Solomon Kimball House (Wenham, Massachusetts)


The Solomon Kimball House, probably built in 1696, is a historic First Period house at 26 Maple Street in Wenham, Massachusetts. Although named for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century owner Solomon Kimball, the house was built by Thomas and Mary Kilham—he the veteran of a pivotal battle in King Philip’s War and she the sister and aunt of defendants in the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
Eighteenth-century owners included Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Deputies William Fairfield, and American Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Matthew Fairfield.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

History of ownership

Thomas and Mary (Solart) Kilham

Thomas Kilham, son of Daniel and Mary Kilham, was born in 1653 or 1654 in Wenham, and married Martha Solart circa 1680. Kilham was a veteran of King Philip’s War, serving under Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich in Appleton’s campaign against the Narragansett, including the Great Swamp Fight of December 19, 1675. In May 1676 the General Court voted to repay soldiers for losses incurred, and voted £2 15d 6s for Kilham’s losses.
Martha Kilham was the daughter of John, Sr. and Elizabeth Solart, who kept a tavern in Wenham, still standing at 106 Main Street. John Solart was financially successful, yet drowned himself in 1672 leaving an estate of over £500. His widow soon remarried Ezekiel Woodward, and kept her seven children from receiving their rightful share of Solart’s estate. Eventually, these children successfully petitioned the General Court for redress in 1682.
Martha was a sister of Sarah Good, who was one of the first three to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witchcraft hysteria and was hanged in 1692. Sarah's 4 year-old daughter Dorothy Good was also accused and arrested for witchcraft. Dorothy Good survived the hysteria, but was the youngest to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem episode.
Thomas and Martha Kilham had six children that we know of, all born in Wenham and the last two likely born in the Solomon Kimball House. However, Wenham's records of births for the periods 1681–1685 and 1688–1694 have been lost. Consequently, we should keep open the possibility that Thomas and Martha had other children who were born and died during the 1680s and early '90s. After all, seven years passed between the birth of their son Thomas Jr. and the baptism of their son Samuel.
  1. Thomas, Jr., born in 1684; died November 26, 1742, probably in Boxford, MA; married Sarah Maxey, April 8, 1712 in Topsfield, MA
  2. Samuel, baptized in 1691; died after 1740, probably in Wilmington, MA; married Grace Endicott, December 21, 1715 in Boxford, MA
  3. Martha, probably born between 1693 and 1696, assuming she was between 18 and 21 years old when she married; died December 27, 1754 in Ipswich, MA; married Timothy Bragg, December 23, 1714 in Hamilton, MA
  4. John, born November 3, 1695; died January 15, 1738/9 in Boxford, MA; married Abigail Symonds, February 3, 1724/5 in Boxford, MA
  5. Daniel, born May 25, 1698; died October 20, 1699 in Wenham
  6. Daniel, born August 14, 1700; was living in Wilmington, MA as late as 1732; married Mary Kenney, February 17, 1725/6 in Danvers, MA
Thomas Kilham sold his house in Wenham to William Fairfield in July 1701 and moved to Boxford. He died there in 1725 and his burial was likely the genesis of the Killam-Curtis Cemetery. Martha died after Thomas did, but no record of her death has survived.

William, Esther (-----) and Rebecca (Tarbox) Fairfield

William Fairfield owned the property from 1701 to 1725. He lived in a house near the current-day intersection of Cherry Street and William Fairfield Drive, a house that he probably built around 1687 coincident with his first marriage. The Fairfield Farm was contiguous to the Thomas Kilham Farm, and Fairfield apparently bought the Kilham property as an investment. He gave the former Thomas Kilham homestead to his son Josiah Fairfield as a wedding gift in 1725.
A son of Ens. Walter and Sarah Fairfield, William was born October 14, 1662 in Reading, MA, and died on December 18, 1742 in Wenham. He was active in town affairs, and was Town Clerk 1706–1711 and 1724–1729; Moderator of Town Meeting in 1715, 1716, 1733–1736, 1739 and 1741; and was elected deacon of the First Church in 1731. He was a Representative at General Court in 1723, 1728, 1730, and 1732–1742, and “uring the session of 1741, he was Speaker of the House of Deputies, at that time the highest office in the gift of the people, the Governor and Lieut. Governor being appointed by the King.”
William married twice. His first marriage was to Esther ----- about the year 1687. She was born circa 1668 and died on January 21, 1722/3 in Wenham. William and Esther Fairfield had thirteen children, all born in Wenham:
  1. Sarah, born July 23, 1688; died February 6, 1705 in Wenham
  2. Mary, born December 18, 1689
  3. William, Jr., born October 18, 1691; died October 24, 1691 in Wenham
  4. William, Jr., born November 17, 1692
  5. Esther, Jr., born August 12, 1695
  6. Tabitha, born May 17, 1696; died October 7, 1717 in Wenham
  7. Abigail, born May 9, 1698
  8. Elizabeth, born January 9, 1699/1700
  9. Josiah, born October 12, 1701
  10. Prudence, born July 13, 1704
  11. Skipper, born January 2, 1706
  12. Benjamin, born October 29, 1708
  13. Rev. John, born November 29, 1712
William’s second marriage was to Mrs. Rebecca Gott on October 14, 1723 in Wenham. Rebecca was born on August 8, 1672 in Lynn, MA, the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Tarbox. Her first marriage was to John Gott, whom she married on July 19, 1693 in Salem, MA. She died on July 29, 1765 in Lynn, MA. No children are recorded in Wenham’s vital records for William and Rebecca Fairfield.

Capt. Matthew and Abigail (Ayer) Fairfield

Matthew Fairfield, son of Josiah and his second wife Elizabeth Fairfield, was born May 18, 1745 in Wenham, married Abigail Ayer on October 22, 1767 in Haverhill, and died on February 11, 1813 in New Boston, NH. Matthew was the first of Josiah’s sons to reach adulthood, and it’s likely that when he married Abigail they took up residence in Josiah and Elizabeth’s house. This was certainly the case by 1771, when Matthew and Abigail were living in the lean-to of the house, Josiah and Elizabeth were living in the other part of the house, and Josiah gave Matthew the lean-to and part of the cellar.
Matthew Fairfield fought in the Revolutionary War.
His service included the
Matthew Fairfield was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. In December 1774 he was appointed to the three-member town committee that enlisted Wenham’s minutemen. Once the fighting began, he was a private in Capt. Billy Porter’s company of minutemen, Col. John Baker’s regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, serving five days but arriving too late to see the Battles of Lexington and Concord. When Matthew came home, he enlisted at Gloucester in Col. Samuel Gerrish’s Regiment, and was stationed at Chelsea from early May through December of 1775, being promoted to lieutenant by early June. While stationed at Chelsea, Matthew was part of the Siege of Boston and was at the Battle of Chelsea Creek and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
As a result of the Continental Army’s reorganization of January 1, 1776, Fairfield was assigned to Col. John Greaton’s 24th Continental Regiment with the rank of lieutenant, and served with this regiment throughout 1776 fighting at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, Quebec and the Battle of Valcour Island, Lake Champlain. The 24th Continental rejoined Gen. Washington’s main army in November 1776 in Morristown, New Jersey, in anticipation of the year-end expiration of many of its troops’ enlistments, and in anticipation of winter quartering. Matthew re-enlisted and was promoted to captain on January 1, 1777, as part of the reorganization of the 13th Massachusetts Regiment. He served under Wigglesworth for much of 1777, encamped outside Philadelphia, but did not see battle during this period. Furloughed on August 22 for 60 days, he was discharged on October 22, 1777, the dates of his furlough and discharge apparently linked to the illness and death of his father Josiah Fairfield.
Fairfield was initiated into the Masons in April of 1777, and held the office of Steward for the United States Lodge in Danvers in October 1778.
At some point during the Revolution, Capt. Fairfield and his company were sent to Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Abigail Ayer was the daughter of David and Hannah Ayer, and was born in Haverhill on November 24, 1746. She died in New Boston on January 28, 1825.
Matthew and Abigail had twelve children, perhaps nine of whom were likely born in the Solomon Kimball House:
  1. Nabby, born July 25, 1768, Wenham; died December 24, 1796
  2. Betsey, born April 28, 1770, Wenham; married William Crombie, April 27, 1797
  3. John, born February 11, 1773, Wenham; married Mehitable Baker
  4. Hannah, born February 4, 1775, Wenham; died August 8, 1809; married Capt. Joseph Wilson
  5. Alice, died in infancy October 20, 1777, Wenham
  6. Sarah, baptized August 29, 1779, Wenham; married Benjamin Fairfield
  7. Walter, died in infancy
  8. William, died in infancy
  9. Charlotte, baptized October 31, 1784, Wenham; married Capt. Joseph Wilson, her widower brother-in-law
  10. Josiah, perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy
  11. Matthew, Jr., perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy
  12. William, perhaps born in New Boston, NH; died in infancy

    Maps