Joseph Stearns
Joseph Stearns (1796 to about 1883) was a farmer who lived for nearly sixty years in the house he and his brother built on the Lowell road in North Billerica, the Joseph Stearns House, which stood at 179 Boston Road in the corner where Treble Cove Road leaves it. He was born in July 1796, according to his gravestone in the North Cemetery, a son of Joseph Stearns and Zilpah Crosby, and the deeds call him Joseph Stearns Jr. until the 1830s. On December 29, 1831 he married Harriet Stearns, whom Hazen calls a daughter of Elijah Stearns; she was born in August 1801. They had no children.
In January 1823 he, then a laborer, and his brother Royal Stearns, a bricklayer, paid $300 to their cousin Nathaniel Stearns and to Nathan Mears for eighteen acres west of the Concord River, beginning "at the end of a Ditch by Mock Meadow Cause way so called" and running north by "Mock meadow Road" 102 rods to the old road. By 1825 a "Dwelling house and barn thereon standing, both nearly new" stood on the land. Royal died that spring, and at the administrator's auction on November 28, 1825 Joseph bought his brother's half for $400, the widow Esther releasing her dower to him for $100. He added an eighty-pole notch of Josiah B. French's land by the causeway in 1833 and two acres of Mock meadow from his cousin Nathaniel's estate in 1846, and he also owned land on the Rangeway road in the northwest part of the town.
He lent money on mortgage to his neighbors; Lott Easty and his wife Mary mortgaged their house to him for $1,500 in 1866 and paid it off early the next year. Hazen wrote in 1883 that he "now lives on the Lowell road; no children." He died not long afterward, and under a license of September 11, 1883 his executor, Dudley Foster, sold "The Homestead of the late said Joseph Stearns", twenty-six acres "with a dwelling house barn & other buildings thereon", with a six-acre lot on the Lowell road, at auction on October 8, 1883 to Daniel Callahan for $3,600. His executor paid the overseers of the poor $500 under the will for the support of Harvey Stearns, and a Joseph Stearns Fund of $2,000 appears among the town's trust funds from 1887, first lent to the town toward a new schoolhouse and later held with the Bowers Fund for the care of the worthy poor.
References
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 30, 1823 | Deed | Nathan Mears of Billerica, innholder, and Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer; Lucy Mears and Sarah Stearns releasing dower | Royal Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer, and Joseph Stearns Jr. of Billerica, laborer | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
247/524 (South) |
For $300, "a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica west of Concord River containing eighteen acres more or less", beginning "at the northeasterly corner at the end of a Ditch by Mock Meadow Cause way so called", northerly by "Mock meadow Road" 102 rods "to the old road", southwesterly by the old road to land formerly of Levi Sprake, then by Levi's land and land formerly of Henry Newman to the corner first mentioned, "being the same conveyed to us by Isaac Sprake by his deed bearing date the 15th day of April 1817." No buildings are named. Signed January 28, 1823. Billerica town book 13, pages 207-208.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
||||||
| 1825 | Administration | Estate of Royal Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer | David Reed Jr. of Bedford, administrator; widow Esther Stearns; one minor child | Bought the half of the farm of his brother Royal at the administrator's auction | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
Probate #21322 |
Royal Stearns died intestate in 1825, leaving "a widow & one child only who is a minor"; his widow Esther declined and David Reed Jr. of Bedford, cooper, was appointed administrator September 6, 1825. Debts of $190.67 (among them $36 to Joseph Stearns Jr.) against personal estate of $133.71 and real estate of $400. Under a license of the Supreme Judicial Court the administrator advertised "one undivided half of about eighteen acres of land, Dwelling house and barn thereon standing, both nearly new, situated in Billerica west of Concord River, on the great stage road & within one hundred rods of the Canal Mills", and on November 28, 1825 sold it at auction "to Joseph Stearns Junr. for the sum of Four Hundred Dollars."
Related:
|
||||||
| March 7, 1827 | Administrator's Deed | David Reed Jr. of Bedford, yeoman, administrator of the estate of Royal Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer | Joseph Stearns Jr. of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
272/413 (South) |
Under a license of the Supreme Judicial Court at Cambridge (October term, 1825), sold at public vendue on the premises on November 28, 1825 for $400, "he being the highest bidder", "one undivided half of a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica west of Concord River, with one undivided half of the buildings standing thereon, containing eighteen acres", from the end of a ditch by "Mock Meadow cause way", northerly by the road to land of Josiah B. French (around a notch of French's land 8 by 10 rods), "northerly by said road till you come to an old road leading to Benjamin Frost's", southerly by the old road to land formerly of Levi Sprake and by Henry Newman's land to the beginning. Signed November 28, 1825. Billerica town book 13, pages 453-455.
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
||||||
| March 7, 1827 | Release of Dower | Esther Stearns of Billerica, widow | Joseph Stearns Jr. of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
272/415 (South) |
For $100, quitclaim of "all my right title & interest & rights of dower in & to a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica west of Concord River containing eighteen acres", with the same bounds as the administrator's deed of the same day. Signed November 28, 1825, witnessed by David Reed Jr. and Marshall Preston. Billerica town book 13, pages 455-456.
Related:
|
||||||
| November 12, 1833 | Quitclaim | Josiah B. French of Billerica; Mary Ann French his wife releasing dower | Joseph Stearns Jr. of Billerica | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
327/301 (South) |
Quitclaim of "a certain piece of land situate in said Billerica containing eighty poles", beginning "at Mock meadow causeway by a ditch", westerly 8 rods on the ditch, northerly 10 rods, easterly 8 rods, southerly 10 rods by the causeway; "said land is bounded on all sides by land of said Stearns except the said causeway." Signed May 21, 1833. Billerica town book 16, page 296. This is the French notch named in the 1825 bounds.
Title passed to:
|
||||||
| 1846 | Executor's Deed | Marshall Preston of Billerica, executor of the will of Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica | Joseph Stearns of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
486/340 (South) |
Under the power of sale in the will, for $30, "the following tract of meadow land situate in said Billerica in Mock meadow so called containing two acres and three rods more or less", bounded easterly and northerly by land of Joseph Stearns, southerly by William Pollard and westerly by the deceased's land, "being the same conveyed to said deceased by Amasa Holden by deed dated October 2nd 1845". Billerica town book 18, pages 167-168. Probably part of the 26 acres of 1883.
Title passed to:
|
||||||
| November 1, 1866 | Mortgage | Lott Easty of Billerica and Mary F. Easty his wife, in her own right | Joseph Stearns of Billerica | Details | Isaiah Bussey House Small House |
52/304 |
For $1,500, mortgage of "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situate in North Billerica": from the westerly corner at the road from the Canal Mills to I. A. Colson's at land of Gardner Parker, south by Parker's land 10 rods to a wall, east by the wall and Parker's land about 57 feet to land of C. P. Talbot & Co., north by Talbot's land and land of I. N. Wilson to the road, and west by the road 4 rods 11 feet, "Being premises conveyed to said Mary F. Easty by W. S. Bates deed dated Dec. 28th 1865 ... Book 46 Page 211". Recorded November 1, 1866 (index date). Discharged in the margin by Joseph Stearns, January 9, 1867.
Related:
|
||||||
| October 31, 1883 | Executor's Deed | Dudley Foster of Billerica, executor of the will of Joseph Stearns of Billerica | Daniel Calaghan (Callahan) of Billerica | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
163/345 |
Under a Probate Court license of September 11, 1883, sold at public auction on October 8 to Daniel Calaghan, the highest bidder, for $3,600: "The Homestead of the late said Joseph Stearns situate in said Billerica containing twenty six acres more or less with a dwelling house barn & other buildings thereon", beginning at the southeasterly corner at land of Dudley Foster by "Mock Meadow causeway so called", northerly by Mock Meadow road to the old road (indexed as the old road "to Shore's Place"), southwesterly by the old road to land of Coburn S. Smith, then by Smith, John Daly (reading uncertain) and Foster to the beginning; also a 6-acre lot on "the Great road leading from Billerica to Lowell" by the Hutchins place and Foster. Signed October 30, 1883.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
||||||
| October 31, 1883 | Mortgage | Daniel Calaghan (Callahan) of Billerica | Dudley Foster of Billerica | Details | Joseph Stearns House | 163/352 |
For "fifteen hundred dollars" paid by Dudley Foster, mortgage of "the Homestead of the late Joseph Stearns situate in said Billerica containing twenty six acres more or less with a dwelling house barn & other buildings thereon", from the southeasterly corner at land of Dudley Foster by "Mock meadow causeway so called", northerly by Mock meadow road "to the old road leading to the Shores place", southwesterly by the old road to land of Coburn S. Smith, then by Smith, John Daly (reading uncertain) and Foster; also the 6-acre lot on "the Great road leading from Billerica to Lowell" at Jacob K. Hutchins's land; "Being the same premises conveyed to me by Dudley Foster executor of the will of the late Joseph Stearns". Given back on the day of the sale to secure part of the $3,600 price; recorded October 31, 1883. Margin: "Lowell April 1, 1886. Having received full payment and satisfaction for this mortgage I hereby cancel and discharge the same. Dudley Foster."
Related:
|
||||||
Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.