The big house on Church Street

First of all, I noticed the names of Esther F. Fraser and William E. Fraser in a deed handed to me by Robert Trainor, and something clicked in this old head of mine, and it wasn't long until I was on the telephone trying to get in touch with Reverend Jack Farrell, who lives in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. He is a priest serving a very large parish there, and is a cousin of mine.

I will not attempt to delineate the long lineage, but will say that my great-grandmother Letitia Ann Wolfe, a daughter of Nicolas Wolfe and Regina Wagner, married James Benjamin Gerhardt.

I am fortunate to have had the privilege of knowing my great-grandmother, Letitia (1846-1939). They produced six children: John, who died in 1867, Annie (my grandmother), married Leonard Winters, a Liverpool shipbuilder; Hannah Catherine became Mrs. John Wright; Ethel married Joseph Wentzell, Elizabeth (Lizzie) became the belated bride of William Hartman, and was the only one to reside in Western Head. Ada married Mark Farrell and that is where the Farrell relationship with this story began.

John and Margaret Fraser, Rev. Jack Farrell's great-grandparents (on his mother's side), commissioned George Stafford, local builder, to construct the house in I896,and they moved into it in 1897.It was designed by John Fraser and, at that time, occupied land that stretched all the way to Main Street, where the revitalized Mersey Hotel sits.

Rev. Jack Farrell's great-grandparents had been living in Mill Village, where John Fraser operated a carriage business. By 1897, their new house in Liverpool was finished, so they moved to Liverpool to live and operate that business.

In 1931, the Frasers sold the residence to Elizabeth Feener, a nurse, who operated a Cottage Hospital on the premises until 1941, when the house was sold to Jerry and Lillian Nickerson.

Lorimer and Jean Rice were the next owners, and lived there until 1947, when Frank and Shirley Trainor purchased the property, and resided there until they both died.

After a period that the residence was empty, Lyle and Elizabeth Fisher purchased the property from the Trainor estate.

Recently, a young couple, Craig Rutledge, who operates a construction business, and his wife Elizabeth purchased the property from the Fishers, who moved to Milton.