The
Homestead of Daniel Putnam
1782 - 1953
Of documents belonging to
THE COLONEL DANIEL PUTNAM ASSOCIATION
And in the custody of its historian
ANN PUTNAM BROWNE
June 1, 1953.
PUTNAM ELMS is situated on the west side of Church Street in Brooklyn, Windham County, Connecticut, perhaps half a mile north of Route 6, and two-thirds of that distance from Old Trinity Church, the building of which in 1771 Godfrey Malbone, the younger, instigated. It is a part of the three thousand two hundred and forty acres, including the manors of Kingswood and Wiltshire, which Godfrey, the elder, bought October 10, 1740 from Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts for the expressed consideration of "Ten thousand five hundred pounds in Lawful Bills of Credit" (Pomfret Land Records Vol. 3, p. 60) and which Belcher had bought from John Blackwell of London. Blackwell had purchased it, and other contiguous properties sold by Belcher to Israel Putnam and his brother-in-law, John Pope, from Major James Fitch in 1686.
In 1764, Godfrey, the elder, quit-claimed the land
purchased from Belcher with later acquisitions to his sons, Godfrey and John, together with "the following Stock and
Negroes, that is to say, Eight Cows, Forty-five Oxen, Thirty Stears, forty two
years old, Twenty Yearlings and thirty nine Calves, Six horses, Six Hundred
Sheep, one hundred and Eighty Goats and all the poultry and one hundred and
fifty hogs, twenty Seven Negroes viz: Prince, Harry, Pero, Dick, Tom, Adam, and
Christopher, all Negro Men, and Dinah, Venus, Rose, Miriam, Jenny, and Rose,
all Negro women and three children, Primas, Christopher, Sias, Sharper, and
Little Pero all Negro Boys and also the farming tools, utensils, grain,
Household goods * * * ." About 1766,
Godfrey Malbone, the younger, who had married Catherine, daughter of Col.
Francis and Deborah (Lyde) Brinley of Datchet House in Roxbury near Boston,
removed from Newport to a house near the south boundary of the manor of
Kingswood. Between 1784 and 1786 Colonel
Malbone erected the central portion of Putnam Elms for his wife's brother,
Nathaniel Brinley, so he might be near his sister and her husband.
Godfrey Malbone, Jr. died November 12, 1785 and on
June 9, 1791, Colonel Daniel Putnam, who had married his niece Catherine
Hutchinson, daughter of Shrimpton and Elizabeth Malbone Hutchinson of Boston,
bought 158 acres from Godfrey's estate and his undivided interest in 368 acres
more which he had owned in common with his brother John (Brooklyn Land Records,
Vol. 1, p. 211), On the same day he purchased John's interest also (Brooklyn
Land Records Vol. 1, p. 213). According to some notes by Thomas Brinley Fogg,
Nathaniel Brinley had moved out of the house in April 1790 and it was rented for nearly a year until Daniel Putnam moved in
April 2, 1791. Colonel Putnam made very extensive alterations and improvements
in the house at this time. According to tradition the kitchen ell was a much
older house which he owned and removed from its site on Day Street.
At this time the Putnams had three children, the eldest, William, eight years of age. Harriet Wadsworth, who married her cousin Ebenezer Grosvenor, and is undoubtedly the "Waddy" referred to in her father's diary, was born the next year. Two children died in infancy, but the Putnams brought up one son and five daughters in the Putnam Elms and cared for Shrimpton Hutchinson there in his old age. With six hired men and probably other servants as well as the constant visiting of relatives from Pomfret and Boston mentioned in Daniel Putnam's diary, the house must have been crowded indeed.
Daniel Putnam died April 30, 1831. The inventory of
his estate was $18,604.71, including
"Home Farm, 273 acres --$9,555.00"; but it is probable that his debts
were heavy, as his letters to George Brinley in the latter years of his life
reveal constant financial worry, and his will reflects a deep concern over the
settlement of his obligations, instructing his executors, George Brinley, James
Brown and George Sumner, as to the order in which his various farms should be
sold in order to meet his debts.
After the death of Daniel Putnam, according to Mary
and Thomas Fogg, the family moved to Hartford, and the house was rented to
Joseph Head of Boston for ten or a dozen years. Putnam had leased to James
Brown 580 acres in 1826 -- all his
land except the house lot of two acres, and a six acre lot adjoining -- and it
seems entirely probable that this arrangement continued. James, the son of
Shubael and Nancy Dixon Brown, had married Daniel's child, Emily, and lived on
the Palace Farm on the road running westerly from Church Street nearly opposite
Old Trinity Church.
About 1844 James Brown moved with his family from "The Palace" to Putnam Elms. Eleven of his twelve children had been born at "The Palace": George Sumner Brown, who died in infancy; Catharine, who married Willard Day, was born January 11, 1823; Daniel Putnam Brown who died in infancy; Emily who was horn September 20, 1827; Anne Putnam who was born July 25, 1829 and married Asa R. Bigelow September 13, 1855; George, who was born July 30, 1832; James Dixon who died in infancy; Putnam Brown who was born December 2, 1836; John Murdock Brown who was born April 28, 1839; Jane Camp Brown, who was born May 19, 1841; and Edward R. Brown who was born February 28, 1844. Another James Dixon Brown was born April 29, 1846.
In March 1845, James Brown recorded three deeds from the heirs of Daniel Putnam (Brooklyn Land Records, Vol. 8, pp. 221, 222, 334, 335, 336). Each deed quit-claimed two pieces: "one piece with the mansion house thereon, bounded south by land of John Weaver and James Brown, west by land of Joseph Williams, Philip Scarborough and Ebenezer Scarborough, north by land of Ebenezer Scarborough and John Day, east by highway leading from Trinity Church in Brooklyn to Pomfret, containing two hundred and ninety acres * * *." The aggregate consideration expressed in these deeds is ten thousand dollars. He had previously acquired in 1832 from the estate a parcel on the east side of Church Street, which was a part of the farm later occupied by his son George, for a consideration of five hundred seventy dollars. (Brooklyn Land Records Vol. 6, page 420). It is possible that it required those intervening years to accumulate this considerable sum.
When John Murdock Brown married Eliza Putnam Day
March 30, 1869, James Brown built the south wing and moved into it, turning
over the older part to John and his family. At least that is the Fogg version;
but Sophie Brown says that "the family spilled all over the house".
The two unmarried daughters, Emily and Jane Camp Brown lived with the family.
Emily Putnam Brown, who became blind in her old age, died March 14, 1873, and
James Brown died December 16, 1877.
After the death of James Brown, John Murdock Brown acquired Putnam Elms in part by inheritance and in part by purchase from other heirs. His older brother, George, had established himself on a farm directly across Church Street from Putnam Elms after his marriage May 5, 1857 to Catharine T. Camp, the daughter of Reverend Riverius Camp. John M. Brown lived out his life at Putnam Elms and there his three daughters were born, and the tradition of gracious hospitality to relatives and friends and the visiting clergy was maintained.
When John Murdock Brown died on January 4, 1897, he
devised Putnam Elms to his widow, Eliza, who sold and conveyed it to Emily
Malbone Morgan in 1906. (Brooklyn
Land Records, Vol. 17 p. 235). The deed indicates that approximately 183 acres
were included in the transfer. Emily Morgan was the daughter of Emily Malbone
Brinley, who married Henry K. Morgan, April 14, 1846, and the granddaughter of
Catharine Putnam, eldest daughter of Daniel, who married George Brinley, April
30, 1805.
For thirty years, Emily Malbone Morgan made Putnam Elms her home in the warmer months and many were the descendants of Daniel who enjoyed her hospitality in the full flowering of that old tradition of the house. To the north of the old house, she built Kingswood as a vacation home for girls who earned their own livelihoods and that was a busy place during the summer, too. She served as president of the Colonel Daniel Putnam Association and with George I. Browne supplied the major part of the vitality of that group dedicated to preserving the history of a neighborhood and a family and a way of life.
When Emily Morgan died February 27, 1937, she devised
Putnam Elms, its contents, and a trust fund for its maintenance to Julia Morgan
Firth and Emily Malbone Morgan Hooker for their joint lives and the life of the
survivor, then to her grandnieces, Catharine Putnam Hooker and Katherine Crosby
for their joint lives and the life of the survivor, remainder to the Colonel
Daniel Putnam Association, as a memorial to her mother, also Emily Malbone
Morgan (Brooklyn Probate Records, Vol. 13 p. 548), with the right in any life
tenant to convey to the remainderman. The distribution (Brooklyn Probate
Records, Vol. 14, p. 79) shows the
area to be approximately 200 acres. Mrs. Firth quit-claimed the property to the
Colonel Daniel Putnam Association April 14, 1938 (Brooklyn Land Records, Vol. 20, p. 182).
With the advent of inflation, the income from the
endowment fund is scantly sufficient for the maintenance of the property. A
plan has been drawn providing for a resident caretaker, which would make the
Elms available for visitation by the public, at least during the spring,
summer, and fall; but funds are not now available to defray the costs. God
willing, some day the place of origin of our line of Putnams, and the house
that many Browns, Brownes, Brinleys, Putnams, Days, Morgans, Bigelows, Coxes
and Wilcoxes regard as the family homestead, will be open for the wayfarer who
is interested in that tough historic integer, an Old New England Family!