The Deacon John Grave House is special because its history is the story of seven generations of one Madison family, how they lived and died, their joys and sorrows and their continual struggle to make ends meet in a constantly changing society.

Seven generations of farmers, haulers, soldiers, innkeepers, shoemakers, dressmakers and weavers have tread on the time worn floorboards of the house. Seven generations kept amazingly meticulous entries in account books that tell their story, from early colonial beginnings to the twentieth century. Their story and this exhibition is of their family finances and how, by reading their account book entries and other documents, we come to understand how they spent their days, weeks and years.

What kind of money did they use? How were goods and services valued? How did John Grave II live in this house when it was just two rooms with his wife, nine children, servants and occasional guests? How indeed? How did a Madison family finance their everyday lives and make ends meet?

This is the story of one family- their living and dying, their joys and sorrows, and their continual struggle to make ends meet in a constantly changing society.  We learn of George Grave who left his native England in 1636, risking everything to bring his family across the ocean in a small ship to seek a new life in a hostile land. He succeeded and for seven generations his descendants lived in the Deacon John Grave House, one of the oldest houses in Madison, Connecticut.

Although the exhibit has closed the book is available.