Person
James Whittemore
James Whittemore
| North Billerica Postmaster | |
| In Office | 1866 - 1878 |
| Preceded by | James R. Faulkner |
| Succeeded by | Hiram C. Brown |
James Whittemore (about 1814 to about 1895) was the postmaster of North Billerica from 1866 to 1878. He lived in the house at the corner of Mt. Pleasant Street and what became Billerica Avenue, the James Whittemore House.
He was a son of James and Lydia Whittemore. On May 26, 1844 in Billerica, James Whittemore, 29, a laborer, married Mary C. Stevenson, 24, a dressmaker, daughter of Nathaniel Stevenson of Roxbury and Lydia (Abbot) Stevenson, both then dead. Their gravestone in the North Cemetery gives his birth year as 1814 and names her Mary E., born in August 1819.
On May 25, 1866 he was appointed postmaster of North Billerica, succeeding James R. Faulkner, and he held the office until Hiram C. Brown was appointed on March 25, 1878. On September 30, 1870 he paid James Scott of Lowell $2,000 for three lots on "the road leading from the R.R. Depot to Thomas Talbot's house", next to the land of C. P. Talbot & Co., with the house Scott had built there; the 1875 map shows it as "J. Whittemore". He was on the list of the town's voters in 1880.
By November 1877 he was a widower, "being unmarried", when he sold a strip on the east side of his land to his neighbor Amos Gray for $50, with a right of way. In 1890 the town paid him $25 in land damages for the new road across his land, Billerica Avenue, and in August 1891 he sold Gray the rear land for $200, "Reserving to myself the income from said land so long as I live". He died before January 1896, apparently without children: his heirs were five relatives in Amesbury, Mary V. Chase, Samuel D. Kendrick, Ella F. Kendrick, Lizzie Colby and Carrie Goodrich, and Ona Ackerman of Barnard, Missouri, who sold the house and its quarter acre for $2,025 to James Murphy of Lowell, acting for the Talbot Mills.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 308, Postmasters (North Billerica: James Whittemore, May 25, 1866)
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, marriages p. 331: James Whittemore, 29, laborer, and Mary C. Stevenson, 24, dressmaker, May 26, 1844
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, births p. 201: James Whittemore [1814] and his wife Mary E. [Aug. 1819], gravestones in North Cemetery
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, marriages p. 331: James Whittemore, 29, laborer, and Mary C. Stevenson, 24, dressmaker, May 26, 1844
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, births p. 201: James Whittemore [1814] and his wife Mary E. [Aug. 1819], gravestones in North Cemetery
- Massachusetts Register and Business Directory, 1874: Postmaster, North Billerica (printed James Whittmore)
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | Warranty Deed | James Scott of Lowell | James Whittemore of Billerica | Details | James Whittemore House Amos Gray House |
75/400 |
Dated Sept. 30, 1870. "In consideration of two thousand dollars", three parcels in North Billerica: the quarter acre "on the road leading from the R.R. Depot to Thomas Talbot's house" at land of C. P. Talbot & Co. (Book 40 Page 402), the acre behind it (Book 40 Page 529) and the twelve-foot strip from the road to Tewksbury (Book 42 Page 546), each with its bounds repeated. Buildings are not mentioned, but Scott had paid $222 for the bare land, so the house was standing: Scott built it between 1864 and 1870.
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| January 17, 1883 | Warranty Deed | James Whittemore of Billerica, "being unmarried" | Amos Gray of Billerica | Details | James Whittemore House Amos Gray House |
157/413 |
Dated and acknowledged Nov. 15, 1877 before Dudley Foster JP; recorded Jan. 17, 1883. "In consideration of Fifty Dollars", a strip from the northwest corner at land of Jones and Foster, easterly 64 ft, southerly by Jones and Foster 24 ft and land of Thomas Talbot 135 ft, westerly by land of C. P. Talbot & Co. 64 ft "to my own land", and northerly by my own land 183 ft, "with a right of way through my land where they now pass so long as occupied by the said grantee". The first piece cut from Whittemore's land.
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| April 20, 1892 | Warranty Deed | James Whittemore of Billerica, "being unmarried" | Amos Gray of Billerica | Details | James Whittemore House Amos Gray House |
232/93 |
Dated and acknowledged Aug. 13, 1891 before Dudley Foster JP; recorded April 20, 1892. "In consideration of Two Hundred Dollars", the land from the southeast corner at land of the Talbot heirs, westerly by Talbot land and "my other land" to "the new Town Road" (Billerica Avenue, laid out 1890), northerly by the road about 230 ft to the grantee's land, easterly 170 ft to "said grantee's house lot" and southerly 183 ft, "with a right of way through my land where they now pass, forever. Reserving to myself the income from said land so long as I live." This left Whittemore only the house on the corner.
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| February 4, 1896 | Heirs' Deed | Heirs of James Whittemore: Mary V. Chase, Samuel D. Kendrick, Ella F. Kendrick, Lizzie Colby and Carrie Goodrich of Amesbury (with their spouses), and John C. Bennett, guardian of Ona Ackerman of Barnard, Missouri | James Murphy of Lowell | Details | James Whittemore House | 271/346 |
Dated Jan. 18, 1896. The guardian sold his ward's sixth at public auction Jan. 9, 1896 under a Middlesex probate license of Dec. 3, 1895; total consideration $2,025. "A certain lot, piece or parcel of land with the buildings thereon" in North Billerica, "one quarter of an acre, more or less", from the corner of Billerica Avenue and Mt. Pleasant Street northerly along the avenue about 180 ft to land "conveyed in 1891 to Amos Gray by James Whittemore", easterly by Gray about 90 ft to the Talbot Mills, southerly by the mills about 140 ft to Mt. Pleasant Street and by the street about 90 ft, subject to Gray's right of way "in the driveway east of the house". The heirs "derive their title as heirs of James Whittemore, deceased", each holding a sixth, the land being "a part of the land sold to James Whittemore ... by James Scott" (Book 75 Page 400).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.