The house at 29-31 Pleasant Street in Gloucester was built in 1796 for Abigail, the widow of Capt. Samuel Somes. They had a son who was also Capt. Samuel Somes. There is some confusion between different sources about who built the house. It is associated in the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System with local housewright Col. Jacob Smith, originally from Ipswich, who also designed the Capt. Elias Davis House, which is located just across Federal Street and is part of the Cape Ann Museum. The Museum’s website says that the Somes House was a copy of the Davis House and was designed by Jacob Smith’s younger brother. Both brothers, Jacob and John Smith, designed houses for Gloucester ship owners and merchants, as well as a number of churches in the area. The “Images of America” series book on Gloucester and Rockport says (on page 25) that John designed the Somes House and then Jacob added modified corner coins to the Davis House “in an act of one-upsmanship” that prompted dissension between them.