Of the twin saltbox houses on James Lane, visitors typically know the one connected to the “Home, Sweet Home” lyricist John Howard Payne. Locals and historians alike, however, focus more on the Mulford Farmstead, whose residents played a significant role in the American Revolution.
Col. David Mulford (1722-1778) lived there with his wife, Phebe Huntting Mulford (1736-1815), and six children: David (1754-1799), Matthew (1756-1845), Phebe (1759-1835), Betsey (1760-1785), Esther (1765-1825), and Jonathan (1770-1840). After the American loss in the Battle of Long Island, David and his family sought refuge in Connecticut, like many other Long Island patriots. David, however, did not live to see the American victory, as he died in 1778 of smallpox.
Phebe and her children returned to the homestead, which had been largely maintained by those enslaved by the family. Phebe’s sons David and Matthew fought in the Revolution and married East Hampton residents during the war. According to the local historian Sherrill Foster (1921-2007), the younger David inherited the house after his father’s death, and Phebe moved into a Huntting family property near David’s Lane.
Clinton Academy, then newly constructed, boasted students from all over the state, prompting East Hampton residents to board them. Phebe began boarding five students, the daughters of a widowed merchant, William J. Rysam (1737-1809). Rysam would visit his daughters frequently, and by 1795 he and Phebe were married.
This 1796 deed from Esther to her mother, Phebe, gives Phebe a life estate, or lifetime use of the property, for a dwelling house, farm, and outhouse. It’s possible Phebe lived in this house with Rysam and his daughters until he purchased property in Sag Harbor. Shortly after this document was written, Esther married David Hedges (1744-1817), a Sagaponack deacon.
While in Sag Harbor, Phebe enjoyed a prosperous life with Rysam, who owned a rope walk, saltworks, a trade ship, the Merchant, and a mahogany grove in Honduras.
—
Megan Bardis is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
