Christopher Osgood
Christopher Osgood
| Born | 1712-07-21 Billerica, MA |
| Died | 1748-08-26 Billerica, MA |
| Father | Christopher Osgood |
| Mother | Mary Keyes |
| Spouses |
Sarah Abbot |
Christopher Osgood (1712 to 1748) was a miller and millwright at the falls of the Concord River in North Billerica, the eldest son of Capt. Christopher Osgood, who had built the mills there under the town grant of 1708, and of Mary Keyes. He was born in Billerica on July 21, 1712. On January 1, 1735/6 he married Sarah Abbot. Their children were Sarah (1738), Mary (1740), Christopher (1743), Rebeckah (1746) and John (1748); Rebeckah and John both died in October 1749.
On November 4, 1734, as Christopher Osgood Jr., he bought from John Blanchard for 170 pounds a house lot of about thirty-eight acres west of the river, between Capt. Samuel Hill's land and the road to Chelmsford and bounded east by "the highway to Capt. Osgood's mill", with thirteen and a half acres that had been Samuel Danforth's and the buildings on it: the farm of the John Wallis House. He added land of Samuel Danforth and Andrew Farmer, and on May 19, 1742, with his wife Sarah releasing dower, sold it for 750 pounds old tenor to Nicholas Sprake Jr., clothier: among several tracts near the mills, sixty-nine acres "near the fordway over Concord River" "with a house and barn thereon standing".
When his father died in 1739 he and his stepmother Elizabeth administered the estate, and the probate committee gave him two thirds of the grist mill, saw mill and fulling mill and of the mill farm. On July 29, 1745 he bought from Thomas Rogers five acres of swamp and upland "on the northeastwardly side of Concord River over against said Osgood's Mills", with a quarter of Rogers's saw mill, and on April 21, 1747 he sold four acres of it and a strip on the river to Joseph Ruggles, a clothworker, with the right to draw water from "the said Christopher Osgood's mill pond" for a fulling mill whenever the water ran over his dam. Ruggles was to build "no other mill there but a fulling mill", with "but one good wheel and stocks". That sale began the east-bank privilege that later became the Faulkner Mills.
He made his will on August 25, 1748, leaving his personal estate to his wife and directing "that all my Real Estate be Sold by my Executors unto the best advantage", and "that the timber at the mill be sawed" toward his debts. He died the next day, August 26, 1748, in his thirty-seventh year. His executors, William Stickney and Thomas Kidder, sold about forty acres on the west side of the river and "two thirds of the Mills commonly known by the name of Osgoods mills" to Nicholas Sprake on January 25, 1748/9 for 1,500 pounds in bills of credit.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 101, OSGOOD 2
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 279: his 1747 sale to Joseph Ruggles of the fulling-mill right and the 1748/9 sale of the mill privilege by his executor
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| 1734 | Deed | John Blanchard of Billerica; Mary Blanchard his wife releasing dower | Christopher Osgood Jr. of Billerica | Details | John Wallis House Joseph Stearns House |
36/617 (South) |
For 170 pounds, "one messuage or house lot of land" of about 38 acres on the west side of Concord River (north Capt. Samuel Hill, west Thomas Ross, south Capt. John Stearns and the road to Chelmsford, east the highway to Capt. Osgood's mill and Samuel Danforth) and 13 1/2 acres "purchased of Samuel Danforth", "together with all the buildings, fences and trees thereon". Dated Nov. 4, 1734. Billerica town book 4, pages 1-2.
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| 1740 | Administration and Division | Estate of Capt. Christopher Osgood of Billerica, intestate | His widow Elizabeth Osgood (thirds) and his eldest son Christopher Osgood, millwright, administrators | Details | The Canal Block John McCurdy House North Billerica Baptist Church |
Probate #16264 |
Administration granted October 26, 1739 to the widow Elizabeth and the eldest son Christopher. The committee's inventory of the real estate, April 17, 1740, values "one Gritt mill and mill pond with the River or Stream Called Concord River with the Dam & Sluces" at 800 pounds, a saw mill, half the iron works, a fulling mill, the dwelling house and barn, and "the Hom Sted Containing by Estimation forty one acres Bounded Southerly one Common land and westerly one the Road to Brod meadow and notherly by the way and mill yard to the River", in all 1,865 pounds. The widow's thirds were set off by metes and bounds, including a third of the grist, saw and fulling mills; the committee found that dividing the other two thirds "will discommode or spoile the whole", and they went to the eldest son Christopher. These are the two thirds of the farm and of "Osgoods Mills" sold in the 1749 to 1759 deeds. The land had come to Capt. Osgood by the town's grant of October 4, 1708 of the falls of Concord River for a mill.
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| 1742 | Deed | Christopher Osgood of Billerica; Sarah Osgood his wife releasing dower | Nicholas Sprake Jr. of Billerica, clothier | Details | John Wallis House Joseph Stearns House |
46/244 (South) |
For 750 pounds (old tenor), several tracts near Osgood's mills on the west side of Concord River, among them "the next tract of land is situate near the fordway over Concord River that leads from Chelmsford to Billerica Town on the west side of said river, sixty nine acres be it more or less with a house and barn thereon standing", bounded north by Deacon Samuel Hill, west by William Crosby, Samuel Barron and heirs of Capt. John Stearns, "south by Chelmsford road leading to the fordway and east by the highway leading to said Osgood's mill". Dated May 19, 1742; recorded 1745. Billerica town book 4, pages 540-542. Osgood had enlarged the Blanchard house lot with land of Samuel Danforth and Andrew Farmer.
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| 1745 | Deed | Thomas Rogers of Billerica, husbandman | Christopher Osgood of Billerica, miller | Details | Faulkner Mills | 44/717 (South) |
Billerica town book 4, pages 467-469. For 100 pounds old tenor, "a certain Tract of Swamp and upland ... lying on the northeastwardly side of Concord River over against said Osgood's Mills containing by estimation five acres", from the end of the lane along the highway "towards the Bridge" to "a great Rock with stones upon it", then to "a flat Rock" and "the mouth of the ditch wherein the water used to run from the Saw mill standing on the aforesaid Rogers land", along "the pond hole so called" to the river, and south by "Doctor Roger Toothacher"; with "one quarter part of a Sawmill standing on said Rogers's own land". Dated July 29, 1745. This is the east-bank land Hazen guessed Osgood "probably acquired by purchase": two years later Osgood sold the same rocks, ditch and frontage to Joseph Ruggles for the fulling mill.
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| September 26, 1748 | Deed | Christopher Osgood of Billerica, miller | Joseph Ruggles of Billerica, clothworker | Details | Faulkner Mills | 48/59 (South) |
Billerica town book 5, pages 201-204. For 100 pounds, "two certain peices or parcells of land": about 4 acres between the highway and the mill pond, bounded by "the lands of Doctor Toothaker" and the "mill pond and ditch", and about 10 rods on the river west of the highway between "a great rock", a flat rock and a white oak stump; with "a full privilege and liberty of drawing water out of the said Christopher Osgood's mill pond ... for the use employ and benefit of a fulling mill whenever the water runs over the said Christopher Osgood's Mill Dam", Osgood keeping up the dam and the sluice, and Ruggles "to build no other mill there but a fulling mill", with "but one good wheel and stocks", and to offer the property back to Osgood before any sale. Dated April 21, 1747. The beginning of the fulling-mill privilege on the east bank that became the Faulkner mill.
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| 1748 | Will | Christopher Osgood of Billerica, miller | His executors William Stickney and Thomas Kidder, to sell; widow Sarah Osgood | Details | The Canal Block John McCurdy House North Billerica Baptist Church |
Probate #16268 |
Will dated August 25, 1748. He leaves his personal estate to his wife Sarah and directs "that all my Real Estate be Sold by my Executors unto the best advantage", the proceeds to be divided among his children as the law directs in intestate estates, his wife having a third, and "that the timber at the mill be sawed" toward his debts. Executors William Stickney and Thomas Kidder of Billerica; witnesses Zachariah Shed, Nathaniel Davidson and Joseph Ruggles, the clothier to whom Osgood had sold land and water for a fulling mill in 1747.
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| June 1, 1752 | Executors' Deed | William Stickney, yeoman, and Thomas Kidder, gentleman, of Billerica, executors of Christopher Osgood (Sarah Osgood, widow, releasing dower) | Nicholas Sprake of Billerica, clothier | Details | The Canal Block John McCurdy House North Billerica Baptist Church |
50/578 (South) |
Billerica town book 5, pages 249-252. Dated January 25, 1748/9 under the power of sale in the will. For 1,500 pounds in bills of credit, "about forty acres of Land ... on the west side of Concord River ... Easterly on said River westerly on a high way it being about two Thirds of the land which was granted by the Town of Billerica unto Capt. Christopher Osgood", "two thirds of the Mills commonly known by the name of Osgoods mills" and two thirds of the dam and stream "together with the Buildings thereon", as set off by a committee and accepted by the Judge of Probate. Conditions: whatever the town's vote of October 4, 1708 "granting said Land and Stream to Christopher Osgood the Father of the Testator" required, "a proper Passage for Fish", and the agreement with Joseph Ruggles. Acknowledged 1750, recorded June 1, 1752.
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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.