According to The Bellows Genealogy, or John Bellows, the Boy Emigrant of 1635 and His Descendants, by Thomas Bellows Peck, John Bellows (1768-1840), son of Joseph Bellows and a grandson of Col. Benjamin Bellows, had removed from Walpole to Boston, becoming head of the firm of Bellows, Cordis & Jones, an importer of English dry goods, who managed to retire at the age of fifty with an ample fortune. He was president of Manufacturers’ and Mechanics’ Bank of Boston, and served a number of years as an alderman. He resided in Boston on Tremont Street.
His fortunes turned during a fiscal crisis in 1830, and in June 1833 he returned to Walpole and built this house on the brow of the hill overlooking the Connecticut River. The house features a Greek portico that wraps around three sides, giving the structure a strong temple-front presence characteristic of the period. The long ell connecting the house to the barn retains a blend of Federal-era refinement and emerging Greek Revival detailing, illustrating the architectural transition underway in Walpole during the 1830s.
An address by John Bellow’s son, Rev. John Nelson Bellows (1805-1857) gave this description of him:
He was a man of superior intellect, generous sentiments, and spotless integrity. Lavish in the education of his children, stern in his family government, proud and modest, tender at heart but ashamed of his sensibility, full of public spirit, unsurpassed in sharpness of wit and readiness of repartee — dignified and scrupulous in his costume and manners elegant in the neatness of his style and his handwriting, admirable as a letter writer, and excellent talker, fond of speculation and argument, a keen man of business — a philosopher in his sorrows and disappointments though easily annoyed by trifles, John Bellows (whom a thorough education would have made a very remarkable man) deserves this tribute of affectionate respect from his children, and the grateful remembrance of his fellow citizens of Boston.
Aaron Howland House 