Solomon Kimball House (Wenham, Massachusetts)

The Solomon Kimball House, probably built in 1696, is a historic First Period house in Wenham, Massachusetts. Although named for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century owner Solomon Kimball, the house was built by Thomas and Mary (Solart) Kilham —he the veteran of a pivotal battle in King Philip’s War and she the sister and aunt of defendants in the Salem Witchcraft Trials.

Eighteenth-century owners included Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Deputies William Fairfield, and American Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Matthew Fairfield.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

History of ownership

 * 1701: Thomas Kilham sold his dwelling house, barn, orchard and house lot of 25 acres (along with 1.5 acres of meadow land in Lord’s Meadow, Wenham) to William Fairfield. Further research is needed to determine when and from whom Thomas bought the parcel.
 * 1725: William Fairfield gave the house and a house lot of 2 acres to his son Josiah Fairfield as a wedding giftEunice Fairfield gravestone photographed 020713.JPG
 * William reiterated this gift on two subsequent occasions. First, in 1738, William gave Josiah one-fourth of William’s 45 acres of “homesteads and lands in Wenham and elsewhere” (reserving 16 poles for a burying ground) and another one-fourth to William’s son Benjamin—Josiah’s share including “Thomas Killam[ʼ]s homestead,” and Benjamin’s share including William’s homestead. Second, in his 1742 will, William refers to his deeds of gift to sons Josiah and Benjamin, and gives them the remainder of his real estate, representing 180 acres of “sundry parcels” in Wenham and Ipswich.
 * Over the years Josiah added to the acreage of his house lot, expanding it to 46 acres by 1767. He appears to have had some financial difficulty around this time, however, because in January 1767 he sold various assets (his dwelling house, barn, “out houses,” house lot of 46 acres, additional parcels of upland and meadow, lots in Wenham Great Swamp, and his pew in the Wenham Meeting House) to his brother Benjamin for £600 —and seven months later purchased the same assets (less a lot of upland and the pew in the meeting house) back from Benjamin for £550, and at the same time sold Benjamin 40 acres on the south side of current-day Maple Street (with barn) for 10 shillings.
 * 1771: Josiah Fairfield gave “the back part of my dwelling house [i.e., the lean-to] with the cellar under it and the entry that is between that back house & my dwelling house,” along with one-half of his cider house and cider mill, to his son Capt. Matthew Fairfield
 * 1777: Josiah Fairfield died and bequeathed all his real estate to his sons Matthew and Josiah Jr., in reversion, after the death of his wife Elizabeth (Appleton) Fairfield. An inventory of Josiah’s real estate lists a “mansion house,” half a barn, half a cider house, a quarter of a cider mill and about 45 acres of land, the total value of which was £600.
 * 1783: Josiah’s widow Elizabeth (Appleton) Fairfield sued Matthew and Josiah Fairfield Jr. to secure her possession of her late husband’s real estate, resulting with a six-acre house lot


 * 1797: Matthew Fairfield sold the property (i.e., a “mansion house” and six acres, including a “small piece of land” called “the nursery”) to Thomas Kimball and Joseph Fairfield for $333.33
 * 1810: Thomas Kimball died, the inventory of his estate including a house, “old” and “new” barns, a cow barn and “old shop.” Thomas' widow Huldah (Porter) Kimball died in 1835. Their son Thomas Kimball Jr. eventually bought out his siblings’ interests in the real estate.
 * 1845: Thomas Kimball Jr. died, and son Solomon E. Kimball inherited his house
 * 1924: Solomon E. Kimball died intestate, and son Elwell F. Kimball inherited Solomon’s “[f]arm in Wenham including land and buildings” valued at $5,500.00

Thomas and Mary (Solart) Kilham
Thomas Kilham (or Killam), son of Daniel and Mary (Safford) Kilham, was born in 1653 or 1654 in Wenham, and married Martha Solart c. 1680. Kilham was a veteran of King Philip’s War, serving under Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich in Appleton’s campaign against the Narragansett, including the Great Swamp Fight of December 19, 1675. In May 1676 the General Court voted to repay soldiers for losses incurred, and voted £2 15d 6s for Kilham’s losses.

Martha (Solart) Kilham was the daughter of John Sr. and Elizabeth (-) Solart, who kept a tavern in Wenham, still standing at 106 Main Street. John Solart was financially successful, yet drowned himself in 1672 leaving an estate of over £500. His widow soon remarried Ezekiel Woodward, and kept her seven children from receiving their rightful share of Solart’s estate. Eventually, these children successfully petitioned the General Court for redress in 1682.

Martha was a sister of Sarah Good, who was one of the first three to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witchcraft hysteria and was hanged in 1692. Sarah's 4 year-old daughter Dorothy Good (also known as Dorcas Good) was also accused and arrested for witchcraft. Dorothy Good survived the hysteria, but was the youngest to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem episode.

Thomas and Martha (Solart) Kilham had six children that we know of, all born in Wenham and the last two likely born in the Solomon Kimball House. However, Wenham's records of births for the periods 1681–1685 and 1688–1694 (and deaths for 1679–1694) have been lost. Consequently, we should keep open the possibility that Thomas and Martha had other children who were born and died during the 1680s and early '90s. After all, seven years passed between the birth of their son Thomas Jr. and the baptism of their son Samuel.
 * 1) Thomas Jr., born in 1684; died November 26, 1742, probably in Boxford, MA; married Sarah Maxey, April 8, 1712, in Topsfield, MA
 * 2) Samuel, baptized in 1691; died after 1740, probably in Wilmington, MA; married Grace Endicott, December 21, 1715, in Boxford, MA
 * 3) Martha, probably born between 1693 and 1696, assuming she was between 18 and 21 years old when she married; died December 27, 1754, in Ipswich, MA; married Timothy Bragg, December 23, 1714, in Hamilton, MA
 * 4) John, born November 3, 1695; died January 15, 1738/9 in Boxford, MA; married Abigail Symonds, February 3, 1724/5 in Boxford, MA
 * 5) Daniel, born May 25, 1698; died October 20, 1699, in Wenham
 * 6) Daniel (2nd), born August 14, 1700; was living in Wilmington, MA as late as 1732; married Mary Kenney, February 17, 1725/6 in Danvers, MA

Thomas Kilham sold his house in Wenham to William Fairfield in July 1701 and moved to Boxford (MA). He died there in 1725 and his burial was likely the genesis of the Killam-Curtis Cemetery. Martha died after Thomas did, but no record of her death has survived.

William, Esther (-) and Rebecca (Tarbox) Fairfield
William Fairfield owned the property from 1701 to 1725. He lived in a house near the current-day intersection of Cherry Street and William Fairfield Drive, a house that he probably built around 1687 coincident with his first marriage. (The land adjacent to Fairfield's house included a burial ground that the family started in 1691. ) The Fairfield Farm was contiguous to the Thomas Kilham Farm, and Fairfield apparently bought the Kilham property as an investment. He gave the former Thomas Kilham homestead to his son Josiah Fairfield as a wedding gift in 1725.

A son of Ens. Walter and Sarah (Skipper) Fairfield, William was born October 14, 1662, in Reading, MA, and died on December 18, 1742, in Wenham. He was active in town affairs, and was Town Clerk 1706–1711 and 1724–1729; Moderator of Town Meeting in 1715, 1716, 1733–1736, 1739 and 1741; and was elected deacon of the First Church in 1731. He was a Representative at General Court in 1723, 1728, 1730, and 1732–1742, and “[d]uring the session of 1741, he was Speaker of the House of Deputies, at that time the highest office in the gift of the people, the Governor and Lieut. Governor being appointed by the King.”

"He appears to have been one of those shrewd, clear-headed, practical men, whose minds are formed and trained by reflection and experience, rather than by a knowledge of books, or by intercourse with the world. He held, at different times, every office in the gift of the people of his native town and State, and in all, he gained the confidence of those whom he was called to serve. He was also an active member of the church, and for many years one of its deacons. We regret that so little can now be ascertained concerning Mr. Fairfield. An anecdote is still told of him, which is quite characteristic. The common mode of travelling in those days was on horseback. Setting out to attend a session of the Legislature, he became so absorbed in thinking of the business on which they were to enter, and upon his duties as Speaker, that he is said to have actually reached Boston, bridle in hand, before discovering that he had left his horse at home."

William married twice. His first marriage was to Esther - about the year 1687. She was born c. 1668 and died on January 21, 1722/1723, in Wenham. William and Esther (-) Fairfield had thirteen children, all born in Wenham:
 * 1) Sarah, born July 23, 1688; died February 6, 1705, in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
 * 2) Mary, born December 18, 1689
 * 3) William Jr., born October 18, 1691; died October 24, 1691, in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
 * 4) William Jr. (2nd), born November 17, 1692
 * 5) Esther Jr., born August 12, 1695
 * 6) Tabitha, born May 17, 1696; died October 7, 1717, in Wenham (buried in Fairfield Family Burial Ground)
 * 7) Abigail, born May 9, 1698
 * 8) Elizabeth, born January 9, 1699/1700
 * 9) Josiah, born October 12, 1701
 * 10) Prudence, born July 13, 1704
 * 11) Skipper, born January 2, 1706
 * 12) Benjamin, born October 29, 1708
 * 13) Rev. John, born November 29, 1712

William’s second marriage was to Mrs. Rebecca (Tarbox) Gott on October 14, 1723, in Wenham. Rebecca was born on August 8, 1672, in Lynn, MA, the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Armitage) Tarbox. Her first marriage was to John Gott, whom she married on July 19, 1693, in Salem, MA. (John Gott was the son of Charles and Lydia (Clark) Gott, was born on November 8, 1668, in Wenham, and died on January 25, 1722/3 in Wenham. ) She died on July 29, 1765, in Lynn, MA. No children are recorded in Wenham’s vital records for William and Rebecca (Gott) Fairfield.

Capt. Matthew and Abigail (Ayer) Fairfield
Matthew Fairfield, son of Josiah and his second wife Elizabeth (Appleton) Fairfield, was born May 18, 1745, in Wenham (likely in the Solomon Kimball House), married Abigail Ayer on October 22, 1767, in Haverhill (MA), and died on February 11, 1813, in New Boston, NH. Matthew was the first of Josiah’s sons to reach adulthood, and it’s likely that when he married Abigail they took up residence in Josiah and Elizabeth’s house. This was certainly the case by 1771, when Matthew and Abigail were living in the lean-to of the house, Josiah and Elizabeth were living in the other part of the house, and Josiah gave Matthew the lean-to and part of the cellar (along with one half of a cider house and cider mill nearby).

As a result of the Continental Army’s reorganization of January 1, 1776, Fairfield was assigned to Col. John Greaton’s 24th Continental Regiment with the rank of lieutenant, and served with this regiment throughout 1776 fighting at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, Quebec (June 8) and the Battle of Valcour Island, Lake Champlain (October 11). The 24th Continental rejoined Gen. Washington’s main army in November 1776 in Morristown, New Jersey, in anticipation of the year-end expiration of many of its troops’ enlistments, and in anticipation of winter quartering. Matthew re-enlisted and was promoted to captain on January 1, 1777, as part of the reorganization of the 13th Massachusetts Regiment (Col. Edward Wigglesworth commanding). He served under Wigglesworth for much of 1777, encamped outside Philadelphia, but did not see battle during this period. Furloughed on August 22 for 60 days, he was discharged on October 22, 1777, the dates of his furlough and discharge apparently linked to the illness and death of his father Josiah Fairfield. “A Muster Roll of Capt. Mathew [sic] Fairfields Company in the Massachusetts Bay Battalion of Fources [sic] in the Servis [sic] of the United States Commanded by Coll. [sic] Edward Wigglesworth,” camp location not identified, December 10, 1777, RWR, Roll 0038:18. “A Pay Roll of the Late Capt. Mathew Fairfield in one of the Regts of Foot From the State of Massachusetts Bay Commanded by Coll. [sic] Edward Wigglesworth, Made Up From the 1[s]t of November to the Last Both Day [sic] included,” camp location not identified, no date, RWR, Roll 0038:18. “Promotions to take place in Col. Wigglesworths Regt.,” camp site not identified, after December 1777, RWR, Roll 0038:18. “Abstract of Rations due to Officers in the 4th [sic] Massachusetts Bay Regt. commanded by Colonel Edward Wigglesworth,” Camp Valley Forge, May 26, 1778, RWR, Roll 0038:18 (a record of service in 1777, and not an indication that Fairfield overwintered at Valley Forge). “Return of the Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers and Private Soldiers in the late Capt. Fairfields Company Col. Edward Wigglesworths Battallion [sic] from the State of Massachusetts Bay who where [sic] raisd [sic] & in Actual Service on the 15 day of August 1777 Also those Included who are Deceased, Dichargd [sic] and Deserted,” location not identified, February 1779, MRRW 11:56. “Mathew Fairfield a Cap: in Collo: Smith’s Regt,” location not identified, November 11, 1785, Continental Army Books 18:292, MS, Massachusetts State Archives. Statement of Continental Balances, Col. Smith’s (late Wigglesworth’s) Regiment, location not identified, November 11, 1786, MRRW 68:38. “The United States Dr. [debit] to Commonwealth of Massas. for the amount paid Colo. Calvin Smith, his Officers and Men, to make good the Depreciation of their Wages for the first three years Service in the Continental Army, agreably [sic] to returns from said Regiment. Also for advances to Sundry Deserters in said Regiment made them before their desertion,” location not identified, 1787, MRRW 31:180. “Return of those Officers that have Resignd [sic], Supernumarys, Dead and Discharged who were Incorporated in the Regiment Late Commanded by Col. Edward Wigglesworth,” camp location not identified, no date, MRRW 11:44. National Archives and Records Service, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War (M881), Roll 0449 (Massachusetts, Thirteenth Regiment, Mathew [sic] Fairfield). Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution, 1893, p. 171. Secretary of the Commonwealth, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1899), 5:473. Four depositions made in support of three Revolutionary War pension applications make reference to Capt. Matthew Fairfield commanding a company of soldiers in Wigglesworth’s 13th Massachusetts Regiment in 1777 (the applicants/deponents having been soldiers in Fairfield’s Company). See National Archives and Records Service, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files (M804), MS, Massachusetts, David Clark, S.36983, depositions of David Clark and Joseph Kimball, 1819; Massachusetts, Joseph Kimball, S.35500, deposition of David Clark, 1818; and Massachusetts, James Rounds, W.7149, deposition of David Clark, 1818. For Josiah Fairfield’s final illness, Josiah wrote his will on September 26, 1777 and described himself in his will as “being Sick & weak in Body;” see Essex County Probate 9191 (Josiah Fairfield, 1777). Josiah died on October 5, 1777.

Fairfield was initiated into the Masons in April 1777, and held the office of Steward for the United States Lodge in Danvers in October 1778.

At some point during the Revolution, Capt. Fairfield and his company were sent to Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, "to quell the Tory insurrections, or mobs, that existed … where the old loyal Scotch element so largely predominated. … His greatest troubles were in New Boston, where the Tories had their rendezvous. But it appears that here he found friends, and soon after the war he moved his family from Wenham, Mass., to New Boston, and settled on a tract of land in the south part of the town, where he resided until his death, in 1814 [sic], which was occasioned by the falling of a tree."

Abigail Ayer was the daughter of David and Hannah (Shepard) Ayer, and was born in Haverhill (MA) on November 24, 1746. She died in New Boston on January 28, 1825.

Matthew and Abigail had twelve children, perhaps nine of whom were likely born in the Solomon Kimball House:
 * 1) Nabby (Abigail), born July 25, 1768, Wenham; died December 24, 1796
 * 2) Betsey (Elizabeth), born April 28, 1770, Wenham; married William Crombie, April 27, 1797
 * 3) John, born February 11, 1773, Wenham; married Mehitable Baker (intention recorded October 12, 1799, Wenham)
 * 4) Hannah, born February 4, 1775, Wenham; died August 8, 1809; married Capt. Joseph Wilson
 * 5) Alice, died in infancy October 20, 1777, Wenham
 * 6) Sarah (Sally), baptized August 29, 1779, Wenham; married Benjamin Fairfield (intention recorded April 3, 1803, Wenham)
 * 7) Walter, died in infancy
 * 8) William, died in infancy
 * 9) Charlotte, baptized October 31, 1784, Wenham; married Capt. Joseph Wilson, her widower brother-in-law
 * 10) Josiah, perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy
 * 11) Matthew Jr., perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy
 * 12) William (2nd), perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy

Maps

 * 1795: Surveyed by Richard Dodge, this is the oldest map known of Wenham, and shows the town’s boundaries, roads and major bodies of water. Current-day Maple Street appears, as does that portion of current-day Topsfield Road northwest of Maple Street. (Note that current-day Topsfield Road did not extend to the Beverly town line, but stopped at current-day Maple and Cherry Streets.)
 * 1831: Surveyed by Philander Anderson, this map shows the expansion of Wenham’s system of roads, the addition of swampland, and a drawing of the Wenham Meeting House.


 * 1872: This map shows the Solomon Kimball House as “T. Kimball Est[ate].” The “A. Bagley” house, near the northeast corner of the intersection of current-day Cherry Street and Topsfield Road, was the William Fairfield homestead.
 * 1884: This map shows the Solomon Kimball House as “S. Kimball.”


 * 1910 (Western & Central Wenham): This map shows the Solomon Kimball House as “S Kimball” and provides the location of the house itself as well as three out buildings. The outline of the house indicates an ell or porch at the northeast corner of the building that no longer exists.
 * 1910 (Maple & Bomer Streets): This on-the-ground survey of properties adjacent to Maple and Bomer Streets (Bomer Street subsequently known as the portion of Topsfield Road southwest of Maple and Cherry Streets) shows the location of an orchard and garden belonging to Solomon Kimball, northwest of the Moulton lot (which was opposite Company Lane). The 1910 map of western and central Wenham, however—which likely was not drawn from an on-the-ground survey—identifies the lot northwest of the Moulton lot as “Hrs. E. Kimball” (or heirs of E. Kimball). This label is probably a typo; the lot northwest of the Moulton lot would have been owned by heirs of Thomas Kimball or by Solomon Kimball himself.


 * 1955: The subdivision of the Solomon Kimball farm began in 1955 and continued through the mid-1960s, creating Puritan Road, Mayflower Drive and the lots facing those streets. This 1955 map, drawn at the beginning of the subdivision program, shows the location and outline of the Solomon Kimball House and two outbuildings; note the outline of an ell or porch on the north side of the house that no longer exists.
 * Plan Year 1955 Plan 648 Maple Street.tiff