Memories of Mrs. Samuel B Wardwell a descendant of Hart Massey one of the earliest Watertown residents are presented in an interview conducted by Mrs. Catherine Martin and Miss Bonnie Ross members of the preservation and restoration committee of the Watertown bicentennial commission. (done 1970)

Mrs. M..we are hoping you can tell us a great deal about early Watertown, what you remember

Mrs W..are you more interested in people, houses or the picture generally?

Mrs. M. both the picture and the houses because we have been talking about the houses of a hundred years or more for a bicentennial booklet, of course, we are using David Lanes wonderful pictures.

Mrs W those were marvelous pictures. Well of course, I was born on the corner of Sherman and tonight streets in the house I was born in has been replaced by the White House now occupied by the Capone's. I think one of the interesting corners was the corner of Sherman and Mullin streets. I grew up knowing as Babcock corner. Does that mean anything to you, the Babcock corner?

Mrs. M. There was the Babcock family who lived there

Mrs W. the corner where the little house was became a church where Reverend Gair lived and died recently. The one on the west corner was the home of the Babcock parents and one daughter became the wife of A R Flower

Mrs. M Oh you mean Mrs. Anson Flower?

Mrs W. yes and she went to live in that lovely lovely right house. Her sister became Mrs. Richard Hungerford and lived catty-corner across the street in that little house which was torn down for that parking lot which was behind the George Norton House, and the brother lived on the southern corner where the Rodger waits lived. But that too has been torn down where the Montgomery offices are. Then right back of the A R Flower house was another Babcock. So the parents and the four children lived in that tiny house on the corner which was very nice and the mother used to tell stories about the daughter's going to parties when she was young. the babcocks had very very little money at the time. But they became the carriage works people and did very well as time went on. there were three daughters, and they were the prettiest girls and mother said they would go to parties and they were always the best dressed. The same dress and a very simple one was so beautifully laundered! now the Anson Flowers are the ones who lived on that corner longer than anyone else, in that great house which is now the undertaker's place and oh what a lovely gracious house it was!

Mrs. M Who was it who owned the house on the next corner out on Sherman?

Mrs W. well that is where I was born on that lot. That house was built by Mr Tilden who has been gone a long long time and is now occupied by the Capones.

Mrs. M. you must remember the lovely houses on Washington Street going up from the library

Mrs W. there are very few left. The Herring House was on the corner where the Holiday Inn is now, on the Clinton Street corner and that the great Stone Mansion with the great Stone Barn. I don't know whether you remember during world war II when blood banks were held and the USO was held in the barn or carriage House and of course the Carriage House gave the name to the restaurant but it literally was the carriage house.

Mrs. M. What was the name of the house where the Times is now?

Mrs W well there were two houses in there I think. Let me see, I believe one was owned by a Johnson family and right across the street was a lovely little white house which was owned by a Mr. Smith who was in the early history of Watertown and did a great deal for the town, but seems to have been lost in the shuffle because his name was so simple

Mrs. M. And then on the Sterling Street side?

Mrs W You mean the Stone House?

Mrs. M. Yes the one owned by Dr. Rath

Mrs W Well that belong to Fred Flower who was a cousin of Anson. He and his wife were away a great deal when they did live there. They were very stylish and they had no children. They were society people. But I never knew them very well. I knew the Anson Flowers well and I did think that Mrs. Anson Flower did a great deal of good for Watertown and I don't think that people would ever appreciate what she did do because she was so capable and so active on various boards and so good with all of the young people along with being charming society lady herself. however the Fred Flowers, I knew them just to speak to. Then there was the Van Brent house which became the White House in but that was not as old as many others. And then the Taggart house was a really old house, that was one of the older ones, beautiful house with beautiful lines and beautiful woodwork and proportions.

Mrs. M Mrs. Wardwell, among the ones that are still remaining what ones do you remember is the really old ones?

Mrs W. the one that is the Methodist Center that belong to Henry Babcock's is very old and that was always a gracious, charming, lovely house.. and of course the Cooper house, that was just torn down was another very old one I remember that at the time Colonel Hugh Wise live there because he, during football season, always got out all of his first aid supplies and sat on the back porch every afternoon, every child in the neighborhood played football there, and every mother like myself was perfectly at ease knowing that if anything happened to her dear son Colonel Wise would take care of him and send him home. Oh I felt I had a babysitter all during football season.

Mrs. M. How did you feel when your house came down?

Mrs W well I was away and I hoped it would be down before I came back but it wasn't. I was right here when it happened. I became so interested that I went everyday to superintend. They had a terrible time taking it down. It was so well-built that I had no intentions of coming down. The workmen would stop and admire the beautiful woodwork and doors, so I really had a very good time when it came down.

Mrs. M. Now on Clinton Street there were several of the very old ones.

Mrs W I think that Clinton Street was the nicest Street. Toward Washington Street was the old Sherman House and that was not a pretentious house. It was just a small frame house but it was cozy and charming, a delightful house. George, Charlie, Mrs Wilmott were three of the six Sherman children who were born there. And then came our house and then the Ed Sterling House which had first been the Addison farwell house, and that was a very old house and that was a very interesting house. And the ward will house was next to that. Mr. Farwell's daughter married Mr. Wardwell so the daughter lived next door to her father. And great backyards extended along behind the two houses.

Mrs. M Now the large brick house on the corner owned by Dr. Adler today. Whose house was that?

Mrs W I don't remember who built it but when I was a very little girl Bea Fox's grandparents came to town. Their name was Stiles and they came from Middletown Connecticut and I can still see her handsome mother. She was very tall, very striking and she had a greyhound, and no one else had a greyhound and there was Mrs. Stiles, with her majestic carriage with the beautiful Greyhound on a leash. She married John Baird who was owner of a very good jewelry store. These mother was a very very talented musician and a very artistic woman and my family were all musical and all played in every little orchestra and that was how we knew them so well. From the moment they came to town she was involved in musical things. When I was first married I lived in the Kidwell house which later became the bugbee house. Where Judge Wait still lives, is the house where Judge Smith lived.

The Knowlton's were across the street, with the beautiful grounds and the lovely style that so many of the old houses had. you went in the front door and there was a great wide Hall that went straight through the house and you looked out on the lovely garden. That was the way the Sterling House was built also. Next to the knowlton's was the home of the Baggs, Eunice and Harvey's parents, a small frame house.

Eventually Dr. McCall bought that house. Then next to them, the Lansing's. John Lansing, Robert Lansing father.

Next to them was the Farwell house. Then came the Treadwell house, the Lansing's were related to the Wardwells and the Sterlings, and the Farwells were related to the Wardwells and the Sterlings and they were all are Presbyterians, great supporters of the first Presbyterian Church. And I really think that the Ed Smiths were also supporters. Now when we Remingtons came down from TenEyck Street we upset the applecart badly. In the first place there were a lot of children in the family and everybody else was grown up down there until we suddenly burst upon them and we all went to Trinity and our hours were different. But we got along just fine.

The F R Farwell house was charming, just charming, again with a great big backyard and my aunt owned it for quite a while. It was finally sold to an undertaker. And next to him was Mrs. Bones, Auntie Bones. First of all That was a Lansing house, that was where Ed, Charlie and Fannie Lansing grow up, first cousins of Robert, Emma, and Kate and they lived there. But then their parents died in the children scattered and then Mrs. Bones to live there. So that's Clinton Street

Mrs. M I have always been interested in the house just beyond the Taylor house in the next block of Clinton, the lovely white square roofed house

Mrs W. it belonged to the Mullin family. They were a very old family but I can't really tell you too much about it. The Mullin family was connected with the Boyers. Then the Horrs, Robert and Agnes, bought it and they have taken beautiful care of it. And they have been very generous

Mrs. M. coming back towards Sherman Street on the same side, there were two very beautiful houses which were changed the year of our big snowfall, whose were they?

Mrs W One was the John Upham house and the other one belonged to George Clark. Both have been very much improved by recent owners. I knew them both as a little girl, and I've known them in recent years. I haven't been in the Upham house in quite a few years.

Mrs. M. who owned the Brown Mansion in Brownville at one time?

Mrs W. I don't know that he owned the Mansion but he was instrumental in doing a great deal of work there

Mrs. M. Was the house which Dr Witthohn bought a Whitney house?

Mrs W it was the Walter Camp House at the turn of the century. And I think that the same architect plan my parents' house. Of course our home was originally my great uncle's house and those two houses were identical

Mrs. M You're home I remember as the lovely Tudor home.

Mrs W. that house originally was just a square Stone House and that was where my in-laws started housekeeping. When they wanted to enlarge the house they didn't want to give up the original Stone house so they built on that wing, which made the house much larger but that explains the rather strange house. The wing was in the back and just stood out in front remember? The front part was the original Stone House

Mrs. M. Mrs. Wardwell, somebody told us that you were related to the Hubbard's.

Mrs W that is a question which I couldn't tell you. We were related but it was really not a close relationship. One of my mother's first cousins was named Georgie Hubbard, and I don't think it came down to us at all, (Note: That makes no sense!!) but she definitely was descended from Noadiah Hubbard, but the cousins were very great friends and so we children grew up going to the Stone House in Champion once or twice every summer, and we were very, very good friends. When they had the centennial celebration I went up to help them and they listed me as a direct descendant which entertained The Hubbards greatly

Mrs R. The Flowers were related to the Masseys weren't they?

Mrs W oh yes yes. Hart Massey was the Flowers great-grandfather. Have you ever read the Massey book? It's in the library, I'm very sure. The younger brother came here with Hart when he settled here and the younger brother pushed on and settled near Toronto.

Grandfather Adams lived in the house on the corner of Holcomb and Clinton which became Mrs. Louis Monroe's house and that was a pretty fine house. They had two beautiful big living rooms that could be made into one huge room, big enough for orchestra rehearsals. Everybody played and that is what you did. Two played violins and cornet etc and that Ayres family and many others. When I was 12 years old, we moved to Clinton Street but I have always lived in that section.

Originally the Treadwell's lived on the site of the Agricultural Insurance. When they move from there they bought the house on Washington Street and remodeled it. It was always a lovely and friendly house, low-ceilinged. Where the Jefferson County Historic society is today, was the Edwin Paddock house and just below that where the community Savings Bank is today was another Paddock house.

Where the Masonic temple is there was a lovely Stone House just a lovely Stone House owned by Miss Emma Lansing

Next to that was the Sewell house and the Sewells were very interesting people. Mr Sewell was one of the founders of Bagley and Sewell and was a member of the Trinity for years. There were four daughters and each of them played a very important part in the history of Watertown

Mrs. M..the original city of Watertown where industry began also had the homes of many early settlers.

Mrs Wyes but by the time I knew very much about it, the people had begun to build on lower Washington Street, Clinton, Mullin, tonight and Paddock. And I knew about that section because I lived there all my life. I often think that Huntington Street could have been one of the loveliest streets in town

Mrs R Was Public Square much the way it is today?

Mrs W well everything centered around Public Square. A Bushnell's store - everyone went there. There are many interesting pictures of the stores which surrounded the Square, many grocery stores

Mrs. M of course, I remember the Nill and Jess store from my childhood where there was the most delicious ribbon candy in bushel baskets at Christmas and where you walked through the store from Arsenal Street to court.

Mrs R And there was Benadey's drug store where you could get pink vanilla ice cream sodas

Mrs W. of course on Massey Street, Mrs. Emma Flower Taylor's house where the YMCA swimming pool is now was on Massey property and there was another Massey house next to that.

Mrs. M Mrs. Wardwell what do you remember of Watertown as a little girl growing up here?

Mrs W.. Roads, first I remember the roads. of course then we did not have snow plows, naturally. We were talking at dinner about how lovely it was when there were slaves and the ladies went out to deliver their Christmas presents, driven then with the slays and The Coachman. of course the snow would get deeper and deeper but it would get packed down. Everything was fine until spring when it began to melt. Then you got stuck in the ropes. Now Washington Street was the favorite spot for horse racing and all of the young men, my husband included, would use it for that purpose. If they could skate to church they did and they would race up and down Washington Street. Unfortunately it was very upsetting to the congregation of the first Presbyterian Church. Other houses on Washington Street included the gamble house, and the White House owned by the Ellises and then there was the Dulles house, and then the Yost house - of course the Dulles house on Mullin Street was very lovely.

Mrs. M what do you remember about the Woodruff?

Mrs W. funny thing, I don't really remember much about it because it was always there. We kind of took it for granted. But it was always considered so exciting, there were always parties there. Of course at one time it was the nicest hotel for miles and miles around. People who invested money in it had a great deal of courage, and for a while it was the last word. I went there a great deal in recent years because my aunt had given up her home and went there to live, for several years and I've often stayed there. It was a very well run for a long long time but toward the end it was getting pretty shabby. And after a while they just couldn't afford to keep it in repair. But it was just impossible and it's too bad.

Mrs. M my mother remembered the Washington Hall block which later became the YMCA

Mrs W that's where we had entertainments, theaters and speakers. Of course we haven't talked about the Sterling House and that is where holy family School is today. That was a very beautiful house and around it a park. And the only other house close by was the John Knowlton house, brother of George Knowlton. And the two families were great friends. The Knowlton house was smaller but nice. But the Sterling House was a great, gracious Stone House. But there are many changes in Watertown, so many of the very old houses torn down. The Robert Lansing house backed right up to the Walter Atkinson House on Mullin Street. There was a runway between the two houses, of course, there was a beautiful library at the Atkinson House. On the Southside there were two very large houses, one owned by Byron Taylor, the countess de Frasso's father, Dorothy Taylor was just my age. Jack Taylor was her uncle.

Mrs. M Do you remember when the Paddocks lived on Washington Street?

Mrs W. Well I remember Mrs Paddock and we all called her Auntie Paddock.