95 High Street, the Simon and Hannah Adams House (c. 1700)

The private residence at 95 High Street is a well-preserved First Period half-house. The first owner, Simon Adams, was born in 1652, the son of Ipswich settler William Adams and his wife Elizabeth Stacy. Simon was a veteran of King Philip’s War, and by occupation, he was a weaver. Captain Simon Stacey, in his will, deeded this property to Simon Adams in 1699. The deed to an adjoining property lists Simon Adams’s lot abutting in 1707. He died in Ipswich on October 17, 1723, and his wife, Hannah, died on May 6, 1727.

Read more about the Simon and Hannah Adams House at the Historic Ipswich site.

The first mention of a house at this spot is in the ancient deeds of the adjoining Jewett property in 1707, but it may date to as early as 1678. The house sits slightly askew of the foundation, and may have been moved to this location.

Simon Adams grew up near the present Ipswich train station in his father William’s house. We read in Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that in 1678, “Simon Adams, a weaver, conveyed to John Kimball, wheelwright, a house and land, “which lyeth next and doth adjoyn with Capt. Appleton, his land toward ye southwest and next unto Ensign French, his land, toward the northwest . . . which said house and land was my father, Will Adams, his homestead.”

From the MACRIS listing:

“Simon Adams, a weaver and veteran of King Philip’s, owned this property in 1707, according to a deed of the adjoining property. (20:15). This “half-house” was originally extended as a leanto over the rear rooms. Perhaps at the same time, the rear roof was raised to cover a full two stories, and Georgian trim was added. Surviving elements of that trim include a cornice in the front room and some fine raised-field paneling on the fireplace wall in the rear chamber. The staircase and the majority of the trim in the house are later. In 1906, the front door and old sash were changed, and around 1919, the east ell was added.”

We can follow some of the history of the ownership of this and other houses from old Ipswich maps that list the owner of each residence. The house was owned by Henry Russell, who deeded it to Mary and Sarah Russell in 1802 (source), and was still owned by the Russell family in 1832, according to the Philander map of Ipswich. In 1856, D. Russell and “Mrs. Sherburne” are listed, but by 1872, Nathan Jewett is in residence, and he operated a store next door.

The Adams (Addams) family in Ipswich

William Addams was a commoner of Ipswich in 1641. The inventory of his estate is dated 1658, (24, 11). He possessed a “dwelling house and orchard together with six or seven acres of marsh near to Mr. William Payne’s, sixty acres or thereabouts of land on the south side of the river by John Addams.” He died Jan. 18, 1658.

Simon Adams was born in 1652, the son of William. He died in Ipswich on October 17, 1723, and his wife Hannah, died on May 6, 1727. Their children were:

• Hannah, born Jan. 18, 1691
• Simon, born Oct. 20, 1694, died of smallpox on Dec. 24, 1721.
• Daniel, born Nov. 26, 1697, died Oct. 17, 1723.
• Sarah who married Henry Russell of Ipswich

Sources:

• Ancestry.com
• T.F. Waters, Ipswich in the Mass. Bay Colony, vol. I: Samuel Adams house
• Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the transfer of William Adams’ house by Samuel Adams in 1678
• MACRIS
• Hammatt Papers: Early inhabitants of Ipswich, Mass. 1633-1700 by Abraham Hammat
• Some descendants of William Adams of Ipswich, Mass.
• Maps of original land grants: Diagram No. 2