5 William Clapp House – Meeting Room – Clapp Family Panel no. 3
Clapp Family panel no. 3
The Clapp Family
William Clapp was born in 1779 and Elizabeth in 1783. The Federal-era generation of which they were a part had been raised to aspire to economic prosperity and social mobility.
While skilled tradesmen such as William Clapp were proud to be part of the prosperous class of “mechanics,” they hoped for more for their sons. With hard work and the right connections, young men could expect to rise quickly in society in the Federal era. Upwardly-mobile families like the Clapps educated their sons to be part of a growing professional class and prepared their daughters to be the wives of such young men.
The Clapp House was spacious, but it quickly filled to overflowing. Elizabeth bore nine children between 1808 and 1821. Two died in infancy, but seven lived at least into their teens. It was common to lose children to childhood diseases or accidents, and Elizabeth must have felt extremely lucky to have the majority of her children remain healthy. Sadly, the three youngest – Rebecca, aged 21; James, aged 19; and Alexander, aged 17 – died within four days of each other when typhoid swept through Dorchester in 1838. It was a devastating blow to the family.
About this time, young Lemuel, who was engaged to be married, supervised the addition of a new kitchen and servant wing onto the rear of the house, partly in response to the family’s plans to expand their agricultural business.
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Lemuel Clapp and Charlotte (Tuttle) Clapp
Photo reproduction from the original ambrotype
May 7, 1858
Gift of Frank L. Clapp, 1952
Lemuel Clapp, William’s youngest surviving son, married Charlotte Tuttle of boston in 1840. Lemuel was 43 and Charlotte 40 at the time this picture ws taken; they had been married 18 years and 5 children.
Lemuel and his bride Charlotte Tuttle moved into the mansion house in 1840. As his siblings married and moved out, Lemuel remained to raise his family and care for his aging parents. Frederick and his new wife Martha Blake built next door.
In the 1830s Dorchester was still a small town of about 2,000 families. William’s adult children socialized within a small circle of extended family and old Dorchester families. The children sometimes attended lectures and musical program and were occasionally taken into Boston for special events. Much of their social and political life revolved around the church. While the Clapps were nominally Congregationalists, as members of the First Parish they practiced the popular “new religion” (Unitarianism). Perhaps influenced by their liberal pastors, the Clapps supported a number of progressive causes. They were especially ardent abolitionists, aligning themselves with the “Garrisonians,” the most extreme branch of the anti-slavery activists in New England.
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Anti-Slavery petition
Copy of Petition of Women of Dorchester 1835
The undersigned, women of Dorchester, in the County of Norfolk, respectfully pray you, immediately, to repeal all laws in this state, which make any distinction among its inhabitants on account of colour.
Historic American Building Survey, Library of Congress
This petition was part of a state-wide campaign headed by William Lloyd Garrison,. Supporters of the bill sought no only the abolition of slavery but also the full and qual participation of African American citizens in the civic life of the nation. It was considered a radical idea!
Note the names of Rebecca Dexter Clapp, Elizabeth Clapp and Charlotte Tuttle near the top fof the third column. Rebecca was Elizabeht & William’s daughter. Charlotte would latebeome their daughter-in-law. The extended Clapp family, most notably William’s brother, Richard, were ardent abolitionists and supported “radical” organizations such as Garrison’s American Anti-slavery Society.
After William Clapp’s death in 1860, Lemuel and Charlotte changed the original staircase in the William Clapp House to its current style and added the Italianate-style front porch.
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stair newel post and banister
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front porch
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William Clapp House
Reproduction from original HABS photograph
Taken August, 13, 1937
Photograph by Arthur C. Haskell
Historic American Building Survey, Library of Congress
The William Clapp House was home to four generations of Clapps
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Photograph of the Ebenezer Clapp House, cropped to show servant in doorway
Servants in Doorway
Detail from original photograph
Ebenezer Clapp House, Willow Court
Taken about
Gift of Frank L. Clapp, 1952
Look closely, and you can see two maids in the doorway of the Ebenzer Clapp House,. It was one of the many Clapp houses in the district. We don’t have any pictures of servants from our Clap phouse, buw we do know tha tth family had help. In 1835, Lemuel and his family were living in the big house with his aging parents. Bridge Conners/?????, a young Irish maid, and James McDaniel, an 18-years old “hired man,” were part of the housewhold. They probably lived in the servant wing added about 1838. According to family tradition, girls from Nova Scotia , also worked on the farm, possibly in the dairy, as well as helping with housework.
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William Channing Clapp
Photo reproduction of watercolor on photograph
Taken about 1858
Gift of Frank L. Clapp, 1853
Lemuel and Charlotte’s son, born in 1843, is seen here at about age 15. Willie, his brother James and their sisters Rebecca, Elizabeth and Sarah were raised here in the mansion house of their grandfather. Willie inherited the house from his father. He went on to manage the farm and dairy and raise his own three sons here.
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Rebecca Dexter Clapp
Photo reproduction of watercolor on photograph
Taken about 1858
Gift of Frank L. Clapp, 1853
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Receipt
Photo reproduction of manuscript document
November 1 date
Clapp Family Papers, DHS Archives
William Clapp Withington was the son of Elizzabeth Clapp (Williams’ daughter) and the Rev. Hiram Wighington, a &Unitarian minister who has also been raided in Dorchester. the newlyweds moved to Leominister, where Elizaebeth died in 1843, less than a month after the birth of her son. Whn Hiram died in 1848, the orphaned toddler was sent home to live with is maternal grandparnets. Young William actually was raised next door, in the house of his Uncle Frederick, who had a son the same age. William Clapp remained the child’s legal guardian and paid for his care, as this receipt attests.