square feet more or less ... Said parcel is more particularly
shown on a plan entitled "Land of Bertram Estate, Salem, by
Guy Ricker, C.E., dated Jan. 1910 and recorded with deed from
Jennie M. Emmerton, et al to Fidelia E. Robson in Essex South
District Registry, Book 2014, page 558."
Date recorded: July 2, 1968
ECRD Book 7705, page 486.. 487
Grantor: Eleanor J. Connelly of 135 Federal Street, Salem
Grantees: Eleanor J. Connelly, Maureen Connelly, Kathleen A.
Connelly, and Virginia Connelly, as joint tenants and not tenants
1ncommon
Consideration: less than $100
Conveyance of: the above estate
Date recorded: March 28, 1985
ECRD Book 13710, page 167
�Grantors: Maureen Connelly, Kathleen A. Connelly and Virginia
Connelly of Salem
Grantees: Richard A. Stevens and Victoria H.M. Stevens,
husband and wife as tenants by the entirety
Consideration: paid
Conveyance of: "the land with the buildings thereon, situated in
said Salem, at 135 Federal Street."
Date recorded: August 15, 1996
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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
135 Federal Street, Salem, MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
The Captain Benjamin Carpenter House 1802
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
1802, 2000
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Donna Vinson
Language
A language of the resource
English
135
135 Federal
1802
Benjamin
Captain
Carpenter
Federal