26 Church Street East, Colborne
(1915)
Roll No. 1411-012-010-30200 – Cramahe Township Ontario
Folk Victorian
No. 26 Church Street East in the village of Colborne is a Folk Victorian with some very recent additions.
It is a charming property with the typical gable end and “L” shaped wing to the east. It also has a one story addition on the west side. The “L” has been filled in to create a vestibule for the kitchen entry. The upper windows are 12 over 12 pane with newer windows on the lower level. There are custom shutters. The chimney on the west side is concrete. There is a porch the length of the west side to a door in the one story addition. The roof of the main house, the “wing” and the garage is gable.
The current owners have recently built a garage and have taken some pains to blend it into the lot, and to complement the house.
The yellow clapboard, scalloped shingle trim in the eaves, shutters, and various wrought iron embellishments give this house a real appeal.
The lot is terraced to the south and there is a peaked roof shed and a new greenhouse around the back of the property.
History or Associative Value
Until 1906, all the properties along the south side of the modern Church Street East (Numbers 22 through 32) consisted of the back lots of properties along the North side of King Street, Colborne’s main commercial Street. There was no Church Street to the east of the modern day Victory Street. In 1915, Jessie May Dudley sold the back part of her lot which now faces Church Street to her husband’s spinster sister, Clara May Dudley. We can speculate that she built the house at 26 Church Street East after that date.
Additional Historical and Genealogical Information
26 Church Street, Colborne, Ontario
Cramahe Township, Concession 2, Lot 31, Reid Lot 174
The first settlers in Cramahe Township arrived from Rutland, Vermont, in 1793 under the leadership of Joseph Keeler (1763-1839). Among the early settlers were George Asahel (1761-1833) and Hannah (1765-1832) Palmer (LINK). On their arrival, the Palmers took possession of the 200 acres of land in Concession 2, Lot 31. This land was officially deeded to George Palmer by the Crown on 15 July 1802.
Palmer sold his 200 acres to Joseph Keeler on 18 January 1812, on the same day buying from Keeler 150 acres in Concession 1, Lot 30, just to the south and one lot east of the property they sold. Basically, Palmer and Keeler appear to have simply exchanged the two properties. On 15 January 1824, Joseph Keeler transferred the southern 100 acres of Lot 31 to his son Joseph Abbott Keeler (1788-1855) (LINK).
Except for the strip of land running south to King Street between Victory Lane and the Seaton House property (=Reid Lot 168, now 57 King Street), all of the properties along the south side of the modern Church Street east of Victory Lane (now 22 through 32 Church Street) consisted of the back lots of properties along King Street sold by Joseph Abbott Keeler starting in the 1830s (now 57 through 75 King Street (LINKS)). There was no Church Street east of Victory Lane prior to 1906.
As of 1915, Jessie May Dudley (1878-?) owned a lot fronting on King Street at the modern number 65 and extending north to the newly created Church Street (LINK). On 6 July 1915 she sold the back part of her lot (now facing Church Street) to Clara May Dudley (1885-1927). This new property consisted of the modern lots at 24, where there is no house, and 26 Church Street. There is no reason to think there was a house at 26 Church Street before 1915.
Clara May Dudley was the sister of Samuel D. Dudley (1877-?), Jessie Dudley’s husband. She never married.
