William Bond was born in 1780 in New Hampshire. As a young man he built and managed a brick store in Keene, NH. He married Nancy Ralston in 1802 and they had seven children. They divorced in 1823 and remarried again in 1831. He earned the rank of Colonel in the New Hampshire Militia during the War of 1812. Bond first came to Rochester in the early 1820s and from there moved to Lockport in 1821. In 1823, Bond began building the three-story brick home on Ontario Street, the first brick house in Lockport. The bricks were manufactured on site. Bond owned the property from 1823 to 1831. During this time he was heavily involved in land speculation, buying and selling properties along the Erie Canal. He donated the land where the Niagara County Courthouse is located. In 1831, he went bankrupt and lost his Ontario Street home. His brother-in-law, Jesse Hawley, acquired the property and renamed what had been Bond Street to Hawley Street. Bond then moved to Mount Morris, NY, where he died in 1854. Jesse Hawley owned the property for a number of years. He is credited with inspiring NYS Gov. DeWitt Clinton with the idea of building a canal across New York State to link the Hudson River with the Great Lakes. The house had a series of owners throughout the 19th century, most notably the Prudden family who lived there from 1837 to 1887. It was then purchased by the prominent and wealthy Chase family of Lockport. In 1913, it became the home of Kate Chase Seymour, great-granddaughter of Col. Bond. She turned the house into three apartments. Mrs. Seymour died in 1955 and he son in 1968. The home was then purchased by the Niagara County Historical Society and restored back to its original floor plan. The house is interpreted to reflect the lifestyle of a middle class family in Lockport during the Erie Canal’s busiest and most profitable years in the early to mid-19th century. The furnishings in the house’s 12 rooms are from that period and, with a few exceptions, are not original to home itself. The home is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is open by appointment. Please call 716-434-7433 to make arrangements.