twenty pounds to be paid unto me by the said John Winthrop, I doe fully resigne up all my right of the whole towne of Ipswch as farre as the bounds thereof shall goe, all the woods, meadowes, pastures & broken up grounds, unto the said John Winthrop in the name of the rest of the English there planted, and I doe bind my selfe to make it cleere from the claimes of any other Indians whatsoever. Witnesses to this: Adam Winthrop Hugh Hilliard his marke Deane Winthrop Maskonomett― his marke A subsequent deed dated 28 June, 1638, states that the money bad been paid. In 1637, he conveyed it to Samuel Symonds, who became Deputy-Governor of the Colony, and was an eminent Judge and man of affairs. When Mr. Symonds bought it there were no buildings, and his first care was to erect a house for himself. He gave such minute directions to Mr. Winthrop, who assumed charge of the building, and the letter is so characteristic of the man and the times, that I append a considerable portion of it. To John Winthrop Jr. To the Right Worshipfull his much honored brother, John Wenthrop of Ipswich, Esqr. Speed this I pray. Good Sir: I have received your lettre, I thanke you for it, it hath bin my earnest desire to have had an oportunity longe ere this to have bene with you againe, but was hindered by the weather. . . . Concerneinge the bargaine that I have made with you for Argilla, my wife is well content, & it seems that my father Peter' hath imparted it to the Governor, who (he tells me) approves of it very well, alsoe soe I hope I shall now meete with noe rub in that businesse; but go on comfortablely accordeing as I have & daily doe dispose my affaires for Ipswich. Concerneinge the frame of the howse, I thanke you kindely for your love & care to further my busines. I could be well content to leave much of the contrivance to your owne liberty vpon what we have talked together about it already. 1 Rev. Hugh Peter of Salem, who married Elizabeth, widow of Edmund Reade, and mother of Martha, the second wife of Symonds. I am indiferent whether it be 30 foote or 35 foote longe, 16 or 18 foote broade. I would have wood chimnyes at each end, the frames of the chimnyes to be stronger then ordinary to beare good heavy load of clay for security against fire. You may let the chimnyes be all the breadth of the howse if you thinke good; the 2 lower dores to be in the middle of the howse one opposite to the other. Be sure that all the dorewaies in every place be soe high that any man may goe vpright under. The staiers I thinke had best be placed close by the dore. It makes no great matter though there be noe particion vpon the first floore; if there be, make one biger then the other. For windowes let them not be over large in any roome, & as few as conveniently may be let all have current shutting draw-windowes, having respect both to present & future vse. I think to make it a girt howse will make it more chargeable then neede; however the side bearers for the second story being to be loaden with corne etc. must not be pinned on, but rather eyther sett into the studds or borne vp with false studds & soe tenanted in at the ends. I leave it to you and the carpenters. In this story over the first, I would have a particion, whether in the middest or over the particion vnder, I leave it. In the garrett no particion but let there be one or two lucome windowes, if two both on one side. I desire to have the sparrs reach downe pretty deep at the eves to preserve the walls the better from the wether. I would have it sellered all over, and soe the frame of the howse accordeingly from the bottom. I would have the howse stronge in timber though plaine and well brased. I would have it covered with very good oake-hart inch board, for the present to be tacked on onely for the present, as you tould me. Let the frame begin from the bottom of the seller, & soe in the ordinary way upright for I can hereafter (to save the timber within grounde) run vp a thin brick work without. I think it best to have the walls without to be all clap boarded besides the clay walls. It were not amisse to leave a doreway or two within the seller, that soe hereafter one may make comings in from without, & let them be both vpon that side which the lucome window or windows be. I desire to have the howse in your bargaineing to be as compleatly mentioned in particulars as may be, at least so far as you bargaine for, & as speedily done alsoe as you can. I thinke it not best to have too much timber felled near the howse place westward etc. Here are as many remembrances as come to minde. I desire you to be in my stead herein, & what euer you doe shall please me. I desire you would talke with Mr. Boreman & with his helpe buy for me a matter of 40 bushells of good Indian corne of him or of some honest man to be paidd for now in ready money & to be deliuered at any time in the sumer as I please to vse it. I would deale with such a man as will not repent if corne rise, as I will not if it fall. Thus acknowledging my bouldness, I desire to present our respectfull love to you, my sister, & your little one, not forgetting my daughter, I cease, committing you to him that is mercy & wisdome it selfe & soe rest. Yours-ever S. Symonds. A lengthy postscript is appended which is omitted here. The letter bears no date, but was written, evidently, soon after the purchase of the Argilla farm, as it was called even in Winthrop's time, sometime before the spring of 1638.1 Its quaint and labored phrasing does not obscure the meaning. We can see the stout farm house, with its overhanging eaves, and small oblong windows, with clapboarded sides, and roof of inch oak boards, and huge chimneys, one at either end, built with wooden splints well daubed with clay, standing in a clearing, which is bounded by the natural forest on the west, only a little way from the door. Exceptional interest attaches to his remark about "the side bearers" as he expresses it, being "let in to the studs or supported with extra studs, and not simply pinned on to the studs. This is precisely the style of architecture of the ancient Whipple House, lately restored by the Historical Society, in the most ancient part, which has proved a puzzle to architects, who have examined it. The studs reach from sill to plate and the girths are let in to the studs on the inner side and pinned to them. This may indicate that this portion of the house may have been built not far from the time of the Argilla farm house. It indicates as well that the earliest houses had two chimneys, which is confirmed by other incidental allusions I have seen, with regard to other houses, and that the single chimney-stack of huge proportions was probably resorted to, when building could be done with more leisure and greater facility. In this case, however, bricks are alluded to, and they were evidently in use at this early period. Here, in the wilderness, sat this lonely farm house, the only dwelling probably in this whole region. Its exact site is uncertain. An ancient cellar is known to have been located on a knoll beyond the causeway, southeast of the present house, and several hundred feet away. Another house once stood a little to the east of the present dwelling. But this was of later date. Here the good magistrate and Deputy Governor spent many restful days, when he could escape the burdensome toil of his official life. He had a town house with three acres of land, where the old Seminary building and adjoining residences stand to-day; but he loved his farm and farm life, as his letter reveals. There were times when Indian assault was feared, and in October 1675, 1 The origin of the name, Argilla, is unknown. Gradually it was extended to the whole vicinity, and the road has been called by the same name for generations. the General Court voted that a guard of two soldiers should be stationed here at public expense, to guard his house, because it was so remote from neighbors, and he was so much in the country's service. In his old age, the Deputy Governor sold a piece of his farm to Edward Bragg. The deed was drawn, April 21, 1676, and describes a nine-acre lot, with a barn and other buildings, which "abutteth toward the east and South upon my farme called Argilla, & upon Mr. Saltonstall's meadow toward the East, upon the ground of Mr. Samuel Rogers toward the North, and upon the ground of the sayd Mr. Rogers and of the said Edward Bragg toward the West." Also all that parcel of land (four acres and a half) lying between the farme of the sayd Samuell and the present common ground of Ipswich, y' abutteth upon an orchard of the sayd Edward Bragg's toward the north and upon part of my farm towards the South; and it is the full meaning of both parties that the way leading to and from the farm aforesayd called Argilla & my house erected thereupon, through Edward Bragg's yard be continued free forever. that way is not intended by the word free as a common highway for all men, but particularly belonging to Argilla." It appears from this that he sold Bragg, land that lay between the main farm and the highway, reserving a way to his house across it. In old deeds of division of a century ago, frequent allusion is made to a lane, then called Caldwell's lane, which was forty-five rods from the bridge over the creek. This makes it coincident with an old road, that leaves the road on the west side of Mr. Alden Story's residence, and leads over the old causeway to the knoll, where the ancient cellar has been filled. In all probability this was the way Mr. Symonds reserved, and his house stood over this old cellar, on the knoll, beyond the causeway. He died on October, 1678, while in Boston, and was buried there. He left a widow and sons, Harlakendine and William, and six married daughters. The farm was divided among them, but in 1695 Thos. Baker of Topsfield, who had married Priscilla, one of Mr. Symonds' daughters, began to buy from the other heirs. A series of these deeds, supplemented with later partitions and agreements, and covering a century of the Baker ownership, with a multiplicity of signatures and seals, has been preserved, and has 1 Ipswich Deeds, 4: 39. lately been given by Mr. John B. Brown to the Historical Society. Baker bought the interest of Symonds Epes, Jan. 10, 1694-5, that of Harlakenden Symonds, Feb. 4, 1695-6. The heirs of William Symonds gave a quitclaim on July 25, 1717. John Baker, son of Thomas, succeeded to the ownership. Joseph, Jacob and Philip Fowler quitclaimed to him, March 2, 1720. Timothy Bragg sold seven acres and ninety rods of the land, previously within the farm, Feb. 1, 1723–4, and Thomas Berry, attorney for the Saltonstall heirs, sold him a tract of upland and salt-marsh, abutting on Labour-in-vain-Creek, Dec. 12: 1730. The whole western portion of the original Argilla farm seems thus to have come into the possession of John Baker. Colonel Baker died Aug. 1, 1734, aged forty-four, and left the farm to his son John. The latter became a man of large influence and great public usefulness. He was Town Clerk for many years, one of the Committee of Correspondence and Inspection during the Revolution, Colonel of a regiment, feoffee of the Grammar School, and Justice of the Sessions Court, and not least of all, father of twelve children. His town residence was the substantial dwelling on the Heard property, facing the South Green, now occupied by Mr. Charles M. Kelly. In the partition of the estate in 1786, the widow received" the southwest end of the mansion in town," and two acres near the house, from the house-block southwest by the street, etc," with the southwest end of the house at the farm with 33 rods of land bounding on Caldwell's lane four rods and twenty links, and other lands. John received twenty-five and one half acres in the great pasture," bounded by "the highway to the Town" and " the highway leading from Cape Ann to Castle Hill," with other lands, including Eagle Nest Island. Allen Baker received fifteen acres fronting on the highway, about forty-five rods from Labour-in-vain Bridge to Caldwell's lane, with the northeast end of the farm house and the new barn, with other land. After their mother's death in 1797 John received" one acre at the North corner of the close, so called, beginning at the north corner of John's new dwelling house," and Allen, the west end of the old dwelling house, etc., "with all the privilidges to sd lane (Caldwell's) which belong to sd. Argilla farm.” The new dwelling house," of John Baker is now owned and occupied by Mr. Alden Story. Allen Baker built the substantial hip-roofed farm |