1

(Photo by Richard F. Hope)

Theodore Sitgreaves Mansion (217 Spring Garden Street, recently St. Michael’s Convent, now once again a private residence and condominiums).

2 ½ story “Second Empire” brownstone residence.[1]

The land was part of original town Lot No.57, which was purchased from the Penn Family in 1802 by Philip Odenwelder, Trustee for the German Reformed Congregation of Easton, and trustees for the other congregations in the German Union Church at that time.[2]

The house on this property was originally begun either (depending upon which authority is believed) around 1850,[3] or around 1830, in the federal style.[4] A construction date c.1852-53 has also been suggested for the house.[5] The property was acquired by Rev. Dr. Daniel Veech McLean in 1857,[6] immediately after he resigned as the President of Lafayette College. He had beenappointed by the Presbyterian Synod which took charge of the school, and served from late 1850 until early 1857.[7] Dr. McLean resigned the Presidency of Lafayette College inthe early days of 1857 without explanation, without any known reason for doing so, and despite a college committee urging him to remain. Moreover, he insisted that his resignation take effect immediately, without waiting for his successor to be chosen.[8] He purchased the house on Spring Garden Streeton 20 January 1857 for $3,400,[9] and was listed as a resident there in 1860.[10] In 1862, however, hishome was seized by the Sheriff for debt, and sold for $8,100.[11] The debt amount was $7,040 (plus interest and damages) owed to Levi Bennet,[12]a, extremely wealthylocal carpenter.[13] This very large debt might have resulted from McLean’s construction (or substantial renovation) of the Spring Garden Street house – a supposition further supported by the huge increase (almost $5,000 – morethan 230%) in the value of the house in the few years between McLean’s purchaseand itsseizure by the Sheriff. Thereafter, McLean went back to his old profession of the ministry, holding two pastorates in New Jersey until his death in 1869.[14]

Dr. McLean’s property was purchased in 1862 by Theodore R. Sitgreaves.[15] This purchase was probably prompted by Sitgreaves’s upcoming marriage to Anna Michler, which took place on 19 April 1873.[16] Anna Michler was a daughter[17] of prominent mill owner and public official Nathaniel Michler.[18] Anna had previously lived with her older sister, Henrietta (a substantial landowner in her own right).[19] Henrietta came to live with the Sitgreaves couple after the marriage.[20]

Theodore Sitgreaveshimself was a son of Samuel Sitgreaves,[21] who had been Easton’s leading citizen in the early 19th Century.[22] A well-known citizen in Easton because of his father, one of the earliest split-bamboo fishing rods invented and made by neighbor Samuel Phillippe was given to T.R. Sitgreaves as a gift in the mid-1840s, before they were sold to the public.[23] Beginning in 1851 and continuing until his retirement in the 1870s, Theodore Sitgreaves was the owner (and later, a partner) in the liquor business in Masonic Hall, at the corner of South 3rd and Ferry Streets. This firm became Welch & Co. in the early 1860s.[24]

  • The Theodore Sitgreaves Mansion was then listed as 49 Spring Garden Street, prior to Easton’s street renumbering in 1874.[25]
  • After the Civil War, Theodore Sitgreaves remodeled the house extensively in the “Second Empire” style that was popular at that time.[26]
  • It was assigned the address of 217 Spring Garden Street in the 1874 street renumbering scheme.[27]

Theodore Sitgreavescontinued to live in his Spring Garden Street house into the 1880s, after he had retired from the liquor business.[28] He died in 1886, at age 80.[29] After his death, Sitgreaves left the house as a rectory for the Trinity Episcopal Church (at 234 Spring Garden St.).[30]

In 1926, during the Great Depression, the Church remodeled the building into apartments, retaining the first floor as the rectory, and renting upper floors to tenants.[31] In 1900, Rev. Davis, the Episcopal Pastor lived here.[32]

There is an Easton tradition that Woodrow Wilson’s father lived here when he was the minister of the Brainerd Presbyterian Church next door.[33] This is apparently a mistaken reference to Rev. Leighton Wilson Eckerd, who was the Brainerd Presbyterian Pastor from 1891-1893 and continued with the unified congregation at 333 Spring Garden Street thereafter.[34] However, as we have seen, the house was the Episcopal rectory at the time, not the Presbyterian rectory. In addition, President Wilson’s father was Rev. Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson,[35] who is not listed among the pastors of the Brainerd Presbyterian Church.[36]

In 1954, the “former Episcopal manse next to the church became available” and was purchased by St. Michael’s Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church to become its Rectory. A sacristy was built to connect the two buildings.[37] The two St. Michael’s priests then in residence at 114 Spring Garden Street had already moved into the new Rectory by 1951.[38] The Mansion served as St. Michael’s Rectory from 1955[39] until 1964, when Rev. Joseph Gaudinskas, the Pastor at St. Michael’s, was promoted to the Pastor of the St. Bernard’s “Mother Church” as well as Administrator of St. Michael’s.[40] That left no resident pastor for St. Michael’s Parish. Father Francis Connolly was assigned to St. Michael’s in 1966, and the Rectory was converted into a Convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph.[41] The Sisters left the Theodore Sitgreaves Mansion after 1980, which then became a Holy Family residence for the elderly.[42]

The church sold the property to Kelly and Todd Snyder in 1999 for $215,000.[43] The Snyders held it until 2006, when they sold it to a realty company for $300,000.[44] Within four months, it was resold to Matthew Tillotson[45] for $412,500.[46] Tillotson became a resident, and made plans to convert it back into a single-family home.[47] However, in 2012 Tillotson sold the property for $190,000 to John McClave,[48] a “New York property investor” who has owned several properties in the area including the Dime Bank Building in Allentown.[49]

[1]See City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone B (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

[2]Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to Philip Odenwelder, Trustee for German Reformed Congregation of Easton, et al., G2 512 (31 May 1802)(sale price £ 11 18s. 6d. for original town Lot No.57).

[3]Historic Easton, Inc., Holiday Preservation Tour of Historic Easton unnumbered p.4 (9 Dec. 1978); James Somogy, “Saint Michael’s Historic Buildings” (article copy in the folders of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library).

[4]William Peterson, Eagle Scout Project: Historic Guide of Easton Site #28 (2006), available through Easton website, (via “History” link)(“Federal style house (built circa 1830) with Victorian alterations”).

[5]City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone B (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

[6]Deed, James (Mary) McKeen to Daniel V. McLean, D9 527 (20 Jan. 1857).

James McKeen had purchased the land along the North side of Spring Garden Street from the German Reformed Congregations of Easton, Drylands and Plainfield in 1853. The Congregations had acquired the land from the Penn Family in 1802. See Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to Philip Odenwelder, Trustee for German Reformed Congregation of Easton, et al., G2 512 (31 May 1802)(sale price £ 11 18s. 6d. for original town Lot No.57); Deed, German Reformed Congregations of Easton, Drylands, and Plainfield, et al., to James McKeen, G8 395 (1 Apr. 1853)(sale price $7,000).

James McKeen had also purchased the land in the rear of the property (as well as the rear of the property next door) in 1853, from Joseph B. Gross, a clergyman in Fayette, New York. Deed, Joseph B. (Sophia C.) Gross to James McKeen, G8 394 (4 Mar. 1853)(sale price $1,500). Gross had held the property since 1825. See Deed, William (Catharine) Ricker to Joseph B. Gross, B5 143 (6 May 1825).

For a brief history of James McKeen, see generally separate entry for 217 Spring Garden Street.

One authority states that the underlying property had once been part of the estate and gardens of Samuel Sitgreaves. James Somogy, “Saint Michael’s Historic Buildings” (article copy in the folders of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library). This appears to be incorrect. In fact, Samuel Sitgreaves’s estate was in the next block over – on the West side of Sitgreaves Street, original Town Lot No.58, while the church is part of original Town Lot No.57. The mistake was caused in part by the fact that Samuel Sitgreaves’s son, Theodore Sitgreaves, later acquired the property and remodeled the house (see below).

[7]See David B. Skillman, II The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College 324 (Easton: Lafayette College 1932); accord, id. Vol. I at 196, 199, 219-21.

As noted below, the property was numbered 49 Sitgreaves Street prior to 1874. Some confusion has resulted from the fact that in 1855 Samuel Sitgreaves’s widow, Mary, and in 1860 their son, Theodore R. Sitgreaves (who later purchased the house), were residents at 48 Spring Garden Street. C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 54 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(Mrs. Mary Sitgreaves, widow, at 48 Spring Garden St.); William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 130 (William H. Boyd 1860)(T.R. Sitgreaves). See generally Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 147 (George W. West 1885 / 1889)(Samuel Sitgreaves’s second wife was Maria Angelina Kemper).

This street address of 48 Spring Garden Street was probably directly across the street from Dr. McLean’s house at No.49 Spring Garden Street. Indeed, 48 Spring Garden Street should also have been located next to Judge Schuyler’s later address at 50 Spring Garden Street. See separate entry for the Howard Riegel Mansion at 214-16 Spring Garden Street.

[8]David B. Skillman, I The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College 219-21 (Easton: Lafayette College 1932).

[9]Deed, James (Mary) McKeen to Daniel V. McLean, D9 527 (20 Jan. 1857).

[10]William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 126 (William H. Boyd 1860)(Rev. D.V. McLean, house at 49 Spring Garden Street under the street numbering scheme in effect at that time – see below).

[11]Deed Poll, Thomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Daniel V. McLean, to T.R. Sitgreaves, Sheriff 3 76 (9 Apr. 1862)(purchase price $8,100) and E10 323 (10 May 1862).

[12]Deed Poll, Tomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Daniel V. McLean, to T.R. Sitgreaves, E10 323 (10 May 1862).

[13]See1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.72B (Levi Bennet with real and personal estate worth $62,000 at age 56); 1860 Census, Series M653, Roll 1147, p.275 (real and personal estate worth $23,600 at age 46). See generally separate entry for Lauter’s Fine Furniture Building #3, noted as part of 219-31 Northampton Street.

[14]David B. Skillman, I The Biography of a College: Being the History of the First Century of the Life of Lafayette College 221 (Easton: Lafayette College 1932).

[15]Deed Poll, Tomas Heckman, Sheriff, for Daniel V. McLean, to T.R. Sitgreaves, Sheriff 3 76 (9 Apr. 1862)(sale price $8,100) and E10 323 (10 May 1862); see also Virginia Williams Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania 1811-1961119 (1961).

[16]Henry F. Marx (compiler), IV Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1852 – 1870 Newspaper Extracts 839 (Easton Area Public Library 1934)(Theodore R. Sitgreaves married Anna Michler on 19 April 1863).

[17]They were married by 1869. Deed, Henrietta Michler and Elizabeth P. Porter et al. (heirs and personal representative of Eliza M. Porter) to Anna M. Sitgreaves, E12 695 (1 Mar. 1869)(recital).

Anna had been living with her sister, Henrietta, in 1860. 1860 Census, Series M653, Roll 1147, p.259.

[18]See Richard F. Hope and Virginia Lawrence-Hope, Easton PA: The Lower Bushkill Mills 266 (Lulu Press 2012); Charles M. Sandwick, Sr., Jacobsburg A Pennsylvania Community and Its People 32-33, 35 (Nazareth (PA): Jacobsburg Historical Society 1985); entry for the Boyer Building at 500 Northampton Street.

[19]See C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 40 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(Henrietta and Anna Michler both in residence at 184 Northampton Street, under the street numbering scheme in effect at that time). Accord, 1860 Census, Series M653, Roll 1147, p.259 (Henrietta Michler head of household (age 55), with Anna M. Michler (age 45)). Each of the sisters was shown as having a worth of $1500 in real estate, and another $1,000 in personal property.

[20]See1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.25 (back) (Henrietta Michler, age 68, a resident with Theodore and Anna M. Sitgreaves; Henrietta listed as having $20,000 of real estate in her own right); 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.380D (H. Michler, age 75, living with her sister Anna M. Sitgreaves and T.R. Sitgreaves at 217 Spring Garden Street).

She remained in residence with the Sitgreaves Family until her death in 1885. See Jane S. Moyer (compiler), XIIIMarriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 22 (Easton Area Public Library 1976)(Henrietta Michler died on 11 June 1885 at the residence of her brother-in-law, Theodore Sitgreaves).

[21]Virginia Williams Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania 1811-1961 119 (1961). A brief biography of Samuel Sitgreaves is contained in the separate entry for 109 North Third Street, and in Richard F. Hope, Easton PA: A History 65 (AuthorHouse 2006).

[22]Some of the important points in Samuel Sitgreaves’s biography are listed in the separate listing for 109 North Third Street, and in Richard F. Hope, Easton PA: A History 65 (AuthorHouse 2006).

[23]George Leonard Herter, “A Brief Early History of Split Bamboo Rods”, in Fly Fishing, fishing-tricks.com/a_brief_early_history_of_split_bamboo_fishing_rods.html (accessed 28 Oct. 2009)(quoting Charles F. Murphy, an early rod maker from Newark, NJ, who visited Phillippe to learn about rod-making).

[24]Advertisement, “Sitgreaves’ Wine and Liquor Store”, Easton Argus, Thursday, 17 Apr. 1851, p.4, col.5 (advertisement dated 3 Apr. 1851); William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [etc.] 130 (William H. Boyd 1860)(T.R. Sitgreaves); 1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.25 (hand numbered p.50) (Wholesale Liquor Merchant, age 63); D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874)(Easton Business Notice for Welch & Co., liquor dealers in Masonic Hall, showing T.R. Sitgreaves as the second partner). See also separate entry for 44 South Third Street.

[25]Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 117 (1873)(T.R. Sitgreaves house at 49 Spring Garden Street); D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874).

[26]James Somogy, “Saint Michael’s Historic Buildings” (article copy in the folders of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library).

[27]Article, “The New Numbers”, Easton Daily Free Press, Friday, 5 Dec. 1873, p.3; 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.380C (“T.R. Sitgraves”, retired merchant, age 73, at 217 Spring Garden St.).

[28]See1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.380C (“T.R. Sitgraves”, retired merchant, age 73, at 217 Spring Garden St.). That same Census, at p.470A, shows another Theo R. Sitgreaves living with his uncle Edward O. Smith at 1136 Lehigh Street. However, the Lehigh Street gentleman was only age 19 at the time, and employed as an apprentice to a boiler maker, so was undoubtedly not the retired liquor merchant!

[29]Jane S. Moyer (compiler), XVIIMarriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 114 (Easton Area Public Library 1976). His wife, Anna M. Sitgreaves, died on 19 Sept. 1893. Id at 112.

[30]Virginia Williams Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania 1811-1961119 (1961)(house pictured at p.11).

[31]Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church, supra at 119 (during the Great Depression); James Somogy, “Saint Michael’s Historic Buildings” (article copy in the folders of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library)(done in 1926).

[32]1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.62A.

[33]See William Peterson, Eagle Scout Project: Historic Guide of Easton Site #28 (2006), available through Easton website, (via “History” link); accord, Historic Easton, Inc., Spring Tour Site #2 (19 May 1984)(copy in files of Easton Heritage Alliance).

[34]See Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church, supra at 121-22.

[35]Wikipedia, “Woodrow Wilson” / “Early Life”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Early_life.

[36]See Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church, supra at 107-22.

[37]Information Sheet, Saint Michael’s Church, Easton, Pennsylvania (located in folder of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library); accord, James Somogy, “Saint Michael’s Historic Buildings” (article copy in the folders of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library); Virginia Williams Bentley, Sesquicentennial Story of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania 1811-1961119 (1961)(Sitgreaves’s old mansion “been connected, literally, with the church edifice to which it always appeared to belong”); see Deed, Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, Easton, to Rev. Francis A. Garmus, Pastor of St. Michael Roman Catholic church, Easton, E91 317 (4 Mar. 1954).

[38]SeePolk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1955 293-94 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1955).

[39]SeePolk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1955 293-94 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1955). The Pastor had previously lived at 114 Spring Garden Street. See separate entry for the Reichard House at 114 Spring Garden Street; Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1951 185, 187, 569 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1951)(Rev. Francis Garmus and Rev. Joseph C. Gaudinskas); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1953 874 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1953).

[40]Obituary, “Rev. Joseph Gaudinskas, 63, Easton Priest, Dies”, Easton Express, Sat., 1 Oct. 1966, p.1, col.6 (Pastor of St. Michael’s for 15 years; became Pastor of St. Bernard’s and Administrator of St. Michael’s in 1964). This article’s claim that Father Gaudinskas had been the Pastor for 15 years was apparently mistaken, because in 1951 (when he joined St. Michael’s Parish) and for a period of time afterwards Father Garmus was the Pastor, and Father Gaudinskas was the Administrator. SeePolk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1951 187, 569 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1951)(Rev. Francis Garmus and Rev. Joseph C. Gaudinskas); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1953 874 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1953); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1955 293-94 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1955). Father Gaudinskas was apparently promoted to Pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in 1956. SeePolk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1956 356-57 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1956)(Gaudinskas listed as pastor, Father Garmus no longer listed).

[41]Information Sheet, Saint Michael’s Church, Easton, Pennsylvania (located in folder of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library).

[42]Information Sheet, Saint Michael’s Church, Easton, Pennsylvania (located in folder of the Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library).

[43]Deed, Rev. John J. Grabish, Pastor of St. Michael Roman Catholic Parish, to Kelly Snyder (formerly Kelly Horan) and Todd Calvin Snyder, 1999-1-095625 (13 May 1999)(sale price $215,000).