Abigail House history

The 1802 sale from the Cabot heirs indicate that some dwelling house or building remained on the site for Lydia Valpy to have resided.

The 1803 house, located at 4 Daniels Street, is titled the Abigail Berry House.

Abigail died in 1818, and is buried beside her husband in United First Parish Church.

Abigail Berry wrote her last will on 17 July 1821 in Salem; aside from remaining a spinster for her life, her bequests were made to various friends and persons whose relationships to Berry are unspecified, the sole exception being her sister Mercy Berry, widow of John Berry.

The house was built in 1823 by local businesswoman Abigail Hooper, who ran a thriving general store and millinery shop on the premises.

Executorship was granted to John Archer Jr., a mariner of Salem, in right of his wife Abigail B. Archer, on 4 May 1824 at Ipswich, Abigail B. Archer being the former Abigail B. Woodward who was appointed executrix of Berry’s will.

An inventory of the Old House at the time of John Adams's death in 1826 indicates that the family owned other silver and plate with the "JAA" monogram.

The 1846 Salem directory shows John Archer living at 6 Daniels Street, while Mrs.

The 1850 Census shows that John Archer, ship chandler, owned $6,200 worth of real estate in Salem; his household included his wife Abigail B. Archer, aged 56 years, and also a tenant, Sophia Manning, aged 21 years.

In the state’s 1855 Census, John Munday’s household included James Manning, a printer, and Robert Manning, a mariner, as well as Elizabeth Clark and what appears to be her daughter of the same name.

The Mundays and the Mannings were still a household as of the state’s 1865 Census.

On 26 January 1868, Abigail B. Archer died in Salem at the age of 69 years.

Salem, MA: The Essex Institute (1916). Lydia (Clough) Valpy died at the age of 66 years, her cause of death identified as “intemperance.” Lydia would have been born about 1736 given from her age at death.

In 1925, the Manchester Historical Society purchased the Trask House to use as its headquarters.

Adams' first New Years reception in the White House was to start a custom that lasted 131 years, until 1932

All of the Victorian “improvements” – other than the staircase – were removed in 1933 when the Historical Society restored the Trask House to its original Federal style.

In 1938, thanks to the generosity of a local benefactor named Hattie Lee Harris, the Historical Society undertook a major renovation of the entire house, removing walls on both floors to create room to display the Society’s treasures and collections.

“The Abigail Adams Historical Society was formed in 1947 and the members of that day made a concerted effort to take in donations and purchased furnishings that would’ve represented the home, as it would’ve looked like if Abigail and her family lived there,” says Torrey.

Charles Francis Adams, the widow of John and Abigail Adams's great-grandson; additional pieces were acquired at a sale of items owned by Adams descendants in 1999.

Modern-day visitors enter the Trask House through a gracious new side entrance leading into a spacious reception area – both the result of extensive renovations made in 2004.

Abigail Adams Birthplace recently had its grand reopening on June 29, 2013 after renovations were done to resize the house, find new and rightly fitting clapboards to complement the original structure’s exterior, install a heating and air conditioning system, and fix the termite damage.