Jackson Homestead
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Jackson Homestead
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Jackson Homestead
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| Location | Newton, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°21′19″N 71°11′43″W / 42.35528°N 71.19528°WCoordinates: 42°21′19″N 71°11′43″W / 42.35528°N 71.19528°W |
| Built | 1809 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP Reference # | 73000306 |
| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1973 |
The Jackson Homestead, located at 527 Washington Street, in the village of Newton Corner, in Newton, Massachusetts, is an historic house that served as a station on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.
It was built in 1809 in the Federal style by Timothy Jackson (1756–1814) on his family's farm. His son William Jackson (1763–1855) lived in it from 1820 until his death. William Jackson was an abolitionist and was active in politics on the local, state and national levels and served in the United States Congress from 1833 to 1837. The home was occupied by his family until 1932 when it was rented out. In 1949 it was given to the city of Newton and in 1950 the Newton History Museum was established there.
Edward Jackson was born in 1602, in the East End of London. Like his father, he was a nailmaker, and amassed a small fortune so that shortly after his arrival in New England, around 1642, he was able to purchase a house with several acres of land on Newton Corner. He would eventually become the largest landowner in Newton. His wife, Frances, died shortly after his arrival; little is known but for the fact that she produced a son, Sebas, who is believed to have been born over the Atlantic Ocean because his name is a contraction of the words sea born. There are no records of Sebas's older siblings, although they did exist; they are not identified and only Sebas is mentioned in Edward's will.
Edward was admitted as a Freeman in 1645, at the age of 43, became a Cambridge Proprietor and was quickly immersed in the civil and religious life of colony and town alike. For nearly two decades Edward Jackson was Deputy to the Central Court, where he served on many committees, many of them focused on surveying and planning new settlements. It is known that Edward married a widow named Elizabeth Oliver, who was believed to have been present at every local birth for fifty years, earning herself the title of Mother of the Village. Nothing else is known about her.
In about 1654, when Edward was about 52 years old, about a dozen families living south of the Charles were tired of making the long journey to the Cambridge meeting house and back for every committee meeting and discussion. When they started holding their own services, it is likely and easily imaginable that they met in the large, new, conveniently located mansion Edward had just built near the Brighton-Newton border. The separation of Newton from Cambridge, in which Edward played a leading role, had begun.
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