Caroline Stebbins of Deerfield, Massachusetts, grew up in the town center in the large gambrel-roofed house of her father Colonel Joseph Stebbins (1749-1816), a locally-renowned veteran of the American Revolution (1775-1783). When Caroline married Deerfield farmer Seth Sheldon (1787-1860) in 1810, she moved north on the street to her husband’s home. Her mother-in-law, Persis (Hoyt) Sheldon (1747-1830), also occupied the house until her death. The front part of the house had two parlors on the first floor and three chambers above; an ell, built about 1805, was fitted with two kitchens on the first floor and chambers above. Caroline and Seth had four living children, one of whom, George (1818-1916), became a highly regarded town historian who wrote the two-volume History of Deerfield and was the primary founder of Deerfield’s Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.