The Nathaniel Harris house was built in 1819 on a section of land from the Baker-Newman property next door. His gravestone at the Old North Burying Ground shows that he died at the age of 54 in 1831, but his widow, Elizabeth Staniford Harris, lived into her 90s, and was still shown as the owner of the house in the 1872 Ipswich map. They had a son, also named Nathaniel.
Nathaniel Harris, Jr., advertised his “well-known and remarkable sound sloop Nancy, 40 tons, about forty-five years old, in every respect an excellent vessel for the coasting trade,” for sale, at Richard Lakeman’s wharf, in March, 1828.
Early History of the Lot
Most of the land on the north side of this section of East Street was granted to early settler John Baker. His son, John Baker Junior, sold eight acres with buildings, largely land on the hillside, to Nathaniel Jones Jr. on May 3, 1742 (105: 57). The northwest part of the Jones estate, sold to Geo. Newman Jr. came into the possession of Samuel Eveleth, who sold to Richard Lakeman Jr., April 21, 1810 (190: 139). Lakeman sold to Nathaniel Harris Jr., who built this house. Edward W. Choate built his house on a part of the Harris land at #12 East Street.
The Harris homestead extended up the hill behind the house, where a spring still exists. The heirs of Nathaniel Harris Jr. sold two and a half acres to Abraham C. Sherburne, Sept. 12, 1845 (359: 98) and he sold the same to Essex County, “part of the Nathaniel Harris homestead,” Sept. 27, 1845 (359: 99). The County improved the fine spring on the land and laid a pipe to the House of Correction, which was where the Ipswich Town Hall is now.
Source:
Waters, Thomas: Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Vol. 1, pp 390-392
Historic Ipswich 