129 Elfreth's Alley

There was already a house on the site, rented by Windsor chairmaker John Ackley.  In 1797, Ackley purchased House 124 across the street and the Lodor brothers commenced construction of two new houses on their adjoining lots.  

While Benjamin Lodor maintained ownership of his new House 131, John Lodor immediately sold House 129 to widow Christiana Pechin.  Pechin already owned Houses 109 and 111; she initially used House 129 as an income-producing rental property.  Early renters of House 129 included men associated with port activity, like sea captain Thomas Orrton and sailmaker Robert Hall.  By the 1830s, Pechin herself was living at the address.  

House 129 remained in the Pechin family until 1891.  They rented it to German shoemaker George Miller throughout the second half of the 19th century.  (Miller hailed from the same area in Germany that shoemaker John Schoendienst, who lived across the street in House 126, immigrated from.)  Like so many Alley residents, Miller rented rooms to boarders, including Christof Muntz, also a shoemaker from Wirtemberg, Germany.

By 1900, Jeremiah Haly had purchased House 129.  He lived in the house with his wife and six children; the children grew up to become a teacher, mailmen, and a police sergeant.