Chapman House

207 Salmon Brook Street

This House:

The house was built c. 1780. By the 1820 census, Levi Chapman (married to Mercy) is listed as the owner. Levi married his second wife, Eunice Smith in 1815. They must have moved out of Granby in 1820 because there are no more records of Chapmans that follow.

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.