Farther down the road towards the tide mills stands the house built by John Cheever about 1835. Mr. Cheever came from Beverly to Blue Hill village and settled, where he kept a store and began to build a fishing fleet, the first being the schooner “Marion”, built at the village.
The father of the writer sold him the land for his house, store, wharf, fish flakes and garden, where he carried on business and continued to reside until his death in 1851, aged fifty-one years. His wife was Betsey Gardner, of Beverly, by whom he had seven children, as follows:
- Betsey Jackson Cheever, born March 12, 1824; married R. G. W. Dodge; died April 7, 1857.
- John Gardner Cheever, born June 28, 1826; supposed to have been lost at sea.
- Sarah Susan Cheever, born Dec. 15, 1829; died at Andover, Mass., Nov. 33, 1896.
- Horace W. Cheever, born Nov. 14, 1833; married and resides at Haverhill, Mass.
- Austin W. Cheever, born June 7, 1836; died from exposure in war of the Rebellion.
- George B. Cheever, born March 26, 1838; died from exposure in the war of the Rebellion.
- Ella Thorndike Cheever, born Jan. 29, 1845; resides in Andover, Mass.
After the death of Mr. Cheever, the family removed to Andover, Mass., where Mrs. Cheever died at the age of eighty-two. Mr. Cheever built at the tide mill landing brigs “Delhi” and “Equator” and bark “Sarah Jackson”. He bought a Gloucester fishing schooner called the “Mary Ann”, and carried on quite an extensive fishing business, curing his catches and sending them to market, even sending his schooner “Marion” with a cargo of dry fish to the West Indies.
He kept a variety store, manufactured shoes, got out wood for market and was an enterprising man, whose career was cut short by sudden death by heart failure. It was the brig “Equator” that the writer first commanded in 1850, built by him in that year, that gave him occasion to remember Mr. Cheever with kindly feelings, and also the members of his family.
After the Cheever family had left the place, it was sold to a Mr. Seavy, who also purchased the tide mills. He occupied the premises for some years and then disposed of them, including the mills, to Capt. William Conary, The mills were taken down or fell down during the ownership of Capt. Conary. After Capt. Conary’s death the Cheever house and place were sold to Irving S. Candage, the present owner and occupant. The wharf has fallen into decay and the store and sheds caught fire and were destroyed several years ago.
