Olde Boston Chapter Colonial Dames 17th Century entertained by Milford historian, Susan Elliott

On December 10th, the Olde Boston Chapter Colonial Dames 17th Century was entertained by a local historian at the Lafayette House Restaurant, Foxboro.  Susan Elliott gave a talk about her 18th century old house, known as “The Elms” in Milford, MA which was a part of Mendon years ago.  After moving into her house in 1991, she learned from the local historians that her house had been a tavern. Having not read anything to the fact, she was not convinced until she began removing dirt from under the kitchen floorboards.  She and her husband found an array of old foreign coins and pipe stems in the dirt. Susan, an investigator and researcher, looked further into the origins of the coins, and felt comfortable to believe the coins had fallen through the cracks of the floorboards by occupants in the tavern many years ago.  Susan, fearless in her execution, not only dug under her house’s floorboards, but also tore down a peculiar shaped wall which had intrigued her over the years and discovered a beehive oven! In addition to the beehive oven, she found an ancient kitchen fireplace and hearth.

Susan read an old real estate ad from the 1700’s which gave a great description of her house and expansive property, which was originally owned by the Jennison family. (Secondary sources have stated Joshua Chapin originally owned the house.) To note, she ascertained money was hard to be had in that time period, and the seller was asking for goods and brass as part of payment. Another interesting discovery in her research online, she found excerpts of a diary by William Jennison, which told of his voyage on a ship with John Adams and son. Everyone asked for Susan’s return and future historical reports of her house.