This stately and well-preserved Stick style residence is located on High Street in Westborough, Massachusetts. The house was built around 1875 for Mr. William Henry Forbush and his wife, Alice. William was a sleigh manufacturer in town and served in the Civil War, mustering out years after injuring his left hand during the Second Battle of Bull Run. Forbush died in 1881 at the age of 37, and Alice married to Dexter Brigham, a carpenter who also fought in the Civil War. It was possibly Mr. Brigham who added the intricate woodwork on the home.
Buildings of New England 
what a beauty!
Our current architects and builders have a lot to take from this elegance.
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Couldn’t agree more!
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I don’t think this info is correct. W.H. Forbush is my direct ancestor. He did not retire from military after being wounded at 2 B.R. He transferred into 3d U.S. Art’y Battery C, and finished out his 3 year term of enlistment. To my knowledge he did not live in this house, nor did Alice or D.P. Brigham, but in a house more modest and closer to the Gilmon Morse house down the street on corner of Main/High Intersection. In History of Westboro MA it says this house is the home of Mrs. H. K. Taft, a prominent business man in the town.
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I am going by the research compiled by the Westborough Historical Commission in their survey of buildings in town from the 1980s. They state the house was built by Forbush and later owned by Brigham. The text does note that the house was owned in the 1890s by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kirk Taft, verified by an atlas map from 1892.
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Also, the 1882 directory lists Mrs. W. H. Forbush as living on High Street.If you can find evidence to the contrary, please let me know and I can update.
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HII have seen the file you referenced. I think it is somehow in error. I have shared what I am going to tell you with what I told an aquaintance in Westboro who intends to see if she can find more information on the land and properties in question. I have the Widow’s Pension File for Alice Fisher Forbush, William Henry’s wife, (who later re- married Dexter P. Brigham.) In the pension file Gilman Morse who lived in a substantial home in Westboro on the corner of Main St. and High St. wrote in a deposition under oath, as a witness for Alice to get a pension, that William was his neighbor and that their properties adjoined. This agrees with the family history I know. Gilman Morse was Williams Uncle and business partner. (The Morse home which was dilapidated for many years has just this year been renovated and saved.) Here are the quotes from Morse’s deposition in the pension file regarding William H. Forbush: “Knew him well after his return from the Army. Early in the year of 1869 he entered into business relations with me, and Continued with me for (9) years when I sold out my interest to him and from that time until his death in Jan 1881 I was in daily converse more or less with him. He was a neighbor our yards joining. I know he was treated by Dr. Jackson of Dansville N.Y. and was a patient in said Jackson from the time of his return from the Army and had the appearance of one in lung consumption. Was looked by his associates and neighbors as one in consumption. Know he was unable to attend to business much of the time during these years. I have no doubt that he contracted the disease in the Army. Know the statements are to be used as evidence in the prosecution of a claim for pension. I have no interest in said claim.Westboro Mass Oct 29 1887” Another affidavit in 1889 from Gilman Morse then listed as age 78 and testimony taken by Justice Dexter Martin states the same as above with different words, and how Morse knew William before and after the war. The last sentence of this deposition says: “From being his partner for many years prior to his death and after his return from the army and his locating in Westborough and from being the next door neighbor of the said Forbush during the last years of his life and at the time of his death.” Also, I have photos of the exterior and interior of the house next to Morse’s at #3 (?) High street, with Alice sitting in the parlor.
William was very sick when he returned from the war and could barely attend to business, so I would question why he would build a large Victorian house in 1875 or 1877 to live in, when he died a short time later in Jan. 1881. I can only assume the “official file” is incorrect. It was done in the 1980’s. Perhaps someone misread the number 3 High St as number 7. I don’t know. My grandfather visited his relatives in Westboro when he was young, early 1900’s. I heard all his stories. Alice and Dexter Brigham were living in a modest home on Central ave in Westboro when they both respectively died. My grandfather sold that home in 1927. Sorry for the long response.
If my friend discovers anything on this I will forward to you. Thanks for writing back.Brad Forbush
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I have seen the Historical Commission File. I can only assume it is incorrect for some reason. I have a friend checking on it. ––I have documents proving William and his wife Alice lived next door to his Uncle Gilman Morse, (whose substantial home was renovated this year) and sits on the corner of Main and High Streets. Williams home was next door, I think 3 High St. today. I have family photos of the inside and outside of that home circa 1902, with Alice Brigham sitting in the parlor. We still have some of the items in the photo in the family. (She remarried Dexter Brigham some years after William’s death) There is a small house since interposed between the two properties today.
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I’ve tried to reply a couple times but I don’t think the messages went through. I did respond in an email with details concerning this subject. But to sum up, William and Alice lived down the street from this house. He was sickly all his life, and his uncle who lived at the corner of Main and High said they were his next door neighbors. This matches family history and photos. Can only suppose the historical commission made a mistake.
Sill, I noticed the Taft house when I visited Westboro in the early 2000’s It struck me as magnificent then, and I took a photo of it, along with William Henry’s house down the street.
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