33 Cannon Road

Benjamin was the son of Sylvanus Brown, a mill owner at Lewisboro, New York, and he came to Wilton as the assistant schoolmaster to Aaron B. Lockwood (1811-1899). Since 1851, Lockwood had run a private school for 16-students from 43 Cannon Road where he also boarded several of the workers contracted to build the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad. The house was also a stop on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves making their escape to Canada and it's said the trees planted in front of the house were there to obscure the comings-and-goings of the slaves who were fed, watered, and rested here.

The Browns, their Academy, and the Deaconess Rest Home

In 1857, Benjamin Brown married Lockwood's daughter, Caroline, and by way of a wedding present Lockwood gifted his daughter the 1.4 acres on which Benjamin would build this house (33 Cannon Road) that was to be both their family home and the new home for the school which they now named the "Wilton Institute". Brown replaced his father-in-law as the school's new headmaster and over the proceeding years it became more popularly referred to as either the "Brown Academy" or the "B.F. Brown Boarding School".

Benjamin was still running the school in 1891. In the following year, he served as Wilton's State Representative and he was the Town Treasurer when he died in 1894. His widow inherited the 10-acres he owned along Cannon Road which included the house and its 6-surrounding acres. Those six acres were reduced to five in 1922 when Mrs Brown sold an acre to Mrs Helen (Hill) Godfrey. By 1924, Mrs Brown was dead and her executors sold the house and its remaining 5-acres to the Deaconess Association (connected to the Methodist Church) who ran it as a retreat center popularly known as the "Elderly Ladies Home".

Lorraine Ingram & the Taylors

From 1937 to 1964, the house was home to the Ingram family. Dr Herbert D. Ingram died sometime in the late 1940s, but his widow stayed on until 1964, by which time her children were grown up and she moved into the old carriage house on the property.

She sold the main house with 1.75-acres to Richard Porter Taylor (1915-1971), a direct descendant of the 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850). After graduating from Middlebury College, Richard Taylor became a diplomat. Prior to settling in Wilton, the Taylors had lived in England where he was the U.S. Chief Cultural Attaché in London and Executive Secretary of the U.S. Educational Commission in the United Kingdom which handled the Fulbright Scholarships. At the time of buying 33 Cannon Road, Taylor was Vice-President and Director of Program for International House in New York. He lived here with his wife Patricia May (b.1919) and their three children.

Tragically, just six years later, Richard Taylor was killed in a car accident in Vermont while serving as Executive Director of the Association of Voluntary Agencies on Narcotics Treatment. His widow, "Patty" (Vice-President of the Connecticut Braille Association) stayed on in the house and became great friends with the also widowed Lorraine Ingram who was loved by all the Taylors and came over for dinner with them almost every other night of the week. Curiously, Lorraine felt that the old ghost that had she had got to know for so many years at No. 33 - "Ben" - moved with her to the carriage house.

In between the trips the two widows took to China (right after it was opened up for the first time to tourists) and Machu Pichu in Peru, etc., in 1975 Patty hosted a wedding reception here for her only daughter, Ann Taylor, on the occasion of her society marriage to Orton Porter Jackson Jr., of Philadelphia: Wilton's inhabitants - including the Taylors - had never seen so many chauffeur-driven limousines! Ann's brother who also grew up here, Bing Taylor, relinquished his American citizenship in protest of the war in Vietnam while working with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. He has since gone on to be an author and President of the Bookseller's Association in Great Britain & Ireland.   

Recent History at 33 Cannon Road

In 1978, Mrs Taylor downsized to 306 Chestnut Hill Road, an 18th century home that had been moved a few years previously from across town. She sold No. 33 to Philip and Catherine Becker who lived here until 1988 when it became the home of Margaret Doheny. Its history since then is unknown and if you can fill in the gaps, please leave a comment.