Josiah Cooley House

A self portrait of photographer Paesiello Emerson, in the south parlor of his house in Longmeadow, in June 1916. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2023:

As with the previous post, these two photos show the south parlor of the Josiah Cooley house, a colonial-era home that was built around 1760 on Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow. The subject here in the first photo is Paesiello Emerson, an amateur photographer and retired boot manufacturer who moved here to this house in 1907 to live with his half siblings Annie and Henry Emerson.

Paesiello was originally from Hopkinton, but he later moved to Ashland and Spencer. He was a Civil War veteran, serving in the 5th Massachusetts Battery from 1863 to 1865, and he was wounded in battle in 1864, during the Overland Campaign in Virginia. Although his main occupation was as a boot manufacturer, he took up photography as a hobby around 1902, when he was about 70 years old. He continued this after his move to Longmeadow in 1907, eventually taking hundreds of high-quality photographs of the town during the 1910s and 1920s.

The first photo is a self portrait that Paesiello took here in his home. He was 84 years old at the time, but he was still living a very active life. Aside from his photography, he also enjoyed traveling, and in his later years he made long journeys to places like Bermuda, Panama, and California. He also regularly attended Civil War reunions, including one that he traveled to in Fairhaven, Massachusetts in 1927, when he was 95. The previous year, his family had tried to discourage him from attending that year’s reunion because of his advanced age. So, in 1927 he avoided potential confrontations by slipping out of the house without telling anyone. This prompted several missing person articles in newspapers, which expressed concern about his well-being. He successfully attended the event, and found the articles about himself to be amusing, but it proved to be his last reunion, because he died a few months later.

After Paesiello’s death, his sister Annie inherited his collection of photographs. She was the town’s leading historian of her era, and she had done extensive research on many homes in Longmeadow, including this one. Because of this, she likely recognized the historic value of her brother’s images, which captured scenes from the town during the time period when it was transitioning from a rural farming community into a busy suburb of Springfield. She subsequently donated the images, including the one here in this post, to the Longmeadow Historical Society, and they have since been digitized and made available online.

Annie died in 1941, followed by her brother Henry in 1943, and the house was later sold. At some point in the late 1940s or early 1950s it underwent a restoration, as shown in the second photo. This included reinstalling the original wainscoting here in the south parlor, which had been removed and taken upstairs during an early 19th century renovation. The mid-20th century work also involved moving the doorway further to the left. The door itself was removed, and the doorway was widened to about twice the width of a standard door, creating more of an open floor plan between these two rooms. As a result, one of the windows in the back of the house is partially visible on the left side of the scene. This window appears to be one of the original windows in the house, predating the later 6-over-6 windows that were installed in the front part of the house in the 1820s or 1830s.

The south parlor of the Josiah Cooley House in Longmeadow, probably sometime in the 1910s or 1920s. Photo from author’s collection. Probably photographed by Paesiello Emerson.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show a view that is nearly identical to the ones in the previous post. But, while the early 20th century photo in that post shows just the room itself, this photo here shows two people seated next to the fireplace. The room here is the south parlor of the Josiah Cooley House, which was built sometime around 1760. As explained in the previous post, the room was remodeled around the 1820s or 1830s, so it looked very different in the first photo than it would have looked during the colonial era.

The two people in the first photo are the homeowner, Annie Emerson, on the left, and her half brother Paesiello Emerson on the right. They are both notable figures in the history of Longmeadow; Annie was the town’s leading historian during the early 20th century, while Paesiello was an amateur photographer. He documented many scenes throughout the town from about 1907 to 1927, during a time when Longmeadow was transitioning from a rural farming community into a suburb of Springfield. Together, Annie’s historical research and Paesiello’s photographic collection form a valuable resource for subsequent Longmeadow historians.

Annie moved into this house in 1872, when her father William Emerson purchased the property. She later attended Westfield Normal School, and worked as a public school teacher, including at the truant school in Springfield. After her retirement in 1915, she had a number of different roles here in Longmeadow. She served as a school committee member, as a Sunday school teacher at the First Church, and she was also a member of the Longmeadow Historical Society, the Longmeadow Women’s Club, and the Longmeadow Cemetery Association. However, she is best remembered for her extensive research into the town’s history, including the history of the many early homes in Longmeadow.

Annie inherited this house after the death of her parents, and by the turn of the 20th century she was living here with her younger brother Henry. Neither she nor Henry ever married, and in 1907 they were joined by their much older half brother, Paesiello. Born in 1832, he was the oldest child from their father’s first marriage. He was originally from Hopkinton, but had subsequently moved to Spencer and Ashland. He married his wife Nancy Hartshorn in 1855, and for much of his life he worked as a boot manufacturer. During the Civil War he joined the Union war effort, enlisting in the 5th Massachusetts Battery in 1863. He was wounded in action by an artillery shell on June 8, 1864 during the Overland Campaign in Virginia, and he had a scar on his hand from this injury for the rest of his life. Despite this wound, he continued to serve throughout the rest of the war.

Paesiello’s wife Nancy died in 1891, and then in 1907 he moved here to his sister’s house in Longmeadow. In the meantime, though, he took up photography as a hobby, starting around 1902 when he was about 70 years old. He would continue his photography for several more decades, and was still taking pictures well into his 90s. He died in 1927, leaving a collection of about 1,500 glass plate negatives, which Annie later donated to the Longmeadow Historical Society. This collection is now available to view online, and it includes many photos of this house. Paesiello may have taken the first photo here in this post as a self portrait, although this particular image does not appear among the negatives in the Longmeadow Historical Society collection.

Annie died in 1941, and her younger brother Henry died two years later. The house was subsequently sold, and around the late 1940s or early 1950s the new owners renovated the interior of the house, including here in the south parlor. As part of this, the colonial-era wainscoting was restored, as shown in the second photo. This wainscoting had been removed as part of the 1820s-1830s renovation, and had been installed in an upstairs room. The subsequent mid-20th century renovation apparently reinstalled the original materials here in this room, although it does not seem clear as to whether all of it is original, or whether some of the panels were modern replicas.

Aside from restoring the wainscoting, this renovation also involved removing the door to the right of the fireplace, which had likely opened into a closet or possibly the basement stairs. This door was reinstalled around the corner in the front entry hall, where it is now used as a closet door beneath the stairs. The other door in the first photo, on the left side of the scene, was also removed. The doorway was shifted further over to the left and widened, creating more of an open floor plan between the south parlor and the back room.

Other changes since the first photo was taken have included the installation of electrical outlets and central air vents. Overall, though, the room is still recognizable from the first photo, and it still has many of its historic features, including the fireplace, the corner posts, and the wide pine floorboards, which were hidden beneath the rugs in the first photo.

The south parlor of the Josiah Cooley House in Longmeadow, on October 18, 1913. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The room in 2023:

These two photos show the same room as the ones in the previous post, but from a different angle. As explained in more detail in another earlier post, this house was built around 1760 as the home of Josiah and Experience Cooley. It would remain in their family for more than a century, but during this time the house was expanded and remodeled, in order to accommodate a growing family and to adapt to changing tastes.

The original layout of the house consisted of two rooms in the front of the house on the ground floor, two bedrooms above them on the second floor, and a room in the back of the ground floor, which was evidently the kitchen. Each of these rooms had a fireplace that was connected to the massive central chimney, which measured about 10 feet square here on the first floor. Because of the location of this chimney, it prevented a large entry hall with a grand staircase, as was often seen in homes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Instead, This house had a small entry hall, with a staircase that made 90-degree turns as it made its way up to the second floor.

This was a fairly typical design for New England houses of this period. There does not appear to be any surviving documentation on exactly how the two front rooms of this house were used in the colonial era, but in houses like this it was common for one room to be a formal parlor for receiving important guests, while the other one was a more casual space that was used more by members of the family.

Because the house faces east, this room is on the left side of the house, when facing the front from the outside. It has two windows that face east, one that faces south, and it has a door connecting it to the entry hall, along with another door to the back room. It also once had a door just to the right of the fireplace, as shown here in the first photo, which appears to have been either a closet or the basement stairs. Along with this, it also had an exterior door on the south wall of the room. This door was often found on houses of this era, and is often referred to as a “coffin door,” because of its purported use in removing coffins from the house after a funeral here in the parlor.

The floor of the room is made from wide pine boards, which generally measure about 11 to 11.5 inches wide. The use of pine during the colonial era was restricted, due to the high demand for large pine trees as masts for the Royal Navy. There were legal ways for colonists to harvest pine, but many flaunted these laws and cut down other pines illegally instead. This would give rise to many anecdotes about pine boards in houses, but it is impossible to say whether these particular boards were contraband or not.

The fireplace is brick, but the hearth itself is comprised of two large sandstone blocks. These were likely quarried in the eastern part of Longmeadow, which would later become the separate town of East Longmeadow. The lower part of the walls were originally covered in wainscoting, but this was removed during a remodeling in the 1820s or 1830s, and was reinstalled in a newly-created upstairs room.

By the time the first photo was taken, the house was owned by Annie Emerson, a schoolteacher who was also the town’s preeminent historian of her day. Her father William had purchased this house in 1872 when she was about 13 years old, and she would spend the rest of her life here, along with her younger brother Henry. In 1907, their older half brother Paesiello Emerson also joined them here. He was about 75 at the time, and he had recently taken up photography as a hobby. He would go on to spend the next two decades photographing scenes in and around Longmeadow, including the first photo here in this post, which he took in 1913.

The first photo shows some of the changes that had happened to the room over the years, including the wallpaper in place of the original 18th century wainscoting. The photo also shows some clues about Paesiello Emerson’s hobby, including at least three photographic prints that appear to be his work. One of these appears to be a view of Longmeadow Street, perhaps taken from in front of this house, while the other two show the house itself. The photo near the center of the mantle, just to the left of the teacup, appears to be a panoramic view, and it shows the front of the house and the houses further to the north on Logmeadow Street. Just to the right of the teacup, on the right side of the mantle, is another photo of the front of the house, which also shows the large elm tree that once stood in the front yard.

Paesiello Emerson lived here until his death in 1927, and his sister Annie died in 1941, followed by Henry in 1943. The house was subsequently sold, and at some point in the late 1940s or early 1950s the interior was again renovated, this time in order to restore some of its colonial-era features. Here in the south parlor, this included restoring the wainscoting. It appears as though this was all of the original material, which had previously been in the upstairs room, although it is hard to say exactly how historically accurate the placement of the wainscoting was.

Other changes around this time included removing the door that was next to the fireplace. It does not seem clear whether this door was originally in that location, or whether it had been installed there during the early 19th century renovations. Either way, the door was not entirely discarded; it was reinstalled in the front entry hall, where it now opens into a closet under the stairs. The other door in the first photo, on the left side, was also removed. As part of this, the location of the doorway was moved further to the left, and it was widened to create more of an open floor plan between the south parlor and the back room, which is often referred to as the “keeping room.” Lastly ,this renovation also included removing the “coffin door,” although due to its location in the room it is not visible in the first photo.

The mid-20th century renovation appeared to take some liberties with the historical accuracy, especially in creating the wide opening between the parlor and the keeping room. Likewise, the removal of the door next to the fireplace might have been a decision made more based on 20th century tastes than by historical accuracy. Overall, though, the room is still well preserved, including the original floorboards, original fireplace, and presumably the original wainscoting.

The south parlor of the Josiah Cooley House, located at the northwest corner of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road in Longmeadow, on April 9, 1920. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2023:

The Josiah Cooley House has been the subject of several recent posts that show the exterior of the house in the early 20th century and in the present day. This photo shows the interior of the house, facing the east wall of the south parlor. When the front of the house is viewed from the exterior, this room is located on the left side of the house. The room features these two windows, which face east towards Longmeadow Street, along with another window on the south wall, facing Emerson Road. The open door on the left side of both photos leads to the front entryway and front staircase, and when the first photo was taken there was also an exterior door just out of view on the south wall on the right side of this scene. This type of door is sometimes termed a “coffin door” because of its supposed use in facilitating the removal of a coffin from the parlor.

This house was likely built sometime around 1760, and its original residents were Josiah and Experience Cooley. It would remain in their family for over a century, until their great grandson Josiah Cooley Colton sold it in 1869. Three years later, it was purchased by William G. Emerson, whose children would live here well into the 20th century. Among his children was Paesiello Emerson, an amateur photographer who took the top photo in this post, along with the other historic photos of the house that have been featured in previous posts.

The house was originally much smaller than its present-day appearance. It was originally built as a saltbox-style house, featuring two rooms in the front on the first floor, two bedrooms above them, and a room in the back part of the house, which likely would have been the kitchen. These rooms were warmed by fireplaces, which were all connected to the same central chimney.

This was a fairly typical layout for a colonial New England house. There does not appear to be any surviving documentation on exactly how the front rooms of this house were utilized during the colonial era, but such homes often had one room that was more formal and was used for special guests. The other room tended to be somewhat less formal, and was used more by the family members themselves.

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the rooms in this house, including this one, are the wide pine floorboards. During the colonial era, the harvesting of large pine trees was restricted by British authorities, because these tall, straight trees were valuable as masts for the ships of the Royal Navy. This led to a series of White Pine Acts, which by 1722 had outlawed the cutting of any pine tree with a diameter of greater than 12 inches, unless it was located within the boundaries of a township.

However, these laws were openly flaunted by many colonists, and Josiah Cooley may very well have been one of them, since there are many pine boards on the floors of this house that are greater than 12 inches in width. It is entirely possible that these were all cut legally within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality. But, given the prevalence of poaching during the time that this house was built, it is also possible that these were from illegally harvested trees. Interestingly, the boards here in this room tend to be smaller than some of the other rooms in the house, generally measuring about 11 to 11.5 inches wide. Was this a deliberate effort to avoid installing incriminating evidence in the most public room of the house? It is impossible to say with any certainty, and the Pine Tree Acts would later give rise to many tales about colonists deliberately defying the king in order to build their homes, making it difficult at times to separate fact from romanticized fiction.

Aside from the floorboards, the parlor was also built with wainscoting on the lower part of the walls. This was removed sometime around the 1820s or 1830s as part of a modernization effort, and it was reinstalled in a new room that had been built in the back of the house on the second floor. By the time the first photo was taken, the parlor here was wallpapered. The old interior shutters were also removed during these renovations, and the shutters are said to have been repurposed for a cupboard in the back of the house.

Likewise, the original 12-over-12 windows were removed from the front of the house during this same renovation work. By that point, glassmaking had advanced to the point where larger panes were easier to produce, enabling 6-over-6 windows. However, like the wainscoting and interior shutters, these windows were not discarded. Instead, they were installed in the new rooms in the back of the house, presumably where they would be less visible to the public and to guests.

By the time the first photo was taken in 1920, the room looked very different from how it would have appeared during the 18th century. However, around the late 1940s or early 1950s the house underwent yet another renovation. Some of this included modernizing the house, such as installing two new bathrooms upstairs, but the owners also restored other parts of the house. The wainscoting that had been moved upstairs in the 19th century was evidently brought back downstairs, where it was reinstalled in this room and in the north parlor. It does not seem clear as to how accurate this was done, though, including whether all of the panels were placed in their original locations. It is also possible that some of the panels are reproductions, since this renovation also involved removing two doorways from the room: the “coffin door,” and a door that had been located just to the right of the fireplace. Without those doors, there is now more wall space than there had previously been, which raises questions about whether some of the panels are modern replicas.

The mid-20th century renovations also included replacing the doorknobs with older-style latches and hinges, as shown in the second photo. The door itself seems to be the same in both photos, though. Other features that have remained the same are the windows, which appear to still have many of the same panes of glass. Most of these panes have waves, bubbles, and other imperfections that were characteristic of 19th century glassmaking. These windows are not technically historically accurate to the colonial era, but at nearly 200 years old they are nonetheless historic in their own right.