Nehemiah Royce House


The Nehemiah Royce House, also known as the Washington Elm House, is a historic home located at 538 North Main Street in Wallingford, Connecticut. George Washington visited the house twice, first in 1775 while on his way to take command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and again in 1789 when he gave an address to the townspeople in front of the house near the Elm.

Biography of Nehemiah Royce

Nehemiah Royce was christened on May 30, 1637, in New London County, Connecticut, the son of Robert Royce and Mary Sims.
On November 20, 1660, he married Hannah Morgan. They had nine children together.
Royce, a carpenter, joiner and blacksmith by trade, was one of Wallingford's original 38 proprietors authorized by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1667 to purchase land from the Quinnipiac nation. On May 12, 1670, Wallingford was incorporated and about 126 people settled in the town. On May 11, 1693 Royce was elected deputy representing Wallingford to the Court of the Connecticut Colony.
He died on November 1, 1706 in New Haven, Connecticut and is buried in Center Street Cemetery, Wallingford, Connecticut

Descendants

Nehemiah Royce's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include:

House

The Royce house is an example of American colonial saltbox architectural style. The Royce family occupied the house for over 200 years. The house was moved to its current location in 1924.
Architects Richard Henry Dana IV and J. Frederick Kelly and other architectural historians assisted in the restoration of the house in the 1930s and 1940s. For a time it was a museum and then was used as a residence by Choate Rosemary Hall, until the school donated the house to the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust in 1999. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.