Dorchester Historical Society

Captain Lemuel Clap was a tanner by trade and a prominent Dorchester resident who invited Colonial troops to camp on his property during the siege of Boston. The Clapp genealogy describes Lemuel as follows: “Lemuel, third son of Ebenezer, Jr. and Hannah (Pierce) Clapp, was born in Dorchester, April 9, 1735, and died Dec. 29, 1819. He married, first, Dec. 11, 1760, Susanna Capen, of Dorchester, who died March 6, 1767, aged 26 years. They were married the same day his sister Ann was married to Noah Clapp. He married, second, Nov. 3, 1768, Rebecca, third daughter of Rev. Samuel Dexter, of Dedham. Lemuel was a Captain in the Revolutionary War, and his company was on duty for several of its first years at Dorchester Heights, Noddle’s Island, and other places near by. The enlistments for this service were short, a few months at a time, and sometimes less, and his company, therefore, often changed its members. Sometimes there were quite a number of the Dorchester Clapps in its ranks. He was a tanner by trade, and carried on the business on the old Causeway road, near the corner of what is now Willow court. His house was in the same court, and was enlarged and elegantly fitted up by him from the small one originally built by Roger.” In 1767, Captain Lemuel Clap, whose great-great-grandfather Nicholas was a cousin to Roger, purchased the property, built additions on the front, at the ends and at the rear.

 

Needing more spacious headquarters, the Dorchester Historical Society purchased the property at 195 Boston Street from Frank Lemuel Clapp in 1946. Due to the march of progress, land was needed for a business street and the 1633 House stood in the way. The Society sold Willow Court and moved the historic house to its present location just to the left of the William Clapp House.