1782The Sargent-Murray-Gilman-Hough House (49 Middle Street) was built.Location and Setting, Buildings & Architecture

In the 1640s, this parcel of land was known as “Ashley’s Lott,” and included two acres extending from the harbor to what is now Middle Street. The title passed from Thomas Ashley to Thomas Millward, and then to Isabel Babson. The land remained in the Babson family until 1770 when it was purchased by Winthrop Sargent. The house was built in 1782 for Sargent’s daughter, feminist writer Judith Sargent, and her first husband John Stevens. After Stevens’ death, Judith Sargent married Reverend John Murray, the first Universalist minister in Gloucester, and they resided in this home together.

The house remained in the Sargent family until it was sold to Frederick Gilman in 1797 and then to Benjamin Kent Hough in 1801. In 1915, the house was saved from demolition by Reverend Levi Moore Powers, the Minister of the Independent Christian Church (formerly Universalist), along with two Sargent descendants and the Harvard Alumni Association. The house and grounds were restored and the Sargent House Museum opened.