47 South Sixth Street (rear), Mary Rotch House, 1838 (Rear of Our Lady of Assumption Church)

47 South Sixth Street (rear), Mary Rotch House, 1838

The green vinyl-sided house behind Our Lady of Assumption Church was built in 1838 for Mary Rotch, age sixty-one, and the youngest child of William Rotch, Sr. In that same year she moved into this house with her companion, Mary Gifford, daughter of Warren Gifford of Dartmouth, who inherited the house after Mary Rotch died in 1848. This late Federal style house sat on the corner of South Sixth Street and Joli Gonsalves Way (formerly Cherry Street) and was moved west to make way for the construction of the church in 1957. Mary Rotch held strong anti-slavery beliefs as did her father, William Rotch. She employed and shared her home with several people of color. In 1893, the house at 47 South Sixth Street became the Unitarian parsonage, until it was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Fall River. Currently, the building serves as a church community center.