THE PICKERING HOUSE
It is doubtful if any other historic home in New England can boast, as does the Pickering house situated in Salem, Massachusetts, of being in the direct line of a family for nine generations.
This family originated in Yorkshire, England. John Pickering, the founder of the Salem branch, was born in old England in 1614; he came to the colonies and lived in Ipswich from 1634 to 1636. In the early part of 1636 he came to Salem, and on December 7, 1636, John Pickering, carpenter, was granted to be an inhabitant of that city.
Plate IX.—The Pickering House, Salem, Mass.
Long years ago, when this city was in its youth and sparsely settled, large estates, many of them original grants, were founded. It was then that this now famous house was erected. It was commenced in 1650 and finished in 1651 by one John Pickering, the emigrant ancestor of the present owner of the old mansion, who became a considerable landowner, purchasing his estate in different lots until his property extended from Chestnut Street to the Mill Pond, then known as South River.
Plate X.—Pickering House, Side View.