History
The large farmhouse was built around 1685 for John Dagget, Jr. on the site of an earlier 1643 house which was burned by Native Americans during King Phillip's War. According to his diary, George Washington allegedly stopped at Daggett House while travelling between Newport and Boston.
The house is supposed to have passed by inheritance in 1707 from its original owner to his eldest surviving son, Joseph Daggett, a doctor of medicine, a wheelwright, and a miller. The farm was presumably inherited by Joseph's son Israel, a cooper, in 1727.
Upon Israel Daggett's death in 1777, the homestead is thought to have passed to the eldest surviving son, William; from William it passed to his three eldest sons William, John and Abel. The three sons partitioned the estate in 1830, John and Abel taking the house and the land immediately surrounding. John's portion was sold at auction to his sister Amey after his death in 1842; Abel willed her his share one year later.
Amey Daggett shared the farm with her niece Hannah and Hannah's family, willing it to Hannah in 1855. Hannah's husband Jefferson Daggett and his eldest son, Edwin O. Daggett, continued to farm the property at least until 1870, when Jefferson died.
The house opened as a museum in 1905.
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Daggett House in 1905
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Daggett House in 2009
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Plaque on the house in 2009
Read more about this topic: Daggett House
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