Chapman House

207 Salmon Brook Street

This House:

The house was built c. 1780. By the 1810 census, Levi Chapman (married to Mercy) was listed as the owner. They had seven children before she died in 1812. Levi married his second wife, Eunice Smith, in 1815. They had one son. Levi and Eunice remained in Granby and died within four days of each other in November of 1834.

A Bit More:

Early residents of Salmon Brook Street, like the Chapmans, farmed the way their ancestors did. The people lived along the street and, of course, there was a church and a tavern. Most of the houses had long lots leading back to Stony Hill or Salmon Brook. Farmers owned land in various parts of town. Everyone had a wood lot up on a hill, some pasture for grazing, and the best land for planting crops.

The house was later owned by a series of Holcombs, Leon Gilbert, John Allison, Julius and Bella Griffin Stone.

Even More:

Conversations with Bella Griffin Stone in 1950: Bella was born in 1879 and became a school teacher like her mother. She remembered accompanying her mother to school from the age of four and the discomfort of sitting all day (8 until 4) and every other Saturday on backless benches. There were no baby sitters at that time. Granby was mostly agricultural and children earned their school book and clothes money by selling chestnuts to the stores in Hartford. Granby was one huge chestnut forest. A vivid memory is sitting in front of the fire roasting chestnuts. They also ate them frequently as a vegetable, boiling them and serving them with butter.