The cover is Peggy Godfrey's painting of the old Jabez Colton house at 1607 Longmeadow Street, built in 1786.  It is the present home of the family of Alan Hobart, President of the Longmeadow Historical Society.

Jabez Colton, or "Master Jabe" as he was known, was a graduate of Yale, Class of 1775.  Before he came to Longmeadow, he kept a private school in Somers, Connecticut, preparing students for college and later he established a school in Longmeadow.

A leading citizen in the community, Jabez Colton was a Selectman in 1789 and 1790; Representative to the General Court from 1791 to 1792; and Longmeadow Town Clerk from 1793 to 1812.  He was also the village lawyer and a lay preacher.

He was widely known for his collection of genealogy records of Longmeadow families and was compiler of the Book of Town Genealogy.  In 1812, it was voted that he be granted $20 for assembling these records.

His grandson, Stephen Colton, inherited his records and papers, some of which are in the Town vault and others are stored in the Storrs House vault.

Originally, there were 50 acres of farmland as part of this property, extending well into Connecticut.  The Tabor family bought the homestead in 1868 and lived there for nearly 70 years.  In recent years, it has been referred to as the Tabor house.  Later, the Hubbard family and then the Comptons lived there.  The Hobarts bought the house in 1978.

The present owners learned that formerly the house had a gambrel roof and a central chimney which were removed in the 1860's.

Since the 1950's, the house has been several different colors- white, red, gray and today the Hobarts have it painted an attractive shade of gold. There are thirteen and one-half rooms in this lovely home, including four bedrooms and three fireplaces.

For the past eleven years, the Hobarts have been restoring this fine old Colonial house in every detail possible to its original style.  One can see the improvement in its appearance as its sits grandly on the hill among the tall trees.

It is a historical landmark in Longmeadow.

/s/  Peggy Leete Godfrey