Hamilton W. Scranton House

Circa 1837 ♦ 446 Boston Post Road

The Hamilton W. Scranton House was built around 1837 and possesses several architectural features typical of that period. The house’s architecture follows the Greek Revival style common in 1830s New England by mimicking the architectural features of a Greek temple. Many Americans sought to mimic Greek architecture because they admired Greece as the birthplace of democracy and felt a kindred spirit for the Greeks who revolted against the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s. The house’s rectangular layout and its gable facing the street are emblematic of Greek Revival architecture. Furthermore, the off-center location of the front door gives the house an unbalanced interior plan, known as a side-hall plan, where the main hall and stairs stand on one side of the building. Such an interior plan is also typical of Greek Revival architecture.

Hamilton W. Scranton was born on January 24, 1814, and moved to Fair Haven as a young man. In Fair Haven, Scranton met Ann Maria Rowe, the daughter of Daniel Rowe. Born on January 29, 1817, Ann married Hamilton W. Scranton on May 16, 1838, at the age of 21. A year earlier, in 1837, Hamilton W. Scranton had purchased a parcel of ten acres from his father, Abraham F. Scranton. Shortly after his purchase, Hamilton W. Scranton constructed the home that still stands on the remaining portion of that larger property. In 1841, Hamilton sold the property, including its home and its barn, to his relative, Thomas Scranton, for $1,500. (Hamilton and Ann Scranton had three children; of these, Eugenia Maria and Emily Augusta, born, respectively, in 1840 and 1841, presumably lived in this home; their third child, Charles Hamilton, was born in 1845.)

After purchasing the property, Thomas Scranton sold the property to Samuel Brown Hill in 1842. Samuel Brown Hill was born in 1812 into a family of builders. The Hill family consisted of prominent homebuilders and shipbuilders in Madison. Samuel Brown Hill, as a carpenter, was no exception. Hill’s wife, Cardine, was born in 1820. She and Samuel had three children: Orphena (b. 1840), Charles (b. 1846), and Seldon (b. 1848). Although Hill owned the property, it is possible that his family never inhabited the property. Following six years of ownership, Hill sold the house to William Dudley in 1848.

William Dudley was born in 1810 and worked as a farmer. His wife, Clarissa, was born in 1818. The Dudleys had one child, Susan (b. 1839). William lived with Clarissa at 446 Boston Post Road until his death on May 18, 1863. After Dudley’s death, Clarissa sold the property to Orin and Charles Fowler for $2,250.

The Fowlers owned the property for two years before selling it to Charles Francis of Guilford. Francis, like the property’s previous owners, sold the property after only two years of ownership. The new owner, Lewis Young of Guilford, owned the property for three years before selling it to John F. Parker in 1870.

John F. Parker was a farmer from Clinton. Parker’s exact date of birth is not clear, but he was probably born in 1812 or 1814. Parker’s wife, Emily M. Parker, was born in 1817. The Parkers had at least one son, J. Frank Parker (b. 1850). In 1884, John Parker died. After her husband’s death, Emily Parker continued to live in the house until 1891 when she (or her heirs) sold the home to Ellis Redfield.

A year after Redfield purchased the house, he died. His widow, Ellen, lived at 446 Boston Post Road for fourteen years after her husband’s death. In 1906, she sold the property to William and Ella Hollingworth.

William S. Hollingsworth was born in 1849 and worked as a manufacturer in Manhattan. His wife Ella was born in 1861. In 1881, the Hollingsworths wed. The Hollingsworths had two daughters: Grace and Anne. Grace Hollingsworth was born in 1882 and married St. George Brooke Tucker. Tucker was a bank officer from Texas who was born in 1876. Hollingsworth and Tucker had one son: Beverley Tucker (b. 1923). Grace’s sister, Anne, also married and became Anne S. Milburne. She had two daughters: Grace (b. 1912) and Charlotte (b. 1914). The Hollingsworths also lived with their two servants: Maude Gardner and Pauline Johnston. The Hollingsworth family passed down the house through the generations until 1968 when Beverley Tucker sold the property to John and Alice Morgan.

In 1978, the Morgans sold the house to Virginia Hill of Durham. Hill owned the property for eight years until she sold it to B. J. and Rosanna Burkett in 1986. In 2022, the current owners of the house are Michael and Elizabeth Vogel.