ROBERT P. CARR HOUSE
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
35 MAIN STREET, BOWDOINHAM, MAINE
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Robert P. Carr House is significant both architecturally and historically.
From the historical perspective, the house’s original occupant, the Hon. Robert P. Carr,
served as both a Maine State Representative and as a Maine State Senator. He was also
prominent in local affairs. Carr’s son-in-law, Captain Frank H. Purinton, who was the
next-generation occupant of the house, was also a prominent citizen and politician.
Architecturally, the house is a grandiose example of the Italianate style, with elaborate
and ornate details exhibiting fine craftsmanship and an apparent lack of concern for
cost. The house’s lavish scale and décor are illustrative of the wealth and opulence of
the first two generations of the family that owned it.
Most remarkable is the way the house has retained all of its original features, including
many which, by normal modern-day standards, would be considered completely
obsolete and outdated. When the house was purchased by the Browns in 1989, the
pantry; kitchen, with its built-in-bathtub; and two privies were all intact. All of the
original woodwork was present, as are the original plaster ceiling medallions and
moldings and the marble mantle shelves. Most of the walls and ceilings had undergone
nothing more than patching and spackling over the years, and very little of the original
plaster had been replaced with more modern materials.
Returning to the historical perspective, the following information is offered about the
family that owned and occupied the house since it was built in 1870 until the Browns
bought it in 1989.
Robert Potter Carr, known as “R.P.,” came from a family that reportedly settled in
Bowdoin in 1624. He was born in Bowdoin on October 23, 1818, the son of Capt. James
Carr and Charity (Potter) Carr. He married Abigail Theresa Whitmore in 1839, and the
couple settled in the house on Main Street in 1870.
When Carr first moved to Bowdoinham is uncertain, but another house in the village on
Center Street, also bears his name in glass in the front door lights and is known to have
been the home of Carr’s son, Stephen, in the 1860’s. Immediately before the house on
Main Street was built, Carr was reportedly living in a house on Route 24 near the
railroad tracks.
Carr’s primary business appears to have been as a grocery store proprietor. Local
business directories list a James Carr and Son, dry goods and groceries” store in 1850
and several years later list Carr’s occupation as a “merchant at Bowdoinham.” He is
also listed as postmaster in Bowdoinham from 1849 to 1853 and as president of the
Village Bank of Bowdoinham for several years until his death in 1882.
Politically, the peak of Carr’s career was his single term as a Republican State Senator in
1873-4, and it was in this period that the house on Main Street was in its heyday. Lavish
parties and banquets were held there, with governors and other prominent politicians
on the guest list. Carr also served a single term (1858-9) as a State Representative and
served for many years (at least 1876 through 1881) as a Sagadahoc County
Commissioner.
Carr died on March 14, 1882. The following day, the Bath Daily Times reported:
“He was stricken with apoplexy yesterday, and, in addition to the medical skill
in Bowdoinham village, Dr. Packard of this city was hastily summoned. He went as
speedily as possible but found the patient beyond recovery.
“Mr. Carr has long been one of the leading and most respected citizens of his
native town, and prominent in town affairs. He has also been continuously on the
Board of County Commissioners for a dozen or 15 years, and would have been on the
board at the time of his death if the people of this county, instead of Gov. Plaisted, had
had the matter in their hands.
“The death of such a man in the prime of his life is a public loss.”
Carr and his wife had five children, one of whom—Jimmie—died in childhood. The
other four continued to live in Bowdoinham, and it was the youngest, Mary Theresa
(“Mamie”), who took over the occupancy of the family home.
The other three children were: Stephen Carr, who became the state insurance
commissioner; Robert W. Carr, who owned a clothing store and served as both
selectman and county commissioner; and Cleora, who married Capt. Benjamin Adams
and lined in a house about a mile away on Main Street. According to family accounts,
Cleora’s daughter, Alice Adams, befriends the novelist Booth Tarkington one summer,
and it was on her that Tarkington loosely based the title character of his novel, Alice
Adams.
Mary Theresa Carr, who was born on May 5, 1859, married Capt. Frank Henry Purinton
on April 19, 1883 and they made the family home their home.
Originally from Cundy’s Harbor , Purinton was a sea captain whose principal ships
were the Oakland and the St. Charles. His affiliation with the Pennell Shipyard, in
Brunswick, and later with the Minott Shipyard in Phippsburg, are recounted in the
enclosed genealogical information sheet, which also includes an account of Purinton’s
well-rewarded stay with his cousin, Mrs. Garcelon, in San Francisco.
Tales of Capt. Purinton’s exploits at sea are told in the enclosed newspaper article
written by his daughter, whose childhood memories included many of those sea
voyages. An accompanying profile of Purinton’s wife—written by her
granddaughter—is also enclosed.
According to the newspaper articles, Purinton’s sea-going apprenticeship was served
under Capt. Elias Reed, his brother-in-law, on the Oakland, a 1,237-ton ship built by the
Pennells in Brunswick in 1866. Purinton later captained the same ship, and, after his
marriage, captained the St. Charles, a 1,749-ton, 225-foot long top-gallant yarder built
by the C.V. Minott shipyard in Phippsburg in 1883.
According to Fairburn’s “Merchant Sail,” the St. Charles “made seven westbound Cape
Horn passages to San Francisco, six fro Philadelphia and one from Swansea, Wales, and
completed six eastbound runs with grain to European ports.
“Her best westbound passage was 120 days and the fastest eastbound 103 days.
On a passage from San Francisco to Hill, England, the St. Charles spoke and passed at
different times three British ships: Anaurus, Thalatta, and Glenbreck—which had
passed through the Golden Gate 10, 13 and 17 respectively ahead of her.”
The St. Charles was lost at sea on its next voyage after Purinton left its command in
1892. Fairburn elaborates on that incident:
“Lost on her seventh voyage (May 1892) three days after leaving Nanaino, B.C.,
with a cargo of coal. An explosion in the hold ruined the ship and she was destroyed
by fire as a worthless derelict and a menace to navigation.”
Like his father-in-law, Purinton was active in local politics. After returning from San
Francisco to Bowdoinham, he served as selectman (1897-1898) and as School Committee
Member (1904-1909). He was also secretary of the Bowdoinham Masonic Lodge.
(Please note that he was not the same Frank H. Purinton who served as State
Representative from Topsham in the 1890’s.)
Purinton died of pneumonia on March 27, 1909. On March 31, the Bath Independent
and Enterprise reported:
“Captain Purinton was, in his younger days, a prominent and successful sea
captain, sailing in the Minott fleet. His last command was the ship St. Charles. Since
retiring from sea, he has been prominent in town affairs, holding many of the town
offices. He was an active member of the Village Lodge of Masons, and for many years
was secretary of the Lodge. He was elected a member of the Board of County
Commissioners at the last election.”
Among the list of survivors was his father, Stephen Purinton, then aged 97, and two of
his five sisters: Carrie, who was living with their father in Harpswell, and “Mrs. Dr.
Smith of Boston.” Mary Theresa also survived her husband by many years, and
continued to live in the family home until her death in 1946.
The Purintons had only one child, who became the third generation to inhabit the home
on Main Street. In November 1989, Mary Theresa Purinton (Molly) was still alive;
almost 102 year sold; in ill health; and living in a nursing home in Brunswick. She lived
on Main Street until the spring of 1988, in conditions that can only be described as
primitive by modern standards. The only plumbing in the house was a cold faucet in
the kitchen, and the house was heated only by coal and wood. Hot water had to be
heated on the kitchen woodstove and the only toilets were the privies in the barn. The
built-in bathtub in the kitchen never had running water, and the electrical service was a
meager 30 amps, connected to the fixtures and outlets by underground knob and tube
wiring.
Molly was born on January 31, 1888, and taught school for a couple of years between
her graduation from Farmington Normal School and her marriage on January 17, 1912
to Philip Carlton Nealey.
Nealey also came from a prominent local family. His grandfather, Capt. Horace Nealey,
built and lived in the so-called Lilly Farm on Bay Road (Route 24) and ran a successful
shipbuilding business in Bowdoinham. At one time, it is said, he had 16 ships at sea at
the same time, and he offered to use the proceeds from the sale of the largest cargo to
build a church. The Baptist Church 200 feet down the hill from the Carr House is the
result of that promise.
Philip Nealey owned a clothing store in a since demolished building a little further
down Main Street, next to the Grange Hall. He committed suicide in 1959, shooting
himself through the head. The birdshot marks can still be seen in the kitchen ceiling.
The Nealeys’ too, had only one child. Courtney Theresa Ferguson, now 75, is a retired
schoolteacher who lives in Monticello, Florida. Although Mrs. Ferguson has not lived
in Bowdoinham for many years, the home was deeded to her by her mother in 1963,
and it was from her that the Browns purchased it in 1989.