The William Pearl House in Hampton

Sitting at the curve of old Route 6 where it meets Main Street in Hampton, Conn. is a unique house that has stood as witness to Hampton events and history for some 80 years. It is an amazing house which reigns large in my memories from childhood.

My mother, Dorothy Pearl Overbaugh grew up in Hampton with her 2 sisters and brother in a farmhouse at the foot of Hammond Hill. My Grandpa William A. and Grandma Mabel Pearl farmed there for many years. After her death in 1929 and their daughters marrying and moving away, Grandpa, who avidly read the National Geographic magazines he subscribed to, took a train trip to fulfill a dream of traveling to some of those marvelous places he’d read about. On that train trip, he met a widow, Elizabeth McDuffee Fero. They fell in love and soon married. In the early 1930’s, Will and Elizabeth sold the farm to Will’s son, Bill, and moved to the top of Hampton Hill into a newly built home on Main Street and Route 6.

I grew up in Waterbury, Conn. Our family made summer pilgrimages to Hampton to escape the city and revel in the clean air and loveliness of the old village of Hampton. For Mom it was a coming home. For me, as a child, Hampton was a new world of freedom, family and fun. We often stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Elizabeth in that big house on Hampton hill. Entering the house from the big front porch one was immediately aware of the sweet, fresh smell of wood. Even today, most of the beautiful wood trim in the house is unpainted and the wood smell is still detectable. The rooms were large and filled with light, the large, open kitchen where Grandma made the most delectable pancakes, fried chicken, baked beans and pies, always smelled inviting. I am sure that she was a star at church pot luck suppers!

William Austin and Elizabeth (McDuffee Fero) Pearl

Immediately upon entering my grandparents home, I would first stop to enjoy a winter scene of miniature people skiing and iceskating in the little landscape of a snow covered hill and pond. It sat in a glassed-in book cabinet directly opposite the front door. I would then make my way into the kitchen where there was an old secretary desk with space underneath covered by a little curtain that held an old wooden box of blocks and toys. That toy box was brought up to one of the front bedrooms on the 2nd floor for me and set on the wood floor at the foot of a bed where I was free to create imaginary cities, towns, castles, etc. to my heart’s content.

To me as a child, this house was a marvel, and it evoked wonder, pleasure and memories that I have never experienced from any other place. It struck me, when I had a wonderful opportunity in recent years to revisit this special place, that as an adult it still seemed very large and still held a kind of magic for me.

As a child visiting there, I had the run of the house. Large, easy to climb stairs linked the different floors of the home. I explored everywhere and developed definite feelings for certain special spots. One was the sun room on the 2nd floor where Grandma had a day bed, wicker chairs and many flowering plants. It was open and bright and had gorgeous views of the valley and her perennial garden below. The attic was floored and held all sorts of treasures stored there. At each end of the attic were large windows which at the front overlooked the street and at the back overlooked the back yard and the valley. The large basement also had windows and was well lit. Grandpa had his workshop there and Grandma had shelves filled with her preserves and canned goods.

This house is an inviting and well designed treasure, very well constructed, and handily withstood the Hurricane of 1938 despite major wind damage to neighboring homes and structures. When we retired back to New England, had it been offered for sale, we would likely have purchased it. To me, this place in the heart of the beautiful village of Hampton, has a warm and embracing aura.

Pearl Settlement in the West

I am fortunate to have recently been loaned the Pearl genealogy/history written by Marian Arlene Pearl. It has been generously shared with me by Marion Emmons who is now in possession of this history of our family. In the process of copying this record I have come across many interesting tales, learned more about the history of our family from the time of John the immigrant,and I have been blessed with more insight into the lives and times of our ancestors. One of the insights I have come to appreciate is the story of the journey of Laura Shellenbarger’s family from Connecticut to the wilds of Ohio. This courageous act typifies the determination and toughness of those who choose to undertake such a dangerous journey.

Laura contacted me after discovering our blog. Her family is descended from Capt. Timothy Pearl, a son of Timothy from whom our Hampton Pearls are descended, and a half brother of James Pearl, our direct ancestor.

Linda Shellenbarger’s great-great-great grandpa, Oliver Pearl, born in Willington, CT in 1788, left Connecticut to pursue opportunities in the west. He had married Mary Sexton in 1811. Oliver was a farmer and he and Mary lived in Ellington, CT for 8 years after their marriage before “trading his farm for 100 acres of heavily timbered land in what is now Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio. He also acquired 40 acres at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, now a part of Cleveland. With true pioneer courage, this family now consisting of a wife and 4 small children, piled their household furniture and farm equipment into wagons, leaving Connecticut in 1819 for weeks of hazardous traveling. When they reached the pioneer farm at Cuyahoga River, malarial conditions forced them to continue on to their tract of land in Berlin. This was through a wilderness so dense that Mr. Pearl had to cut a road through to enable the teams to haul the wagons. According to history they passed through a Huron Indian village, now the site of the city of Milan, some 8 miles from his homestead. Fortunately, the Indians were friendly at that time to white settlers. Mr. Pearl first erected a cabin of round logs, later replacing it with a more spacious home of hewn logs. This couple was known for their kindness and good works. They helped to organize a Methodist church and were regular in attendance. Ten children were born to this union.”

Some of the information that Marian Arlene Pearl found was in Hewson L. Peeke’s “A Standard History of Erie Co. in 2 vols published in 1916., and The Firelands Historical Soc. Norwalk, Ohio Vol. 111 pg 26 Fireland Pioneers. and Huron Co. D.A.R. records Vol. 2 1812-1939 and Pearl/ History from E. Eldridge, Pearl family Bible.

The Fire Lands resource interested me. In looking up what this referred to, I found the following. The Firelands tract was located at the western end of the Connecticut Western Reserve in what is now the state of Ohio. This land was set aside for people who lived in those Connecticut towns who had lost their homes when the British had burned them during the Revolutionary War. The towns affected were Danbury, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, New London, New Haven, Norwalk and Ridgefield. Eventually about 30 towns were established in the Firelands on the southern shore area of Lake Erie. But, apparently not too many people from the above Connecticut towns took advantage of this opportunity, probably because of Indian hostilities around the War of 1812 and the thickly forested land, that was hard to clear for farming. A number of members of Oliver Pearl’s family did move from northeastern Connecticut to this area of Ohio.

Dorothy Vander Meulen, Pearl Family Historian

Letter from the Pacific sent during World War II

The following letter was published in the Willimantic, CT newspaper during WWII and recently reprinted in the 2009 Pearl Family annual newsletter. The letter was written by Austin Emmons to a lady in Hampton who sent articles to Hampton soldiers stationed overseas. Austin had enlisted along with his cousin and best friend, Arthur B. Pearl. Austin was stationed in New Guinea when he sent this correspondence. It reads:

“Dear Mrs Huling: I have just received from our fair little town, the fine fountain pen. I wish to express sincere appreciation from the depths of my heart.

“To us all, wheresoever we may be there often comes a host of precious memories, memories of our homes and our beloved community and we are storing up memories which will forever dwell with us. Memories that all have poignant significance with our repertoire of wartime exploits.

“When we think of you, our friends and neighbors at home, we do so with a tinge of nostalgic feeling. Our hearts are indeed warmed by these tokens of friendship. It is moreover, encouraging to know that all the good people at home are thinking of us. It gives us an added incentive to fight the good fight, until the joyous day comes, when we will return to a new America, radiant with the same old American spirit. It will be an America that will play an all important role in a world free of tyranny and treachery. It will be a symbol of a righteous glory. This is the America we will return to. May the love and blessing of an all powerful God be with you in your great crusade of more closely binding our home front to the hearts of the boys in all corners of the world.

“Sincerely, Austin E. Emmons”