Page 6 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 52 Winter 2025

The Captain John
The Cap tain John by Bobbie Borne

Mansfield House
Mansfield House

Main Street, Wallingford
Wallingford’s Main Street is the focus
of much of our town’s history, cul-
ture, commerce, dining, and enter-
tainment. Throughout the year we
enjoy Frosty and Independence Day
Parades, outdoor concerts on the
Green, the Stroll in December, Cele-
brate Wallingford as the leaves turn
red, dancing in Simpson Court on
summer evenings, popular restau-
rants, coffee shops, retail opportuni-
ties, and more.

I have written before about the set-
tlement of Wallingford beginning in
1670, with our early citizens award-
ed land plots lining the Long High-
way (South and North Main Streets). Mansfield House at 188 North Main Street
Houses soon appeared, a church,
taverns, all the necessities. We pay 188 North Main Street ter. John’s grandfather, John Alling,
homage to our heritage by keep- It is unclear who owned the parcel at was Treasurer of Yale College for
ing Wallingford’s history alive. The 188 North Main Street at the founding many years. Numerous members of
Wallingford Historical Society and of the Town in 1670, perhaps the An- the family are buried in New Haven’s
the Wallingford Historic Preserva- drews Family who would have built a Grove Street Cemetery.
tion Trust offer programs highlight- house on it. But in about 1760 a tradi-
ing these stories and historic house tional Dutch Colonial house was con- John Mansfield was educated in New
tours. The Wallingford Magazine structed there, similar to the Parsons Haven and learned the carpentry
publishes articles featuring stories House on South Main Street owned trade. We know he relocated to Wall-
about our town. by the Wallingford Historical Society. ingford around April 1770 because he
It might have been built around the purchased the Dutch Colonial house
Townspeople love to walk along Main original house that stood on the lot. I on one acre including a shop and
Street, or run, or walk a dog, while have yet to find the name of the per- barn from Thomas Merchant for 50
appreciating the many periods of ar- son who built this house. But it served pounds. [This information is recorded
chitecture represented in each block. as a home to many generations of in the Town Land Books at the Wall-
My husband and I recently stopped Wallingford families until it was re- ingford Town Clerk’s Office.] In 1772
to admire the “new” library where I moved to accommodate the library in Mansfield married a Wallingford girl
used to work, and discuss the many 1980. named Sybil Sexton and eventually
obstacles that were overcome in or- had four children (with several wives).
der to insert the large structure into John Mansfield: 1748 to 1823 In addition to his in-town home, John
the almost 400-year-old street with The Mansfield Family lived in the New acquired farmland on the west side
houses side by side. I asked him if he Haven Colony since its settlement in of the Quinnipiac River as well as a
remembered the Davis House that 1638. John Mansfield, the subject of “woodlot” on the east side. The re-
used to sit where the library driveway this article, was born there in 1748 to cords indicate that over time Man-
is now located. He did not; and nei- Moses and Rachel Dorman Mansfield. sfield acquired additional property
ther do most folks I’ve spoken with. Moses Mansfield who had a home- adjoining these first purchases. It ap-
Following is the story of that house, stead on Grove Street was the rector peared he was on track to live a com-
some of its residents, and what hap- of the Hopkins School, a constable, fortable life as a family man, farmer
pened to it. collector of taxes, and schoolmas- and carpenter in the quiet country
town of Wallingford.

6 Wallingford Magazine - Winter 2025