The John Palmer House is a historic First Period house on Hooper Street in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Built in 1683 for shoreman John Palmer, it is a two-and-a-half-story clapboard house with a rear ell. The house originally had a steep pitched roof with no overhang at the eaves when it was first constructed.
Some time around 1715, the roof was raised and extended, giving the house a deep overhang in the front, and an ell was added to the left rear of the house.
The foundation is constructed of boulders, which are much larger stones than traditionally used in basements of First Period Houses.
After John Palmer’s death in 1727, the house passed to his son, Colonel John Palmer Jr. When Col. Palmer died in 1741, his son John Palmer III inherited the house.
John Palmer III died insolvent in 1750, and much of his numerous real estate holdings, including the Palmer house, were taken over by Samuel and Jeremiah Lee. After Jeremiah Lee died of a fever contracted during the Battle of Lexington in 1775, these properties passed to Captain Joseph Lee.
Captain Lee mortgaged most of these inherited properties to his brother-in-law Nathaniel Tracey of Newburyport. Tracey later sold these properties to Boston merchant Thomas Russell, who then sold them to local merchant Robert Hooper in 1795.
The Hooper family later sold the properties to Henry Quiner in 1822, who then sold them to local trader Thomas Snow II in 1835.
These properties, located on both sides of Hooper Street, remained in the Snow family for 89 years.
In 1978, when the Massachusetts Historical Commission documented the house, it was owned at the time by the heirs of a woman named Mary E. Ireson.
Sources:
“Historic Building Detail: MAR.233 Palmer, John House.” MACRIS, mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=MAR.233
“Historic Building Detail: MAR.195 Minot, George House and Store.” MACRIS, mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=MAR.195