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76 & 78 Essex Street
This house was built by Joseph Danforth, Salem housewright, in 1832.
In 1700 this land w as in the Cheever family of Salem; on 7 Mar 1727 /8
widow Mary Che ~ver sold a part of it with "a small old house" thereon
for 85 li to her son James Cheever, Salem turner (46:167). Towards the
end of the 18th century it ·w as owned by Capt Timothy Wellman; in the
partition of his estate in 1818, his son George received the $800
"Wyatt lot, 11 so-called, bounded southerly 54 1 on Essex St, westerly
on Frye & Mansfield 155 1 , northerly 45' on "Washington Square or
Bath Street, 11 and easterly on Sarah Johnson 160 1 ; the southerly
half of this piece is the present house lot (217:230). Five years later
30 June 1823 George Wellman, Salem mariner, for $600 sold the
whole piece to William Silsbee, Salem merchant, who lived across
the street (232: 176). On 26 Ap 1831 Mr Silsbee for $582. 50 granted
the tract to Joseph Danforth, Salem housewright (267:60).
Joseph Danforth (1782-1840) was born in Newbury, but moved to Salem
by 16 Oct 1810, when he married, here, Phebe Kimball of Bradford.
They had seven children, all sons, between 1811-33, and all but one
of these boys survived to adulthood. Mrs Phebe D died 11 Oct 1835,
whereupon Mr Danforth married, secondly, 12 Jan 1836 Mrs Mary
Russell, with whom he apparently did not reside. He died 26 Jan 1840,
in his 58th year.
He probably built the house by late 1832, for on 22 Jan 1833 Mr Danforth
for $300 mortgaged to widow Mercy Upton of Salem the land "with a
dwelling house and outbuildings standing thereon" (273:156). The 1833
Salem tax valuation shows the value of his property next to Joseph's
name in ward 2; the notation "lot land, $500" is crossed out, with
"house, $3000" substituted in its place, although he was not taxed on
the value of the new house until the 1834 valuation. On 4 Ap 1834 Mr
Danforth was given a $950 second mortgage loan from Mrs Upton; it
was discharged ten years later (271:225).
Joseph Danforth died 26 Jan 1840, at which time his estate (including
"a two story dwelling house 76 & 78 Essex St, $3200) descended to his
six sons (#7143). Four years later., 2 May 1844, two of the brothers,
George F and Joseph A, released their rights in the premises for $1066
to brother John K Danforth, Salem tailor (344: 147,147). John K thus
came to own an undivided half of the premises. He successfully
petitioned to have the property partitioned, and on 28 Mar 1845 the
court set off to him the western half of the house and grounds, being
#78 Essex Street (354:261). John K Danforth owned this property at
his death on 11 June 1863, at which time it (worth $2000) descended
to his three minor children, with widow Cornelia's dower right therein
(#36924). On 29 Ap 1865 Mrs Danforth and her three sons sold #78
to Sarah Baxter Endicott, wife of Charles Endicott, of Salem, for a
total of $1935. 95 (682:252, 252,253).
�Meanwhile, back at the eastern half of the house, #76 Essex Street:
on 21 Mar 1848 Samuel G Danforth sold his one-third interest therein
to his brother William H (395:49). William then mortgaged his 2/3
right on 7 June 1855 to brother John K (514:35). On 15 Mar 1858 John K
foreclosed the mortgage and took possession of the premises (567:49).
He sold this 2/3 share on 1 July 1859 to the owner of the remaining f /3,
youngest brother Edward F Danforth (589:292). On 16 Dec 1858
William H had lost his right in equity to redeem the mortgage to his
brother Samuel G (584:52), and on 2 July 1859 Samuel G sold the equity
to Edward F (589:291). Thus Edw ard F Danforth came to possess the
eas t ern h a lf, which he mortgaged 5 Feb 1863 to brother S a muel G
(647:211) . This mortgage was not redeemed, and on 4 Ap 1866 Samuel
sold #76 out of the family to Benjamin S Newhall of Salem (702:68) .
Nine years later, 22 June 1875, Mr Newhall bought the western half,
#78, from Mrs Endicott (930:267). And so Mr Newhall came to own
both halves of the double house.
Benjamin S Newhall died on 3 Ap 1886, willing the premises to his wife
Caroline M for life (#63363). Mrs Newhall was deceased by 16 Ap 1901,
when the Newhall heirs granted 76 &t 78 Essex St to John H Holt of Salem
(1640:3). Fourteen years later, 31 Aug 1915, Mr Holt conveyed to Mrs
Katherine M Rushford of Salem (2505:589) . On 20 Oct 1916 she conv eyed
to Harry E Jackson of Danvers (2344:499). On 22 Dec 1916 Mr Jackson
conveyed to Mrs E Isabel R ·shford of Danvers (2354:51) .
Mrs Rushford sold the premises on 26 July 1921 to Charles Aronson of
Salem (2489:384). Two years later, 25 July 1923, Mr Aronson conveyed
to Mr &t Mrs Delbert R Jones as joint tenants (2562: 100). Nearly twenty
years later, 25 July 1942, Mrs Margaret A Jones (Mr Jones having died)
conveyed to Mary f Evans of Salem (3308: 177) and she immediately reconveyed to Mrs Jones, catherine M Tracey, and Mary D Buckley a s
joint tenants (3308:178). On 30 Jan 1957, Mrs Jones being deceased,
C. M. Tracey and M. D. Buckley conveyed to Mr &t Mrs Richard C
Copeland of Salem (4779: 189).
On 12 June 1961 Mr &t Mrs Copeland granted the double house to the
present owners, Mr &t Mrs Richard D Anderson of Salem (4779: 189).
Robert Booth
Z7 July 1977
�Notes:
In the first Salem Directory, printed in 1837 but bas ed on facts as of 1836,
Joseph Danforth was listed as a "ship-joiner" with a place of business at
15 Neptune Street and a house at 15 Carlton Street, The Carlton Street
house was the family residence, and after Mr Danforth's death his eldest
son_ (and probably other sons) lived here; by 1846 his two eldest sons
Joseph and John lived at 15 Carlton Street. John continued to live
there until 1854, when he moved into 78 Essex Street, where he and
his family lived until his death. None of the other Danforth brothers
ever lived at 76-78 Essex Street, according to the records.
This house bears a striking resemblance to the double house at
55-57 Federal Street, which was built in 1836. It seems likely that
Joseph Danforth was the builder of the Federal Street house as well.
A figure such as (12:34) refers to Southern Essex County deed book 12,
page or leaf 34. A figure such as (#1234) refers to Southern Essex County
Probate docket # 1234.
DANFORTH
Joseph (1782-1840) m. (1) 1810 Phebe Kimball of Bradford (1788-1835),
m. (2) 1836 Mrs Mary Russell of Salem. Children:
1) Jos,eph Augustus, 1811, m . 1838 Sarah Nichols (1819-94), d . 1877.
2) John Klmball, 1813, m. 1842 Cornelia Dunlap ; d . 1863.
3) William Henry, 1817, d. Boston 1870. Carpenter & inventor.
4) Samuel Gray, 1819, m. 1845 Elizabeth Abbot; d. 1867.
5) George Frederick, 1822, m. 1847 Martha J Gwinn; d. 1855.
6) James Albert, 1830, d. 2 Mar 1832 "from the effects of vaccination."
7) Edward Francis, 1833, m.1856 Louisa M Wood, lived Beverly .
Genealogical information from the Danforth Genealogy by John J May,
Chas H Pope, Boston, 1902; pages 394 and 406-7.
'I
�Rough Plan of House Lots, #74 and #76-78 Essex Street
46' 2"
21 ' 4"
78 I 9 11
79'
74 1 4"
73'4'
54'
#78
#76
Essex
'
Street
24'
#74
'
�
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
Essex Street
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
76-78 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built in 1832 for Joseph Danforth, Housewright
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 in 1832, house history conducted in 1977
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robert Booth
Language
A language of the resource
English
1977
76-78
Booth
Essex Street
Housewright
Joseph Danforth
Salem Massachusetts