Reverend James Keith Parsonage

The original town proprietor records of Bridgewater show the following record dated December 28, 1661:

:It is agreed upon by the Town meet together the sixth & twentieth of December that there shall be a house built for a minister upon the Townes lands where it shall be thought most-convenient & that the said house & grounds is to be freely given to the minister yt shall live & die amongst us.{{cite book|last1=Bangs|first1=Jeremy Dupertuis|title=Town Records of Duxbury, Bridgewater, and Dartmouth During the Time of the Plymouth Colony 1620-1692|date=2017|publisher=Leiden American Pilgrim Museum|location=Leiden, Netherlands|page=255}}

It is probable that construction began on the house the following Spring of 1662, although the same proprietor records indicate the house was not finished until 1664, after a young student of Divinity, Mr. James Keith, agreed to be the town's minister following his ordination.

James Keith was born in Scotland in approximately 1642 or 1643. He was educated briefly at Marischal College in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is said to have immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in late 1661 or early 1662.{{cite book|last1=Keith|first1=Laurence A.|title=Keith: Collected Genealogies of Keith, Keath & Keeth Families in North America|date=1997|publisher=Gateway Press, Inc.|location=Baltimore, MD|page=52}} He was made a freeman of Plymouth Colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on June 8, 1664.{{cite book|last1=Shurtleff|first1=Nathaniel B.|title=Records of Plymouth Colony. Court Orders. Vol. IV. 1661-1668|date=1968|publisher=William White|location=Boston, MA|page=61}}

File:Pulpit Rock, War Memorial Park, West Bridgewater Massachusetts.jpg

Oral tradition says that Keith preached his first sermon standing on Pulpit Rock in War Memorial Park, in West Bridgewater in 1663.{{cite news |author1=Staff writer |title=A gem in the heart of West Bridgewater |url=https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/2013/09/09/a-gem-in-heart-west/40033426007/ |access-date=1 December 2024 |publisher=The Enterprise |date=9 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201215713/https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/2013/09/09/a-gem-in-heart-west/40033426007/ |archive-date=1 December 2024}} The site is marked with a plaque.

Rev. James Keith left the house to his 7 living children in his will dated July 13, 1718, to be sold "at time convenient" and divided among them.{{cite book|title=Probate Records|date=13 July 1718|publisher=Plymouth Country Probate & Family Court|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=184–185 of book 4, probate case no. 11899}} They sold the house on March 18, 1723 to William Fobes Ephraim Fobes, Sr. (brothers) for the sum of 250£.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=18 March 1723|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=182–184 of book 19}} The sale was made with the condition that James Keith's widow, Mary Macy Keith, be allowed to stay in the home until she either remarried or died.

On September 8, 1734, William Fobes sold his share of the house to his brother and co-owner, Deacon Ephraim Fobes, Sr. for the sum of 300£, making Ephraim the sole owner of the property.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=8 September 1734|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=82–83 of book 41}} Five years later, on September 26, 1739, Ephraim sold the homestead to his son, Ephraim Fobes, Jr.,{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=26 September 1739|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|page=94 of book 35}} who held the deed for almost 58 years, selling to Amasa Howard on March 14, 1792.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=14 March 1792|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=340 of book 72}}

Amasa Howard only held the property for about five years before he died. He left it to his children in his will dated June 28, 1797.{{cite book|title=Probate Records|date=28 June 1797|publisher=Plymouth Country Probate & Family Court|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=215–216 of book 36, probate case no. 10722}} His two-year-old son, Adonis Howard, inherited the property between River Street and the Town River (today known as Pratt's Landing). His daughters, Arabella and Katherine Howard, both minors, received the property on the north side of River Street along with the house. These were the youngest owners in the home's history.

Eventually, after a series of transactions within the family, Arabella Howard, now married to Benjamin Eaton, became the sole owner of the Keith House. She died in 1833 without a will, and the county Probate Court awarded the house to her son, Benjamin Eaton, Jr.{{cite book|title=Probate Records|date=7 May 1833|publisher=Plymouth Country Probate & Family Court|location=Plymouth, MA|page=unknown, probate case no. 1034}} He kept the house for less than a year before selling it to Thomas Pratt on October 9, 1834.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=9 October 1834|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=12–13 of book 183}}

Thomas Pratt owned the house after purchasing it from Benjamin Eaton, Jr., and by either deed or will, the house was passed to his children, Mary and George Pratt. Mary sold her interest in the property to her brother, George, in a deed dated October 10, 1881.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=10 October 1881|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|page=48 of book 493}} In 1906, George died, and the property went to his second wife, Eliza Juliet Pratt.{{cite book|title=Probate Records|date=1906|publisher=Plymouth Country Probate & Family Court|location=Plymouth, MA|page=347 of book 13, probate case no. 15441}} She lived in the house until her death, and left the house to her husband's grandson, Robert H. Redman in her will dated March 6, 1930.{{cite book|title=Probate Records|date=6 Mar 1930|publisher=Plymouth Country Probate & Family Court|location=Plymouth, MA|page=386 of book 33, probate case no. 39458}} Robert Redman retained the house until September 12, 1952, when he sold it to Howard and Jessie Anderson (husband and wife).{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=12 September 1952|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|pages=403–405 of book 2230}}

The Andersons owned the house for nine years. They donated it to the Old Bridgewater Historical Society on November 29, 1961.{{cite book|title=Land Deeds|date=29 November 1961|publisher=Plymouth Country Registry of Deeds|location=Plymouth, MA|page=117 of book 2900}}

OBHS is the present owner of this historic home. They renovated of the property in the 1960s to return the home to its circa 1720 shape and layout. They currently run it as a colonial home museum.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oldbridgewater.org/visit|title=Visit the Old Bridgewater Historical Society|last=|first=|date=|website=www.oldbridgewater.org|language=en-gb|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-01-15}}

{{reflist}}

• List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts

Category:Buildings and structures in Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Category:Houses completed in 1662

Category:Clergy houses in the United States

Category:1662 establishments in Plymouth Colony

Category:Historic house museums in Massachusetts