INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Bolton 591 Sugar Road
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Area(s)
P Form No.
114
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BY ANNE FORBES, CONSULTANT TO BOLTON HISTORICAL COMMISSION, MARCH 1998:
ASSESSOR'S PARCEL: 5E-28 ACREAGE: 2.36 acres FILM ROLL/NEGATIVES: IV--23, 24
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION, cont.
Since 1984 the old Whitcomb/Skahan Farm has undergone many changes and a significant reduction in size. In the late 1980's its 113 acres were subdivided for a combination of house lots and conservation land. The town received 55.5 acres, Harris Farm Way and a private road were laid out, and twenty-plus houses have been built, most of them on two- to five-acre parcels for the Harris Farm subdivision. The old barn near the road was demolished in 1987, and the house, now on 1.57 acres, was significantly altered. While it retains its general three-part form and the south-facing orientation of its main three-bay facade (facing away from the road), its center entry has been replaced by a modern entry and surround with steel door, and its former 6-over-6- and 2-over-2-sash have been replaced with new sash and have acquired paneled shutters. All
elevations of the building show similar changes in fenestration, and landscaping with new plants, terraces, fencing and an arbor have altered its immediate surroundings. The building is clapboarded, with an asphalt shingle roof, and has a high mortared fieldstone foundation.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.
The wording of the 1765 deed to which Esther Whitcomb refers implies that there was already a house on part of the farm associated with this property when Paul Sawyer bought it from David Whitcomb, and that Jonas Moor was living in it at the time. It is not known whether any part of this house remains from that building, but Mrs. Whitcomb believed that Paul Sawyer built the present house when he bought the property. By the time he sold the house in 1798 to Asa Whitcomb, Paul Sawyer had amassed a farm of 90 acres.
There was more than one Asa Whitcomb in Bolton at the time. This Asa (1766-1806) was the youngest of the three sons of Gen. John Whitcomb, who owned the lime quarry and kiln a short distance to the south of the farm. As a young man he ran the quarry and kiln with his father and brothers, and when their father died in 1785, Asa and his brother Jonathan inherited the property and business jointly. (See Form 927: Whitcomb Lime Quarry.) When Asa died in 1806, his share was divided between his widow, Sarah, and their six children. Jonathan subsequently bought out the rights of five of the children.
Asa Whitcomb, following in the military tradition of his father and his uncle, for whom he was named, served as a Lieutenant after the Revolution, and later became a Colonel. It appears to have been this Asa Whitcomb who was a member of Capt. William Sawyer's Bolton company which was called out to put down the insurrection at the Worcester Court House during Shays' Rebellion in 1786.
Asa Whitcomb served his town in many ways over the years. In 1794 he was on the committee that produced the map of Bolton, and with his cousin, Silas, he installed the big stone door steps at the new Northeast Schoolhouse on East End Road in 1790. He served on the committee to dispense the funds of the James Richardson legacy in 1804.
He had a store in or adjacent to the house at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and held a liquor license in 1804 and 1806, giving him the right to sell the large quantities of rum and brandy that were in his possession when he died.
Asa and Sarah's son, Asa Whitcomb, Jr. (1800-1868), who became full owner of the property in 1825, was also a Colonel, apparently in the local or regional militia. He had two wives: the first, Caroline (Moore), died in 1833 at the age of thirty; the second, whom he married nine months later, was Adeline A. Hoar of Princeton. This Asa Whitcomb was chosen a Fire Warden in 1830, and in 1840 was on the committee appointed to move and repair the old Northeast Schoolhouse.
Although Esther Whitcomb found that Col. Asa, Jr. sold the property in 1861, the owner shown on the map of 1857 is "G. Sawyer." Further deed research may reveal who this was. In any case, James and Patrick Skahan are shown here on the map of 1870. The "JJS Kenan" on the map of 1898 is probably an erroneous spelling of their names, or possibly a misprint for James's son, John Skahan. He was an auctioneer in Hudson for many years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Maps and atlases: 1831 (A. Whitcomb); 1857 (G. Sawyer); 1870 (J & P Skehan); 1898 (JJS Kenan).
Whitcomb, E. About Bolton, 1988.
Bolton street directories (in The Hudson Directory).
[ ] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach completed National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
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