New Fairfield Historical District
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[edit] New Fairfield Historical District
[edit] Gideon Hubbell House
Gideon Hubbell was born in 1761. He married Diantha (also called Cleo Dianthi) Barnum, daughter of David Barnum and Amy Towner. Gideon served in the Revolutionary War as a private in the Connecticut troops, having enlisted in New Fairfield. He received a pension for his efforts. Gideon Hubbell died in 1838, at the age of 77, and is buried, together with his wife, in the Town Center Cemetery.
The house passed, through his probate, to his daughter Anna Hubbell Bearss in May 1838. Ownership prior to this is unavailable because of the destruction of so many New Fairfield records in the fire of 1867. Upon Anna's death, the housed passed to her son, Orson Bearss. his father, Joseph Bearss, acting on behalf of the "underage" boy, sold it to Alpheus Martin Couch in 1841. It should be noted that Joseph Bearss was a Revolutionary War veteran, having enlisted in New Fairfield and served as a private and a sergeant in the Connecticut troops for which he received a pension for "21 months and 23 days actual service".
[edit] The Parsonage
Abel F. Beardsley took residence of The Parsonage as a manufacturer of lightening rods. Most of the town's records burned in a fire at the town clerk's home in 1867, so the exact date of the Beardsley house is unknown. Experts can place it somewhere around 1840 with parts of it being perhaps earlier. The property went through successive owners until Lavenia Jennings sold it to the Congregational Church of New Fairfield in 1903 for $1,000. It was then used as the pastor's home, The Parsonage, until the 1950s - half a century!
The Parsonage was also used as a meeting place for educational, charity and social events. According to the Danbury Evening News in September 9, 1908, "A number of ladies met at the Parsonage yesterday afternoon for the purpose of organizing a Ladies Aid Society." In the early 1900s, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) met in the parlor of The Parsonage. Years later, a woodworking club for boys was offered there with the pastor serving as instructor and shop steward. Girls in town would attend the Hobby Club. The building also served as an informal teen center in the 1940s and 1950s.
