Solomon Kimball House (Wenham, Massachusetts) - History of Ownership

History of Ownership

• 1701: Thomas Killam sold his dwelling house, barn, orchard and house lot of 25 acres (along with 1.5 acres of meadow land in Lord’s Meadow, Wenham) to William Fairfield. Further research is needed to determine when and from whom Thomas bought the parcel.
• 1725: William Fairfield gave the house and a house lot of 2 acres to his son Josiah Fairfield as a wedding gift

• William reiterated this gift on two subsequent occasions. First, in 1738, William gave Josiah one-fourth of William’s 45 acres of “homesteads and lands in Wenham and elsewhere” (reserving 16 poles for a burying ground) and another one-fourth to William’s son Benjamin -- Josiah’s share including “Thomas Killams homestead,” and Benjamin’s share including William’s homestead. Second, in his 1742 will, William refers to his deeds of gift to sons Josiah and Benjamin, and gives them the remainder of his real estate, representing 180 acres of “sundry parcels” in Wenham and Ipswich.

• Over the years Josiah added to the acreage of his house lot, expanding it to 46 acres by 1767. He appears to have had some financial difficulty around this time, however, because in January 1767 he sold various assets (his dwelling house, barn, “out houses,” house lot of 46 acres, additional parcels of upland and meadow, lots in Wenham Great Swamp, and his pew in the Wenham Meeting House) to his brother Benjamin for £600 -- and seven months later purchased the same assets (less a lot of upland and the pew in the meeting house) back from Benjamin for £550, and at the same time sold Benjamin 40 acres on the south side of current-day Maple Street (with barn) for 10 shillings.

• 1771: Josiah Fairfield gave “the back part of my dwelling house with the cellar under it and the entry that is between that back house & my dwelling house,” along with one-half of his cider house and cider mill, to his son Capt. Matthew Fairfield
• 1777: Josiah Fairfield died and bequeathed all his real estate to his sons Matthew and Josiah, Jr., in reversion, after the death of his wife Elizabeth (Appleton) Fairfield. An inventory of Josiah’s real estate lists a “mansion house,” half a barn, half a cider house, a quarter of a cider mill and about 45 acres of land, the total value of which was £600.
• 1783: Josiah’s widow Elizabeth (Appleton) Fairfield sued Matthew and Josiah Fairfield, Jr. to secure her possession of her late husband’s real estate, resulting with a six-acre house lot
• 1797: Matthew Fairfield sold the property (i.e., a “mansion house” and six acres, including a “small piece of land” called “the nursery”) to Thomas Kimball and Joseph Fairfield for $333.33
• 1810: Thomas Kimball died, the inventory of his estate including a house, “old” and “new” barns, a cow barn and “old shop.” Thomas' widow Huldah (Porter) Kimball died in 1835. Their son Thomas Kimball, Jr. eventually bought out his siblings’ interests in the real estate.
• 1845: Thomas Kimball, Jr. died, and son Solomon E. Kimball inherited his house
• 1924: Solomon E. Kimball died intestate, and son Elwell F. Kimball inherited Solomon’s “arm in Wenham including land and buildings” valued at $5,500.00