Asa C. Jewett

Asa Clarke Jewett bought the house in 1902 and lived there until his death in 1925 — a residence of 23 years; he later added the adjoining Lot 9 (1909). Born in Pepperell, Massachusetts, in 1860 to William B. Jewett, a carpenter, and Mary E. Clark, he worked as a painter and decorator in partnership with William P. Bemis — the Jewett & Bemis business on Union Street in Newton Centre.

A prominent Freemason, Jewett was elected Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1924, and died the next year while leading a party of Knights Templar to their national conclave in Seattle; his honorary sword is preserved in a museum in Lexington. His wife Minnie died in 1917. See also his full biography.

A correction to the report. The Massachusetts Historical Commission report calls Jewett “unmarried” and says he “lived with Bemis.” The family record contradicts this: Jewett was married to Minnie, who died in 1917. The report appears to have read the Bemis & Jewett painting partnership — which shows up as a business line in the 1907 city directory — as a shared household. Bemis was his business partner, not a housemate.