Friday Fotos – This Old House [551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island]

551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The small extension with the tall chimney is the kitchen.

551 High Street showing the barn beyond the kitchen

My grandmother, Ruth (Cooke) Carpenter, by her flower garden
 at 551 High Street, Cumberland, Rhode Island

The house at 551 High Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island was home to the Miller and Carpenter families for several generations from roughly 1767 until 1963 when my maternal grandmother, Ruth Eaton (Cooke) Carpenter, sold the property after the death of my grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter.  The Miller/Carpenter property was located on the east side of High Street immediately south of where Blackstone Street meets High Street.  The property was about 3 - 4 acres in size and was run as a small farm into the late 1800s.

It is presently believed that the first of the Millard/Miller family to live in Cumberland was Daniel Millard and his wife, Hannah Thayer.  Daniel was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts in 1713.  Hannah was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island in 1710.  Their son, Peter Millard, was born in Rehoboth on June 16, 1745.  [At some point Peter changed the spelling of his surname to Miller.]  He married Anne Aldrich in Cumberland on November 13, 1766.   It is believed that Peter and Anne built the house at 551 High Street in approximately 1767.

When the property was sold in 1963, it was originally intended to be the location for a funeral home, but apparently there was neighborhood objection to such a business locating in what was predominantly a residential area.  Ultimately a fire station and community baseball field were located on the property (as pictured immediately below).

Baseball field at the site of the former 551 High Street, Cumberland, RI

Looking north on High Street at the baseball field and
the fire station behind the large tree (center).

My lineage from Daniel Millard and Hannah Thayer . . .

Generation 1:                Daniel Millard m. Hannah Thayer

Generation 2:                Peter Millard/Miller m. Anne Aldrich

Generation 3:                Asquire Miller (1775 – 1825) m. Amey Bishop (1781 – 1864)

Generation 4:                Eber Miller (1805 – 1877) m. Abby Hunt (1807 – 1893)

Generation 5:                Ruth Miller (1828 – 1893) m. Samuel Carpenter (1828 – 1904)

Generation 6:                Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 – 1929) m. Sarah Freeman (1858 - 1945)                                  

Generation 7:                Everett S. Carpenter (1891- 1962) m. Ruth E. Cooke (1897 – 1979)

                                      . . . my grandparents.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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