Brocklebank-Nelson-Beecher House
Encyclopedia
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
house located at 108 East Main Street (Route 133), Georgetown, Massachusetts
Georgetown, Massachusetts
Georgetown is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,183 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1838 from part of Rowley.-History:...
. It is now a nonprofit museum owned by the Georgetown Historical Society. An admission fee is charged.
History
In 1661, the house's land was granted to Captain Samuel Brocklebank, a surveyor who had come from England in 1638. It is believed that Brocklebank built the house shortly after his marriage in 1668, near a brook where he had kept cattle penned previously. Brocklebank, a captain in the militia, was killed with his entire company in Sudbury in 1676 in a skirmish with Indians during King Philip's War. The house remained within the family until 1754, when it was acquired by Dudley Tyler for use as a tavern, which use continued under Solomon Nelson who purchased the property in 1767. In 1858 the house was bought by Rev Charles BeecherCharles Beecher
Charles Beecher was an American minister, composer of religious hymns, and prolific author.Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the son of Lyman Beecher, an abolitionist Congregationalist preacher from Boston and Roxana Foote Beecher...
, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
and Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century...
. In 1880 the house was purchased by M. G. Spofford and in 1931 by furniture manufacturer Everett Spaulding, a tenth generation Brocklebank descendant who sold the property to the Society in 1975.