Samuel Cole
Samuel Cole was a blacksmith who for about fifty years kept a shop and small farm on the road from Billerica to Bedford, now Concord Road, about two miles south of the village. He came from Watertown, and his gravestone gives 1811 as the year of his birth. On September 5, 1833 he married Mary Marshall of Chelmsford, a daughter of James Marshall, whose farm lay on the other side of the road. His brother Thaddeus, a Watertown carpenter, married Mrs. Susan Hill in Billerica in 1834, and may have built Samuel's house.
On February 3, 1835 Cole bought from Jonathan Hill twenty acres on the east side of the road, with the seven-acre Pond Meadow behind, for $375. The land was bare. He built the two-story house that still stands, moved, at 263 Old Concord Road (Samuel Cole House), and kept his blacksmith shop at the bend of the road at the north end of the lot, where the 1853 map marks "B. Shop". A second, smaller house on the lot he sold in 1855 to his father, Joseph Cole, for $700 (Martha A. Dodge House); after his parents died, Samuel and the other heirs sold it in 1864.
The Coles' children were John Samuel, born on July 4, 1835, who lived in Watertown and later in Hooksett, New Hampshire, and Mary Elizabeth, born on July 28, 1837, who married George W. Gragg. In 1865 Samuel and Mary Cole, with the other heirs of James Marshall, sold the Marshall farm of seventy-five acres across the road to Charles A. Ranlett and John H. Osgood for $1,700, and Mary took back a mortgage of $900. Mary Cole also bought from her son-in-law in 1876 the old Town House lot opposite the First Parish meetinghouse, which the Coles sold to Jasper F. Bruce that year. In 1877 Samuel sold a back corner of his lot to Edward J. Hill.
He was on the list of voters in 1880, and Hazen's history of 1883 says he still lived on the homestead. He died before October 1884, leaving the place to his widow by will. In 1886 Mary Cole, then living in Waltham, sold the twenty-five acres "with the buildings thereon" to Isaac L. Watts for $1,300.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 25, COLE 2
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, births p. 40: John Samuel (1835) and Mary Elizabeth (1837), children of Samuel and Mary Cole; gravestone year of Samuel (1811)
- Vital Records of Billerica to 1850, marriages p. 236: Samuel Cole and Mary Marshall, Sept. 5, 1833
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| January 19, 1830 | Warranty Deed | Francis Cook of Billerica, yeoman, and Elizabeth Cook his wife (dower) | Jonathan Hill of Billerica, yeoman | Warranty Deed 1819 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House |
293/432 (South) |
For $300, "a certain tract of land containing twenty acres more or less," beginning by the road from Billerica Meetinghouse to Concord at land of Jonas Bacon, south by the road to "land set off as dower to Peter Hills wife," east by the dower land to land of Joseph Jaquith, north by Jaquith to Bacon and west by Bacon to the road. No buildings and no title recital. Dated May 15, 1819, acknowledged June 3, 1819 before Blaney Abbot, but not recorded until Jan. 19, 1830. Billerica town book 14, pages 245-246. These are the twenty acres Hill sold to Samuel Cole in 1835.
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| May 23, 1835 | Warranty Deed | Jonathan Hill of Billerica, gentleman | Samuel Cole of Billerica, blacksmith | Warranty Deed 1835 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House Martha A. Dodge House |
341/485 (South) |
For $375, "a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica containing twenty acres more or less," beginning by "the road leading from Billerica Meeting house to Concord at land of George Bacon," south by the road to land of Joseph F. Hill, east by Joseph's land, north by "my Pond meadow lot" to Bacon and west by Bacon to the road; also the seven acre "Pond Meadow" behind it, bounded by the dower land of Susan Jaquith, George Bacon, Henry Crosby, Amos Adams and the heirs of Isaac French. No buildings are named: the land was bare when Cole bought it. Dated Feb. 3, 1835, witnessed by Marshall Preston and Lucretia Hill. Billerica town book 15, pages 110-111.
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| November 10, 1846 | Warranty | Elijah B. Hill of Billerica, yeoman, and Lucy Hill his wife | Isaac Roby of Reading, yeoman | Warranty 1846 | Solomon Hill House | 495/472 (South) |
For $1,700, "two certain lots of land situate in said Billerica known as the Thomas Eames place, one lot on the West side of the road leading from Billerica to Bedford containing sixty acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing, bounded Northerly by land of Benja. L. Judkins Westerly by Concord River Southerly by land of James Marshall and Easterly by said road"; the other lot on the easterly side of the road, ten acres, bounded by Judkins, the widow Susan Jaquith and Samuel Cole, "nearly opposite the first described lot," reserving a cart way for the widow Jaquith from her meadow and a right of way for James Marshall across the first lot "as expressed in the deed of Jeremiah Crosby, Guardian of Thomas Eames, to said Hill." Dated Oct. 27, acknowledged Oct. 28, recorded Nov. 10, 1846. Billerica town book 18, pages 230-231 (Southern Registry Book 495 Page 472). Roby appears here on the 1853 map, Dr. Charles E. Hosmer on the 1875 map; later owners were not traced.
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| September 20, 1855 | Warranty Deed | Samuel Cole of Billerica, yeoman (wife Mary Cole releasing dower) | His father Joseph Cole of Billerica, yeoman | Warranty Deed 1855 | Martha A. Dodge House | 2/206 |
Dated Aug. 9, 1855 (pages 206-207). For $700, "a certain tract or parcel of land, situate in the Southerly part of said Billerica, on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford, containing One acre, more or less, with a two story dwelling house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road "and at land owned by myself", east about twenty rods and south about eight rods by "my own land", west about twenty rods to the Bedford road and north by the road about eight rods, "said premises being enclosed by a stone wall, as above described, and occupied by the said Joseph Cole". Cut from the twenty acres Samuel Cole bought from Jonathan Hill in 1835. Witnesses Benjamin F. Judkins and Mary E. Cole.
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| May 16, 1865 | Quitclaim | Heirs of Joseph Cole: Samuel Cole of Billerica, yeoman; Caroline S. Page (with John Page) of Watertown; Emma P. Clark (with James D. Clark) of Boston; Lucy L. Lothrop (with David Lothrop) of Philadelphia; William F. Whalen of Peacedale, R.I. | Stephen H. Wilson of Billerica, machinist | Quitclaim 1864 | Martha A. Dodge House | 42/476 |
Dated Aug. 4, 1864, recorded May 16, 1865 (pages 476-477). For $480, "all our undivided rights ... comprising four fifths thereof in the aggregate" in "a certain tract or parcel of land situated in the southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two story dwelling house thereon", bounded by Samuel Cole's land on three sides and the road on the west, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall which the said Samuel Cole conveyed to his Father Joseph Cole by deed dated 9th August 1855 ... Book 2 Page 206 and which since the death of his said Father and his Mother has descended to us his heirs", the other fifth going to Josiah S. Cole of San Francisco.
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| October 12, 1865 | Deed | Samuel Cole et al. (heirs of James Marshall) | Charles A. Ranlett and John H. Osgood | Deed 1865 | Deacon Samuel Hill House 2 Osceola Ln Samuel Cole House |
44/511 |
The Marshall heirs sell "a certain farm" in Billerica of about 75 acres with the buildings, beginning at the northeast corner at land of Isaac Roby on the road leading to Concord, southerly by the road to land occupied by Geo. W. Emerson, westerly and southerly by Emerson and Samuel Cole to other Ranlett land, westerly to Concord River, northerly by the river to Roby, and easterly by Roby "as the fence now stands" to the road, with the right of way through Roby's land "being the same liberty that was given William Hill by the last will and testament of his father." Dated Oct. 6, 1865. Ranlett, of Charlestown, and Osgood, of Chelsea, mortgaged it the same day to Mary Cole for $900 (Book 44 Page 526, discharged Feb. 1871).
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| August 14, 1866 | Warranty Deed | Stephen H. Wilson of Billerica (wife Hattie G. Wilson releasing) | George R. Cobb of Billerica | Warranty Deed 1866 | Martha A. Dodge House | 51/352 |
Dated Aug. 14, 1866 (pages 352-353). For $500, "a certain tract of land situate in the Southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two Story dwelling house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road and land of Samuel Cole, east about twenty rods, south about eight rods, west about twenty rods to the Bedford road and north by the road about eight rods, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall and conveyed to me by Lucy L. Lothrop, Samuel Cole and others by deed dated August 4th 1864", subject to "a Mortgage to Leonard Wilson for three hundred dollars" dated Aug. 7, 1866. The first half of a same-day transfer from husband to wife through a third party.
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| 1871 | Assignment of Mortgage | Anne Baldwin of Billerica, mortgagee | Mary Cole of Billerica, wife of Samuel Cole | Assignment of Mortgage 1871 | Town House | 78/3 |
Dated Feb. 1, 1871. For $600 Anne Baldwin assigns to Mary Cole "the said mortgage deed, the note and claim thereby secured and all my right title and interest in the estate herein conveyed" (margin: See Book 54 Page 461), the mortgage of the old Town House given by George W. Gragg in 1867. Mary Cole, Gragg's mother-in-law, bought the fee from him in January 1876 and discharged the mortgage that November (Book 120 Page 500).
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| June 29, 1874 | Quitclaim | Hattie G. Wilson of Lynn, married woman in her own right (husband Stephen H. Wilson assenting) | Mary D. Boyden of Billerica, widow | Quitclaim 1874 | Martha A. Dodge House | 102/556 |
Dated June 24, 1874 (pages 556-557). For $650, "a certain tract of land situated in the southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading to Bedford, containing one acre, more or less with a two story house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road at land of Samuel Cole, east about twenty rods, south about eight rods and west about twenty rods to the road, all by Cole land, and north by the road about eight rods, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall and conveyed to me by George R. Cobb by deed dated August 14, 1866" (Book 51, Page 353). Acknowledged before Dudley Foster.
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| February 8, 1876 | Quitclaim | George W. Gragg of Billerica (Mary E. Gragg releasing dower and homestead) | Mary Cole of Billerica, wife of Samuel Cole | Quitclaim 1876 | Town House | 115/408 |
Dated Jan. 17, 1876, acknowledged Jan. 21 before Dudley Foster. For $750, "a certain tract of land in said Billerica nearly opposite the First Parish Meeting House, with the buildings thereon heretofore used as a Town House", 42 feet on the highway by 40 feet deep, east by Samuel W. Baldwin and north and west by "land formerly of Lyman Haynes". Free of encumbrances "except a mortgage of six hundred and fifty dollars from me to Anne Baldwin". No title recital. Mary Cole was the mother of Gragg's wife Mary Elizabeth.
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| August 29, 1876 | Warranty Deed | Mary Cole of Billerica, in her own right, and Samuel Cole her husband | Jasper F. Bruce of Billerica | Warranty Deed 1876 | Town House | 119/593 |
Dated Aug. 4, 1876, acknowledged before Dudley Foster. For $750, "a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica nearly opposite the First Parish Meeting House, with the buildings thereon, heretofore used as a Town House", beginning at the southwest corner on the public highway, east by land of Samuel W. Baldwin 42 feet to land of Joseph W. Green "(formerly of Lyman Haynes)", north by Green 40 feet, west by Green 42 feet to the highway, south on the highway 40 feet. "Being premises conveyed to me by George W. Gragg", deed dated Jan. 17, recorded Book 115 Page 408.
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| December 19, 1877 | Warranty Deed | Samuel Cole of Billerica, yeoman, and Mary Cole his wife | Edward J. Hill of Boston | Warranty Deed 1877 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House |
127/86 |
For $62.50, "a certain tract of land" at the back of the Cole lot: from an oak tree at the wall at land of the heirs of Franklin Jaquith, south by the heirs 23 rods, west by them 6.3 rods "to my land," then N 25 W 20 3/4 rods "to the bar way at land of said Hill and a stone wall," then N 67 E by Hill 11 1/2 rods; one acre and 41 rods "as per plan of Samuel Sage A.D. 1877." Dated Nov. 1, 1877, witnessed by Dudley Foster and Martha Ann Dodge Jr. A corner cut from the twenty acres; the house and shop frontage stayed with Cole.
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| August 28, 1886 | Warranty Deed | Mary Cole of Waltham, widow of Samuel Cole, "being unmarried" | Isaac L. Watts of Waltham | Warranty Deed 1886 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House |
183/445 |
For $1,300, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in the town of Billerica": from the northwest corner "on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford at land of E. J. Hill," south by the road to land of Mrs. Boyden, around the Boyden house lot by its walls, by the road to Hill again, east by Hill "as the wall now stands" to "the lot called Pond Meadow," south by Hill to Mrs. Boyden, east by a wall and ditch to land formerly of Harvey Crosby, north by Crosby to E. J. Hill and west to the start, "containing twenty five acres." The buyer assumes the 1886 taxes. No title recital: the widow held Samuel Cole's homestead (twenty acres and the Pond Meadow of 1835, less the Boyden house lot and the 1877 corner). Witnessed by E. A. Harrington and Mary E. Gragg, the Coles' daughter. Dated Aug. 26, 1886.
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| July 30, 1891 | Commissioners' Deed | Dudley Foster, Albert R. Richardson and a third commissioner, appointed by the Probate Court to make partition of the real estate of Mary D. Boyden, late of Billerica | Martha A. Dodge of Billerica | Commissioners' Deed 1890 | Martha A. Dodge House | 225/367 |
Dated Oct. 29, 1890, recorded July 30, 1891 (pages 367-368). Under a Middlesex Probate Court warrant of September 1890 the commissioners, after notice in "The Boston Post", sold at auction on Oct. 22, 1890 to Martha A. Dodge, "the highest bidder having offered therefor the sum of Three Hundred and fifty Dollars", "a certain parcel of land situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two-story house thereon", bounded by land "now or formerly of Samuel Cole" on three sides and the road on the west, "Being the same premises described in a deed thereof from Hattie G. Wilson to said Mary D. Boyden dated June 24, 1874" (Book 102, Page 556).
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| February 13, 1897 | Warranty Deed | Isaac L. Watts of Arlington and Martha Eliza Watts his wife | Sarah L. Williams of Bedford, wife of James Williams | Warranty Deed 1897 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House |
281/576 |
For $1,400, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon" in Billerica, the same twenty-five acres. The recital spells out the chain: "the same conveyed to me by Mary Cole, August 26, 1886 ... Devised to Mary Cole by will of her husband Samuel Cole, duly admitted to probate in Middlesex County. Conveyed to Samuel Cole by Jonathan Hill under date of Feb. 3, 1835," South District Book 341, page 485. Dated Feb. 12, 1897, witnessed by Abram E. Brown.
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| August 29, 1899 | Warranty Deed | Martha A. Dodge of Billerica, singlewoman | Hannah Louise Dugan of Billerica, singlewoman | Warranty Deed 1899 | Martha A. Dodge House | 310/361 |
Dated Aug. 1, 1899, recorded Aug. 29 (pages 361-362). For $700, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less", bounded by land "now or formerly of Samuel Cole" and the road, "Said premises being enclosed by a stone wall as above described and being the same premises conveyed to me by the Commissioners of the Estate of Mary D. Boyden by deed dated October twenty ninth A.D. 1890" (Book 225, Page 367). Witness Herbert A. King. The buyer gave back a $600 mortgage to Miss Dodge (page 362).
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| December 20, 1899 | Warranty Deed | John W. Morrill of Billerica and Hannah Morrill his wife, in her right | Lexington and Boston Street Railway Company | Warranty Deed 1899 | Samuel Cole Blacksmith Shop Samuel Cole House Riverhurst Trolley Station |
315/53 |
"In consideration of One Dollar and other good and valuable considerations," a triangle of 9,910 square feet at the north end of the old Cole land: "beginning at a point on the Easterly side of the Bedford Road ... about two hundred and three (203) feet northerly from the southerly boundary wall of said Morrill," running "first northerly and then easterly along the east and south side of the said Bedford Road about two hundred and eighty one (281) feet to a point at or near an angle in said side line of the Road," then southwesterly about 235 feet "over land of said Morrill" to the start; "being part of the same premises conveyed to the said Hannah Morrill by Sarah L. Williams" (Book 287, page 400). Dated Nov. 30, 1899. This was the corner where the 1853 map shows Samuel Cole's blacksmith shop, and the railway built its line and station there in 1900.
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| May 25, 1923 | Certificate of Title | Helen A. Ranlett, Arthur G. Ranlett and Ellen A. Ranlett | Ranlett Grove Realty Company of Billerica | Certificate of Title 1923 | Samuel Cole House | Ctf 3753 |
Transfer Certificate 3753, from Certificate 2090: the Ranlett Grove Realty Company owns the Ranlett land with "five hundred nineteen and 42/100" feet on the westerly line of the Main Road, lots C and H and numbered lots on Plan 2792-G (C. B. Humphrey, Feb. 6, 1922), public landings and a public park. Its lot-sale ledger shows Plan 2792-L (W. A. Mason & Son, Jan. 7, 1929) cutting the road frontage into Lots 305-322; Lots 314-317 and 321-322 were sold on Sept. 19, 1951 to a private buyer (new Certificate 8478). Lots 321 and 322, 120.36 feet on the road, are where the Samuel Cole House was moved when Route 3 was built; later certificates of that lot (8860 in 1953, 13780 and 14038 in 1964, 15738 in 1967 and 22500 in 1978) are private transfers.
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| September 10, 1940 | Quitclaim | Katharine Agnes Dugan of Billerica, unmarried | Frank Henry Gilman and Verna Dorothy Gilman of Billerica, husband and wife | Quitclaim 1940 | Martha A. Dodge House | 948/33 |
Dated Sept. 10, 1940. For consideration paid ($2.75 in revenue stamps), "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford, containing one acre, more or less", the same acre bounded by land "now or formerly, of Samuel Cole" and the road, "enclosed by a stone wall", "Being all and the same premises to me conveyed by Hannah Louise Dugan by her deed dated April 8th 1936" (Book 880, Page 308).
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| February 27, 1948 | Quitclaim | Frank Henry Gilman and Verna Dorothy Gilman of Billerica | William J. Murphy and Lily P. Murphy of Waltham, husband and wife | Quitclaim 1948 | Martha A. Dodge House | 1086/245 |
Dated Feb. 26, 1948 (pages 245-246). For consideration paid ($7.15 in revenue stamps), "the land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the Southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford, containing one (1) acre of land", beginning at the northwest corner "at said road, now called Concord Road, and at land now or formerly of Samuel Cole", the stone-walled acre, "being the same premises conveyed to us by Katherine Agnes Dugan by deed dated September 10, 1940" (Book 948, Page 33). The Gilmans had mortgaged it in 1944 and 1946; the buyers financed it with a $6,400 mortgage to the Lexington Co-operative Bank (page 246).
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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.