Dec 1, 2023
The Boyden Homestead at 120 High Street (Rt. 27), near Plain Street, heading towards Walpole, has a long and varied history. It has significant historical ties to both national and local events starting with the great migration to America, the King Philip War, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. It also harbored, within its walls, a budding inventor, Selectmen, Captain, building contractor, butcher and activist.
The Boyden Family (1700–1728)
The house was built by Jonathan Boyden Jr. around 1700. He was the son of Jonathan Sr. and Mary (Clark) Boyden. His father became a captain in 1712, Representative to the Legislature in 1715, and was actively involved in Medfield town affairs. Tracing Jonathan Jr.’s lineage further, his grandfather, Thomas Boyden, came to America, in 1634 on the ship “Francis” from Ipswich, England, and settled first in Scituate, then Watertown and finally in Medfield.
Jonathan Jr. and Rachel Fisher were married in Medfield on November 17, 1698. Rachel’s parents were John and Hannah Adams Fisher. Her father’s estate was on North Street not far from “Castle Hill,” the old Allen estate. Fisher’s house was burned during the King Philip War. He never rebuilt, but bought a house near his original house. He was a blacksmith by trade whose shop was located at the corner of North and Frairy Street.
The Boydens had six children: Jonathan, John, Marah, David, Joshua and Benoni, two of whom died within their first year of life. Jonathan, John and David all took up residence in Walpole. The last child, Bononi, was born on March 24, 1712, and his mother died six days later at the age of thirty-three. Benoni lived only four months longer.
Joshua, Jonathan Jr.’s son, remained in Medfield. He was a housewright (a person who builds houses for a living).He was selectman for three years, and sealer of weights in 1742. He lived on his grandfather’s homestead on Pound Street with his three sequential wives and eleven children: Lemuel, Asa, Catherine, Sarah, Micah, Micah, Moses, Elijah, Joshua, Sarah and Elisha.
The first five children were delivered by his first wife Sarah Allen. Lemuel and Asa remained in Medfield. Lemuel served in the French and Indian War. Catherine married Jonathan Adams and resided in Medway. Sarah and Micah died in their first year of life.
The union of Joshua and his second wife produced only one child, Micah. The last five children were of his third wife Rachel Bullard. Elisha was the last to be born in 1761.
Jonathan Jr.’s second wife was Esther Thurston. They were married in Medfield on February 12, 1713, but he died only six years later at the age of forty four. The couple had two children: Silence, who lived only one month, and Seth, an early settler of Foxboro and inventor of a machine to cut nails, a leather splitting machine for book binding and a cut-off valve for steam engines. It appears none of Jonathan Jr.’s children succeed him in living out their natural life in their parental home. There is no mention of those into whose hands the property fell after Jonathan Jr. died in 1719.
Esther’s parents were John and Mary Wood Thurston. Her father served as Representative of the General Court for two years and as Deacon for one year in Medfield. He was one of eight children. His sister, Mary, was taken captive during the King Philip War and Mary Rowlandson wrote of Mary’s kindness in an account of her own captivity in the Narrative of Captivity of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, 1682. John’s sister, Margaret, and brother, Samuel, died of wounds inflicted on the dreadful day of King Philip’s attack on Medfield.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, four Boydens , Jonathan Jr., John, Joshua and Joshua Jr. all answered the call of duty.
The Allen Family (1728–1782)
After the Boyden’s residency, the property was sold to John Allen who came to Medfield from Boston 1728. He was one of the originators of the Baptist meetings in Medfield. He contracted small pox in 1764, which resulted in his death. His wife’s name is not mentioned in Tilden’s, but they had six children: John, Esther, Nathan, Sarah, Enoch and Elizabeth. Sarah did not live to maturity and John died when only twenty-two.
After their father’s death, Nathan and Enoch lived in the family homestead together as their two remaining sisters were married and on their own.
Nathan married his first wife, Thankful Hartshorn, in 1764 a year after his father’s death. They had three children: Sarah, John and Duty. Duty was born on February 20th 1770, and Thankful, his mother, died only two months later on April 26th. Rachel Carriel of Walpole became Nathan’s second wife. They had two children, Esther and Lucy, with the latter born in 1775.
Enoch also married and lived in the same household as his brother Nathan. In 1778 Enoch died at the age of thirty-seven, leaving his brother’s family sole owners of the family property. Nathan sold the property in 1782 to Edward Cleaveland and he removed his family to Walpole.
The Cleaveland Family (1782-1814)
In 1738 Edward Cleaveland was born in Walpole, one of seven children. He was a blacksmith by trade. Edward and Deborah Adams were married in 1760. They had eleven children: Zimri, Zilpah, Edward, Milly, Lydia, Deborah, Patience, Susa, Aquila, Bela, and Adin. All were born before their arrival in Medfield and they all survived to adulthood. Four children remained in Medfield: Zimri, Lydia, Bela, and Adin.
Edward served as selectman for three years and was a Sergeant in the Revolutionary War. His brother, George, fought in the French and Indian War and died at Fort Henry in 1756.
Deborah, Edward’s wife, died in 1797 and he married his second wife, Betsey Perry, in 1798. In 1802 he and Artemas Woodward (the inventor of the straight line paint brush) built the first hearse of Medfield. Betsey died in 1825 and Edward died five years later.
Zimri, Edward’s first child, wed Eunice Clark in 1782. She is a descendant of the notable Clark Family of the first thirteen settlers of Medfield. They had ten children: Eunice, Sylvia, Orinda, Nathan, Shubael, Willard, Locus, Anthony W., Chloe and Martha. Three remained in Medfield. Eunice married Nathan C. Morse of Medfield, Sylvia wed Alpheus Fisher of Medfield and Anthony’s first wife was Harriet Pratt and second Mary Ann Boynton. Anthony and Harriet had three children: Laura, Angenette, and Harriet. Harriet died in the same year as the last child’s birth. The union of Zimri and his second wife produced only one child, Harriet M., and she married Henry Guy.
Lydia married David Hill, of Sherborn, in 1765. After the birth of their first child, Caleb, in 1789, who died young, they removed to New York, but returned to Medfield with eight additional children: Calvin, Charlotte, Caleb, Lydia, Corina C. C., Harriet, Horace, David and Hiram.
Bela was a carpenter. In 1812 he bought the property at 58 South Street and built a house upon it in 1814. The house was built on the East side of the street across from the head of Oak Street. This house still graces our town (2023). Bela sold the house and property to Silas Bullard in 1816. It does not appear Bela lived at this location, which leads us to believe he was functioning as a building contractor. In 1814 Bela was also commissioned as Captain. He later operated a butcher business that did not last. He married Hannah Adams. They produced five children: Albert, Caroline Henry, Harriet and Horace.
The last child, Adin, was married in 1804 to Miranda Smith. They were blessed with four children: Emillia, Rosella, Henrietta and Lydia.
Betsey passed in 1825 and Edward died five years.
The Hill Family (1814-1832)
In 1814 David Hill Sr. purchased his wife Lydia Cleaveland’s family home from her two brothers Bela and Edward. The Hill’s sons, Caleb and David Jr., continued to reside in Medfield. Caleb married Sarah Cole in 1821. They had one child, Abby H., who was born in 1824, the same year as her father’s death. David Jr. wed Ann P. Blight and their residence was in Boston and later Medfield. They had four children, Eliza A., Harriett E., Edwin, and W. Mary W.
After David Sr.’s death, Lydia married Nathan Turner of Walpole. The estate was sold to John Ellis in 1832.
The Ellis Family (1832-1863)
Not much is known about John Ellis’s residency. In 1863 Jerome Bonaparte Cram purchased the estate.
The Cram Family (1863–1900)
Jerome Bonaparte Cram manufactured cotton batting, wicking, curled hair and mattresses with the Manning, Glover and Company in Walpole, of which he was part owner. He was active in establishing the Blessed Sacrament Church in Walpole. Father Gouesse relocated to Walpole from Foxboro. He and J. B. Cram became friends and Cram permitted him to conduct Catholic masses in his manufacturing facility until a proper Church could be secured. Cram was instrumental in acquiring the current sight of the Blessed Sacrament Church which was purchased in 1873.
Jerome B. Cram sold his property in Medfield to William and Nancy Thwaites in 1878. They appear to have had ownership of the property for less than a year. They sold to Smith Gerrish in 1879. Gerrish is listed in 1886 as a non-resident taxpayer. This would lead us to conclude he never took this property as a residence. Quite possibly it became a rental property or it continued to be a rental property as we have no verification that Mr. Cram ever resided in this house. Smith Gerrish sold to Charles E. Blunt in 1893 and Charles conveyed ownership to Carrie V. Collar, who owned the property for less than a year when it was sold to Mary E. Gwinn in 1894. Mary, too, had possession for only a year when Fannie and Lou Hastings purchased the property in 1895. They held on to it for about two years and then sold it to Mary and Thomas Lawrence in 1897. Three years later, in 1900, George Percy Williams purchased the estate.
The Williams Family (1900-1976)
George Williams made significant changes to the house. In 1911 he added a carport, moved the original entrance and expanded its size. Williams was a stockbroker during the 1929 stock market crash and experienced great losses from this event. He appears to never have married but did have a live-in housekeeper named Emiline Brooke. His daughter, presumably by Emiline, married Dr. Flynn, chief of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Alice G. Stewart owned the property in 1926. According to the 1930 census an Alice G. and George A. Stewart were living on High Street in the 1930s. In 1932 the property was owned by Ed L. Geary. The Barrows family lived at this High Street residence in 1938 with their three children Angenette, Lucy Ann and Oliver in what was probably a rental situation.
Ed L. Geary sold to Ed and Alice Flynn in 1946. It may be assumed that this is the daughter, and her husband, of George Percy Williams. Flynn’s finances were investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the result was he had to relinquish property. State Attorney Edward W. Brooke prosecuted this case for the government; the same State Attorney who prosecuted the notorious Boston Strangler.
In 1972, Mosaber, Inc. had possession of the property. Mosaber sold to Genevieve McMillan in 1974. Two years later the estate was purchased by Allen Swanson and his wife.
The Swanson Family (1974–1985)
It was within this time frame that the church group, “Church of the Living Bible,” led by Allen Swanson, occupied the house. This group was considered a cult by locals at the time. Mr. Swanson conveyed ownership to Virginia Swanson in 1984. She sold it a year later to Maxwell Field Trustee. It was sold to George H. and Kathleen S. Beauregard in May 2003.
The Linnert Family (2003–2022)
John H. and Michelle S. Linnert purchased the property on the 13th of October in 2003. They sold the home in August, 2022 and relocated to Florida.Boyden