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Abijah Rowe House

208 Salmon Brook Street

208 sbhs abija rowe house.jpg

A Bit More:

When Abijah and Deborah married he was 24 and she was 18.  Eventually they had 11 children and lived in the house until 1812 when Abijah was 80.

The house was likely built in sections; the north part, including the chimney was probably built first.

It is thought that much of the hardware in the house was made by Abijah and Peter; they were both blacksmiths. 

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208 fireplace iron work made by abijah r

Ironwork & Kitchen fireplace ironwork probably made by blacksmith Abijah Rowe

This House:

The Abijah Rowe house is the oldest remaining building from the original Salmon Brook Settlement of the 1700’s. It was built in 1732 by Nehemiah Lee, who sold the house to his son-in-law Peter Rowe in 1750. Three years later, the house was sold to Abijah Rowe, Peter’s brother. Records show that Abijah married Deborah Forward, of what is now East Granby, in 1756. He was a blacksmith and his shop was probably across the street.

In 1753 we were colonies of Great Britain; George II was king and we were on the cusp of the French and Indian War of 1753-54. This house has seen a lot.

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 Corner cupboard from the

Abijah Rowe house

Even More:

In 1813 the house passed into the hands of the Elijah Smith family and was owned by the Smith family for nearly a century until 1903 when it was sold to Fred Colton and then inherited by the Colton daughters, Mildred and Carolyn, who gave it to the Salmon Brook Historical Society in 1966.

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