This website contains information about the Caffery homesite in Hopkinton, MA, occupied in the late 1700s by John Caffery and his family.
Some key events:
May 1780 - John Caffery marries Mary Fanning in Sherborn
1790 - First US census for Hopkinton lists the Caffery (Cathery) household: John, another male less than 16, and four females
December 1795 - John's wife Mary dies, possibly in childbirth, along with a stillborn child
January 1796 - John's two children, Betsy (14) and Simon (15) die
May 1798 - John marries Grace Underwood in Needham
April 1799 - John sells his land in Hopkinton
May 1799 - A daughter (Charlotte) is born to John & Grace in Needham
November 1802 - Charlotte dies in Needham
The site is reached by a short walk along a rough path, now one of the town's public trails. The remains of a cellar hole are clearly evident, however it is on private land adjacent to the town's trail, and a substantial stone wall separates the hole from the trail. A stone-lined well about four feet deep was located about 50 feet away from the cellar hole. Recent construction on the private land has spared the cellar hole, but the well is gone and the original low stone wall of field stones was replaced by the current wall.
There are two areas nearby (along an adjacent path closer to Pond Street) where stone-cutting was done, but it's not known if these are connected to Caffery. Pieces of cut stone remain in the woods at these sites.
Some information exists about the family and the site, and photos exist of the water well and the surrounding area before the construction. More research and information is needed however, including:
location of the family burial site(s)
cause of death for the Caffery family members
fate (residences/place of death) of John Caffery (the trail goes cold after his daughter Charlotte's death in Needham)
investigation of adjacent features in the area that might be the remains of additional structures
