The Loomis Homestead, on the present-day campus of the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, probably taken around the turn of the 20th century. Image from Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America (1908).
The house around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
The house in 2017:
Built sometime between 1640 and 1652, this house is the oldest in Windsor, dating back to the first few years of the town’s settlement, and it is also among the oldest existing buildings in the country. The house was significantly expanded later in the 17th century, but the oldest section – the ell on the right side – was built by Joseph Loomis, one of Windsor’s original settlers and the patriarch of the Loomis family in America. Loomis was originally a woolen draper in Braintree England, but in 1638 he emigrated to the American colonies, along with his wife Mary and their eight children.
After a three-month voyage aboard the Susan and Ellen, the Loomis family arrived in Boston, and they lived nearby in Dorchester for the next year. However, in 1639 they joined a number of other Massachusetts colonists and relocated to the Connecticut River Valley. The following year, Joseph was granted 21 acres of land here in Windsor, located along the south side of the Farmington River, just to the west of its confluence with the Connecticut River. He built this house soon after, on a section of raised land that was known as “The Island,” because the surrounding meadows would often flood during spring freshets, effectively making the property an island.
Mary Loomis died in 1652, and Joseph in 1658, and their son John inherited the property. He had been about 16 years old when he and his family left England, and he lived here in Windsor until 1652, when he moved to Farmington. However, he moved back to Windsor in 1660, where he became a distinguished town citizen. He served as a deacon in the church, and he also represented the town in the Connecticut General Court from 1666-1667 and 1675-1687. John and his wife Elizabeth had eleven sons and two daughters, although only eight of their children would live to adulthood. Their only surviving daughter, Elizabeth, married Peter Brown, and they had a son, John Brown, who would become the great-grandfather of the prominent abolitionist of the same name.
According to the sign on the house, as well as other historical records, John Loomis built the main part of the house in 1688. He died the same year, but this addition was probably built for his son Timothy, who inherited the house and married his wife Rebecca the following year. They raised seven children here, and the youngest, Odiah, inherited the house. Odiah lived to be 88 years old, and after his death in 1794 he left the house to his son Ozias, who died two years later.
Ozias Loomis’s son, Odiah, was 12 years old when his father died, and he subsequently inherited the property, becoming the sixth consecutive generation to own this house. He and his wife, Harriet Allyn, had seven children, and, like his great-great grandfather Timothy Loomis, he represented Windsor in the state legislature, serving in 1818. However, he died in 1831 at the age of 48, and his youngest child, Thomas, inherited the house. Like his father, Thomas would also go on to be elected to the state legislature, serving in the lower house in 1857 and 1862, and in the state senate in 1874.
Census records from the late 19th century show Thomas Loomis as a prosperous farmer, with $20,000 in real estate in 1880. This included over 200 acres, although most of this was listed as unimproved woodland. He had 58 acres of meadows and orchards, and only two acres of tilled land, but in the year prior to the 1880 census his farm had produced 100 tons of hay, 624 pounds of butter, 800 dozen eggs, 80 bushels of potatoes, and 25 bushels of apples.
Thomas and his wife, Mary Jane Cooke, had two children, Allen and Jennie, although Allen died in 1884 at the age of 23. As a result, Jennie inherited the family homestead after her father’s death in 1895, becoming the eighth generation to own the house. However, Jennie was unmarried and had no surviving siblings, so in 1901 she transferred the house to the Loomis Institute, a private school that had been established in 1874 by five siblings from a different line of the Loomis family. The school itself would not open until 1914, but it was to be located here on “The Island,” where Joseph Loomis had originally settled in the 1640s.
The campus Loomis Institute, which later became the Loomis Chaffee School, was built just to the south of this house. Under the conditions of Jennie Loomis’s transfer of the house, she and her mother were allowed to live here for the rest of their lives. Mary Jane died in 1920, but Jennie was still living here when the second photo was taken around the late 1930s. She was actively involved with the school, serving as secretary of the Board of Trustees, and she lived here in this house until her death in 1944, about three centuries after Joseph Loomis had built the house.
The main section of the house underwent renovation in 1940, which included restoring the interior wood paneling to its original appearance. About a decade later, the older section was restored on both the interior and exterior, with the most noticeable change being the removal of the porch on the right side of the house. Otherwise, the exterior of the house has not significantly changed, and it remains a well-preserved example of 17th century saltbox-style architecture. It is still owned by the Loomis Chaffee School, and it stands as the oldest wood frame house in Connecticut, and the state’s second-oldest surviving building, after a stone 1639 house in Guilford.
Joseph Loomis is my 11th Great Grandfather! Thank you for sharing this information!
Teresa, Joseph Loomis was my 9th Great Grandfather, and I thank you and the Homestead for sharing this information.
Barbara Bowman-Paine
I’m a descendant of him! So glad it is still up!
Joseph and Mary were my 10th Great Grandparents.
Joseph and Mary were my 9th Great Grandparents.
Interestingly my name is Gordon Burrows Loomis.
My Great Grandmother was Susanna Burrows, born 1843 in Tipperary, Ireland.
Gordon, I believe we could be related! They were my 9th great grandparents, also. I am descended from the Bowmans But Joseph Loomis is at the top of that tree down through the Lymans to the Bowmans.
Barbara Bowman-Paine
11th generation descendant of Joseph and Mary.
Harriet Loomis (b. 1804) married Reuben Davis. They’re granddaughter, Harriet Spinney Sovereign is my great great grandmother.
my side of the family moved to the Western Reserve in the 1820’s. I am a direct descendant of Joseph 2nd- his 1st born son..Love the House & land.thanks for info.
My family had 29 wonderful years in that house as Loomis faculty. As a girl from California, it was a great introduction into the history and culture of New England Sue Joffray.
i think I’m a 5th or 6th generation from Joseph my grandfather was Elliot Loomis born in 1840 great grandfather must have been Walter Loomis hopefully I will get out to ct. and check out the house and everything.
Just found out from my Aunt who has been knee deep in Geneology for many years, that Joseph and Mary are relatives.. my 5th great grandparents. Wild. Still trying to find info on their Son Roger.
I made an error… Roger is a descendent of Joseph’s, not his son. 🙂
Hi Teresa Im Tami Loomis 3rd great grand daughter to joseph loomis
I LOVE THIS!!!! Joseph & Mary were my 10th great-grandparents! I would LOVE to visit here sometime…definitely on my bucket list!
Thank you so much for the wonderful read. I understand that the Loomis house is now considered the oldest home in the United States. Joseph Loomis Sr. is my 9th great grandfather. Timothy Loomis was my 8th great grandfather, Ichabod Loomis was my 7th great great grandfather, Hepzibah Loomis was my 6th great grandmother, Cassandra Barber is my 5th great grandmother, William Barber Carter is my 4th great grandfather, Mary Nancy Davis Carter is my 3rd great grandmother, Martha Jane Davis is my 2nd great grandmother, and Charles Newton Woodcock is my great grandfather. Thank you so much for bringing my family to life.
My mother is a Loomis, researching the family tree is a blast.
I just discovered that Joseph and Mary Loomis were my 11th great grandparents. My line goes thru their daughter, Sarah.
Joseph is my 10th great grandfather
I’ll be riding my bike from Maine to florida this summer. I’m be sure to stop by and take a look
Joseph Loomis is my 9th great grandfather. My line descends from his son, Samuel. My New England people migrated south, to NJ. It is so amazing to see such a beautiful home from that era, so well preserved. I need to visit one day.
I’m a descendent of Samuel as well. I posted my lineage
I have just found the Loomis family, while doing my tree after a DNA test..and found out Joseph and Mary are my 9th GGF & GGM. Once things are right in the world again, this will be one of the places I’ll visit hopefully. Wonderful to know it’s still standing today.
The Joffray family was very lucky to have lived there for 29 years. A wonderful spirit in the house.
I’m a generational direct descendent from Joseph as well. Joseph and Mary to Samuel, Justice, Justus, Thomas Henry, Charles, Charles.
**correction: Joseph to Samuel, Joshua, Justus, Justus, Robert, Thomas Henry, Charles, Charles
Joseph and Mary are my 9th Great Grandparents going through the line of Jonathan married to Martha Blackman who had 8 children and their son Horace is my 4th Great Grandfather.
Wow i. 3rd great grandchild of Joseph and Mary. My name is Tami Loomis Dads name is Ronald Ray Loomis Sr
My maiden name being LOOMIS, I have learned I am related to the Conn. Loomis family. Visting my son, I got to visit the Loomis Chaffy school . Also got to enter the house and have several pictures.
Joseph is my 10th great grandfather…looks like I need to head back to CT for a visit.
Happy to be a cousin to all of you! I’m a 10th Great grandson to Joseph Loomis and Mary White through Deacon John Loomis. Let me know when you all have the next reunion! Tom Harmon
Joseph Loomis was my 11th great grandfather via his son Nathaniel. There are now a ton of us Loomises in the Philadelphia/New Jersey region and until today, I had no idea that our family history went back so far in the US! (Thanks Ancestry.com rabbit hole.) I now have a great reason to finally visit New England.
Joseph & Mary were my 8th GG-parents through their son Nathaniel ( and his son Moses) in my mother’s genealogy and my 9th GG-parents through their daughter Mary (and her son Joseph) in my father’s genealogy!
Joseph Loomis & Mary White are my 9 th Great Grandparents. Abigail Loomis Married to Jordon Post & moved to Canada. They are my 4th Great Grandparents. Post family is my Grandmother’s maiden name. Hoping to visit this site soon.
Joseph is my 13th generation grandfather. His ancestors migrated from there and many settled here in Wisconsin. I’ve visited the home and school.
Joseph Loomis SR. is my 8th great grandfather. I bought a ring in Braintree, England, where I had visited five years ago. It is the English town where their family had emigrated from. I live in Wisconsin, and I hope to visit the Loomis Home next summer.