When arriving in Essex, NY by ferry from Charlotte, Vermont travelers are greeted by a row of stately homes known as Merchant Row. The Dower House (aka the Daniel Ross House) is the northernmost residence with gambrel roof, white clapboard exterior and red shutters.
The Dower House on Lake Shore Road was built prior to 1793 by Daniel Ross, son-in-law of William Gilliland, and is the oldest documented structure in the area. Probably the first clapboard frame structure (residence) to be erected in the hamlet, its gambrel roof and five-bay layout displays its 18th century character beneath later alterations (Belden Noble Memorial Library. Essex, New York: An Early History. Burlington, VT: Queen City Printers, 2003. Print. p. 50)
William Gilliland had acquired lands stretching from Crown Point to Cumberland Head, and was the founder of several towns including Essex. After the Revolutionary War, which had destroyed many of Gilliland’s settlements, he returned to the Champlain Valley to start over though he was facing legal difficulties.
Although there is some discrepancy in the records over when the house was constructed (as well as whether it was constructed by Daniel Ross or by William Gilliland prior to, or even after, his incarceration), the Dower House was most likely built sometime between the late 1780’s and the turn of the century.
McNulty’s Essex: The Architectural Heritage states that Gilliland returned to this area after 1780; was arrested in 1786 because of litigation fees; was released from jail in 1791; and then moved in with his daughter, Elizabeth, and Daniel Ross where he lived until the end of his life.
This would suggest that the Dower House was already built when William Gilliland returned from prison. So, was the Dower House built by Gilliland before he went to jail or by Ross while Gilliland was incarcerated? Please share your knowledge and speculations in the comments below.
Also referred to as the Daniel Ross House, the name “Dower House” is actually a misleading misnomer because the home was not part of Elizabeth Gilliland’s dowry, although more than 1,000 acres of land were part of the dowry, and the land upon which the house is built were likely included in the acreage Daniel Ross received when he married Elizabeth (“Essex: An Architectural Guide.” 31).
Dower House Architecture
Predominantly Georgian in style and constructed of wood and sided with clapboard, the Dower House is two stories high with the gambrel roof’s gable ends situated perpendicular to Lake Shore Road, orienting the front of the house toward the street with an impressive view of Lake Champlain and Vermont’s Green Mountains. A central entryway on the eastern facade is flanked by two windows placed symmetrically on either side of the doorway.
The gambrel roof and dormers of the house most likely echo Dutch influence (Everest, Allan Seymour. Our North Country Heritage; Architecture Worth Saving in Clinton and Essex Counties. 23) or were possibly derived from an earlier Colonial style influenced by the English Georgian style (Images of America: Essex on Lake Champlain. 108).
Additional Resources for the Dower House
This map (with satellite image overlay) will help you locate the Dower House and see how its location relates to other historic buildings in the historic district.
View Discover Essex on Lake Champlain in a larger map
References for the Dower House
Belden Noble Memorial Library. Essex, New York: An Early History. Burlington, VT: Queen City Printers, 2003. Print.
“Essex: An Architectural Guide.” Essex Community Heritage Organization, 1986.
“Essex Village Historic District.” Living Places. Ed. Julia Gombach. The Gombach Group, 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.livingplaces.com/NY/Essex_County/Essex_Town/Essex_Village_Historic_District.html>.
Everest, Allan Seymour. Our North Country Heritage; Architecture Worth Saving in Clinton and Essex Counties. Plattsburgh, NY: Tundra, 1972. Print.
Hislop, David C., Jr. Essex on Lake Champlain. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2009. Print. Images of America.
“Historic Essex.” Historic Essex. Essex Community Heritage Organization. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.essexny.org/>.
McNulty, George F., and Margaret Scheinin. Essex; the Architectural Heritage. Burlington, VT: Queen City Printers, 1971. Print.
Smith, H. P. History of Essex County: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Syracuse, N. Y.: D. Mason &, 1885. Print.
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Thank you so much for this article and the photos of Dower House, By far the best photos I have seen of this historic home in Essex, N. Y. William Gilliland was my fourth great grandfather.(descended from Charlotte Gilliland and Stephen Cuyler). I will treasure it for my family. I live on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada, I am retired and am interested in the Gilliland /Ross, Cuyler family histories for my family tree.
Alberta, thanks for your comment and your complement. If you enter “William Gilliland” into the search bar on this blog you can read several additional posts about your fourth great grandfather including two parts of “A Brief History of William Gilliland”. In addition, we have published a post about Hickory Hill which was built by Henry Howard Ross, and we will shortly publish a post about Rosslyn which was built by William Daniel Ross. I will be presenting on Gilliland and Rosses this summer, and I would be honored to include any relevant research you might have discovered…
Daniel and Elizabeth were married in June of 1784 after meeting in Albany the previous year where she lived with her father, grandmother, and sisters Jane and Charlotte. House not built before that time as the Champlain Valley was a war zone and it would have been burned down by either the loyalists, British Army who controlled the lake, or the rebels. Source for marriage date: Divorce proceedings between Elizabeth and Daniel started in about 1805 and ended in 1815 by act of the State Legislature. No indication in those papers as to when the house was built. Still looking.
Thank you for untangling the mystery, David Glenn. And for adding another twist: Elizabeth and Daniel Ross’s divorce! Can you shed more light on this?
Not sure about all of the divorce proceedings, but I did find the below 1808 newspaper article. I am researching the McAuley family that was related to the Gillilands and so stumbled across this online.
07/12/1808 – Evening Post (New York, NY)
“On the 24th ult. Came on to be tried at the Block-House at Essex, in the county of Essex, before the Hon. Judge Thompson, and a struck jury, a cause of Crim. Con. Between Daniel Ross, first Judge of the court of Common Pleas, and Eliza his wife – Counsel for the plaintiff, Messrs. Woodworth, Skinner and Savage; for the defendant, Messrs. Henry, Shepherd, Foot and McCrea. Various witnesses were brought by the plaintiff to prove the guilt of his wife, but three of the principal ones gave such contradictory and inconsistent testimony, as to shew that they were guilty of perjury. They were presented, and bills found against them. The counsel for the defendant rested her cause principally on the goodness of her character through life. Testimony in her favor was given before the court by many of the most respectable inhabitants of the town, who had long known it. After the evidence against her was closed, Mr. Shepherd entered on her defence [sic] and addressed the jury in her behalf, in a warm animated well connected speech; in which he went over all the evidence given against his client and pointed out its baseness, inconsistency and falsehood and justly contrasted with it the established fair character, chastity and virtue of Mr. Ross. He was followed by Mr. Henry, who, avoiding the ground gone over by Mr. Shepherd, entered into some legal definitions and ingenious arguments in favor of the defendant, and at the same time pointed out to the jury in a clear and concise manner, in the instances in which the perjured witnesses had overacted their part, and their supposed motives for coming forward ___ them in an animated glow mentioned the baseness of a husband, who, bound by every tie to have been the protector of a chaste, amiable and highly deserving woman, had conspired with the most abandoned and profligate of the human race, to destroy her peace and reputation.
“The hon. Judge Thompson, in a cool, well connected and very able manner, recapitulated all the evidence adduced, shewed where testimony was credible and where defective; informed the Jury that if they could credit the evidence produced on the side of the prosecution, the defendant must be found guilty. But he said it was beyond all doubt, that some of the witnesses, and those too, whose testimony alone could criminate, were perjured; and then in making up their minds, the jury were to remember this. As to himself, he said, the evidence given was such, as he found by no means sufficient to produce in his mind a conviction of guilt.
“The Jury retired, and as soon as the court was ready to receive it, returned a verdict of not guilt, to the joy of the great part of the crowded audience.”