This Victorian Queen Anne style house was built in 1893 on land previously owned by the Havre Iron Company. Officials of the company had sold a part of their property in 1892 to Avarilla “Jane” Hamlin (1860-1938). She was the widow of Henry C. “Harry” McCommons (d. 1888) and she already had at least one child, John E. McCommons (1885-1946). In 1889 she had married Captain William Hamlin (b. 1845) who was also widowed with children. During the Civil War, Captain Hamlin served in the United States Marines and in 1865 he was serving on the US ship “Hartford.” After the end of the war, he moved to the Navy and was employed by the Department of Fish and Fisheries of the U.S. Government. In 1883 he became caretaker of the Fishing Battery Lighthouse just south of Havre de Grace and in 1885 his wife, Mary, had died. During the 1880s, Captain Hamlin became the U.S. Fish Commissioner of Havre de Grace. Records show that the captain was issued several licenses during those years—wild waterfowl gunning licenses in 1884, 1885, and 1894; a sink boat license in 1901; a sneak boat license in 1903; and ducking licenses in 1906, 1910, 1911, and 1918 (for some of his licenses and Reports of the US Fish Commission, his last name was sometimes spelled “Hamlen).”

The Captain and Avarilla built this home in 1893 where they lived with their children, until the death of Captain Hamlin. When Averilla died in 1938 she left this property to her son, John E. McCommons, who was married to Elsie McCommons and had two children. After John died in 1946, his widow Elsie sold this home to Pearl W. Fadeley in 1949. Pearl sold it in 1957 to James H. and Mamie M. Elliott and then moved to Florida. Having then been sold at public sale the property was bought by Edmond and Bertha Nagy in 1959. The home passed through several more hands, including those of Charles and Margaret Van Meter, in the following years. At some time during the 1970s, the single family home was converted into four apartments as an investment property. Jeffrey Hazard bought it in 1980 but sold it to Daniel C. Bowman in 1984.

When Roger and Kathleen Lee bought the property in 2012 it had been owned by Stuart Bailey and JoAnn Roesler for 15 years. That couple owned other properties in town as investments. Roger and Kathleen report that while the house was in very poor condition and almost all original features had been removed, the original stairway was still there and the unique trim on the front porch was intact. The Lees restored the house as a single-family home, along with its square two-story tower with pyramidal roof and veranda overlooking the garden, and replaced all the windows. Roger Lee did a lot of the work himself and restored as many of the original features as he could.

The Lee’s daughter, Stephanie Lee, is a taxidermist and her showroom and workshop used to be in a small building at the back of the house but is now elsewhere. The Lees continue to enjoy working on their home and growing a variety of flowers in their garden.

County Records
Built 1892. 2612 sq ft, 2 stories, no basement, 4 baths, 7000 sq ft lot.