Will the Real Joseph Maynard Please Stand Up?

Friend and former Topaz colleague, Todd Van Hoosear, was recently inspired to do a bit of digging into the past – to help us identify the “real” Joseph Maynard.

While the true identity of “our” Joseph Maynard is still a mystery, with Todd’s assistance, we’ve narrowed it down to two likely candidates. Take a look at Todd’s discoveries below, which detail the Joseph Maynards and their families. Thanks Todd!

"There is a lot known about the Maynard family, but little known about which Joseph built this house. Most certainly, the owner was a descendant of John Maynard, born in England between about 1598 and 1610 – the accounts vary. According to the "Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts," he was a farmer and a "malster" or "maltster," a manufacturer of malt, used in the brewing of beer. He married first in England, and his first two sons John Jr. and Joseph, were also born in England, circa 1625 and 1635. His first wife's name was Elizabeth Aston. She is said to have died in Cambridgeshire, England, around 1638, and thus likely did not accompany John to America. His son John Jr. did accompany him to the Colonies, but it is not known if second son Joseph did.

By 1634, John Sr. was practicing his trade in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was one of the forty-seven petitioners who divided the Sudbury Meadows in 1638. He is listed as one of the town's founders, and became a selectman there in 1646. He married his second wife, Mary Axtell of Sudbury, in 1646. John and Mary had four children: Zechary (or Zachary) (b. June 7, 1647), Elizabeth (b. May 26, 1649), Lydia, Hannah (b. Sept. 20, 1653) and Mary (b. August 3, 1656). John Sr. died on December 10, 1672.

John Jr. married Mary Gates, daughter of Stephen and Anna Gates, early settlers of Hingham, Lancaster and Cambridge. They lived in Sudbury until 1657, at which time they most likely moved to Marlborough – where he is listed as one of the town's original petitioners and grantees. They had 11 children, the last eight of which were born in Marlborough.

John Sr.'s most famous descendant may be the Revolutionary War hero Captain John Maynard. John was born in Framingham on May 14, 1753 to Joseph and Abigail (Jennings) Maynard. According to the "Memorials of the Society of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts," he served as an "Acting ensign in Nixon's regiment at the battle of Bunker's Hill, where he was wounded, and being unable to walk was borne to Cambridge by his brother, Hon. Needham Maynard." He was commissioned a lieutenant in Greaton's 3rd regiment on November 11, 1777, and served as quartermaster. According to the Memorials, "He was made prisoner by the British Col. Norton at White Plains, 3 Feb. 1780. Removed to Lancaster." In Lancaster records, John is listed as a "Hero of the Revolution." He most likely served in Col. Job Cushing's regiment. He died on January 21, 1823. His wife Martha survived him; she died on February 19, 1831.

Capt. Maynard's father, Joseph, was born on November 20, 1725 to Jonathan Maynard and Mehetable (or Mehetabel) Needom (or Needham) of Sudbury. His grandfather Jonathan was born on April 8, 1685 to Zachary and Hannah (Coolidge) Maynard of Sudbury. His great-grandfather Zachary was born in Sudbury on June 7, 1647 to John Sr. and his second wife Mary.

So who owned the house? Well, there were at least two Joseph Maynards living in the area in 1775 (when the house was built), both descendants of John Sr. I suspect more digging will find even more Josephs. It was a popular name in a rather prodigious family.

I. JOSEPH MAYNARD, son of Joseph, b. 17 May 1750. This Joseph was the brother of the more famous Capt. Maynard (and great-great grandson of John Maynard Sr.). He was born on May 17, 1750 to Joseph and Abigail (Jennings) Maynard of Framingham. His father Joseph died on August 3, 1769, and is buried at Church Hill Cemetery in Framingham.

Joseph married Deborah Twitchell, daughter of Joseph and Deborah (Fairbanks) Twitchell of Sherborn, on May 5, 1775. Deborah was the second daughter of that name; their first had died at a very young age. In 1776, he enlisted in Framingham as a private under Col. Abner Perry. In 1777, their daughter Debby was born.

II. JOSEPH MAYNARD, son of Joseph, b. 3 April 1725. This Joseph was the son of Joseph and Miriam (Willard) Maynard of Sudbury. His father was the son of Zachariah and Hannah (Goodrich) Maynard. Zachariah in turn was a son of Zachary and Hannah (Coolidge) Maynard of Sudbury. This Joseph married Abigail Jennings on 29 May 1746."

A Disappointing Act

For hundreds of years, a very large, flat piece of field stone has served the Joseph Maynard House – set at the foot of the house’s original front door and used as a step. We loved this stone immediately and couldn’t wait to put it back to use. But, while work on the house’s foundation is taking place, we needed to move the stone several feet away from the structure -- towards the road. There it's rested for three months.

This week, it was stolen.

We know that the upsetting act had to have been carried in the last two days – as the stone was there earlier this week.

The kicker is … in place of our perfect stone, was left a much smaller piece of stone. (See photo to right. You can see the dead grass, marking where our stone laid … and now in its place, the smaller stone that was left for us to discover)

We not only feel violated that someone trespassed on our land and robbed us of a piece of our property … but we are also saddened that we will never be able to return the stone to it’s historic resting spot at the front door of the Joseph Maynard House.

Why would someone do this? And why would they leave the dwarf stone to mock us? Do they think it’s funny? We’re not laughing.

Everything's Coming Up Roses

On March 31, we posted our 2nd blog entry - which featured a photo of us standing in front of the house, beside a rusty trellis and a whispy stick of what once was a rose bush. Light-heartedly, we even made note of the "rose bush" in the photo's caption.

Here's that photo:

Much to our surprise, earlier this week, that scraggley stunted plant produced several beautiful, magenta roses. Once again, showing life reborn at 100 South Meadow. Take a look:

Moving Along

House gets worse, then better over last three months:

Eric fits new window into guest room wall

New kitchen three months ago ... and again last week:

Nathan Blew, hard at work.

A Tiny Visitor

We stopped to admire a lady bug (below) while walking around our property this evening.

Welcome Basnett Plumbing & Heating

Progress! The plumbers have arrived at The Jospeph Maynard project. Basnett Plumbing & Heating started work last week, doing rough-ins and installing our shower/tub units.

We'll keep you updates as work continues, but here's a quick look at Basnett in action last week.

at work in laundry room

(above) guest bath
(below) master bath

This lil' guy was left to stand guard over the weekend

Sink-tacular!

This week has been an adventure as we've sought, found and driven to far off places (ok we didn't leave Massachusetts, but as those of you who live in Worcester County know ... the South Shore might as well be a different country) to find the sink of our dreams.

From the beginning, we knew we wanted a large, deep, double basin soapstone sink to use in the kitchen. We envisioned the way one would look surrounded by the custom cabinets and built-in appliances by New England Country. As you may know ... new, quality soapstone sinks are available, but can be very expensive. But, we never wanted a new one. We sought an antique, handmade sink that had lived many lives serving generations before us. One that would add the right character to The Joseph Maynard House.

That is what New England Country is all about – giving new life to reclaimed materials. But ... as you may also know ... finding an antique piece like this that is in "good shape" is a daunting task. We've looked at many over the past few months and either the price was well above our budget, or the ones that fit our financial parameters were riddled with cracks and chips.

This week, after a comprehensive search on Craigslist.com, we found exactly what we desired. We saw the photos, scrolled down to the price and after sitting for a moment with jaws dropped, we sprang into action. We needed this sink! And we got it.

All it needs is a little polish and shine to revive it's former glory. And the best part is, it has the history we wanted to bring to our home. The piece used to be the main kitchen sink of a breathtaking late-19th century home. The same family has occupied the mansion-like estate for more than 100 years - but after the death of the most-recent patriarch, the home is being put on the market. The sink, which had been demoted to the basement many years ago was practically "given" to us ... much to our pleasure.

Take a look at the photo below, taken on-site at the soapstone sink's former home:

Adding to our sink-tacular week was another amazing find, this time closer to home in Hudson, MA. Just last evening we acquired a massive antique deep-basin porcelain sink for our laundry room. It will fit perfectly with New England Country's plans for the custom-built laundry room.

Our banner week just goes to show that one man's trash is another man's treasure. And we couldn't be happier that the treasure is ours.