Ephraim Sprague House, Lebanon, Connecticut
Elsewhere in this website is information about the Sprague family in Lebanon, CT., including family tree information for Ephraim Sprague (Bissell 3G generation 8th Great-grandfather, SEE Mercy Ann Searle Chart 8.0). In 2000, the Connecticut Public Archaeology Survey Team completed archeological investigations of the Sprague Homestead in Andover, first discovered during a highway project. The Sprague site represents one of the first European homesteads in the newly incorporated town of Lebanon. Nestled in the Hop River Valley, the property was settled by Captain Ephraim Sprague of Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1705, at which time Lebanon was part of an extensive insular frontier in the Connecticut colony's northeast uplands. The plan of the Sprague site suggests that the main structure was of the "long house" tradition (pictured above), common in the western uplands of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and which had originated from earlier Celtic dwelling forms. This important historical site yielded 200,000 artifacts and “ecofacts” (including food remains) and things such as ceramics, nails, pipe fragments and household objects.
The Sprague house, approximately 16' x 64' in size (a typical 1:4 ratio for houses based on the medieval long house), burned in about 1750 but as a result of that fire it became a valuable time capsule, yielding tens of thousands of items preserved by the fire. It was essentially a reconstruction of a 15th-century or earlier farmstead with open-hall farmhouse and barn, like one found at Middle Halsway on the Quantock Hills of Somerset, England, which is a possible example of a late medieval longhouse. The archaeologists excavating the site noted that the fieldstone bulkhead stairs down to the cellar under the parlor were so well constructed that 250 years after their burial and repeated plowing over the centuries, “...the archaeologists could walk down them as though they had just been built.”
Personal items including a George II Oldhead halfpenny (1740-1754), George I “Irish Wood” halfpenny dated 1723, a William III halfpenny dated 1699, and a small piece of a silver coin. There is a plain brass ring, iron mouth harp, and pieces a bone comb and a copper-alloy comb. These combs have two sizes of teeth: the larger for grooming, the smaller to remove nits and lice from the hair. In the bottom left is a small brass plate with the letters “IB” stamped into it.
The picture of Ephraim Sprague which emerged as the botanical, faunal, and artifact analysis progressed is one of a man who spanned several worlds. He lived in an old style house, kept domesticated animals but also hunted, and enjoyed a fine tea set but still made his own tools of antler and cut-up brass kettles. He was a representative to Connecticut's assembly (plus service as a Lebanon selectman), yet fought alongside Native Americans in a colonial and Indian war. After moving to Connecticut, in 1718 John Sprague, Sr., and John Sprague, Jr., are recorded as agreeing to liberate Jack, an Indian slave bought by them, after he served faithfully for 12 years, and also give him a colt which they agreed to keep free of charge until Jack saw fit to dispose of him. Sprague, with his fine cufflinks and large quantity of trade beads, moved easily between roles (this according to information from the Sprague House website http://www.ahs-inc.biz/Sprague).
Ephraim’s father John had been an officer in a Lebanon militia unit and Ephraim was elected captain of the North Parish company of militia in 1724. They served in 1725 in a conflict with Indians known as Lovewell’s War or Greylock’s War but apparently saw no real action. When he died, Ephraim willed his farm to his 16-year old grandson Ephraim 3rd (his father Ephraim 2nd had died a few years earlier).
One last bit of information about Francis Sprague’s son John: apparently in addition to inheriting his father’s tavern, he inherited his father’s ardent temperament. Described as a "...spark off the old flint", he is known to have spent several hours in the stocks on at least one occasion for "...highly misdemeaning himself in the house of James Cole of Plymouth near unto or on the evening before the Sabbath Day, in drinking, gaming and uncivil reveling, to the dishonor of God and the offense of thegovernment, by his gaming and the bringing of his mare uncivily into the parlor of James Cole, aforesaid.”
Plan drawing showing the projected walls and room layout of the Ephraim Sprague House in Connecticut, from the early 1700s. Such long and narrow house plans are relatives of cross-passage houses of England with a central hearth, and rooms including a pantry, kitchen, hall and a heated parlor.
The information in this article comes from a portion of "The Sprague Project" website at http://www.sprague-database.org, an extraordinarily valuable website for all things related to the Spragues in America. Richard E. Weber, Developer; Albert Arnold Sprague, IV, Webmaster regarding Captain Ephraim Sprague born 15 March 1685 in Duxbury, Mass.
References for this material cited on the Sprague website include: Jack R. Sprague, correspondent from "Foodways".CRM No 4-2001 13Ross K. Harper, Mary G. Harper, and Bruce Clouette; Bradley, Robert L. "Test Excavations at the Phipps Site,Woolwich, Maine (1989-88)." Bulletin 29:1. MaineArchaeological Society, Inc. (1989): 1-12.Candee, Richard M. "First-Period Architecture inMaine and New Hampshire: The Evidence ofProbate Inventories." In Early American ProbateInventories, ed. Peter Benes, 97-120. The DublinSeminar for New England Folklife AnnualProceedings in 1987. Boston: Boston University,1989.Deetz, James. Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeologyof Early American Life. New York: Doubleday, 1977.McMahon, Sarah F. "Laying Foods By: Gender,Dietary Decisions, and the Technology of FoodPreservation in New England Households, 1750-1850." In Early American Technology: Making andDoing Things from the Colonial Period to 1850, ed.Judith McGraw, 164-196. Chapel Hill: Universityof North Carolina Press, 1994.St. George, Robert Blair. "Set Thine House in Order:The Domestication of the Yeomanry inSeventeenth-Century New England." In CommonPlaces: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture,ed. Dell Upton and John Michael Vlach, 336-364.Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986. More information can also be found at http://www.past-inc.org/news-foodways.html .