The house as it appears to-day, restored and made comfortably habitable. The land on which it stands was deeded to the present owner’s 
great-greatgrandfather by the Connecticut Land Company, to which it was ceded by James I of England 
The Restoration of an Ohio Farmhouse 
HOW A CENTURY-OLD HOMESTEAD ON THE MAHONING RIVER WAS RECLAIMED 
BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL PIONEERS WHO TOOK UP THE LAND 
by Winifred T. Pendleton 
I HAD always dreamed of remodeling an old house for a 
home to live in. I did not aspire to the modern city home, 
but longed for an old-fashioned house with ample grounds—a 
country place having individuality and charm. All of us cherish 
our ideal of a home that we long to create and enjoy, and that 
was my ideal. About two miles from our home city was an 
estate which answered all these requirements, and which had the 
additional value of being the ancestral home of my husband’s 
family; a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, situated on the 
Mahoning River in that part of Ohio known as the Connecticut 
Western Reserve. The land had belonged to my husband's fam¬ 
ily ever since it was 
wrested from the 
wilderness more 
than a century ago. 
It was deeded to our 
great - great grand¬ 
father by the Con¬ 
necticut Land Com¬ 
pany, to which it 
was ceded by James 
I of England. The 
place has extensive 
woodland, meadows 
and pastures, a fine 
old orchard, attract¬ 
ive river scenery, 
and, best of all, a 
delightful old house 
shaded by giant ma¬ 
ples and elms. This 
treasure within two 
miles of our home 
city, and on an elec¬ 
tric car line! We immediately began to repair the ravages of 
time and of careless tenants. 
The house, built in 1812, was large and substantial, though 
in a state of bad repair. Our aim was to make it comfortable 
without changing its character, and without destroying its old- 
time charm. Having simple lines and generous proportions, it 
was an ideal house to remodel. A wide hall, with an outside 
door at each end, ran through the center. On each side of the 
hall were two large square rooms, divided from each other by 
huge chimneys. The front room on the w r est was the parlor, 
notable for its hand-carved woodwork. The carving was done 
eighty years ago by 
a craftsman who 
rode horseback all 
the way from Phila¬ 
delphia for that pur¬ 
pose. He ornamented 
the mantel, a cornice 
around the ceiling, 
the door and win¬ 
dow casings, the 
panels u n d e r the 
windows and two 
mantels in other 
parts of the house. 
Behind the parlor 
was the inevitable 
down - stairs bed¬ 
room. 
The front room 
on the east of the 
hall was used as the 
dining - room, while 
back of it was the 
The original farmhouse, built in 1812, as it apeared before the present generation of 
owners realized its possibilities as a country home 
(357) 
