The first residents at 909 Longmeadow St. were Nathaniel
and Deborah Bliss. She was the daughter of Quartermaster Colton. Their
part of the present house was the South facing rear ell. Being childless,
his 1726 will refers to an agreement made with their nephew and heir
Joshua Field in 1713 that he will receive the house, barn, and property.
In 1736, Bliss, at age 83, fell into the keeping room fireplace some days
before Christmas and was badly burned. Reverend Stephen Williams came
quickly--he wrote in his diary: "Whether he had drunk too hard- I don't know
but I am afraid." Nathaniel Bliss died on Dec. 23. Joshua Field sold
the property in 1744 to Mathew Keep, a farmer and selectman. (His parents
had been killed by Indians at Pecousic Brook in 1676 while on their way to
church in Springfield. This massacre was one of several events that led
the settlement of Long Meddowe to petition the King to allow for the
creation of a new church precinct, separate from Springfield. However,
permission for a separate precinct was not finally granted until the town
had the necessary 40 families in 1713.) The Keep family sold the farm in
1783. The front of the house as seen now was completed around this
period. In 1804, the young farmer Samuel Keep and wife Ann purchased the
farm. Of their 6 children, the oldest son Nathan was the most renowned as
a Boston dentist who was a prime mover in establishing the Harvard Dental
School in 1867. In the early 1800's the rear ell was raised to two
stories. In 1880, the buildings and 29 acres were sold to Louis and
Bertha Stuckert. For many years extending into the 1920's, they operated
Stuckert's Grove on acreage now Morningside Dr. and Crest View Circle.
This was a popular party place for Springfield residents. They arrived on
the street car which came down the middle of the Green. The great barns
were demolished in 1936. The Stuckert estate in 1966 sold the home and lot
to the present owners.
