General Notes

John Hurd was called "Junior" to distinguish him from his uncle, John Hurd, "Senior," who also lived at Stratford. Like his uncle, John Hurd, Jr. was a miller.

He was a member of the First Church of Stratford on May 14, 1669, when he joined his father in signing a petition to the General Court.

John Hurd, Jr. early removed to Woodbury. On September 16, 1678, "John Hurd Sometimes of Stratford" purchased a mill and accommodations "saituate in woodberry" from Jeremiah Judson, his wife's brother-in-law. He agreed to pay ?140 in "well condissoned winter sider mead," pork, wheat, rye, Indian corn, and beef, and to assume Judson's "bargaines Covenants or agreements & ingagements to ye town of woodberry." This agreement was recorded November 18, 1678 at Stratford. It was endorsed as paid off by "Jerre Judson," February 22, 1685.

On August 28, 1681, the Town of Woodbury granted John Hurd new mill accommodations on the west side of the Pomperaug River to encourage him to build new and larger mill facilities. Here he built both a gristmill and a sawmill. At a town meeting held June 11, 1683, there was an agreement for assistance to him in repairing the mill dam.

About 1680, John Hurd built a house in "The Hollow" at Woodbury, near his second mill site. This house is still standing, having been restored by the Old Woodbury Historical Society. It has two stories, and is very large and commodious for that period.

John Hurd conveyed land at Woodbury to his sons, Joseph and Benjamin Hurd, March 23, 1686/7, they to "comfortably and Commendably" maintain him and his wife "till forty seven years be fully and Compleately expired." On April 29, 1688, he and his wife joined the Woodbury Church. Then on December 20, 1690 a settlement was entered into between "Anna Hurd widdow" and the children: Joseph Hurd, Benjamin Hurd, Ebenezer Hurd, and Sarah Hurd, "respecting ye land accomodations & Estate that was Lately John Hurds of Woodbury Deceased." It was approved by the County Court November 1, 1698, but not recorded at Woodbury until February 8, 1728/9.

The widow, Anna (Tuttle) (Judson) Hurd, apparently returned to Stratford. An undated Stratford First Church record, probably written about 1690, states that "widow Hurd" and others "brought letters from Woodberry Covenanted with this Church." There is no record of her death.

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"In 1675, the first permanent settlers to Woodbury built small houses, of either one or two stories, with one room for each story, and a fireplace on the long side of the house. There are only a very few such houses now left standing in Connecticut. The Hurd House in its present form consists of two such houses combined to form a single house of two rooms on then first floor and two rooms on the second.

The north rooms of the house originally consisted of a two-story house, built entirely of wood, having exterior dimensions of 21 feet 5 inches by 15 feet 2 inches. The house had no chimney girt at the second floor level, and the summer beam must have been supported on one end by an exterior chimney. Both the first and second floor rooms in this house still have the original horizontal random width pine paneling. There is evidence that each room has one casement window. The pioneer house had a six-inch overhang at the attic floor level.

Research indicates that this north house was the home in Woodbury of John Hurd who became the town miller by an agreement of August 28, 1681, making this part of the Hurd House the oldest structure at its original site in Litchfield County.

Records indicate that the south half of the house was joined with the earlier house about 1718, and may have belonged to one of the sons of the original miller. This house is about 26 feet long and 21 feet 5 inches wide. On each floor was one room, each plastered, with exposed wooden joists. There was a chimney inside the girts and a porch and stairway leading to the second floor and attic. The height between floors was greater in the south house than in the north so that the floor levels vary on each floor by about 2 inches. The south half of the house has no overhang. With its plastered walls and greater height, it is obviously later in date than the original house, it certainly was built before 1718.

When the two houses were joined, the original framing was retained. The summer beams of both houses were framed into a central chimney. The corner posts of the two houses remain and are about a foot apart. The clapboards cover the gap between the corner posts.

Sometime between 1718 and 1779, a lean-to was added to the back, giving the house the saltbox appearance it retained until the lean-to's removal early in this century. At some period prior to 1822, an ell was also added to the southeast corner of the home, which may have served its occupant as an office.

In 1967, the house came into the possession of the Old Woodbury Historical Society. During restoration and removal of the interior double walls in the north rooms of the house, wallpaper came to light which had been covered for generations. The earliest of these wallpapers had been applied to the wood paneling and bears the marks of English paper of the reign of King George III.

The furnishings in the house have, for the most part, been graciously given to the Society. While not all are original to the House, all are of the period when it was occupied by the Hurd family, as is the traditional herb garden surrounding the east and south sides of the House.

The Hurd House now is made up of the fabric of two distinct single-room, two story end-chimney houses. These are virtually unique in western Connecticut, and the Society, in restoring the structure, has provided a fine example of pioneer homes of the seventeenth century.

Members of the Hurd family occupied the house from 1680 until 1785, over 100 years. After 1785, ownership of the house passed through several hands until 1869, when the property was acquired by Michael K. Skelly. Mr. Skelly was a blacksmith and maintained his smithy in the building south of the Hurd House. The Skelly family lived in the house from 1869 until it was purchased for the Society in 1966, well over 100 years.

A barn was mentioned in the distribution of John Hurd's estate in 1690. While it is impossible to say with certainty if the existing barn is the same one referred to in the 1690 distribution, the great age of the heavy hand-hewn framing makes it appear likely that it is. The barn has been restored and was originally located slightly west of its present site."