New Canaan Now & Then: The Jewett Estate [Part 1 of 2]

‘Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris.

The land at 589 Oenoke Ridge was owned by Ms. Esther Howard Leeming who deeded the property for $1 to Ms. Mary K. Minor on Sept. 30, 1922. 

Ms. Leeming was the daughter of Edward Tasker Howard who died on Aug. 7, 1918. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $172,553.80 and $60,011.98 was left to Ms. Leeming which included two-fifths of the estate on Oenoke Ridge. 

Mr. Howard was the son of John Tasker Howard who was one of the founders of the Plymouth Church in Massachusetts. Mr. Howard was the owner of E.T. Howard Advertising in New York City. He was also a friend of the inventor Lewis Waterman and is credited with being the original financial backer of L.E.Waterman Co., the creator of the Waterman Fountain Pen. 

Upon Edward Howard’s death, each of his grandchildren received $7,000. The parcel of land consisted of 16 acres. Ms. Minor assumed the mortgage of $7,500 that was held at that time by E. Maude Swits. It appears that there was a home on the property prior to 1933, which was described in an affidavit dated May 24, 1996 by Charles P. Morton. Mr. Morton, a former tax assessor and former first selectman traveled past the property on his way to school (in the 1930’s). He attests that there was “a one-story frame” on the property prior to the 1932 when the first town zoning laws came into effect. The house that had been built by the Minors burned to the ground in April 1932. 

The Jewett Estate. Courtesy of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society

Mr. John Crannell Minor was born in New York City on Oct. 28, 1873. He married Mary Kemble (Hadley) on June 2 1903. Mrs. Minor was born in 1877. The Minors had three children: John C. Minor III, who died at the age of 11 in March 1906, Mary Kemble Minor who was born on Jan. 20, 1907 and died on Sept. 19, 1969 and Allen Hurlbutt Minor who was born on July 29, 1913 and died on Jan. 17, 1982. Mrs. Mary Kemble Hadley Minor died on Nov. 18, 1952. Mr. John C. Minor died on Dec. 26, 1955. The Minors sold the property to Frank Baldwin Jewett.

According to the town’s records, Mr. Frank B. Jewett Jr. purchased the property in January 1957 (although some documents indicate March 29, 1956 and March 8, 1957 as an additional purchase). Mr. Jewett was born in New York City on April 4, 1917 and was the son of Dr. Frank B. and Fannie Frisbie Jewett. He graduated from Tabor Academy in 1924 and received a bachelor’s degree in 1938 from the California Institute of Technology. He received his MBA from Harvard where he was second in his class two years later. Mr. Jewett married Edar Von Lengerke Fleming on Sept. 5, 1942 in Washington DC. Mr. Jewett immigrated to Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 1955 and lived there for about one year. The Jewetts also lived in Edina, Hennepin, Minn. The Jewetts had four children:  Frank B. Jewett, III (“Terry”), Robert F. Jewett, Rebecca and Edar Francis.

Mr. Terry Jewett died May 3, 2009. Like his father, he graduated from Tabor Academy and went on to Columbia University and received his MBA from Columbia University. At the time of his death he was a professor at Monroe College. The Jewetts were a sailing family and Mr. Terry Jewett crewed and skippered Solings for almost 40 years and was a crew member on the family boat Epee when it won the first Atlantic Coast Sailing Championship. 

[Part 2 of 2 of this installment of ‘New Canaan Now & Then’ will appear in the Friday, Nov. 22 newsletter.]