Noah Emery House

The Noah Emery House is now on #985 Goodwin Road, Eliot, Maine. Its present owner tells us that the dwelling was purchased by Noah’s great-great grandfather Anthony in 1650 from John Smith, a carpenter and entrepreneur who built a handful of houses in the emerging settlement known as the Piscataqua Plantation.  It was a one room dwelling with fireplace and an overhead loft. In the 1660s the chimney was reconstructed with two fireplaces back to back and a second room of equal size was added on the west end. Another 8 ft. extension was added to the west end in the late 1670s.  Sometime between Noah’s birth in 1699 and before 1710, his father constructed a new family house perpendicular to Goodwin Road and this structure became the “ell“ to what was termed the “Manor House”. This house burned in 1791 (30 years after Noah’s death) reducing the family home to its size two generations back.  Anthony Emery’s home passed from him in 1660 to James, then to Daniel in 1697, and to Noah Emery in 1722.  Noah Emery was the first lawyer residing in Maine and his office was here. He was admitted to the bar in 1725 and served as the King’s Attorney for the Province between the years of 1741 and 1759.  He held a Captain rating in the Maine Militia; fought against Indians from Canada, and set up scouting activities to secure the safety of the Eliot citizens of his time. Noah had a very large library which he willed to his sons.   Noah Emery was a cooper as was his ancestor Anthony, until his weight gain caused it to be impossible to continue and so he began the study of law. The story told about Noah is that back during his day it was the custom for the members of the court and bar to go out together to a local tavern after the cases of the term were settled.  At one of these occasions, they held their own mock “trial”, bringing people to task over all the breaches of good fellowship which had occurred during the term. One of the group was appointed “chief justice” to preside over the trial.   On one of these meetings Emery was accused of calling the high sheriff “a fool“.  The mock court found Emery guilty and ordered him to pay for his offense one pipe of tobacco.  They also ordered the sheriff to pay one mug of flip for deserving the appellation! 

The historical Marker reads:

Noah Emery House

Office of the 1st. Kings attorney

In the Provence of Maine

Upon the death of Gov. Hill in 1912, Mrs. Hill donated 8 historical markers to the town of Eliot and this was one of them.