Echoes of a Home

Every house has a story, but sometimes the best time to look backward is just as a house is getting ready for its next chapter. That is what brought me to 22 Elmwood Avenue in Dedham.

The house itself is a classic little bungalow. Dedham’s property records date it to 1925, making it almost exactly a century old. But as I started tracing the property backward, I realized that the more interesting story actually begins before the house was there at all.

I originally wanted to answer a fairly simple question: Who built the house? I didn’t quite get that answer. Instead, I found two tax sales, an early Dedham real estate connection, a survey from 1917, a deed that wasn’t recorded until more than five years after it was signed, and an owner who apparently never lived in the house she owned.

As usual, that story starts with the deeds.

Before 22 Elmwood Avenue

Long before there was a home at 22 Elmwood Avenue, the property was part of a larger subdivision shown on a plan belonging to the Endicott Land Company. The earliest deed I traced for the present parcel dates to 1896.

At the time, the land was assessed to Georgiana H. Jones, who was identified in the record as a non-resident. Jones owed just $4.98 in unpaid taxes for 1895, and that small unpaid bill was enough to send the property to auction. On January 21, 1896, George W. Caston of Dedham became the highest bidder, purchasing the land for $11.22.

The deed describes approximately 9,000 square feet consisting of one-half of Lot 53 and one-quarter of Lot 54 on Endicott Land Company’s Plan No. 202. More importantly, its description places the property at the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Madison Street. It was the land that would eventually become 22 Elmwood Avenue.

Strangely enough, the same thing happened again only twelve years later.

Sold for Taxes…Again

By 1908, George Caston owed $5.88 in state, county, and town taxes for 1907. After the taxes remained unpaid, the property was advertised and offered at public auction on January 18, 1908. The highest bidder was Henry D. Humphrey of Dedham, who purchased it for just $11.65.

So within twelve years, the same 9,000-square-foot piece of land had been sold at public auction twice for unpaid taxes of less than six dollars.

At first, Henry Humphrey seemed like just another name in the chain of title. Then I recognized it.

The Humphrey Connection

While researching another property, I had previously come across the name Henry D. Humphrey Co. A 1924 advertisement for the company reads: “All Kinds of Real Estate and Insurance — Henry D. Humphrey Co. — Dedham, Mass.”

Suddenly, Humphrey’s ownership of this particular piece of land became much more interesting. He hadn’t simply acquired the parcel at a tax auction. His name was also associated with the real estate business in Dedham.

There was another clue in the deeds. On August 29, 1917, civil engineer E. Worthington prepared a survey titled Plan of Land of Henry D. Humphrey. That plan would later be specifically referenced in records for the property.

None of this proves that Humphrey planned to develop the lot himself, but it gives his ownership some important context. He acquired the property in 1908, had it professionally surveyed in 1917, and had a direct connection to Dedham real estate. The land remained connected to the Humphrey family until 1924, which is where the current structure finally enters the story.

Edith Kimball and the Mystery of 1925

On November 18, 1924, Margaret J. Humphrey, widow, and Margaret Humphrey, unmarried, both of Dedham, conveyed the property to Edith D. Kimball, wife of Robert M. Kimball of Newton. The deed describes a 9,000-square-foot parcel measuring 75 feet along Elmwood Avenue and 120 feet along Madison Street.

Then comes the most interesting date. According to Dedham’s assessor records, the house standing at 22 Elmwood Avenue today was built in 1925. Edith acquired the property in November 1924, and the town dates construction of the bungalow to the following year.

Initially, I wondered whether Edith and Robert had purchased the land to build themselves a new home. The 1930 census, however, shows Edith and Robert living at 51 Westbourne Road in Newton, not at 22 Elmwood Avenue in Dedham.

That leaves me with another unanswered question. Edith owned the property when the house was constructed, but who was actually living there? It is possible that the bungalow was built as an investment or rental property, but without another record, I can’t say for certain.

Edith’s deed also came with another surprise. Although it was executed on November 18, 1924, it wasn’t recorded until March 29, 1930, more than five years later. Just before that recording, Edith had begun proceedings in Massachusetts Land Court to have her title to the Dedham property registered and confirmed. The Land Court notice describes the same 9,000-square-foot parcel and references Humphrey’s 1917 survey. The notice was recorded on March 28, 1930. The 1924 deed was recorded the very next day.

Why the deed sat unrecorded for more than five years is another question the surviving records haven’t answered.

The House Changes Hands

Edith remained the recorded owner until 1931. On April 15 of that year, she transferred the property to George A. Rayner, whose ownership turned out to be remarkably brief. Less than two months later, on June 6, Rayner transferred the property to Hosea C. Woodward.

Woodward’s ownership brought some stability to a chain of title that had been surprisingly eventful. He and Mary T. Woodward retained the property until 1946, when it passed to Frank M. and Helena Patchen. Two years later, the Patchens sold to Irving S. and Dagmar Hendry, followed by Bernt F. and Jennie M. Benson in 1952.

The property remained connected to the Benson family for decades before Lillian V. Benson sold it to Mark and Erin Hallonquist in 1988 for $65,000. In 2010, Mark and Erin transferred the property into Erin’s name, and in 2011, Erin sold the house to Lee S. Pratt for $295,000.

What I Found, and What I Didn’t

I started researching 22 Elmwood Avenue hoping I could identify exactly who built the house in 1925. I couldn’t, and I don’t want to fill in that blank with an assumption.

What I did find ended up being much more complicated than I expected. Before the bungalow existed, its land was sold for unpaid taxes twice. Henry D. Humphrey purchased it for $11.65, held it for years, and had it professionally surveyed while his name was associated with Dedham’s real estate business. His family sold the property to Edith Kimball in late 1924, and according to the town, the bungalow appeared the following year.

But Edith apparently wasn’t living there. Her deed wasn’t recorded for more than five years, and when she finally sold the property in 1931, the next owner held it for less than two months.

There are still things I would love to know. Who actually commissioned the bungalow? Who was the first person to call 22 Elmwood Avenue home? Maybe those answers are sitting in an old building permit or directory somewhere, but for now, the paper trail stops short of telling me.

And that’s part of researching old houses. Sometimes the records give you a perfect answer, and sometimes they give you an entirely different story than the one you went looking for.

For 22 Elmwood Avenue, that story begins long before the bungalow itself, with an empty piece of land, a few dollars in unpaid taxes, and a paper trail stretching back more than a century.

Thank you for reading!

Sources

• Town of Dedham Assessor’s Database. “22 Elmwood Avenue, Dedham, Massachusetts.” Map 140, Lot 42. Property assessment and building information.
• Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. Book 754, Page 1. Tax deed concerning property assessed to Georgiana H. Jones and conveyed to George W. Caston, 1896.
• Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. Book 1073, Pages 43–44. Tax deed, George W. Caston to Henry D. Humphrey, 1908.
• Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. Book 1885, Page 600. Margaret J. Humphrey and Margaret Humphrey to Edith D. Kimball. Deed dated November 18, 1924; recorded March 29, 1930.
• Massachusetts Land Court. Book 1885, Page 602. Notice of Edith D. Kimball’s petition to register and confirm title to the Elmwood Avenue property, 1930.
• “Plan of Land of Henry D. Humphrey,” Dedham, Massachusetts. E. Worthington, C.E., August 29, 1917. Referenced in the 1924 deed and 1930 Land Court record.
• Norfolk County Registry of Deeds / Land Registration records. Documents 43562-1, 44136-1, 104067-1, 117153-1, 143433-1, 311385-1, 554888-1, 1194105-1, and 1235156-1. Property transfers, 1931–2011.
• 1930 United States Federal Census. Robert M. and Edith D. Kimball household, 51 Westbourne Road, Newton, Massachusetts.
• Dedham Museum & Archive Digital Archives. Henry D. Humphrey Co. advertisement, 1924. “All Kinds of Real Estate and Insurance,” Dedham, Massachusetts.
• Zillow. “22 Elmwood Avenue, Dedham, MA 02026.” Real estate listing, property information, and photographs. Accessed October 2026.