[1] On July 23, 1850, John McCaffary murdered his wife Bridget by drowning her in the cistern behind the house.

[1] On August 21, 1851, McCaffary admitted to the murder on the scaffold, and was then executed publicly by hanging in front of a crowd of 2,000–3,000 people.

[2] The leader of the local and state opposition to the death penalty was Kenosha Telegraph newspaperman, and future politician and inventor of the typewriter, Christopher Latham Sholes.

[3] Waukesha County farmer Marvin H. Bovee, who would soon join Sholes in the legislature, was of similar mind and in favor of a national ban on the death penalty.

[2] In its nomination, WHS gave two primary arguments for listing the house: "First, the case of John McCaffary contributed measurably to the final drive for abolition, and second, the site of the murder is the only place associated with the event which remains substantially as it was at that time...Therefore, the site symbolizes for contemporary Wisconsinites the abolition of capital punishment.

"[1] On the NRHP nomination form, three areas of significance for the property were claimed: historic archeology (due to the remains of the cistern behind the house), law, and social/humanitarian.