Anna & Abijah Resseguie
Residents from 1829 to 1888
Abijah Resseguie was an ambitious man. He was a partner in “Big Shop” carriage works in Ridgefield, a successful company with showrooms located as far away as New Orleans. Abijah and Anna met when he was a boarder at W. Keeler’s Hotel. Their daughter Anna Marie was born in 1830.
Anna Keeler & Abijah Resseguie
Abijah served as the landlord while Anna operated as the manager of the hotel, now named the Resseguie Hotel. Despite multiple name changes over the years, it remained as the most prominent and thriving hub in the community and region. It was due to its increasing popularity as a social hub that the Resseguies added some architectural changes to the property, including a balustrade, three dormers, wrap-around porches, and a six-foot dining room extension.
Abijah was politically involved and eventually served in the Connecticut State Legislature during the 1840s. He was known to be a genial host, active in the Episcopal church, and fond of mechanical and scientific innovations like the steamboat, locomotive, and Thomas Edison’s early inventions. When he was 80 years old, he spent hours contemplating the physics and mechanics of the suspensions that supported the Brooklyn Bridge.
A few of the many oddities that one could see at the Keeler Tavern throughout Anna’s tenure as hotel manager
Anna died in 1862. Not long after her death, in 1870, the Norwalk and Danbury Railroad built a branch to Ridgefield, allowing people to move more quickly and easily between Ridgefield and New York City, as well as other popular destinations. As a result, Abijah witnessed a permanent downturn in business at the Resseguie Hotel.
Abijah died in 1888, at the age of 96.