John Mixer
John Mixer (about 1780 to 1857) was a boatman on the Middlesex Canal and one of the first householders in the small village that grew up around the Canal Mills at the falls of the Concord River, later Billerica Mills and North Billerica.
He was born in New Hampshire about 1780 and married Nancy Dix, a sister of Joel Dix, who settled beside the mills in 1822; another sister married the stone-layer Jonathan Wilson, so that the three related families formed a small group of households around the canal works. The Mixers' daughter Irena was born in Tyngsborough in 1812, and the other children were born in Billerica: Mary Ann (1815), who married Sullivan Colson; Charles (1818); Lavina H. (1819), who married David W. Brown; Nancy Maria (1821); Edith Adams (1823); and Lucy J. Mary Ann, Lavina and Nancy Maria all died in 1840-1842, and a son John died on September 20, 1857, aged 47.
With Caleb Pearson of Londonderry, New Hampshire, Mixer built "one large dwelling house" near the Canal Mills, "a Shingle and Clapboard Mill so called with all the Machinery" and a boat house, all on canal land, and in December 1820 Pearson released his half of the buildings to him for $2,100. In March 1826 Mixer gave the canal proprietors back "a three story dwelling house" on a quarter acre by the locks and bought from them for $600 house lots on both sides of the road from Oliver Farmer's house to the mills. On the north side, running back to the towing path, he built the John Mixer House; a subscription list of November 1826 asked help for him in rebuilding after a fire. He sold the garden lot south of the road to Isaiah Bussey, a clothier, in 1827 and the east end of his house lot to John McCurdy in 1845, and twice bought and resold a property within weeks: a 37-acre farm in 1837 and a house near the District No. 6 schoolhouse in 1841.
Mixer mortgaged his homestead to the town treasurer in 1838 and to Dr. Zadock Howe in 1844, and in December 1849 the sheriff sold his equity of redemption on a judgment for Daniel Wilson; it was bought by Nancy's nephew Joel Dix Jr. of Charlestown. The census of 1850 lists Mixer as a farmer of 69. In September 1852 he sold the half-acre lot "having a dwelling house and two Barns thereon ... being the same on which I now reside" to C. P. Talbot and Co., the new owners of the mills, for $2,000. He made his will on September 11, 1857, leaving $25 each to his children Irena Brown, Charles, Edith A. and Lucy J. Mixer and the rest of his estate to his wife Nancy, with Lot Easty as executor, and died later that year. He is buried in the North Cemetery.
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Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| March 20, 1826 | Quitclaim | Caleb Pearson of Londonderry, New Hampshire, husbandman (Elizabeth Pearson releasing dower) | John Mixer of Billerica, husbandman | Details | John Mixer House | 265/206 (South) |
For $2,100, "several buildings standing and being in said Billerica ... near the Canal Mills so called which were built and erected by me the said Pearson and said John Mixer in company & undivided (viz) one large dwelling house standing near said Canal Mills. Also a Shingle and Clapboard Mill so called with all the Machinery thereunto belonging likewise one Boat house". Dated December 5, 1820, witnessed by Francis Faulkner and George Tufts; recorded March 20, 1826. Billerica town book 12, pages 456-457. The buildings stood on Canal land; the large house is probably the three-story house Mixer gave back to the proprietors in 1826.
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| March 20, 1826 | Deed | Benjamin Guild of Boston, President of the Board of Directors of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal | John Mixer of Billerica | Details | John Mixer House Isaiah Bussey House John McCurdy House Small House |
265/208 (South) |
Under the proprietors' vote of March 13, 1826, for $600: a lot bounded easterly on land of Nathan Mears 10 rods, southerly on Mears 12 rods, westerly on Canal land 10 rods and northerly "on the road leading from O. Farmers house to the Canal Bridge at the Mills" 12 rods, three quarters of an acre (lots 1, 2 and 3 on Samuel Whiting's plan of May 1816); and "one other lot ... on the northerly side of the road leading from O. Farmers house to the Mills and directly on the opposite side of the road to the lot above conveyed", southerly on the road 12 rods, westerly on Canal land to "the towing path of said Canal", along the towing path 12 rods, easterly by Canal land about 7 1/2 rods to the road, "laid down as three lots marked number fourteen, fifteen and sixteen" on Whiting's plan of May 16, 1816. Dated March 15, 1826; recorded March 20, 1826. Billerica town book 12, pages 459-461. Lots 14-16 are the house lot.
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| March 20, 1826 | Deed | John Mixer of Billerica, boatman (Nancy Mixer releasing dower) | The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal | Details | John Mixer House | 265/210 (South) |
For $1,000, "a certain dwelling house and all the land thereto belonging", bounded southerly on "the Main road leading from O. Farmers house to the Mills and opposite the house of Nathan Mears", easterly by the road and Canal land, northerly "by the Locks and towing path of the Middlesex Canal" and westerly by Canal land, "containing one quarter of an acre more or less with a three story dwelling house thereon standing and all out houses". Dated March 15, 1826, witnessed by Francis Faulkner and Nathan Mears; recorded March 20, 1826. Billerica town book 12, pages 461-462. Given back the same day the proprietors sold him lots 14-16.
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| 1827 | Deed | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman (Nancy Mixer releasing dower) | Isaiah Bussey of Billerica, clothier | Details | Isaiah Bussey House Small House |
277/14 (South) |
For $120, "a lot of land situated in Billerica aforesaid near the Canal Mills so call[ed]": beginning on the road leading from the Mills to Oliver Farmer's, running on land of Nathan Mears southwardly 10 rods, westerly on Mears 4 rods, northwardly on land of John Mixer 10 rods, and on the road 4 rods to the first bound (forty square rods, the easterly end of the lot Mixer bought from the Canal in 1826). No buildings are named. Warranty. Dated July 6, 1827; witnesses Francis Faulkner and William E. Faulkner; acknowledged July 9, 1827. Billerica town book 11, page 501.
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| August 17, 1837 | Deed | John Brown of Billerica, yeoman; Irena Brown his wife | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Samuel C. Oliver House | 365/505 (South) |
For $450, "a farm or tract of land divided into several lots of mowing, tillage and pasture situated in said Billerica on which I live and now improve containing thirty seven acres", "with all the buildings thereon standing", free of incumbrances "except a mortgage to Sereno Fiske of $1200.00 and interest". Dated Aug. 17, 1837. Billerica town book 15, pages 424-425.
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| October 17, 1837 | Deed | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman; Nancy Mixer his wife releasing dower | Abbot Russell of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Samuel C. Oliver House Sarah Stearns House |
367/255 (South) |
For $2000, the same farm of 37 acres "with all the buildings thereon standing, being the same conveyed by Sereno Fiske to John Brown, and by John Brown conveyed to me Aug 17, 1837, B.365 P.505", subject to the $1200 Brown mortgage "which said Russell is to pay". Dated Sept. 26, 1837. Billerica town book 15, pages 497-499.
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| 1838 | Mortgage | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman | John Baldwin of Billerica, Esquire, Treasurer of the town | Details | John Mixer House Small House North Billerica Fire Station |
377/294 (South) |
For $452.70, the half-acre lot south of the road (by land formerly of Isaiah Bussey, now Daniel Wilson's); "also my homestead situate in said town on the northerly side of said road and directly on the opposite side of the road to the lot above described", southerly on the road, westerly on Canal land to the towing path, 12 rods along the south side of the towing path and easterly by Canal land about 7 1/2 rods to the road; and 21 acres "conveyed to me by Levi Sprake by his deed December 25, 1820" (Book 241, Page 291) with a piece north of the "Sprake Bridge" over the canal. A loan from the town funds; discharged 1844 (MHC). Billerica town book 14, pages 444-445.
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| February 4, 1841 | Warranty Deed | Josiah Blodgett of Merrimack, N.H. (wife Orpha releasing dower) | John Mixer of Billerica | Details | James Stott House | 401/47 (South) |
Billerica town book 16, pages 411-412. Dated Feb. 2, 1841. For $250, "a dwelling House with a piece of Land situated in Billerica near the Rail Road and also near the North School House called No. 6", bounded on "the Road from the Canal Mills (so called) to Tewksbury", and northerly ten rods, westerly eight rods and southerly ten rods by land of John Rogers. The Mt. Pleasant Schoolhouse (District No. 6) stood a short way east on the same road.
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| February 10, 1841 | Warranty Deed | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman (wife Nancy releasing dower) | Jeremiah Hood of Billerica, yeoman (cooper) | Details | James Stott House | 401/168 (South) |
Billerica town book 16, page 413. Dated Feb. 6, 1841, four days after Mixer bought it. For $300, "a certain lot of land with a dwelling house thereon situate in said Billerica near the Rail Road and also near the School House in District No. 6", on the road "from the Canal Mills so called to Tewksbury", ten rods deep and eight rods wide by land of John Rogers, "containing one half an acre more or less". Hood mortgaged it on Feb. 9, 1841 to Daniel Wilson for $200 (Book 401, Page 169), describing it as "situated in Belvidere near the Rail Road".
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| 1844 | Mortgage | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman | Doctor Zadok Howe of Billerica | Details | John Mixer House Small House North Billerica Fire Station |
450/391 (South) |
For $900, the half-acre lot south of the road "leading from the Oliver Farmer house so called to the Canal Mills", bounded by Daniel Wilson; "also my homestead situated in said Billerica on the northerly side of said road & directly opposite to the above described lot", westerly on Canal land, "northerly on the towing path of said Canal", easterly on Canal land and southerly on the road, three quarters of an acre; the 21 acres by Oliver Farmer's and Joshua Radding's land; and a lot with a dwelling house north of the canal bridge "called the Sprake Bridge". Dated April 1, 1844. Billerica town book 20, pages 50-51. Assumed by the Talbots in 1852.
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| April 10, 1846 | Deed | John Mixer of Billerica, yeoman (Nancy Mixer releasing dower) | John McCurdy of Billerica, victualler | Details | The Canal Block John McCurdy House |
480/546 (South) |
Billerica town book 18, pages 136-137 (Southern Registry Book 480, Page 546, per the grantee index). Dated December 15, 1845. For $225, the easterly four rods of Mixer's homestead lot on the north side of the road, "Beginning at the south easterly corner of the premises at land of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal and at the road leading from Israel Colsons to the Canal Mills", north on the Proprietors' land about 7 1/2 rods to the towing path, west on the towing path four rods, south to the road and east on the road four rods, "with the buildings thereon". This is the lot of the John McCurdy House; its east line is bare canal land, the future or present site of the Canal Block, which is not named.
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| December 31, 1849 | Sheriff's Deed | Joseph Butterfield, deputy sheriff, on an execution for Daniel Wilson against John Mixer | Joel Dix Jr. of Charlestown, trader | Details | John Mixer House | 574/396 (South) |
On a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas at Lowell for Daniel Wilson of Billerica, yeoman, the sheriff took Mixer's right in equity to redeem "A certain lot of land with a dwelling house and two barns thereon, situated near the 'mills' and on which the said Mixer now lives and occupies, containing about one half acre", bounded south on a road, westerly on Israel Colson and northerly and easterly on the Canal proprietors, and the 23-acre lot on both sides of the road from Lowell to Billerica Centre "with a small dwelling house thereon", subject to the Howe mortgage (Book 450, Page 391); sold at John A. Dix's tavern near Billerica Mills on December 22, 1849 for $321 to Joel Dix Jr., "he being the highest bidder". Recorded December 31, 1849. Billerica town book 19, pages 34-35. Mixer stayed on; Dix was his wife Nancy's nephew (MHC).
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| September 16, 1852 | Deed | John Mixer of Billerica (Nancy Mixer releasing dower) | Charles P. Talbot of Lowell and Thomas Talbot of Billerica, copartners as C. P. Talbot and Co. | Details | John Mixer House | 637/151 (South) |
For $2,000, "a tract of land having a dwelling house and two Barns thereon situate in that part of Billerica aforesaid called 'Billerica Mills' being the same on which I now reside", bounded northerly and easterly by land formerly of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, southerly on the road from Billerica to Lowell and westerly on land of Israel Colson, about half an acre, subject to the $900 mortgage to Zadock Howe, which the Talbots assume as part of the price. Dated September 13, 1852; recorded September 16, 1852. Billerica town book 19, pages 334-335.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.