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INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 119 GRANT STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 0 2225 A building is marked in the vicinity of today's 119 Grant Street in both 1853 (owned by H. Reed) and 1875 (F. B. Hayes?), but are thought to be too early for the style of the present house. In 1906, this building was still owned by the Hayes Estate, which stood atop Meriam Hill, on the opposite side of Grant Street. (Three other buildings also owned by the Hayes Estate stood diagonally across Grant Street from number 119.) No barn is indicated here on the 1906 map, although one likely did exist early on, given the property's agricultural associations and commercial uses. The property is thought to have been occupied from ca. 1910 through 1965 by members of the Forsythe and Mabey families. Thomas Forsythe, born in Canada in 1866, worked as a hostler, expressman, and furniture mover. Although these occupations officially did not include farmer, in 1920, his property is described as a farm, and earlier, in 1910, a hired man who boarded here was identified as a "garden" laborer, perhaps taking care of the land while Thomas ran his express company. Thomas Forsythe and his wife Sarah (born in Ireland) had three children, Arthur, Sarah, and Delia. Sarah married Edison R. Mabey, a shipper for a lumber company who was boarding here in 1920. Thomas Forsythe and Edison Mabey later became partners in an eponymous moving company, Forsythe & Mabey, which in 1934 advertised "Furniture and Piano Moving /Pianos Taken In and Out of Windows/ Local and Long Distance Trucking of All Kinds/Ashes and Rubbish Removed" (1934 town directory). Delia is identified at this property through at least 1965; her brother-in-law Edison was here in 1945 and 1955, and her sister Sarah was here at least through 1945. Edison Mabey continued in the trucking business at least through 1955. (Local historian Sam Doran suggests contacting Guy Doran for further information on the Mabey family.) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Historic maps and atlases: Walling 1853; Beers 1875; Walker 1889; Stadly 1898; Walker 1906; Sanborn 1908, 1918, 1927, 1935, 1935/1950. Lexington Directories: 1899, 1908-09, 1915, 1922, 1926, 1934, 1936. Lexington List of Persons: 1935, 1945, 1955, 1960, 1965. Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Lexington." 1980. U.S. Census: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. SUPPLEMENTARY IMAGES Left side and front (fagade) elevations Barn: Front (facade)and right side elevations Continuation sheet 2