Finding this old house with help of historical society

NORTH EAST — Ralph Fedele and Alex Kay wait on the porch at Simmons’ Way Village Inn, anxious.

“We’re very excited,� Fedele mentions, though his body language has long given him away. Both are members of the North East Historical Society, and Aug. 14, the morning they are sitting on the inn’s porch waiting, marks the conclusion of a historical detective’s case.

The request Fedele received was not the first the North East Historical Society has fielded, and will not be the last. Alan Dempsey of Meriden, Conn., had contacted the town’s library, looking for the Millerton residence his great-grandfather, Robert Dempsey, had owned.

It’s a familiar request, but this one had more than a few gaping holes. Dempsey knew only that his ancestor owned a house in the village; there was no street name or other records that would guide the society in the right direction. But the library forwarded the inquiry on to the North East Historical Society, knowing that if anyone could help Dempsey, it would be them.

The historical society’s archives turned up little. After visiting the Irondale Cemetery and Town Hall, the location of Robert Dempsey’s house was still unknown. But Dick Valentine, the  former owner of the Valentine Funeral Home on Park Street, remembered that Dempsey had lived in Spencer’s Corners, an area north of the village.

“I called Alan back and told him what I had found out,� recalled Fedele, still sitting on the inn’s porch, waiting for the Dempseys to arrive. “Then he told me that he had an old picture of [his great-grandfather’s] house.�

With photo in hand, Fedele hit the streets. He traversed the roads in Spencer’s Corner, looking for a building with matching characteristics. His efforts paid off, thanks in part to the preservation of the house in question. A meeting was scheduled for Dempsey, with his cousin and family historian, Barbara, in tow. They met with Fedele to visit the Banks House, as it is known, on Rudd Pond Road.

Accompanying Fedele was Alex Kay, the youngest member of the North East Historical Society, a descendent of the Dempsey family line. His story is another piece of the puzzle.

Kay is the great-great-grandson of “Father John� Dempsey, Robert’s brother. Father John and Robert both lived in Spencer’s Corner, and Kay’s uncle currently resides in Father John’s old house, just down the road from the Banks House. Up in that attic their family discovered a large trunk filled with letters and photographs, overflowing with history and intimate details surrounding their family’s life and history.

“It triggered memories,� explained Melanie Kay, Alex’s mother. “Reading some of the letters, you start to think, ‘Who are these people?’ ‘Who are they really?’�

Alan and Barbara Dempsey eventually arrived, and the four of them, accompanied by a reporter hard on the trail of an evolving story, made the brief drive up to the Banks House, currently owned by Ron Afzal, his wife, Lisa Strauss, and their family.

Afzal’s tour brought the Banks House into context with the founding of the village of Millerton and the history of Spencer’s Corner, which was known as the Brown homestead back in the late 1700s and early 1800s, when the house is estimated to have been built. Robert Dempsey was the first non-Brown to own the house.

To the delight of the Dempseys and Fedele, much of the structure’s original woodwork has been left intact and restored. The tiger maple bannister, intricate rosettes with deep inlays on the trim of the doorways, and the fireplace were highlights.

“It’s really fascinating,� said Alan Dempsey. “I’ve always enjoyed history, and there’s so much depth to the detail here.�

The Dempseys, Afzal and Kay exchanged information and anecdotes about the history of the house and the Dempsey family.

“It was actually interesting to meet the other relatives,� Kay said the following week. “We didn’t know there were other relatives with the last name Dempsey.�

But while the one case was closed on Aug. 14, the revelation has opened up other inquiries. Kay acknowledged he would be continuing his research into the Dempsey family, and his mother mentioned the determination and effort her son has displayed since finding their family’s old documents.

“If there are more Dempseys around, we would like to trace them back to see where they fit into our family,� Kay explained, a true sleuth in the making.

The Dempseys returned to Connecticut at the end of the day, knowing a little more than they had when they left. Kay said the experience had strengthened his desire to learn more. And Fedele stumbled across a few more historical documents that would make great additions to the historical society’s archives.

“We would encourage people to go into their attics,� he said. “There are old houses all around this area, and they’re filled with stuff.� By scanning letters and photos of the area’s history in their archives, Fedele explained that the information gathered could help families like the Dempseys shed light on future mysteries.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less