The house at 80 East St. was built by Jacob Perkins around 1690, or by his son Elisha about 1720. The asymmetrical frame of this house is typical of houses constructed into the early 1700s, but the cellar joists are installed flat rather than vertically, a construction style found in the mid-17th Century. The house may have been constructed on an earlier foundation. Early ownership is traced through probate as well as deeds of sale, and the present owner is a descendant of the original owner of the lot.
Early settler John Perkins was granted a sizable lot at the intersection of East St. and the road to Jeffreys Neck. His son Jacob remained in the homestead and sold his son Jacob three-quarters of an acre for a house lot in 1865. When Jacob Senior sold his dwelling, barn, and orchard to his sons, Jacob and Matthew in 1693 the deed referred to “the new house being northwest.” Two years later, the large Perkins estate was divided among the sons of Jacob 2, including his son Jacob 3, who received the “mansion next to widow Hodgkins”. Elisha Perkins, the son of Jacob 3 born in 1694, married Mary Newmarch in 1722 and came into possession of his father’s estate. Thomas Franklin Waters wrote that Elisha “probably built the house.” The house and two acres of land were inherited by Elisha’s daughter, Abigail Holland in 1781. Read more about this private residence at the Historic Ipswich site.
Mehitable Braybrook
Yet another Jabob Perkins, the son of John2, was given a hundred-acre farm in Chebacco, the parish of Ipswich that is now the own of Ipswich. Read the story of Mehitable Braybrook, who burned down Jacob and Sarah Perkins’ house in 1668, married John Downing, and was arrested for witchcraft.
Sources:
- The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich Massachusetts
- MACRIS
- Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by Thomas Franklin Waters
Historic Ipswich 