The Oldest Surviving House in Newport
BUILT: 1697
BROADWAY, NEWPORT
The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House in 2023. Photograph courtesy of Shannon Hammond.
The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, located at 17 Broadway St. in downtown Newport, is one of the oldest surviving houses in Newport and has been home to several prominent Newport families. The house reflects the larger history of Newport due to its association with early Rhode Island colonial government, pre-Revolutionary War conflict, Quakerism, and the New England slave trade.
Dendrochronology studies have dated the construction of the house to 1697.[1] While there have been various additions and renovations since its construction, the original wood-frame structure had four rooms: two stories with two rooms on either side of a central chimney.[2] The exterior was once distinctly Jacobean, but continuous updates and Norman Isham’s 1920s restoration have created layers that illustrate the progression of architectural trends in the late-seventeenth to nineteenth century.
Less is known about some of the earlier occupants of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard house due to significant gaps in city-based records, as many records were destroyed during the British occupation of Newport starting December 1776 and the evacuation of British troops in October 1779.[3] While the house is named after later occupants, it was inhabited by several people before the eponymous families. It was built for Stephen Mumford, a Seventh Day Baptist missionary from London sent to New England in 1664.[4] After Mumford died in 1707, he left the house to his son Stephen Mumford Jr.[5] In 1724, Mumford Jr. sold the house to Richard Ward,[6] a lawyer who would become governor of the colony of Rhode Island in 1741.[7] At some point either during the occupancy of the Mumford or the Wards, a lean-to addition was built at the northeast end.[8] Sometime before 1749, Ward sold the house to a tailor named Samuel Maryatt, and Maryatt sold the house to a tanner named William Earl in January 1749.[9]
In 1757, William Earl sold the house to Martin Howard, a lawyer who was a part of the Newport Junto, a Tory political group that supported industry in Rhode Island and Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.[10] During his occupancy Howard would undertake several major renovations, some of which would later be undone in the 20th century during Norman Isham’s renovation. While records do not indicate that Howard enslaved people himself, his second wife Ann Conklin inherited three enslaved people – “A Negro Man called Casan,” “A Negro Boy called Briston,” and “A Negro Girl called Jenny”[11] – from her previous husband Captain Jonathan Conklin, and when she married Howard these people would have also become his property.
On the eve of the American Revolution, tensions in Newport (and America in general) were running high. Parliament passed the Sugar Act in 1764 and the Stamp Act in 1765, increasing taxation on colonists. In January 1765 when Howard published his pamphlet “Letter from a Halifax Gentleman,” supporting the King’s right to taxation & challenging colonists’ claims about lack of representation, it stoked the fire.[12] On August 25th of the same year, a group of Newport members of the Sons of Liberty organized a mob, erected gallows on Queen Street below the Colony House and paraded the effigies of two Stamp Act defenders – including Howard – and one stamp officer throughout town. They then hung the effigies in the gallows and burned them, “amidst the Acclamations of the People.”[13] While the protest began peacefully, an individual later assaulted Howard on the street, and the encounter emboldened a larger group of “Ruffians” to march down to the house.[14] They vandalized the building, destroying the doors and windows, tearing up the floors, and attempting to tear down the chimney with a rope (but ultimately failing).[15] Howard fled to the British ship Cygnet anchored in the harbor, first traveling to Nova Scotia, then England, and later South Carolina, never returning to Newport.[16] No records have been recovered that indicate what became of Casan, Briston, and Jenny after Ann Conklin Howard’s death in 1764 and Martin Howard’s departure.
Manumission record of Cardardo Wanton, Vol.821, p. 13, Collection of the Newport Historical Society.
The house was listed for sale on September 23, 1765 in the Newport Mercury, and it was advertised by merchant George Rome that the auction would take place the next day.[17] On Oct. 21, 1765 the Mercury reported that John G. Wanton, a prosperous Quaker merchant, had been lately occupying it.[18] He lived in the house with his second wife, Mary “Bull” Nichols, and daughter Mary, more commonly known as Polly; their son Gideon was later born in the house. From 1760 to 1770 Wanton made repairs on the house, as well as updates to adhere to the more current Georgian style.[19] These updates include an addition that extends from the north and east walls of the kitchen, a small lean-to on the east wall, and projecting the north wall to extend to the same depth as the lean-to’s back wall.[20] Records indicate that Wanton owned at least one enslaved African named Cardardo.[21] Cardardo would have likely slept in the attic of the home. In a 2005 archaeological investigation, parts of a spirit bundle, or nkisi, were found buried under the floorboards: it is possible this bundle belonged to Cardardo and would have held spiritual significance for its creator.[22]
In 1775 Wanton manumitted Cardardo, whom he had owned since at least 1767, at the urging of the Society of Friends. In the manumission document, Wanton reserved “the care of government over him as a guardian” as Cardardo was apparently “much addicted to the excessive use of strong liquors so as to render him uncapable of taking due care of himself.”[23] Whether or not Wanton was remanding Cardardo into his care for benevolent or nefarious reasons is unknown. After Cardardo left the house, he was recorded as a private in a Massachusetts militia regiment around 1777 but no other records after this mention have been found.[24]
In 1782 Polly Wanton married officer Daniel Lyman,[25] and the next year John G. Wanton deeded the house to Lyman.[26] Around 1785, Lyman built a large two-story addition (called the “New Part” by family) to the rear of the original house and added some more contemporary finishes including a pediment and pilasters to the entrance.[27] In the 1790 census, Lyman is listed as owning one enslaved person, whose name is unknown.[28] In 1805, Polly and Daniel’s second daughter Harriet married Benjamin Hazard, a lawyer and veteran of the Revolutionary War.[29] In 1807, Daniel and Polly deeded the house to the couple and moved to North Providence to take advantage of new business opportunities, as Newport’s economy was lagging around this time. Lyman purchased land and a farm near the Woonasquatucket River and became a partner in the Lyman Cotton Manufacturing Company.[30] He served as Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1812-1816, and they remained in Providence until Polly’s death in 1822 and Daniel’s in 1832.[31]
Benjamin and Harriet Hazard deeded the house to their two eldest daughters Emily and Mary, who died in 1908 and 1911 respectively.[32] After their deaths, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard house ceased to be a family residence.
In 1915 Maud Lyman Stevens, a descendant of the family, began a campaign to save the house, which had fallen into disrepair. She began to research and write extensively about the house and corresponded with the Newport Historical Society about its purchase.[33] In 1926, the Newport Historical Society began to fundraise to buy the house. In April 1927, after Stevens convinced the other family members who were on the deed to sell the house, the Society bought it from Harriet Lyman Stevens.[34]
Restoration of the house, led by architectural historian Norman Isham, began in September 1927. They removed the washroom built by Wanton as well as the “New Part,” and replaced and restored parts of the building that were deteriorated, including the sills, chimney, foundation, floorboards, frame, and boarding.[35] They also uncovered a variety of historical layers, including early 18th-century wallpaper and the original chamfered ceiling beams and gunstock corner posts. Isham’s goal for the house (and his general restoration philosophy) was to display a progression of architectural styles rather than restore the house back to one period of significance. Therefore, the restored Wanton-Lyman-Hazard house retains both the original Jacobean construction with steeply pitched roof and rounded
Elements of the Nkisi, or spirit bundle, recovered from the attic of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House in 2005. Courtesy Mystic Seaport Museum, Photographer Joe Michael
plaster cornice, and the Revolution-era Georgian additions such as the pediment and pilasters. The interior reflects these periods as well, with the second-floor chambers being largely restored to their 17th-century appearance, including the exposed girts and gunstock corner posts in the north chamber as well as the original wide floorboards and bare oak boarding on the fireplace wall.[36] In contrast, the kitchen more closely reflects its 1720s appearance, and the parlor retains Martin Howard’s decorative finishes such as the paneling and moulding.[37]
Limited funding stopped the project short of Isham’s lofty goals, but by 1930 the house was furnished and open to the public. Since Isham’s project a number of smaller projects have occurred, the including a restoration and stabilization effort during 1997-2001, and a series of archaeological investigations conducted from 1998-2005.[38] The investigations from around this time yielded new information about the house, including its date of construction determined through dendrochronology and the discovery of the nkisi bundle under the floorboards. In more recent years, it has been used as a house museum and a space for living history events and educational programs.
Research by Trinity Kendrick, 2024 Buchanan-Burnham Summer Scholar in Public History.
[1] Recent Dendrochronology at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, Newport Historical Society, 2006.
[2] Ronald Potvin, “The Architectural History of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House,” Newport History: Journal of the Newport Historical Society: Vol. 62: Iss. 214, Article 2 (1989): 52.
[3] Charles P. Neimeyer, “Rhode Island Goes to War: The Battle of Rhode Island, 1776-1778,” Newport History: Journal of the Newport Historical Society: Vol. 72: Iss. 249, Article 8 (2003).
[4] Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, printed for the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference by American Sabbath Tract Society, Plainfield, NJ 1910, p. 122-124. Quoted by Ronald Potvin in “The Architectural History of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House” in Newport History, Vol. 62 part 2, Spring 1989 Number 214: 47.
[5] Background Information on the Wanton Lyman Hazard House folder, Vault, B-16, NHS Institutional Files.
Deed Research for WLH Booklet, C. Reynolds – 1974 June, B-19, Vault, NHS Institutional Files.
[7] Edward Peterson, History of Rhode Island, 1853, p. 144.
[8] Potvin, An Architectural History, 61.
Deed Research for WLH Booklet, C. Reynolds – 1974 June, B-19, Vault, NHS Institutional Files.
[10]“Stamp Act Crisis Timeline,” Newport Historical Society Digital Resources, Newport Historical Society, https://newporthistory.org/resource-center/digital-resources/stamp-act-crisis-timeline/
[11] Probate record of Ann Conklin, NHS records.
[12] The Remarkable Career of Martin Howard, Esq. Daniel Snydacker Jr. Newport History, Vol. 61, Part 1, N. 208, p.7.
[13] The Newport Mercury, Sept. 2, 1765.
[14] NPT Mercury, Sept. 2, 1765.
[15] Estimate of damage sustained by Martin Howard, by the Riot at Newport, Rhode Island, August 27, 1765. Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, 1773.
[16] The Newport Mercury, Sept. 2, 1765.
[17] The Newport Mercury, Sept. 23, 1765.
[18] The Newport Mercury, Oct. 21, 1765.
[19] Potvin, An Architectural History, 61-62.
[20] Potvin, An Architectural History, 64.
Friends Records, Vol 821, p. 13, NHS Collections.
“Nkisi,” Newport Historical Society Collections Online, Newport Historical Society, https://collections.newporthistory.org/Detail/objects/9631
[23] Friends Records, Vol 821, p. 13, NHS Collections.
[24] History Bytes: Cardardo Wanton, NHS, November 17, 2011. https://newporthistory.org/history-bytes-cardardo-wanton/
[25] The Newport Mercury, Jan. 26, 1782.
[26] Deed Research for WLH Booklet, C. Reynolds – 1974 June, B-19, Vault, NHS Institutional Files.
[27] Potvin, An Architectural History, 64.
[28] “Census Record for the Household of Daniel Lyman,” Newport Historical Society Collections Online, Newport Historical Society, https://collections.newporthistory.org/Detail/events/1412.
[29] Background Information on the Wanton Lyman Hazard House folder, Vault, B-16, NHS Institutional Files.
[30] William Bagnall, Textile Industries of the US (Vol. 1), 1893, p. 20.
[31] ”Lyman research,” NHS files, B/B intern notes, ipeters.
Background Information on the Wanton Lyman Hazard House folder, B-16, Vault, NHS Institutional Files.
[33] WLH House M.L. Stevens, B-16, Vault, NHS Institutional files.
Background Information on the Wanton Lyman Hazard House folder, B-16, Vault, NHS Institutional Files.
[35] Potvin, An Architectural History, 69.
[36] Potvin, An Architectural History, 77.
[37] Potvin, An Architectural History, 77.
[38] NHS Institutional Files, Vault, Cultural Landscape Assessment & Master Plan.