In the 1856 map, much of the property on this side of Summer Street had been owned by J. Jewett. The house at 31 Summer Street in Ipswich first appears in town maps in 1872, owned by Ezekiel Bartlett. The wide frieze with corbels and the capitals at the top of the corner boards are representative of 19th-century Italianate houses.
Thomas Franklin Waters wrote a history of this lot in Vol. 1 of Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony:
- Bethiah Fitz, July 4, 1822 (257:277), sold to Isaac Stanwood, and the description of the land in the deed shows that it abutted on Green Lane and Shipyard Lane (245: 288). Stanwood retained a lot on the Green Lane side and sold the balance, a little more than an acre, to John How Boardman, May 15, 1826 (245: 74).
- Aaron Cogswell inherited and sold a building lot to John Jewett, another to James H. Staniford, and the lowest in the Street to William H. Jewett. Houses were built on these lots.
- From 1866 – 1876, James H. Staniford transferred lots on Summer Street to Augustine and Mary Staniford. Augustine transferred his properties in 1876 and 1879 to Mary Staniford.
On May 1, 1860, Samuel Wellman purchased two lots with buildings on them from Daniel Nourse and Mary Elizabeth Staniford for $200 and $600 (606:82). Staniford provided the mortgage on the condition that the existing structures on the property be insured. Wellman paid the mortgage, aftere which he built this house, and sold the lot with a dwelling unit on it for $1600 to Ezekiel Bartlett in 1868 (740:285). Ezekiel Bartlett sold the property to Frederick Willcomb in 1872 (863-39), for the same price, $1600.
Historic Ipswich 