Discovering new life stories in Duxbury’s Bradford House – News … – Wicked Local Weymouth

The inaugural symposium to rediscover the rich family and women's history behind the 1808 Bradford House in Duxbury was held Saturday at the town's Senior Center. The Duxbury Rural and Historical Society ran the event.

DUXBURY The inaugural symposium to rediscover the once-hidden family and womens history in the 1808 Bradford House was held Saturday at the Senior Center.

This is a rich resource for womens history, Erin McGough, executive director of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society, told the gathering. The society has been working for several years to create a new life and future for the historic house at 939 Tremont St..

The historical society partnered with the senior center and Duxbury Free Library for The Bradford House Symposium: Reclaiming a House's History.

Seven historians, scholars and experts from Greater Boston spoke.

The historical societys Re-imagine Bradford Project is working to preserve and transform the Federal style house to tell the story of the four 19th Century Bradford daughters and their productive and fulfilled lives, McGough said.

The sisters were Maria, born in 1804; Lucia, 1807; Elizabeth, 1809 and Charlotte, 1813. They were involved in social movements of the 19th Century, foremost, the abolition of slavery.

Newly designed programs and Bradford House tours are placing the sisters in the context of the swirling movements of the 19th Century and how how they took care of each other their entire lives, McGough said.

The ongoing project is looking into their lives to highlight issues that are relevant to todays events and which have never been examined.

McGough described Charlotte, the best-known of the daughters who was a Civil War nurse, as one of the most important figures in Duxbury.

Carolyn Ravenscroft, historian and archivist for the society, is credited with stirring up interest in the Bradfords through her work at the Bradford House and on the Drew Archives. (She also mentioned the Weston sisters of Weymouth. Maria Weston Chapman was born in Weymouth in 1806 and was the oldest of eight, including five daughters. She became a leading abolitionist and a school in Weymouth is named for her.)

Ravenscroft has gone through volumes of letters and other materials to trace Charlotte Bradfords Civil War nursing career and was drawn to learn more about the other three sisters. When she began to lead tours of the house, Ravenscroft said, the four sisters were represented by faded photographs, without much expression, and one was not even correct, showing a different Lucia.

We began to draw out their stories and unpack their lives, she said. The result: information about four women who were vibrant, attractive, well-educated witty and who liked fashion.

The more we learned, the more we knew we needed to tell their story.

An exhibit, Four Bradford Daughters: Lives Well Lived will open July 15 at the Bradford House.

The society has $16,500 left to raise for the $515,830 needed to complete repairs to the house and to fund the exhibitions.

The other speakers included Cambridge architect Frank Shirley on how he has restored parts of the house and how he imagines a whole new life for historic homes; Craig Chartier of the Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project, who detailed his archaeological discoveries in the Bradford House basement;

Also, Concord historian Jayne Gordon on Concord Cousin: Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley & the World of the Transcendentalists; Hingham independent scholar Michelle Coughlin on reclaiming history and Nicole Belolan on 19th century American Disability: the Bradford House.

Shirley described the house as badly in need of repair when he first began his work more than a year ago but said it had exquisite details, a highly developed sensitivity to proportion and elegant original craftsmanship.

"It is an amazing place," Shirley said. "So much of the original wood and paint remained." Showing images of some of the trim and molding features, he pointed out repetitive lines and rhythms, "enchanting and beautiful."

Patrick Browne, the former executive director of the society, referred to some of those features, said he had noticed them in other historic houses in Duxbury but not in other towns, and asked if they were particular to Duxbury. Shirley said that seemed to be the case and that when the town's wooden boat craftsmen lost work as industries changed, some might have found work in building houses.

Sue Scheible may be reached at scheible@ledger.com or follow on Twitter@SueS_Ledger.

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Discovering new life stories in Duxbury's Bradford House - News ... - Wicked Local Weymouth