Jonathan Lambert Dexter worked for many years as a partner at Sands, Furber & Co., a large wholesale fruit and produce dealer in Faneuil Hall Market, Boston. His wife, Mary L. Seaverns, was the sister of Henry Seaverns of H. G. Seaverns & Co., also a wholesale fruit dealer in Faneuil Hall Market. They married in 1875 and moved in with her widowed stepmother, Lucy S. Seaverns, whose house was on Harvard St. just north of the Coolidge & Brother store. Lucy Seaverns died at the end of 1885 and the Dexters moved into their new house at 390 Harvard St., two blocks away between Williams St. and Fuller St. Mary Dexter died in 1901 and Jonathan Dexter remained in the house until his death in 1926.

Shown in the photo are Lucy Amelia Dexter (1876-1940), who married and lived for years on nearby Stetson St., and Frank Seaverns Dexter (1891-1959), who remained in the house along with his sister, Mary, until his death in 1959, both were unmarried. The house was then torn down and the property acquired by Congregation Kehillath Israel which was next door at 380 Harvard St.