Sewall & Lucretia Stearns House
Sewall & Lucretia Stearns House
The Sewall and Lucretia Stearns House stands at 46 Concord Road, on the east side of the old road from Billerica Centre to Bedford, a short way south of the Common. Despite its name, it was built by the widow alone. Sewall Stearns, a farmer whose homestead lay on the Concord River in the southwest part of town, married Lucretia Hill, daughter of Job Hill, in 1836, and died of typhus in 1849. His heirs sold the river farm in 1850.
On April 5, 1851 William P. P. Pollard of Boston sold "Lucretia Stearns of Billerica ... Widow", for one hundred dollars, "a certain tract of land situated near the centre of said Billerica on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford", 82 feet on the road and 136 feet deep, with land of Harriet Whiting on the south and Pollard's own land on the east and north. No buildings are mentioned, which agrees with the 1851 date on the assessor's cards: the Greek Revival house with its recessed doorway was built for her that year, and the 1853 map marks it "widow Stearns". Lucretia later married Dr. Josiah Bowers, who died in 1868, and her older sister Susanna Lane Hill later lived in the house.
Lucretia Bowers died in 1874. In November of that year her sister Susan L. Hill, together with Laura W. Hill and James W. Hill of Boston, the widow and son of her brother Jonathan Hill, released three quarters of the house lot and the three-acre field south of it, running to Churnstaff Lane, to Jonathan's daughter Laura Hill of Boston for $2,250. The 1875 map shows "Miss S. Hill" living in the house and the 1889 map names the owner, "Miss L. Hill". In April 1894 Laura Hill sold both tracts for $3,000 to John O. Richardson of Billerica.
After Richardson's death his children, John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby, sold the house in December 1915 to Oscar Fellows, keeping the land to the south; the house lot then took its present shape, 118 feet on Concord Road with the land of the heirs of Samuel Sage on the north and east. Fellows mortgaged it in 1927 to Clara E. Sexton, who foreclosed at auction in May 1933 and bought it in herself for $3,100. In July 1936 her executor sold "the land ... with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Concord Road" for $3,500 to Carl F. and Ilene L. Bartlett, who had it surveyed in 1939 (Plan Book 64, Plan 10).
The Bartlett family kept the house until 1971, when it was sold to private owners who held it for over thirty years; it changed hands again in 2005 and 2021. The 0.78 acre lot still has its small barn, and the house is part of the Billerica Centre local historic district created in 1990.
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| June 21, 1851 | Warranty Deed | William P. P. Pollard of Boston | Lucretia Stearns of Billerica, widow (of Sewall Stearns) | 1851 Lucretia Stearns buys the bare house lot from William P. P. Pollard | 608/603 (South) |
Billerica town book 19, pages 92-93. Dated April 5, 1851. For one hundred dollars, "a certain tract of land situated near the centre of said Billerica on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford", beginning at the southwest corner on the road at land of Harriet Whiting, running east on the Whiting land 136 feet, north "on my own land" 71 feet, west on "my own land" 136 feet and south on the road 82 feet to the start. A bare house lot with no buildings named, bought by the widow of Sewall Stearns two years after his death; the house was built on it that year.
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| December 7, 1874 | Quitclaim | Laura W. Hill of Boston, widow (of Jonathan Hill); James W. Hill of Boston; and Susan L. Hill of Billerica, single woman | Laura Hill of Boston | 1874 the Hill heirs release three quarters to Laura Hill after Lucretia Bowers died | 106/559 |
Dated Nov. 19, 1874, recorded Dec. 7 (pages 559-560). For $2,250, release of "two certain tracts of land situate near the centre of said Billerica, on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford": the first, 82 feet on the road and 136 feet deep, bounded by the Whiting land on the south and Samuel Sage on the east and north, "with the buildings thereon"; the second adjoining it on the south, about three acres, along the Bedford road and Churnstaff Lane to land formerly of Jonathan and Samuel Bowers; "Intending to convey three undivided fourth parts in said two certain tracts of land". Signed months after the death of Lucretia (Stearns) Bowers, the grantors and grantee being her sister Susan Lane Hill and the family of her late brother Jonathan Hill, who between them held the four shares. Witness Dudley Foster.
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| May 14, 1894 | Warranty Deed | Laura Hill of Boston, single woman | John O. Richardson of Billerica | 1894 Laura Hill of Boston sells the house and land to John O. Richardson | 254/234 |
Dated April 24, 1894, recorded May 14 (pages 234-235). For $3,000, "two certain tracts of land, situate near the centre of said Billerica on road leading from Billerica to Bedford": the first beginning at the southwest corner "at land formerly of Harriet Whiting, now the second tract in this deed", 136 feet deep along land of Samuel Sage and 82 feet on the road, "with the buildings thereon"; the second adjoining on the south, about three acres, running 18 rods along the road to Bedford and back along Churnstaff Lane to land formerly of Jonathan and Samuel Bowers. No title recital. The house lot and the Whiting land to its south, later divided by John O. Richardson's heirs.
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| December 31, 1915 | Warranty Deed | John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby (wife of Homer H. Colby), of Billerica, devisees of John O. Richardson; Pamelia Richardson, his widow, releasing | Oscar Fellows of Billerica | 1915 John O. Richardson's heirs sell the house lot to Oscar Fellows | 548/489 |
Dated Dec. 31, 1915 (pages 489-490). For "One Dollar and other good and valuable consideration", "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica", west by the Concord Road 118 feet, north and east by the heirs of Samuel Sage, south "by other land of ours" and by land of Benson, "being a portion of the premises conveyed by Laura Hill to John O. Richardson by deed dated April 24, 1894" (Book 254, Page 234). "The said John O. Richardson, late of said Billerica, is now deceased. For our title see the will of the said John O. Richardson duly proved and allowed by the Probate Court." The first deed of the house lot as now bounded; the sellers kept the land to the south.
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| September 27, 1927 | Mortgage | Oscar Fellows of Billerica (wife Alice O. Fellows releasing dower and homestead) | Clara E. Sexton of Billerica | 1927 Fellows mortgage to Clara E. Sexton, foreclosed 1933 | 755/51 |
Dated Sept. 27, 1927. For $3,300 in one year at six percent, "the land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica", west by the Concord Road 118 feet and otherwise bounded by the heirs of Samuel Sage, John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby, and Benson, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by John A. Richardson et al by deed dated December 31, 1915" (Book 548, Page 489). Foreclosed by the mortgagee in 1933 (Book 825, Page 4).
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| June 2, 1933 | Foreclosure Deed | Clara E. Sexton of Billerica, mortgagee of Oscar Fellows | Clara E. Sexton of Billerica | 1933 foreclosure of the Fellows mortgage by Clara E. Sexton | 825/4 |
Dated June 1, 1933 (pages 4-5). Holding a mortgage from Oscar Fellows dated Sept. 27, 1927 (Book 755, Page 51), Clara E. Sexton sold under its power of sale at public auction on the premises on May 20, 1933 (George F. Stiles, auctioneer; notice in The Billerica News) and, as highest bidder at $3,100, conveyed to herself "The land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica", west by the Concord Road 118 feet, north and east by the heirs of Samuel Sage, south by John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby and by Benson, the mortgage reciting "Being the same premises conveyed to me by John A. Richardson et al by deed dated December 31, 1915" (Book 548, Page 489).
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| July 2, 1936 | Executor's Deed | William H. Sexton of Billerica, executor of the will of Clara E. Sexton, late of Billerica | Carl F. Bartlett and Ilene L. Bartlett of Billerica, husband and wife | 1936 Sexton executor sells to Carl F. and Ilene L. Bartlett | 883/152 |
Dated July 1, 1936 (pages 152-153). Under a probate license of June 30, 1936, for $3,500, "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Concord Road": west by Concord Road 118 feet, north and east by land "now or late of the Heirs of Samuel Sage" (133, 68 and 199 feet), east by owners unknown 136 1/2 feet to a stone bound, south by John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby 120 1/2 feet, and west and south by land of Benson (83 1/2 and 188 feet), "being the same premises conveyed to the said Clara E. Sexton by herself as mortgagee by foreclosure deed dated June 1, 1933" (Book 825, Page 4). The Bartletts gave a $2,000 mortgage to the Central Savings Bank of Lowell the same day (page 153). Their 1939 survey is Plan Book 64, Plan 10; the house later passed within the Bartlett family (1953) and was sold to private owners in 1971, 2005 and 2021.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.