Excerpted from the project: If This House Could Talk

(Author: Jacqueline Camenisch)

This Soap Worker Cottage was built 1835-1836 by Charles Valentine, owner of a Cambridgeport slaughterhouse and soap factory, as housing for his workers. In 1880 Christopher Mullen, a 36-year-old widowed watchman, lived here with his two children: Mary Mullen, an 11-year-old daughter, and Willie Mullen, a 10-year-old son. Christopher Mullen was born in Massachusetts. His parents were from Ireland.

Valentine Soap Factory was located nearby at the corner of Valentine and Pearl Streets. Founded in 1828, it was at the time one of the largest manufacturing operations in Cambridgeport.