Jonas Merriam House
Jonas Merriam House
| Address | 16 Wyman Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.200 |
| Built | 1837 |
| Owners | Jonas Merriam (1837 - 1861) |
The Jonas Merriam House stands well back from Wyman Road, near its junction with Boston Road in south Billerica. The land was a corner of the Crosby family's homestead farm south of the meeting house. Oliver Crosby died there in 1747, leaving "the Homestead about Twenty acres and the Buildings thereon", and in 1765 his daughter Rebecca released her share to her brothers Oliver and Josiah. The will of Josiah Crosby, yeoman (proved 1819), left half his real estate to his widow Sarah, and in the 1822 partition she received the homestead farm of 53 acres, including "one other lot of land opposite the dwelling house bounded westerly on a road leading to Joseph Blanchards northerly on the Boston road". After Sarah Crosby died in 1823 her nephews and nieces sold the farm in 1824 to Michael Crosby Jr.
On May 1, 1837 Michael Crosby sold that lot, with the rest of the old Crosby homestead, the Waters land, the Guggin lot, the School House lot (see Little Red Schoolhouse) and the Ross land, to Jonas Merriam Jr., a Boston trader, for $5,700. No building is mentioned on the lot across from the Crosby house. Merriam built quickly: in August 1838 Dr. Thaddeus Brown and his wife Susan sold him the small "Rebecca Sampson Place" at the corner, bounded "by the road leading from said Merriam's to Billerica Meeting house". The house therefore dates from 1837-1838, slightly later than the c. 1835 suggested by the 1974 MACRIS survey. Merriam enlarged the farm with "the Rocky Pasture" from Sereno Fisk in 1842 and straightened his line with William F. Burrows in 1854, ending up with thirty-two acres between Wyman Road (then "the road to the turnpike" or "the road leading to West Cambridge") and the Boston and Lowell road. The 1853 map shows "J. Merriam" here.
In 1860 Merriam mortgaged the farm to Otis Norcross for $3,000. In October 1861 he deeded it to Charles F. Eaton, who two weeks later deeded it to Mary Jane Merriam, Jonas's wife, "for her sole and separate use". So when Jonas Merriam, described as a grocer, died on February 23, 1866, the homestead was not part of his estate. His widow sold "all my homestead estate" in September 1867 to William Whiting for $7,000.
Whiting sold the farm in 1873 to Clara A. Jones and Melville A. Johnson. Clara's husband, the Rev. George G. Jones, is the "Rev. G. G. Jones" of the 1875 map. In 1875 they sold to Edward A. Johnson, who sold in 1876 to Ebenezer Bowman (the "E. Bowman" of the 1889 map). Bowman deeded the farm to John A. Bowman of Sharon in 1887, but John's firm, Seavey, Foster & Bowman, went insolvent, and his assignees gave it back to Ebenezer in 1891. After Ebenezer's death his four sons sold the thirty-two acres in July 1902 to Edwin A. Start of Medford, who transferred them at once to Philena C. Start.
In 1910 Philena Start, by then a widow living in Billerica, sold the farm to Harry Dunlap of Lowell (the Dunlap family MACRIS mentions). It passed under his will to his widow, Flora E. Dunlap, whose executors sold it in December 1934 for $17,000 to Charles T. Kellough, who passed it the same day to the Brothers of Charity, Inc., a Catholic religious order. The sale was confirmed in February 1935. In October 1950 the Brothers, then based at West Newbury, sold the property to Marion E. Finnegan, who ran a nursing home here. A second house was moved up from Boston Road and attached to the back of the ell at about this time, which explains the long, rambling building and the assessor's date of 1880.
Mrs. Finnegan died in March 1965. Her estate described the property as 32 acres "improved by a twenty-eight room wood structure which has been formerly used as a nursing home", and her executor sold it that October to private owners. They divided the land, selling off house lots on Wyman Road (Plan Book 106, Plans 23B and 108B). The house kept Lot A, 8.56 acres, and is still privately owned.
References
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1747 | Administration | Estate of Oliver Crosby of Billerica, intestate | His widow Rebecca Crosby, administratrix, for his children | Oliver Crosby estate, the Crosby homestead, 1747 | Probate #5360 |
Administration granted March 30, 1747 to the widow Rebecca Crosby (bond with Thomas Kidder and Jeremiah Abbot). The inventory of April 15, 1747 values "the Homestead about Twenty acres and the Buildings thereon standing & lying in Billerica" at 620 pounds old tenor, with "the piece" of about seven acres, "Webs lot" of about six acres and four acres west of Gookins, "bounded as the same may appear by Deeds from Nathan Crosby to ye said Oliver Crosby". This Crosby homestead south of the meeting house passed to his sons Oliver and Josiah and is the earliest record found of the farm whose lot across the road became the Merriam house lot.
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| April 12, 1771 | Release | Rebecca Crosby of Billerica, spinster, daughter of Oliver Crosby | Her brothers Oliver Crosby and Josiah Crosby, of Billerica, husbandmen | Crosby heirs release to Oliver and Josiah Crosby, 1765 | 71/352 (South) |
Dated February 11, 1765, acknowledged 1770, recorded 1771 (Billerica town book 6, pages 453-454), for 80 pounds: "all my Right title or Interest that I have ... in my honoured father Oliver Crosby late of Billerica Decd Estate said Estate lying in Billerica to the south of the meeting house". The two brothers thus held their father's homestead; Josiah Crosby's 1815 will and the 1822 partition of his estate describe the same farm with the lot "opposite the dwelling house".
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1819 | Will | Estate of Josiah Crosby of Billerica, yeoman | His widow Sarah Crosby (half the real estate) and his brother's children Oliver, Michael and Josiah Crosby and Elizabeth Wheeler | Josiah Crosby, owner of the homestead farm, d. 1819 | Probate #5352 |
Will dated November 29, 1815, proved 1819: half of all his real estate to his wife Sarah; legacies, including $300 to "the south school ward so called" for school books and $1,000 to the town for a minister's fund; the residue to the children of his brother, Oliver, Michael and Josiah Crosby and Elizabeth Wheeler; executors Josiah Crosby Esq. and William Richardson (who declined). His homestead farm, with the lot across the road from the house that later became the Merriam homestead, was divided under this will in 1822.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1822 | Partition | Estate of Josiah Crosby of Billerica, yeoman (Court of Common Pleas, on the petition of his widow Sarah) | Sarah Crosby, widow (the homestead farm in severalty); the other half to Michael, Josiah and Oliver Crosby and John and Elizabeth Wheeler | homestead farm set off to the widow Sarah Crosby, 1822 | 239/371 (South) |
Billerica town book 12, pages 246-249. Sarah Crosby, devisee of "one half of all his real Estate", sought partition; a committee of William Richardson, Francis Richardson and Josiah Rogers Jun. (sworn March 11, 1822) set off to her, March 15, 1822, the homestead farm of 53 acres with the buildings, made up of lots by the road from Maj. O. Crosby's to Capt. Jere. Crosby's, a lot "opposite the dwelling house" bounded west on the road to Joseph Blanchard's and north on the Boston road, and a lot by the road to Jere. Crosby's. The lot opposite the house is the later Merriam house lot. Recorded 1822.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1823 | Administration | Estate of Sarah Crosby of Billerica, widow of Josiah Crosby (d. 1819) | Nathaniel Cumings of Townsend, administrator, for her heirs (nephews and nieces) | widow Sarah Crosby, owner of the Crosby homestead farm, d. 1823 | Probate #5367 |
Sarah Crosby, widow, "died intestate within two months last past, leaving no person nearer of kin than brother's and sister's children, who are her heirs at law"; Nathaniel Cumings of Townsend appointed administrator at Concord September 2, 1823 (bond $30,000 with John Cumings and Josiah Cumings 2d of Dunstable). The inventory (Samuel Whiting, Joseph Blanchard and Josiah Rogers) begins "The homestead estimated at 53 acres, with all the buildings thereon together with the crop on the same", $5,000: the farm set off to her in 1822 from her husband's estate, which included the lot across the road where the Merriam house was later built. Her heirs sold the homestead to Michael Crosby Jr. in 1824.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| April 22, 1824 | Quitclaim | Nathaniel Cumings of Townsend, Ephraim and Susannah Spaulding of Townsend, John Cumings and Josiah Cumings Jr. of Dunstable, Sarah Hill of Billerica and Jeremiah Dutton of Hillsborough, N.H. (heirs of Sarah Crosby) | Michael Crosby Jun. of Billerica, yeoman | the bare lot "opposite the dwelling house" to Michael Crosby Jr., 1824 | 253/441 (South) |
Dated March 30, 1824 (Billerica town book 13, pages 272-274), for $3,000: "a certain tract of land situate in Billerica ... containing about fifty acres ... with all the buildings thereon it being the homestead farm lately belonging to Josiah Crosby deceased": one parcel on the road from Maj. Oliver Crosby's to Dea. Jere Crosby's; "one other lot of land opposite the dwelling house bounded westerly on a road leading to Joseph Blanchards northerly on the Boston road easterly and southerly by land of O. Crosby"; and a lot on the road to Jere Crosby's by Joseph Blanchard. The lot "opposite the dwelling house", between the road to Joseph Blanchard's (Wyman Road) and the Boston road, is the land where Jonas Merriam later built his house.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1837 | Mortgage | Jonas Merriam Jr. of Boston, trader (wife releasing dower) | Michael Crosby of Billerica, yeoman | purchase-money mortgage to Michael Crosby, 1837 | 362/436 (South) |
Dated May 1, 1837 (Billerica town book 15, pages 365-366), for $1,000 due in fourteen years with yearly interest: the five parcels Merriam bought from Crosby the same day, "one tract of land with the buildings thereon containing about fifty acres being the homestead farm late of Josiah Crosby deceased" (Book 253, Page 441, less about ten acres sold to Sereno Fiske), the Waters lot, the Guggin lot, the School House lot and the Ross land. A purchase-money mortgage back to the seller; the index notes its discharge. Recorded May 1837.
Related:
|
|||||
| May 4, 1837 | Warranty Deed | Michael Crosby of Billerica, yeoman | Jonas Merriam Jr. of Boston, trader | Michael Crosby to Jonas Merriam Jr., the house lot, 1837 | 363/117 (South) |
For $5,700, five parcels: "the homested Farm so called, of the late Josiah Crosby of Billerica deceased containing about fifty acres" (from Book 253 Page 441, less ten acres sold to Sereno Fiske), the Waters land of 59 acres by the Old Wyman road, the "Guggin" lot of 8 acres 38 rods (Book 322 Page 142), the Ross land, and "the 'School House' lot so called containing eight acres & 38 rods more or less bounded Easterly by the road leading from my house to Jos. Blanchard's southerly by land of me the grantor called the 'Guggin' lot westerly by other land of me the Grantor and northerly by the same road so called being the same premises conveyed to me by Deed dated 2d May 1834" (Book 332 Page 384). Dated May 1, 1837, witness Ephraim Buttrick; recorded May 4, 1837. Billerica town book 15, pages 385-388. The School House lot and the Guggin lot together became the 32-acre "School House Lot and orchard" of the 1847 and later deeds.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| August 25, 1838 | Warranty Deed | Dr. Thaddeus Brown of Billerica, physician, and Susan Brown his wife in her right | Jonas Merriam Jun. of Billerica, yeoman | the Rebecca Sampson Place corner added, 1838 | 376/163 (South) |
Dated August 20, 1838 (Billerica town book 15, pages 526-527; Jonas Merriam's 1861 deed cites it as Book 376, Page 162), for $150: "a certain parcel of land containing one sixteenth of an acre more or less with a dwelling house thereon ... called the 'Rebecca Sampson Place'", bounded southerly by land of said Merriam, north-westerly and northerly "by the road leading from said Merriam's to Billerica Meeting house", and north-easterly by the Boston road, "reserving to Rebecca Sampson ... for and during the term of her natural life the privilege of using and improving the premises". The phrase "the road leading from said Merriam's" shows that Merriam was living on the lot by August 1838. This corner became part of his thirty-two-acre homestead.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| May 17, 1842 | Warranty Deed | Sereno Fisk of Billerica, gentleman (wife Elizabeth T. releasing dower) | Jonas Merriam Junior of Billerica, gentleman | the Rocky Pasture added, 1842 | 417/46 (South) |
Dated May 14, 1842 (Billerica town book 17, pages 312-313), for $250: "a certain piece of land called the Rockey Pasture situate in said Billerica containing five acres", from its north-west corner "at the Boston road and land of said Merriam", south-easterly by Merriam to Fisk's land, easterly by Fisk in a curve to Mrs. Sarah Richardson, north-easterly by her to the Boston road and back along it. Witnesses Marshall Preston and Isaac C. Sargent. One of the parcels later counted in the thirty-two-acre homestead.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| May 20, 1854 | Warranty Deed | William F. Burrows of Billerica, yeoman (wife Louisa releasing dower) | Jonas Merriam of Billerica, trader | boundary straightened with William F. Burrows, 1854 | 677/473 (South) |
Dated May 19, 1854 (Billerica town book 19, page 618), for $137: about two and three quarter acres bounded north-easterly and southerly on other land of Merriam and westerly on Burrows, the line running straight "from the South corner of said Meriam's bank wall to a point about eighteen feet easterly of an oak tree ... near the Southerly side of said Meriam's Thompson lot so called. This deed being for the purpose of straightening the line between said Meriam & myself." Witnesses included Mary E. Meriam. Merriam gave Burrows three quarters of an acre of the Thompson lot the same day (Book 677, Page 474).
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| May 20, 1854 | Warranty Deed | Jonas Merriam of Billerica, trader | William F. Burrows of Billerica, yeoman | exchange with Burrows, 1854 | 677/474 (South) |
Dated May 19, 1854 (Billerica town book 19, page 619), for $37: three quarters of an acre, "being the Southwesterly corner of Thompson lot so called", bounded north-westerly and southerly on Burrows and easterly on the rest of the Thompson lot, the other half of the exchange that straightened the line between the two farms.
Related:
|
|||||
| 1860 | Mortgage | Jonas Merriam of Billerica | Otis Norcross of Boston | Otis Norcross mortgage, 1860-1870 | 23/530 |
Dated May 1, 1860, for $3,000 in three years at six per cent: "the following described pieces or parcels of land, together with the buildings thereon standing situated in said Billerica", from "a point opposite the School House" easterly to the Boston and Lowell Road, northerly to where the road to the turnpike meets it and back by that road, thirty-two acres made up of the Crosby parcel (1837), the Brown corner (1838), the Rocky Pasture (1842) and the Thompson lot (1837 and 1854); buildings to be insured for $3,000. Extended by agreement with the widow in 1867 (Book 58, Page 409) and discharged by Norcross November 1, 1870 (recorded December 10, 1870, Book 76, Page 520).
Related:
|
|||||
| October 15, 1861 | Warranty Deed | Jonas Merriam of Boston | Charles F. Eaton of Boston | Merriam to Charles F. Eaton (conduit), 1861 | 29/269 |
Dated October 1, 1861, for $5,000: "the following described pieces or parcels of land together with the buildings thereon standing, situated in Billerica", the thirty-two acres "opposite the school house" between the road to the turnpike and the Boston and Lowell road, "being the premises conveyed to me in several deeds": Michael Crosby, May 1, 1837 (Book 363, Page 117), Thaddeus and Susan Brown, August 20, 1838 (Book 376, Page 162), "the Rocky pasture" from Sereno Fisk, May 14, 1842 (Book 417, Page 46), and "the Thompson lot, containing twelve and one half acres" from Crosby and from Wm. F. Burrows, May 19, 1854 (Book 677, Page 473); subject to the $3,000 Norcross mortgage. Eaton, later one of the appraisers of Merriam's estate, deeded the same land to Merriam's wife two weeks later.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| October 18, 1861 | Quitclaim | Charles F. Eaton of Boston (wife releasing dower) | Mary Jane Merriam, wife of Jonas Merriam of Boston, for her sole and separate use | Merriam homestead put in Mary Jane Merriam's name, 1861 | 29/281 |
Dated October 15, 1861, for $5,000: "the following described pieces or parcels of land, together with the buildings thereon standing situated in Billerica", beginning "at a point opposite the school house" and running easterly to the Boston & Lowell road, northerly by that road to where "the road to the turnpike" meets it, and southerly by that road back to the start, "containing thirty two acres more or less, and being the premises conveyed to me in a deed from Jonas Merriam of Boston bearing date the first day of October eighteen hundred and sixty one". The recital lists Jonas's own purchases: a parcel from Michael Crosby (1837), a parcel from Thaddeus and Susan Brown (1851), "the rocky pasture" of five acres (1842) and "the Thompson lot" of two and a half acres (Crosby and Wm. T. Burrows, 1851). Subject to a $3,000 mortgage to Otis Norcross. Eaton was a conduit: the deed put Merriam's homestead in his wife's name, "free from the interference and control of her husband".
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1866 | Administration | Estate of Jonas Merriam of Billerica, grocer, intestate | Thomas Mair of Boston, housewright, administrator; widow Mary Jane Merriam | Jonas Merriam dies 1866; the homestead was already his wife's | Probate #37616 |
Jonas Merriam "who last dwelt in Billerica" died February 23, 1866, leaving his widow Mary Jane and children Harriet B. Vinal (wife of George A. W. Vinal), Mary E. Merriam, Jonas A. Merriam and Helen L. Merriam of Billerica (the last two minors) and George Merriam of San Francisco. Thomas Mair was appointed March 27, 1866 (bond $18,000 with Charles F. Eaton of Salem and John S. Pear). The inventory lists real estate of $4,300 (a house in Boston and about 60 acres in Billerica, the Waters land) and personal estate of $930.72, including a pew in the Unitarian church at Billerica and a horse shed; it lists the furniture room by room and the barn and shed. The Billerica homestead is not in the estate: it had been in his wife's name since 1861. The widow was allowed all the personal estate, and the administrator sold her the Waters land in 1867.
Related:
|
|||||
| September 26, 1867 | Agreement | Otis Norcross, holder of the 1860 mortgage | Mary Jane Merriam of Billerica, "the holder of the equity of redemption" | mortgage extension with the widow, 1867 | 58/409 |
Dated July 1, 1867: the time for paying the $3,000 Norcross mortgage of May 1, 1860 (Book 23, Page 530) is extended three years at seven per cent, the widow agreeing to keep the premises "in good repair and insured against fire". Days later she sold the homestead to William Whiting subject to this mortgage.
Related:
|
|||||
| October 1, 1867 | Warranty Deed | Mary Jane Merriam of Billerica (widow of Jonas Merriam) | William Whiting of West Amesbury | widow Merriam sells the homestead to William Whiting, 1867 | 58/443 |
Dated September 27, 1867, for $7,000: "all those several lots of land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon", beginning "on the easterly side of the road leading to West Cambridge nearly opposite the School house" at the wall dividing it from land of one Weston, easterly 568 feet to a double wall, southerly about 841 feet to a single wall, south-easterly to land of one Marshall, by walls past land of one Pasho to "the Boston and Lowell road", northerly to a curve and back by the West Cambridge road, "containing thirty two acres, more or less. Meaning to convey hereby all my homestead estate". Title from Charles F. Eaton, October 15, 1861 (the deed says Book 24 Page 281; it is Book 29 Page 281). Also the 59-acre "Waters land", lately conveyed to her by Thomas Mair, administrator of the estate of Jonas Merriam, deceased. Subject to the $3,000 Otis Norcross mortgage, which Whiting assumed.
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| April 9, 1873 | Warranty Deed | William Whiting of Billerica (wife releasing dower) | Clara A. Jones, wife of George G. Jones, and Melville A. Johnson, both of Boston | Whiting to Clara A. Jones and Melville A. Johnson, 1873 | 92/298 |
Dated April 1, 1873, for $9,500: "all those several lots of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon", the same thirty-two acres on the road leading to West Cambridge and the Boston & Lowell road, and "the Waters land, containing 59 acres 108 rods" on the road from J. Blanchard's to the Middlesex Turnpike and the old Wyman road. "Being the same premises conveyed to me by Mary J. Merriam" by deed of September 27, 1867, Book 58, Page 445. The Joneses lived here: the 1875 map labels the house "Rev. G. G. Jones".
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| April 9, 1873 | Mortgage | Clara A. Jones, a married woman, and Melville A. Johnson, of Boston | William Whiting of Billerica | purchase-money mortgage to Whiting, 1873-1876 | 92/309 |
April 1873, for $6,500: "all those several lots of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres and the Waters land, a purchase-money mortgage back to the seller. Discharged by Whiting April 8, 1876 (recorded on the margin and at Book 117, Page 304) when the property was sold to Ebenezer Bowman.
Related:
|
|||||
| May 6, 1876 | Warranty Deed | Melville A. Johnson of Boston and Clara A. Jones, wife of George G. Jones (who joins), of Billerica | Edward A. Johnson of Boston | Jones and Johnson to Edward A. Johnson, 1875 | 117/320 |
Dated July 1, 1875 (acknowledged by the Joneses at Bennington, Vermont, and by Johnson before Dudley Foster November 18, 1875), first recorded November 23, 1875 in Book 113, Page 559 and recorded again May 6, 1876 here. For $9,500: "all those several lots of land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres and the 59 acres 108 rods "called the Waters land", "Being the same premises conveyed to us by William Whiting" (Book 92, Page 298), free of incumbrances "excepting a mortgage of Sixty five hundred dollars held by William Whiting of Andover".
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| May 4, 1876 | Warranty Deed | Edward A. Johnson of Boston (wife Sarah W. releasing dower) | Ebenezer Bowman of Boston | sold to Ebenezer Bowman, 1876 | 117/304 |
Dated April 8, 1876, for $9,500: "all those lots of land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres on the road to West Cambridge and the Boston & Lowell road, and the Waters land of 59 acres 108 rods, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by M. A. Johnson et al." by deed of July 1, 1875 (Book 113, Folio 559), free of incumbrances. On the same page William Whiting discharges the 1873 mortgage. Bowman's name is on the 1889 map.
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| July 26, 1887 | Warranty Deed | Ebenezer Bowman of Billerica (wife Lucretia A. releasing dower) | John A. Bowman of Sharon | Ebenezer Bowman to John A. Bowman, 1887 | 190/69 |
Dated July 21, 1887, for $400: "all those lots of land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres on "the road to West Cambridge" and the Boston and Lowell Road, and "the Waterlands" of 59 acres 108 rods, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by Edward A. Johnson" (Book 117, Folio 304), subject to "two mortgages and taxes". John A. Bowman, a partner in Seavey, Foster & Bowman, went insolvent and his assignees gave the land back in 1891.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| 1891 | Assignees Deed | Weston Lewis, George S. Bullens and Artemas W. Stearns, assignees in insolvency of John A. Bowman of Sharon | Ebenezer Bowman of Chelsea | insolvency assignees return the farm to Ebenezer Bowman, 1891 | 230/330 |
Dated November 27, 1891 (Middlesex Court of Insolvency case 2251, the firm of Seavey, Foster & Bowman): the assignees quitclaim "all those lots of land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres and the Waters land, "being the same premises conveyed to said John A. Bowman by deed of Ebenezer Bowman July 21st 1887" (Book 190, Page 69), "meaning ... to release ... all our right title and interest as assignees", subject to all incumbrances. Recorded January 1892.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| July 29, 1902 | Quitclaim | Clarence A., Henry H., John Elliott and Irving C. Bowman, sons and heirs of Ebenezer Bowman (wives and the widow Lucretia A. Bowman releasing) | Edwin A. Start of Medford | Bowman heirs to Edwin A. Start, 1902 | 346/313 |
Dated July 26, 1902, for $1 and other considerations: "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica", beginning on the easterly side of "the road leading to West Cambridge" at the wall by land "now or formerly of one Weston, now supposed to be of Buckley", easterly 568 feet, southerly about 841 feet, south-easterly to land "formerly of one Marshall, now supposed to be of Spaulding", by Pasho to the Boston and Lowell Road and back, "containing thirty-two (32) acres", part of the premises Ebenezer conveyed to John A. Bowman in 1887. Subject to a mortgage with $3,000 unpaid "held by the First Parish of Billerica" and a $1,000 second mortgage held by Lucretia A. Bowman, both covering other land too. "Lucretia A. Bowman, widow of Ebenezer Bowman" releases dower: Ebenezer had died by 1902.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| July 29, 1902 | Quitclaim | John A. Bowman of Sharon, having no wife | Edwin A. Start of Medford | John A. Bowman release to Start, 1902 | 346/314 |
Dated July 25, 1902: John A. Bowman releases to Start the same thirty-two acres "with the buildings thereon", reciting his 1887 deed from Ebenezer Bowman (Book 190, Page 69), the Middlesex Court of Insolvency case 2251 (Seavey, Foster & Bowman) and the assignees' reconveyance to Ebenezer of November 27, 1891 (Book 230, Page 330). A release to clear any claim left from his insolvency.
Related:
|
|||||
| July 29, 1902 | Quitclaim | Edwin A. Start of Medford, unmarried | Philena C. Start of Medford | Edwin A. Start to Philena C. Start, 1902 | 346/316 |
Dated July 26, 1902 and recorded with the two Bowman deeds: "all that parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica" conveyed to him by Clarence A. Bowman and others the same day, subject to the mortgages named there, which Philena C. Start assumed.
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| February 11, 1910 | Warranty Deed | Philena C. Start of Billerica, widow | Harry Dunlap of Lowell | sold to Harry Dunlap, 1910 | 445/299 |
Dated February 11, 1910, for $1 and other considerations: "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica", the thirty-two acres between the West Cambridge road and the Boston and Lowell Road (Weston now Moulton; Marshall now Pasho), "being the same premises to me conveyed by Edwin A. Start by his deed dated July 26, 1902" (Book 346, Page 316), subject to a $3,000 mortgage "held by the First Parish of Billerica" which Dunlap assumed. MACRIS says a Dunlap family from Lowell lived here after the turn of the century.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| December 28, 1934 | Executors' Deed | Edward B. Carney of Lowell and Harry Dunlap Brown of Billerica, executors of the will of Flora E. Dunlap | Charles T. Kellough of Boston | Dunlap executors sell, 1934 | 856/321 |
Dated December 28, 1934, for $1 and other considerations: "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica", the thirty-two acres (Weston now Moulton; "land formerly of one Marshall, now supposed to be of Pasho"; the Boston and Lowell Road), "being the same premises conveyed by Philena C. Start to Harry Dunlap" (Book 445, Page 299). "The title of said Flora E. Dunlap to said premises is derived under the will of said Harry Dunlap, late of said Billerica, deceased testate." Kellough mortgaged the land back to the executors for $17,000 and conveyed it the same day to the Brothers of Charity.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| December 28, 1934 | Mortgage | Charles T. Kellough of Boston, unmarried | Edward B. Carney and Harry Dunlap Brown, executors of Flora E. Dunlap | purchase mortgage to the Dunlap executors, 1934-1935 | 856/322 |
Dated December 28, 1934: $17,000 on demand without interest, on the same thirty-two acres "with the buildings thereon", conveyed to Kellough by the executors "by deed of even date". Discharged February 1, 1935 (Book 858, Page 472) when the sale was confirmed.
Related:
|
|||||
| December 28, 1934 | Quitclaim | Charles T. Kellough of Boston, unmarried | Brothers of Charity, Inc., a religious corporation with a usual place of business in Boston | to the Brothers of Charity, 1934 | 856/323 |
Dated December 28, 1934: "the land with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica", the thirty-two acres, "being the same premises to me conveyed by Edward B. Carney and Harry Dunlap Brown, Executors of the will of Flora E. Dunlap, of even date", subject to the 1934 taxes and the $17,000 mortgage to the executors. Kellough acted as a go-between; this is the religious order MACRIS says owned the house around 1940.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| February 1, 1935 | Executors' Deed | Edward B. Carney and Harry Dunlap Brown, executors of the will of Flora E. Dunlap | Charles T. Kellough of Boston | confirmatory executors deed, 1935 | 858/472 |
Dated February 1, 1935, "by the power conferred by license of the Probate Court for said County, dated January 11, 1935", for $17,000 paid: the same land with the buildings, "given in confirmation of a prior deed ... dated December 28, 1934", reciting that Flora E. Dunlap's title came "under the will of her late husband said Harry Dunlap". The executors discharged Kellough's mortgage on the same page.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| February 1, 1935 | Quitclaim | Charles T. Kellough of Boston, unmarried | Brothers of Charity, Inc., of Boston | confirmatory deed to the Brothers of Charity, 1935 | 858/473 |
Dated February 1, 1935: "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon", the thirty-two acres, conveyed "in confirmation of a prior deed of said premises given by said Charles T. Kellough to said Brothers of Charity, Inc., dated December 28, 1934".
Title from:
Related:
|
|||||
| 1950 | Quitclaim | Brothers of Charity, Inc., of West Newbury, by Francis Courtney (Brother Alman), treasurer | Marion E. Finnegan of Billerica | Brothers of Charity to Marion E. Finnegan, 1950 | 1154/12 |
Dated October 11, 1950, for consideration paid: "the land with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica", beginning on the easterly side of the road leading to West Cambridge at the wall by land "formerly of one Weston, now supposed to be of one Moulton", the same thirty-two acres reaching "the Boston and Lowell Road", "being the same premises conveyed to Brothers of Charity, Inc. by Charles T. Kellough" December 28, 1934 (Book 856, Page 323), with the confirmatory deed of February 1, 1935 (Book 858, Page 473). Mrs. Finnegan (also spelled Finnigan) turned the house into a nursing home. Recorded October 1950.
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| October 29, 1965 | Executor's Deed | William H. Sullivan, executor of the will of Marion E. Finnegan (also Finnigan), late of Billerica | A private couple of Billerica | Finnegan estate sells; later private owners | 1723/381 |
Dated October 29, 1965, under a license of the Middlesex Probate Court of September 30, 1965 (case 398014), for $80,000: "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon", beginning on "the Easterly side of the road leading to West Cambridge, now called Wyman Road", the same 32 acres reaching the Boston Road, "being the same premises described in deed from the Brothers of Charity, Inc. dated October 11, 1950" (Book 1154, Page 12), "Excepting 22,709 square foot lot of land conveyed to A. A. Allard" (Book 1164, Page 222). The estate tax release recorded with it says Mrs. Finnegan died March 30, 1965 and that the land "is improved by a twenty-eight room wood structure which has been formerly used as a nursing home". The buyers had the land surveyed in October 1965 and divided it: Lots B and C (Plan Book 106, Plan 108B) and Lot 2A (Plan Book 106, Plan 23B) were sold off, and the house stands on Lot A, 8.56 acres. Lot A was sold within the family in 1985 (Book 3187, Page 167, $115,000) and again in 1989 (Book 4875, Page 36), and is still privately owned.
Title from:
|
|||||
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.