Historical Homes"Doctors Corner"
We now must backtrack to the 4 way intersection. Here at the corners you will notice that besides the Historical Society museum there is a large home on each of the corners. At one point in history this area may well have been known as the "doctor's corners" since each of the homes on the 4 corners had a doctor living in them for more than 100 years. This neighborhood and continuing down West Street is one of Seymour's oldest sections. Before Miss Matthies had her home built on the corner of West and West Church Street in 1940, there was a large home built on the property in 1847 by Hiram Upson. This was the summer home of the Rev. Dr. Henry Davenport Northrop, pastor of the Congregational Church until 1858. Rev. Northrop was also an author of numerous religious works. During the 1700's there was a pest house for small-pox patients on this property. Across the street from the museum on the opposite corners of West and West Church Street is the former home of Dr. Samuel Sanford, the town's first physician in 1790. The back portion of the home was built before the Revolutionary War and in 1797 it was here the Episcopal Society met and organized before the Trinity Episcopal Church was built. At the turn of the century, Judge John Humphreys, nephew of General David Humphreys, lived here and was responsible for building the large square house we view today. John and his brother, William, were in charge of the T. Vose & Company, a woolen mill in the area. Often times when Gen. David Humphreys came to town to oversee the operations at the Humphreys woolen mill he stayed here. The parcel of land at this time was quite large and encompassed a number of pieces of property that today are individually owned. John and his wife, Lady Humphreys, as she was known, had 2 beautiful daughters who married into old town families, the Canfields and the Peases. Between 1826, when John died, and 1830 the house was adorned with porch columns, railings and a white picket style fence surrounded the area. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places a number of years ago. We now cross the street to the corner of West and Church Streets to a large stately home with a wrap around porch. This was the home of Doctor Johnson, built by him in 1842. A smaller home had been built in the 1700's behind this home and for many years this is where Dr. Johnson and his wife Hannah Stoddard resided after they were married. In 1901 the property passed into the hands of W. L. Ward, Seymour's undertaker and a fine businessman. Behind the large home is a small house on Church Street that was originally the garage for this home. On the last of the four corners we find the home of Doctor Joshua Kendall. Dr. Kendall came to Humphreysville in 1832 from Pennsylvania as a young physician. He practiced here for more than 50 years, was appointed postmaster in 1841 and in 1849 became a member of the General Assembly as representative of the area. |
(Click pictures for larger images)
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