The second story gives some family history of the house in which I grew up. However, our young minds probably didn’t look at it from that perspective. We simply thought it was a cool story to repeat to our friends. This in the day and age of all those creepy Stephen King novels and such. Those were quite popular when we grew up. – Rebecca Kashmer Davis (Eliot, Maine)
Sylvester Moulton
Sylvester Moulton was a 7th generation descendant of Thomas Moulton. He was born in 1819 and married Mercy Hammond. Sylvester and Mercy built an 8-room home in 1843-1844. Sylvester and Mercy had seven children while making a living farming the land. Mercy died in 1887, and then Sylvester died in 1899 of a heart attack. A public viewing of his coffin took place inside the home. This was a common way for the community to pay their respects.
Sylvester’s Home Became Mine
Sylvester’s home is the same house in which I grew up. It is located on Goodwin Road in Eliot (minus the addition circa ~ 1905). My dad seems to think that the room used for the public viewing might have been considered today’s version of a mudroom. In 1905, Sylvester left the house to his youngest son, Everett, and his wife Mary Forbes. They raised the house and added a bottom story. The room where Sylvester’s coffin was publicly displayed became the main bathroom on the second floor of the house.
The Cemetery
Sylvester is buried in the Hammond Moulton Family Cemetery just up the road from the farm. In the early 1900s, a great iron fence surrounding the cemetery was erected. During the 2010s, metal, copper, and iron scrapping became very popular for people to make a quick (dishonest) buck. Dreadfully, the fence fell victim and vanished late into the night by folks who had no care for the heinous crime they were committing.
