History of the Davis Burr-House
c. 1830
2199 Durham Road

Marvin and Maria Davis
owned 1833-1841

The original part of this house was built circa 1833 by Marvin Davis on a ¾-acre piece of property “near the Grist Mill in the North Society.” The property was located on the southwest corner of the Durham and East Guilford Turnpike at its junction with a small road leading to the gristmill. Perhaps this mill influenced Marvin Davis’s decision to build his house at this particular site. About the same time Marvin purchased the ¾-acre plot of land, his brother-in-law (or brother), Morgan Davis, purchased the Grist Mill property with “all the carding machinery.” Probate records for Marvin list money owed him for “carding,” so it is thought that most likely he worked with Morgan at the mill.     

Marvin Davis and his wife, Maria, had probably grown up in the area. At this time, the parents of Marvin are not known, but it is known that Maria was the daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Hubbard Davis, who lived in North Madison. Marvin and Maria were a young couple with small children when they purchased this plot of land, on which they planned to build their home. As early as 1827, Marvin had purchased several other tracts of land in the area; some were purchased from Maria’s uncle, Levi Davis. Sadly, Marvin Davis only lived a few years to enjoy his new house; he died at age thirty-one in 1835. The probate court ordered the sale of all the real estate owned by Marvin at the time of his death to cover his debts. Maria was allowed her “widow’s dower,” which included one-third of the dwelling house and homelot. Her children, Harriet L. Davis and Henry T. Davis, also each received one-third portion of the house. Marvin Davis is buried in the Rockland Cemetery.
 
Edward and Clarissa Hull
owned 1841- 1853

In 1841 Maria Davis remarried, and she and her children sold the house to Edward and Clarissa Hull. The Hulls were another young couple starting their life as farmers. Edward, son of Jesse and Patience Hull, was from Killingworth; Clarissa, daughter of Jeremiah and Clarissa Nettleton, was from Durham. Their only child, Edgar, was probably born in the house around 1844. During the time they lived in the house, they acquired more land adjoining the property. But, as with the Davis family, tragedy struck early: Edward Hull died in 1851, and Clarissa was forced to sell the house and farm. Clarissa later remarried, and she and her son Edgar moved to Hartford with her new husband and his family.    

David E. Scranton
owned 1853-1857

The next owner of the property was David E. Scranton, who purchased the house in 1853.  He was possibly a young twenty-four-year-old neighbor (and son of Simeon and Anna Scranton), who later became a carpenter in New Haven. David did not own the house very long; he sold it in April of 1857.

John Talmadge
owned 1857-1873

John Talmadge, another young farmer, was about twenty-five years old when he purchased the house and nine-acre farm. He, his wife Elizabeth, and their son John (who was about three years old when they moved to the house) lived there until 1873. 

Nehemiah Burr
owned 1873-1898

Talmadge sold the house to twenty-four-year-old Nehemiah Burr and his young wife, Fanny, in the spring of 1873. They had several children, all of whom were all born in the house: Clifford (born 1876), Edith May (born 1880), and Daisy Ann (born 1882). Fanny died in 1883, at age thirty-two; she was buried in Rockland Cemetery in North Madison. Over the years Nehemiah added to the acreage of the farm. When he sold it in 1898, it was about seventy acres larger than his original purchase.

The Fippinger Family
owned 1898-1945

Peter and Sabina Fippinger, immigrants from Germany, were the next owners of the farm. Peter was sixty-nine at the time of the purchase; Sabina was forty-nine. Before moving to Madison, the Fippingers lived in New York where their children (Henry, Fritz, Margaretta, and Lina) were born. Peter died of tuberculosis only two years after the family moved to the house; he was buried in the Rockland Cemetery. Perhaps the move to the country was made with the hope of improving his health. Sabina and the family continued to live in the house; her sons Henry and Frederick farmed the land.  When Sabina died in 1917 at age sixty-eight, the farm went to Frederick and his wife, Helen. 

Gross, Tichy, Schellbach, and Terenzio Families
owned 1945-Present

In 1945 the property was purchased by Andrew and Theresa Gross, who sold it to Theodore and Elizabeth Tichy in 1958. The Tichys divided the property, and in 1960 they sold the old house and about 2 ½ acres to Emil and Lydia Schellbach. The couple lived in the house together until Emil died in 1984; Lydia died in 2002. Elizabeth and James Terenzio purchased the house on July 9, 2002.    

Credit: This narrative was researched and written by Lynn Friedman, chair of the MHS Historic Preservation Committee. It was last updated December 13, 2008.

 Photo by Amy Etra