Main Road 0614, Jesse Spelman House

Carrie Buttles Champlin Wetherell Dowling was the daughter of Samuel and Martha (Buttles) Champlin. Her mother had been born Armadilla Holcomb, the daughter of Victor and Sophia (Goodrich) Holcomb of Granby, Connecticut. Sometime between 1850-1855 Armadilla was adopted by Levi and Caroline (Holcomb) Buttles of Granville and her name was changed to Martha Jane Buttles. In 1866 her name was legally changed. Levi Buttles owned property and a house on Main Road located between the Jesse Spelman House and the home of Timothy M. Cooley. In 1871, she married Samuel Champlin, who had once worked as a farm hand for Levi Buttles. Upon the deaths of her adopted parents, Martha Champlin inherited all the Buttles property, including the homestead. 

Carrie Champlin was born in Granville on July 30, 1873. Before she married, Carrie lived with her Aunt Minerva (Holcomb), who was the wife of Joseph B. Laughton of Westfield. Joseph Laughton was the founder of the Laughton Stamp Pad Company located at 42 Chapel Street in Westfield. The Laughtons had no children and the last wills of both Joseph and Minerva are nearly identical, naming Carrie Champlin as Executrix of their estate, and Martha J. Champlin and her children (including Carrie) inheriting their entire estate. From this inheritance, Carrie became Proprietor of the Laughton Stamp Pad Company. She married Dexter Howard Wetherell in Granville in 1908. He was struck and killed by a train in Russell on January 16, 1919. She later married Robert A. Dowling. Carrie died in Granville on July 16, 1947. 

According to "Spelman Genealogy", Jesse Spelman built his house on Main Road around 1845 on the original site of his grandfather, Thomas Spelman's house built in 1750. During Carrie Champlin's time, the house was owned by Elijah Chapman Spelman. Elijah had the last pulpit used by Reverend Cooley, that he kept preserved in his barn and became a curiosity for friends and neighbors. Elijah's third wife and widow, Nancy lived here until her death in 1904. Elijah's only son, Frank Chapman Spelman had died two years earlier and his widow Minerva Spelman inherited the property. In 1906 she sold it to Burt J. Roberts. 

In 1954 Carrie's widower, Robert Dowling and her sister, Minnie Scheiss wrote about the Champlin House in the Granville Bicentennial Tour Guide Book. In June, 1962 Dowling auctioned off all the contents of of the old Champlin Homestead, which consisted of thousands of items, some dating back to 1795.