Jonathan Danforth House
Jonathan Danforth House
| Address | River St |
| Built | 1655 |
| Demolished | 1879 |
| Other Lot Structures | Martin Lane House (1880 - 1967) |
The Jonathan Danforth House stood on the north side of what was then called West Street, now River Street, just west of the town center. It was the home of Jonathan Danforth, the town's surveyor, town clerk, selectman and militia captain. Danforth married Elizabeth Poulter in November 1654, and town historian Henry Hazen believed he built the house that year or soon after, calling it "perhaps the first house in the village."
During King Philip's War the house was one of Billerica's garrisons, with Danforth as its master, and Sergeant James Kidder's garrison stood across the street. Danforth was also made overseer of James Patterson's garrison and lieutenant of the town's new military company. Hazen, writing in 1879 as the house was coming down, called it "the only structure in town which is an incontestible relic of that day."
Danforth died on September 7, 1712. In November 1714 his children sold "the Homestead or house Lot which belonged to our Honored Father Danforth," about 60 acres with the buildings, running from the Country Road to the Concord River between John Baldwin and Enoch Kidder, to Oliver Whiting Jr. for 230 pounds. Whiting mortgaged it the next month to the trustees of the Province's 1714 public loan, and Danforth's grandchildren released their claims in 1715.
The 24-acre house lot passed to Whiting's son Jonathan Whiting, who sold it in 1760 to Benjamin Lewis. In 1764 Lewis sold it to Elijah Danforth, a blacksmith and descendant of Jonathan, bringing the old homestead back into the family for twenty years. In 1784 Elijah Danforth sold the house and 24 acres, bounded south by "the road or way leading from the meeting house over the middle bridge," to William Bowers for 328 pounds. Hazen lists Bowers at the "Old Danforth place, on West St."
Dr. William Bowers's unmarried daughters, Priscilla, Mary (Molly) and Fanny, left the place by will to the First Baptist Church and the Town of Billerica. In 1871 the church and town sold the 24 acres with the dwelling house and barn to Martin Lane for a combined $2,900. Lane took down the old house about 1879 and built his own Martin Lane House on the site. In 1953 the Kennelly family, Lane's heirs, sold about 19.4 acres of the old homestead to the town as the site of the new Billerica Memorial High School.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the Danforth house and garrison, with photograph
- Find a Grave: Capt. Jonathan Danforth (1628-1712)
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| December 15, 1714 | Deed | Samuel Danforth, Thomas Danforth, Mary Parker, Simeon and Elizabeth Hayward, Edward and Lydia Wright, Oliver and Anna Whiting, William and Sarah French | Oliver Whiting Jr. | Danforth heirs sell the homestead after his death | 17/100 (South) |
The children of Jonathan Danforth sell for 230 pounds "one messuage or tenement ... containing about sixty acres ... being the Homestead or house Lot which belonged to our Honored Father Danforth late of said Billerica deceased," bounded east by the Country Road, north by John Baldwin, west by Concord River (excepting a bridle highway by the river), south by Enoch Kidder and partly by the highway from the Country Road to Enoch Kidder's well, with all the buildings; also 4 acres of meadow on the Shawshin River below Alewife Brook. Signed Nov. 29, 1714; recorded Dec. 15, 1714. Billerica town book 1, pages 561-564.
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| 1714 | Mortgage | Oliver Whiting Jr. | Andrew Belcher, Addington Davenport, Thomas Hutchinson, John White and Edward Hutchinson, Trustees of the Province | Whiting mortgages the homestead | 17/102 (South) |
Mortgage dated Dec. 10, 1714 securing 100 pounds in Province bills of credit (the 1714 public loan), on the same 60 acre tract bounded east by the Country Road, north by John Baldwin, west by Concord River and south by Enoch Kidder and the highway to Kidder's well, "together with all ye Edifices, buildings." Billerica town book 1, page 565.
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| July 14, 1724 | Quitclaim | Thomas, Jonathan, Samuel Jr., Jacob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Nicholas and John Danforth, and Thomas and Rebecca Parker | Oliver Whiting Jr. | Danforth grandchildren release the homestead | 24/47 (South) |
Grandchildren of Jonathan Danforth release for 29 pounds 10 shillings their interest in "the Homestead or House Lott which belonged to our Honoured Grandfather Danforth of said Billerica deceased," about 60 acres "according to the butts and bounds of the same in Billerica Town Book of Records," plus about 5 acres of meadow on the Shawshin River. Signed Nov. 22, 1715; acknowledged 1716 to 1724; recorded July 14, 1724. Billerica town book 2, pages 513-515.
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| April 10, 1773 | Deed | Jonathan Whiting | Benjamin Lewis | 24 acre house lot, Whiting to Lewis | 74/273 (South) |
Messuage and 24 acres for 253 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence, bounded easterly by Oliver Abbott 52 poles to William Baldwin; northerly by Baldwin 75 3/4 poles to John Parker; westerly by Parker 61 1/2 poles to Capt. Enoch Kidder; southerly by Kidder 52 poles to a town gate, then 13 poles by the highway to the first bound; excepting a bridle way two rods wide. Jonathan Whiting (b. 1723) was the son of Oliver Whiting Jr.; no deed to him was found, so he probably inherited it. Signed March 24, 1760; recorded April 10, 1773. Billerica town book 6, pages 532-534.
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| September 24, 1784 | Deed | Benjamin Lewis | Elijah Danforth | 24 acre house lot, Lewis to Elijah Danforth | 81/440 (South) |
Messuage and 24 acres "near the Center of the Town" for 266 pounds 13 shillings 4 pence, with the same bounds as the 1760 deed (Oliver Abbott, William Baldwin's heirs, John Parker, Capt. Enoch Kidder, town gate and highway), excepting the bridle way. Elijah Danforth, a blacksmith and a descendant of Jonathan Danforth, brought the old homestead back into the family. Signed Aug. 28, 1764 with Elizabeth Lewis; recorded Sept. 24, 1784. Billerica town book 7, pages 312-314.
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| September 4, 1784 | Deed | Elijah Danforth | William Bowers | 24 acre house lot, Danforth to Bowers | 85/528 (South) |
24 acres with the buildings for 328 pounds: beginning at the southeasterly angle by the highway near the pound at Oliver Abbot's land, northerly by Abbot 52 poles to the heirs of William Baldwin, westerly by Baldwin 75 3/4 poles to John Parker, southerly by Parker 61 1/2 poles to "the road or way leading from the meeting house over the middle bridge," easterly by that way about 63 poles to the first bound. Signed March 4, 1784 with his wife Elizabeth; recorded Sept. 4, 1784. Hazen lists William Bowers at the "Old Danforth place, on West St." His daughters Priscilla, Mary (Molly) and Fanny later left it to the First Baptist Church and the town, who sold it to Martin Lane in 1871. Billerica town book 7, pages 414-416.
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| September 11, 1880 | Quitclaim | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica | Martin Lane | Martin Lane buys the Bowers (old Danforth) place, 2/3 share | 141/370 |
Two undivided third parts of about 24 acres with a dwelling house and barn, for $1,933.33. Bounded beginning at the southeasterly corner at the wall on the highway leading to Middle Bridge at land of Josiah Richardson; northerly by Richardson, the heirs of Joel Richardson, and land of Dudley Foster and Mrs. Parker to land of the heirs of Joshua Bennett; westerly by Bennett about 75 3/4 poles to land of Phebe Hutchins; southerly by Hutchins to the highway about 81 1/2 poles; easterly by the highway to the first bound about 83 poles. Part of the real estate devised to the town by Molly (Mary) Bowers and Fanny Bowers, daughters of Dr. William Bowers. Signed May 25, 1871 by Dudley Foster, Israel A. Colson and David L. Mason, a committee authorized by town meeting vote of May 2, 1871; recorded Sept 11, 1880.
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| September 11, 1880 | Quitclaim | Members of the First Baptist Church and Society of Billerica | Martin Lane | Martin Lane buys the Bowers (old Danforth) place, 1/3 share | 141/371 |
The remaining undivided third part of the same 24 acres with dwelling house and barn on the highway leading to Middle Bridge, same bounds as Book 141 Page 370, for $966.67. Part of the real estate devised to the church by Priscilla Bowers (1781-1869), daughter of Dr. William Bowers. Signed May 25, 1871 by Edward Spaulding and George C. Gilman, a committee authorized at a meeting of the church and society May 1, 1871; recorded Sept 11, 1880.
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| December 31, 1945 | Quitclaim | Mary E. Lane | Martin Lane Kennelly Jr. and Charles Nuttall Kennelly | Lane Homestead passes to the Kennellys | 1035/298 |
Four parcels in Billerica to the two Kennellys as tenants in common. The third is "the Lane Homestead," 24 acres with the dwelling house and barn, "on the highway leading to Middle Bridge (now known as River Street)," described with the same bounds as the 1871 deeds to Martin Lane (Book 141 Pages 370-371), except parcels Martin Lane had sold to Catherine Kennelly in 1885 (Book 175 Page 257) and to Mary N. Casey in 1886 (Book 186 Page 596) and 1889 (Book 205 Page 544). Mary E. Lane's title came from four 1917 deeds from the Lane heirs (Book 576 Pages 248, 249, 383, 385). Consideration under $100.
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| October 30, 1953 | Quitclaim | Martin Lane Kennelly Jr. and Charles Nuttall Kennelly | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica | Former Danforth/Bowers/Lane land sold to the town for the high school | 1239/72 |
About 19.4 acres on the northerly side of River Street, Lots A and C on "Plan of Land for Proposed High School in Billerica, Mass.," Jan. 28, 1953, by Albert A. Miller and Wilbur C. Nylander. Abutters: Kennelly (east), Finnigan, Carr, Pollard, Daniels, Drucker, the Town of Billerica, Cochrane, Sandberg and Landau. "Being a portion of the third lot" (the Lane Homestead) in the 1945 deed from Mary E. Lane, Book 1035 Page 298. Bought under Article 34 of the March 21, 1953 town meeting, which fixed the new high school site off River Street and appropriated $19,000; Lot B came from Andrew Finnegan by exchange under Article 35. Signed Oct. 22, 1953; recorded Oct. 30, 1953.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.