So I'm looking through my New England ancestors to find some of the oldest houses they built, to just look a glimpse into their lives through their windows.
 |
John Sherburne house at Strawberry Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH |
I enjoy finding grandmothers who somehow had 12 children, and Grisell Brindley Sylvester was one of them, (More about her Here.) Her husband Capt. Nathaniel Gascoigne Sylvester became quite rich off of the sugar/slave trade in the early 17th century, and bought and settled Shelter Island, NY, which is at the end of Long Island, NY. (More about him HERE.) I haven't been able to discern who his parents were, however. But he did have brothers, and they married and also had many children. So there's a whole bunch of cousins out there! This is in the lineage of my father's mother, Ada Swasey Rogers.
 |
| Photo of the Sylvester Manor as it is today. It was inhabited by family members for 12 generations, from 1652. |
 |
| Sylvester Manor as rebuilt in 1737, as it looks today (2016?) These windows have the ability to go up from the bottom or down from the top. |
 |
| These are incredible windows! |
 |
| Obviously the window with the air conditioner is newer, but I notice the one with diamond panes below it swings out to the side, of the older part of the home. |
There's even a quilt of old Somerset houses, and this one is included!
 |
| Jonathan Bowers home is 3rd from top in second to right hand column. |
The Bowers daughter, Mary married Joseph Swasey, who built the house below in 1749 also in Somerset MA.
And Joseph Swasey's father Samuel had built the house on the left in Newburyport, MA in 1735, while his father Joseph built the one on the right in 1710-11. At least this is the way they are listed in Ancestry.
This week's Sepia Saturday prompt is...
So I think my ancestors were looking out through these various windows when they were children!
I love old buildings and the windows are so unique, folks really built with so much detail in the past.
ReplyDeleteYes, craftsmen built homes, often their own, and put love and attention into detail if they could.
Deletegood to look on things they saw..it can bring understanding.
ReplyDeleteWe're having another go at some of The Pirate's genealogy...the more you do....
Thank you for allowing us to peep into the windows of your family! The quilt looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nell, I enjoyed gathering together these pictures, which were available on Ancestry. I'd love to go to Summerset and see that quilt someday.
DeleteQuite to have so many ancestral homes, either direct or through marriage.
ReplyDeleteI don't have many that are more recent. But in New England, fortunately there is a sense of historic preservation.
DeleteHow windows were made over the ages has been an important influence on residential house design. The Portsmouth, NH (you have an error NY for NH in the first line) had small windows with multi-panes because glass was expensive, imported from Europe, and didn't come in large pieces. The Sylvester Manor makes a great contrast and its windows signify wealth. In some cities, windows were taxed which greatly influenced how they were applied to a house.
ReplyDeleteI get annoyed that many modern home designs that imitate early designs use either too many windows or windows too large for the scale of house. That said, modern window engineering has revolutionized architecture with its improvements of thermal efficiency.
Thanks for catching my error, Mike, putting Portsmouth into NY instead of NH. I've corrected it now.
DeleteA wonderful pictorial tour of old family homes and their different window styles. I've always liked the look of criss-cross windows, but I know they must have been a pain to clean and dust! Today those criss-crosses would be imbedded between double pane windows.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, pretty isn't always that practical for the woman who does the cleaning.
DeleteOn visits to,New England, I have loved the traditional architecture and you have given us some wonderful examples here.
ReplyDeleteYes,I agree with Sue, New England houses manage to combine pleasant architecture no matter what the scale. Both grand & welcoming.Thank you for sharing your family examples.
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoyed the quilt. You wonder how many families have lived in the Somerset house
ReplyDeletesince 1723?
So wonderful that these ancestral homes are still standing after so many generations. I love to imagine the lives and goings on surrounding ancestral homes and locations. And how wonderful to have an ancestral house portrayed in a quilt!
ReplyDelete