(7) The Foster/Asa Wing House

[Owl MAR 1904, pp. 273-4, 1976, p. 4244 article & photo]

We present as a frontspiece with this issue a picture of the “Old Samuel Wing Home” {sic} on Lower Lake Shawme at Sandwich. The antiquity of this old home is generally conceded and it is believed to have been built and lived in by Samuel, the second son of Daniel, after his marriage to Dorothy Clifton in 1724. (Owl MAR 1922, p. 2150)

Zaccheus Wing (1745 – 17__)

     The descent of ownership of this house, demolished in 1971, is known clearly. It was built in 1692 by Joseph Foster for his marriage to Rachel Bassett. It passed to his son Solomon, who sold it to Zaccheus Wing in 1745 and removed to Brookfield, Mass. (Owl 1976, p. 4244)

   After the death of Samuel, his three sons (Daniel, Samuel and Barnabas) seem to have moved over into Dartmouth and the old homestead on Lake Shawme appears to have come into the possession of Samuel’s brother Zaccheus, who also owned the old Daniel Wing home just over the hill. (Owl MAR 1922, p. 2150)

Benjamin Wing (17__ – 1800)

     Zaccheus passed the house to his son Benjamin (1740-1818) who removed to Maine in 1800.

Samuel Wing (1810 – 1854)

     Benjamin sold it to nephew Samuel Wing (1774-1854), son of Paul, and brother of the Paul Jr. and Ebenezer who lived in the [Daniel Wing, Jr.] house. Samuel was a gifted man who built in 1811 a cotton mill on the common property, damming the stream and thereby backing up the upper millpond. The mill was later converted to a tack factory. Samuel also built a cabinet-maker’s shop near his house. The wood-working equipment and records were given to Old Sturbridge Village by Samuel’s great-grandson, Asa S. Wing Jr., and were described in an article in Antiques Magazine. (Owl 1976, p. 4244)

   Zaccheus’ grandson Samuel, who married Anna Rogers in 1799, is known to have lived in the old home, as did Samuel’s son Stephen Rogers during the years of his life. (Owl MAR 1922, p. 2150)

Stephen Rogers Wing (1854 – 1897)

     Samuel’s son, Stephen Rogers Wing married a Quaker lady preacher, Elizabeth Collins Shove, and there is an excellent photograph of this house with Stephen in a buggy and Elizabeth in the doorway. Both houses [Foster/Wing house and Daniel Wing Jr. house] were occupied by ardent Quakers, and were filled with the many visitors who came to Sandwich for the Quarterly Meetings here. (Owl 1976, p. 4244)

Asa Shove Wing (1897 – 1931)

   Mr. Wing has also performed an invaluable service to the Wing family by taking over and maintaining the home of his ancestors on Lake Shawme, near Sandwich. This ancient home is known to have been occupied by Samuel Wing as early as 1721 and has since been in the occupancy of Mr. Wing’s immediate family. He maintains a caretaker upon the premises and sometimes occupies the old place as a summer home. (Owl JUN 1921, p. 2078)  

   The venerable home is now the property of Asa Shove Wing of Philadelphia, son of Stephen Rogers. The house and its interior furnishings are preserved by Mr. Wing with the utmost faithfulness to a trust coming to him thru a Quaker ancestry down thru the ages. While Mr. Wing occasionally comes to the place for a few weeks’ during the summer months, a caretaker is constantly in charge and hedges are kept trimmed, flower gardens preserved and every board and hinge kept in its place. (Owl MAR 1922, p. 2150)

     This house was largely unoccupied after the death of Elizabeth in 1903, but was maintained by her son Asa Shove Wing who lived in Philadelphia [but used the house as a summer vacation house.] (Owl 1976, p. 4244)

  Sold by heirs

     The Foster/Wing house fell into poor condition through long disuse, and was pulled down [in 1971] by the Robert L. Hayden firm after the A.S. Wing property was acquired by Heritage Plantation. (Owl 1976, p. 4244)