Nicholas Gilman, Jr., who resided in the house until the age of twenty-one, became senior Deputy Adjutant-general of the Continental army on the staff of General Washington and participated in all the important battles and campaigns in which, under Washington, the army engaged. In 1787 Captain Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon were chosen delegates to the Federal Convention of States, which assembled at Philadelphia and framed and adopted the Constitution, the delegates signing in the order of States. The signatures of Langdon and Gilman followed immediately after that of General Washington, as President of the Convention. Gilman was one of the youngest members of that body, that combined patriotism, experience, and character. The third son, Colonel Nathaniel Gilman, succeeded his father Colonel Nicholas Gilman, Sr., in the treasury department--The Continental Loan Office--as early as 1783. From 1818 to 1824 the mansion was occupied by Captain Nathaniel Gilman, son of Colonel Nathaniel Gilman and grandson of Colonel Nicholas Gilman, Sr. The house itself is in an excellent state of preservation. The partially panelled walls, the quaint windows with wide sills, the large and cheerful fireplaces in which the original dogs still do duty, belong distinctively to colonial days. The small, high windows fitted with wooden shutters show the great thickness of the house wall, and the whole surroundings impress one with solidity and comfort. CHAPTER VIII THE ADAMS HOUSE One of the first settlers at Newbury, Massachusetts, was one Henry Sewall, who came over from England in 1634, bringing with him cattle, servants, and provisions. He was allotted six hundred acres of upland and marsh land at Newbury, according to agreement made before he left his native country. This land bordered the river Parker, near what is now known as Byfield proper, a fertile, woodland country with rolling hills and rich land. He married Jane Dummer, settling later on the grant of land that had been apportioned to him for the first stock farm in America. Near the foot of the hill, at the parting of four roads, was a lot of land that he bequeathed to his wife, with ten pounds yearly. The grant of land later on was divided into several house lots, one of which was the home of William Longfellow, the emigrant ancestor of the Longfellow family in America, who married Anne Sewall. This shows the connection through marriage of the prominent families who settled in this region.