Sarah Jane Hardy Alter aka “Mrs. Altar”
I first stumbled across Mrs. Alter researching Barton Street, there was a large piece of land sold to Louis Barton with the name “S.J.Alter,” I’d never heard of the name before, so I went on a hunt.
Newburyport, Massachusetts State Street toward Pleasant Street, Courtesy of the Museum of Old Newbury, The Snow Collection, showing 84 State Street, Mrs. Altar’s home and shop.
Sarah Jane Brown of Newbury came from a seafaring family, her father was Captain Nicholas Brown (1784 – 1868). Sarah Jane (1811 – 1896) married Captain John Campbell Hardy (1803 – 1845) of Deer Island Maine in 1828, she would have been 18. Captain Hardy was lost at sea in 1845, they had four children together, two survived to adulthood. Captain Francis D. Hardy, Captain John Hardy’s half brother, married Sarah Jane’s sister Lucy.* For a short period of time, the two families occupied 34-36 High Street (two half houses) from 1842 to 1845.**
After Captain Hardy’s death, Sarah Jane sold 36 High Street to Philip D. Adams and stayed on the other side at 34 High Street. In 1846 she married John Alter from Pennsylvania. I can find very little about John Alter, but it appears that he did not stay in Newburyport long, but returned to Pennsylvania. Sarah Alter stayed in Newburyport. Sarah’s daughter, also named Sarah Jane Hardy (1833-1919), married John Alter’s brother, her step-uncle, Colonel Simon Snyder Altar (1808 – 1899). On their tombstones the name is “Altar,” although Simon and John’s parents are named “Alter” and in her mother’s will her daughter’s name is also “Alter.”
34-36 High Street Newburyport, the house that was owned by Sarah Jane Hardy Alter.
1851 Map that shows Mrs. Alter’s land that later became Barton Street.
1893 Survey for Barton Street, the land that was owned by Mrs. Alter and bought by Louis Barton.
Sarah and John Alter had a dry goods store at their house on High Street. In 1853 they moved to 84 State Street, where Port Tavern is in 2023.^* They had the store on one side of the building and and lived on the other side. John went back to Pennsylvania, but Sarah lived there until her death in 1896. Sarah rented out 34 High Street, until she sold it to Louis Barton in 1893, who used the land along with the land of Philip D. Adams to build Barton Street. She bought 82-84 State Street in 1867 from Ann Tracy,** the widow of Nathaniel Tracy Jr. (the son of Nathaniel Tracy and the grandson of Patric Tracy). Sarah also bought 5-7 Coffin Court, her father’s home from the estate, as well as 93-97 Prospect Street which had been owned by her father, and rented both of those houses out for income during her life time.*^* The store was called “Mrs. Altar” with an “A,” it sold a variety of dry goods over the years, including corsets. The headline in her obituary in 1896 at the top of page 1 was, “Made a Competence by Shrewd Business Career,”*** an incredible accomplishment for a woman in the 1800s.
1851 Map, showing the structure and land that was 84 State Street, then owned by Nathaniel Tracy Jr., son of Nathaniel Tracy, grandson of Patric Tracy later owned by Sarah Jane Hardy Alter, known as “Mrs. Altar’s.”
In 1885 the Dodge Shoe Manufacturer that had built a large shoe factory behind her home in 1873, wanted to put large steam boilers within 500 feet of her house and business at 84 State Street. Mrs. Alter did not like that idea at all, she first went to the City of Newburyport who ruled against her, she then sued Nathan D. Dodge and in November 1885 took the lawsuit all the way to the state Supreme Court in Salem in the case of “Altar vs Dodge.^^^ The Supreme Judicial Court Archives sent me the transcript of the lawsuit, and Mrs. Alter not only lost to Nathan D. Dodge, but had to pay him “Costs,” the costs that he incurred by Mrs. Alter during the litigation against him.*^^*
Alter vs Dodge, 1885, The original transcript from the trial from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, with a special thanks to Judicial Archivist, Christopher Carter.
You can read the entire lawsuit Alter vs Dodge from the Supreme Judicial Court Archives.
During the previous year in 1884, the City wanted to straighten State Street, the property on the corner of State and Pleasant Street and 84 State Street extended out to the sidewalk more than the other existing structures. It would have meant the removal of Mrs. Altar’s home and retail shop. It seems that that may have been the first attempt by the Dodge Shoe Factory to get Mrs Altar’s property moved, which was remarked on by her lawyer in a public hearing^*^. That did not happen, but it caused Sarah Jane Alter a great deal of distress.^*^ Sarah Jane Alter had such courage to go up against one of the most powerful industries and men in Newburyport. She lived at 84 State Street until her death in 1896.
1888 Sanborn Fire Map showing Mrs Altar’s shop and home slightly sticking out onto the sidewalk. In 1884 the City wanted to straighten State Street, the property on the corner of State and Pleasant Street and 84 State Street extended out to the sidewalk more than the other existing structures. It would have meant the removal of Mrs. Altar’s home and retail shop. It seems that that may have been the first attempt by the Dodge Shoe Factory to get Mrs Altar’s property moved.
In her will she left her husband John Alter, living in Pennsylvania, $2,000, which back then was a lot of money, and her only serving daughter Sarah J. Hardy Alter (who had married her step-uncle Colonel Simon Snyder Altar) the rest of her considerable estate. Sarah Jane is buried with her first husband Captain John C. Hardy at the First Parish Church Graveyard in Newbury, she is mentioned on the grave stone as “Sarah J. his widow,” there is no mention of Mr. Alter or the name Alter at all.
Sarah Jane is buried with her first husband Captain John C. Hardy at the First Parish Church Graveyard in Newbury, she is mentioned on the grave stone as “Sarah J. his widow,” there is no mention of Mr. Alter or the name Alter at all.
By 1940 the old house was demolished and a brand new A & P Market was built in its place.^^ There was a lot of excitement about the new grocery store downtown that had kept the “colonial type exterior that was familiar to Newburyporters.”^^
The property has had different enterprises over the years. In 2023 it is Port Tavern.
The newly built A&P, The Newburyport Daily News and Newburyport Herald, May 16, 1940.
State Street 1940s, showing the new A&P at 84 State Street, Courtesy of the Museum of Old Newbury.
Explore Mrs. Alter’s story at 84 State Street, Barton Street and 34-36 High Street on the Newburyport Interactive History Map – Keeping the Story Alive.
~History compiled by Mary Baker Eaton
Footnotes and References:
*Essex Institute Historical Collections, VOL. LXXX. 1944
** Salem Deeds
*^* Salem Deeds and Newburyport Historic Newspapers
^* Newburyport Herald, October 11, 1853
*** The Newburyport Daily News, Page 1, August 31, 1896
^^^ Newburyport Daily Herald, November 7, 1885
^*^ Newburyport Herald April 9, 1884
*^^* Alter vs Dodge, 1885, The original transcript from the trial from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, with a special thanks to Judicial Archivist, Christopher Carter.
^^ Newburyport Daily News, May 16, 1940
History of the Marine society of Newburyport, Massachusetts, from its incorporation in 1772 to the year 1906: together with a complete roster and narrative of important events in the lives of its members
FamilySearch.org
Newburyport City Directories
HeritageQuest Online
American Ancestors
1851 Map
1872 Map, the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
1884 Map, Historic Map Works
Newburyport Historic Papers, the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center
Alter vs Dodge, 1885, The original transcript from the trial from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, with a special thanks to Judicial Archivist, Christopher Carter.
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You can also read the entire lawsuit Alter vs Dodge from the Supreme Judicial Court Archives from the link.
