Preserved Brayton

"Brayton Homestead," published in 1914, says:

"…we find evidence of its foundation upon which site has been placed a stone, presumably the old stepping stone of the original dwelling. "The great Room," "in the Southeast corner," "the chamber over said rooms," "the great door," "through the entry and up the stairs to the chamber overhead," "to cook in the Kitchen," "and store meat and sauce in the cellar," form for us only a fragmentary description of that first house upon the hill to which Preserved BRAYTON brought his wife and two older children, and which was the birthplace of his younger children. In 1724 Preserved BRAYTON enlarged his farm by purchasing of William SLADE the south half of the original lot 13 of the Shawomet purchase, and half the roadway between the 13th and 14th lots, thus making the whole of the Homestead Farm about one hundred and sixty-eight acres."

"The total purchase price of the farm, as paid by Preserved BRAYTON, was, therefore, thirteen hundred and twenty pounds. Assuming that the colonial pound (whose value to-day would be about three and one-third dollars) was used in these transactions, the amount paid for the Homestead Farm would be about forty-four hundred dollars of our money. Preserved BRAYTON was a true lover of the soil, and for forty-seven years after his removal to Swansea, as we shall call it now, was spared to enjoy the fruits of his labors upon the place he termed the Homestead Farm, all unconscious of adopting a name that would be perpetuated for so many generations. At the time of his death in Swansea, May 21, 1761, Preserved BRAYTON was an extensive landholder…."

He owned in addition to the Homestead Farm another farm in Swansea, besides property in Freetown, Rehoboth and Smithfield, Rhode Island.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/brayton.html