Photos by Lincoln Friends : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

Lincoln Friends said:

When James Dixon Esq and wife Elizabeth L. Cogswell Dixon purchased this land in the 1840's the Asylum Hill neighborhood was considered “outside the city”.

Today the neighborhood is one of Hartford's most historic areas. Just down the street from the Dixon's' estate was Nook Farm which included the residences of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

This image is the main house on the estate which became known as the Dixon-Welling place after the daughter of Senator Dixon married James C. Welling, editor of the National Intelligencer and President of George Washington University. The residence included a large mansion, stables and formal gardens.

For more than 70 years the Dixon–Welling family enjoyed their Asylum Hill home hosting many of our nation's most famous writers and poets of the day, dignitaries and military leaders. In 1929 the Dixon-Welling family sold their Asylum Hill estate to the Aetna Insurance Company.

Today, the only remnants of this paradise lost are several copper beach trees found on the grounds of the Aetna and the Dixon’s large bell that hung outside the main house to summon the gardeners for instructions.

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Lincoln Friends said:

This picture was taken by the Dixon or Welling family before 1920. The people in the picture are Thomas and Katherine Donahue (oe) and Brigit Connor. Are these people your anscestors? E-mail ctlincolnfriends@gmail.com with info about the family.

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