History of the Farm
The Bodwell farm was built circa 1790 by Joseph Conner (1765-1803). Joseph was married to Ruth Johnson with whom he had several children including Nancy (b. 1788). In 1809 Nancy married Rev. Abraham Bodwell (1777-1863), the second pastor of the Congregational Church of Sanbornton. The house was not initially run as a farm.
The second owners of the house were the Kimball brothers who enlarged the house and ran it as a boarding house which was known for a time as Kimball's Inn. The next owner was Rev. James Boutwell, third pastor of the Congregational Church of Sanbornton.
The Bodwells did not occupy the house until Catherine Sykes Bodwell, the widow of Joseph C. Bodwell (1812-1876), son of Abraham and Nancy, moved back to Sanbornton with some of her children including Herbert J.L. Bodwell (1849-1927). Herbert married Mary H. Taylor in 1881 and they had four children. Herbert and his two sons, Joseph (1889-1963) and Jonathon (1891-1942), ran the house as a dairy farm, milking Guernsey cattle. The old barn was enlarged in the gambrel style around 1920 to accomodate more hay for the cattle. During this time, most of the labor was done using horses.
Joe married Claris Hanson (d. 1981) in 1914 and continued to live and work on the farm until his death in 1963. Jonathon married Marjorie Meader in 1931 and the following year Robert Bodwell (1932-2006) was born. Jonathon and Joe lived and worked on the farm together until Jonathon died in 1942 at which time Marjorie moved backed to Waltham with Robert and his sister M. Elaine (b. 1934). Robert would visit the farm in Sanbornton often and he spent summers working on the farm with Uncle Joe and Aunt Claris.
In 1962 Robert Bodwell and his wife Priscilla Colter (b. 1938, married 1961) had their first of three children, Phil and the following year the three of them moved to Sanbornton to live in the farmhouse with Joe and Claris. The cattle were sold around 1960 before Uncle Joe died.
Robert began planting trees in the early sixties. Initially he planted Blue and White Spruce but eventually changed to growing Balsam Fir exclusively. The first trees were large enough for sale five to ten years later. In the mid-seventies the pond which is in the front yard was dug. During the '70's Bob also operated a small vineyard behind the Sanbornton Town Hall and he sold the grapes to a local winery. Bob spent his whole life around this farm and spent as much time as he could working on it.
In the past the ten acre lot up on Tower Hill next to the cemetery was used for growing trees but lately the focus of the business has been on the fields near the house.
An incomplete family tree showing the Bodwells who lived in the house.
Tree generated by familyecho.com
Bodwell Family Homepage: A website dedicated to documenting the Bodwells from their start in Wales to the present day in America and Canada.