Structure · Built 1885
Alma A. Wilson House
Alma A. Wilson House
| Address | 35-37 Old Elm St |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.253 |
| Built | 1885 |
The house at 35-37 Old Elm Street in North Billerica stands on a lot of about 100 by 90 feet on the north side of what was then Elm Street, directly east of the North Billerica Baptist Church. The land was part of the old Osgood mill grant at the falls of the Concord River, which Thomas Richardson sold to the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal in 1794. In 1851 the Canal sold its North Billerica holdings to Charles P. Talbot and Thomas Talbot, and in 1884 the Talbot family conveyed them to The Talbot Mills. The lot was the Elm Street edge of the triangle later called the Common, between Elm Street and the road to Lowell, whose south corner Thomas Talbot gave to the Baptist Society with its new church in 1871.
Alma A. Wilson was the widow of Israel Nelson Wilson (1828-1868), a son of Daniel Wilson; after his death she lived with their daughters Fannie and Annie in the Small House, which she had bought from Thomas Talbot in 1868. On January 30, 1885, the Talbot Mills sold her this bare lot for $200, a parcel "on the Northerly side of Elm street" running about 100 feet along "the fence bounding said Society's land", about 90 feet "along the line of a fence put up by said Mrs. Wilson", and back about 100 feet to Elm Street. No buildings were mentioned. She sold the Small House to Marietta C. Hutchins at the end of 1885 and built here: on August 5, 1889, she sold the property to Almeda M. Flint of Dracut, wife of Dr. Omar A. Flint, for $3,500 as "my Homestead situated in North Billerica". The rise from $200 to $3,500 dates the house to 1885-1889, and it appears on the 1889 atlas. Mrs. Wilson lived on in North Billerica, boarding with S. D. Metcalf on Treble Cove Road, and died April 12, 1921, aged 85.
The Flints bought with a $2,300 mortgage from the Mechanics Savings Bank in Lowell, which required "the buildings now or hereafter standing thereon" to be insured for $2,500. They lived in Lowell and did not pay it off. The bank entered to foreclose on May 14, 1902, advertised a mortgagee's sale in the Lowell Morning Citizen, and auctioned the house on the premises on May 22, 1902; the buyer was James Howarth of Billerica, who paid $2,675. Howarth kept it until his death on March 16, 1914, leaving it by will to his widow Elizabeth Howarth, who died April 16, 1924, and left it to her daughters Sarah Ann Sutcliffe and Elizabeth A. Stevenson. By then the lot held two houses: the engineers Brooks, Jordan and Graves surveyed it in April 1925 as two lots "with a house on each" for the Howarth estate.
In November 1926 Elizabeth A. Stevenson of Spray, North Carolina, and Sarah Ann Sutcliffe's children Everett and Mary Elizabeth Sutcliffe sold both houses to James F. and Martha B. Delmege of Billerica, with a $3,000 mortgage to the Middlesex Co-operative Bank. James Delmege died April 12, 1937, and his widow sold in 1945 to Chester M. and Alice Y. Wilson of Waltham. They sold in 1948 to Harold L. and Veronica D. Wilson of Billerica, who sold in 1949 to James Sr. and Anna Gray. In November 1955 the Grays sold to O. Edward and Mary H. Dutile, who still owned it when the house was inventoried in 1981 and whose family held it into the 2000s. The property was sold in 2007, No. 35 was remodeled after a fire in 2014, and in 2015 the two houses were converted into two condominium units; a company bought the property in 2016.
The assessor's date of about 1850 is too early, since the lot was bare in 1885, and although the house is inventoried among the Talbot mill worker housing of North Billerica, it was never company property after the Talbot Mills sold the lot to Mrs. Wilson. The 1981 survey form records her name as "Alana Wilson".
References
- MACRIS BIL.253
- Billerica assessor, parcel 9-110-1 (37 Old Elm St): 0.207 a., two condominium units (master deed 29398/87), sales history from 1955.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| March 31, 1794 | Deed | Solomon, Moses and Nathan Carleton, Jesse Manning, Thomas Todd, Thomas Laws and Thomas Mears, heirs of John Carleton, with their wives | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman | Carleton heirs to Thomas Richardson, the Osgood mill land including this lot | 115/271 (South) |
Billerica town book 9, pages 87-91. Dated April 17, 1783, recorded March 31, 1794. For 818 pounds "lawful Silver money", "about forty Acres of Land ... on the West side of Concord River ... Easterly on said River, Westerly on the highway 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 or Carletons Mills" and two thirds of the dam and stream with the buildings, "as the same was set off by the Committee for the Widows Thirds", "meaning to convey two thirds of the Homested and Mills and Buildings thereon standing and the Shop is wholley conveyed". Richardson takes on two thirds of the 1708 town conditions, the Ruggles agreement and the repair of "the Bridge or Road" below the dam. Richardson later bought the widow's dower interest (S.115/274 and others) and in 1794 sold the whole as Richardson's Mills to the Middlesex Canal.
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| April 21, 1794 | Deed | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman (Judith Richardson releasing dower) | Ebenezer Hall of Medford and Samuel Jaques of Wilmington, a committee for the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal | Richardson to the Middlesex Canal Proprietors | 115/259 (South) |
For 1350 pounds, "about forty acres of Land" bounded easterly by Concord River, westerly by the highway and northerly and southerly by the road; the reversion of half the dower of the widow Hannah Carlton, conveyed to him by Solomon, Moses and Nathan Carlton; five sixths of a small piece at the northeast end of the mill dam, bounded easterly "by Timothy Sprague's Ditch that conveys Water to the Fulling mill"; "together with all the Buildings ... including the Mills Mill priviledges ... commonly known by the name of Richardson's Mills being the same which was formerly granted by the Town of Billerica to Christopher Osgood together with the Mill Dam and Stream", on the conditions of the town's vote of October 4, 1708, a passage for fish, and his 1791 agreement with Timothy Sprague. Dated March 25, 1794; recorded April 21, 1794. Billerica town book 9, pages 81-82. The Canal Mills land from which the proprietors sold their small house lots.
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| October 23, 1851 | Deed | The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by Ebenezer Chadwick, President | Charles P. Talbot of Lowell and Thomas Talbot of Billerica, manufacturers and copartners | Canal to C. P. and Thomas Talbot; parcel G, the triangle between Elm St and Lowell St | 618/97 (South) |
Billerica town book 19, pages 136-147. Dated September 22, 1851. For $20,000 the canal corporation releases "eleven pieces or parcels of land lying in the town of Billerica", each lettered on a plan by R. H. Eddy dated September 12, 1850 "hereto annexed and herewith to be recorded": the mill land at the falls, the wharf, the canal lands on both sides of the county road at Billerica Mills, and the Pollard and Rogers purchases of 1795 and 1799. Parcel C runs from the bridge over Concord River near the milldam past the sawmill and "the Dye-house and Canal waste-way", "crossing the Canal and partly by land of John Mixer" to "the County road leading to the Mills" and east along the road 270 feet to the canal bridge, 98,436 square feet "with all the buildings thereon standing"; this is where the Canal Block stood. The deed also releases the water rights of Thomas Richardson's 1794 deed (subject to the earlier grants to Francis Faulkner and Nathan Mears), reserves the canal for navigation until discontinued, and binds the Talbots to keep the flashboards on the stone dam and, after the canal closes, to keep up the two canal bridges or fill the canal into a roadway. Directors Ebenezer Chadwick, William Appleton and William Sturgis.
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| October 16, 1884 | Guardian's Deed | Harriet Talbot et al., by their guardian | The Talbot Mills, Billerica | Talbot heirs to The Talbot Mills | 169/468 |
Known from the grantee index 1881-1900 (Talbot Mills-Billerica, index page 82): received October 16, 1884, "N Billerica. Several parcels, water rts, mill privileges &c, see record", recorded with the deed of Thomas Talbot et al. (Book 169 Page 472). Book 169 images are unavailable at the registry; not read.
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| October 16, 1884 | Deed | Thomas Talbot et al. | The Talbot Mills, Billerica | Thomas Talbot et al. to The Talbot Mills | 169/472 |
Known from the grantee index 1881-1900 (Talbot Mills-Billerica, index page 82): received October 16, 1884, "N Billerica. Several parcels, water rts, mill privileges &c, see record." Later Talbot Mills deeds cite it with Book 169 Page 468 as the deeds "from the Talbot heirs" to the new corporation (one recites a deed of Thomas Talbot et als. dated Oct. 15, 1884). The registry shows "Image is Unavailable" for Book 169, so the deed itself was not read; that it covered the land of the future Oval, part of the C. P. Talbot and Company property west of Wilson Street on the 1881 plan, is inferred.
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| February 25, 1885 | Quitclaim | The Talbot Mills, by Thomas Talbot, president, and Frederic S. Clark, treasurer | Mrs. Alma A. Wilson of Billerica | Talbot Mills sells Mrs. Wilson the bare house lot, $200 | 172/330 |
Dated January 30, 1885. For $200, the Talbot Mills "remise, release and forever quitclaim" with covenants against its own acts "a parcel of land situated in North Billerica" on "the Northerly side of Elm street" between Elm St and land of the Talbot Mills "fronting on the road to Lowell": beginning at the southeasterly corner of land of the North Billerica Baptist Society, northerly along the Society's fence about 100 feet, then at nearly a right angle "along the line of a fence put up by said Mrs. Wilson" about 90 feet, then about 100 feet to Elm St, then along Elm St to the beginning. No buildings are named and there is no title recital; the lot was part of the Talbots' 1851 Canal purchase.
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| August 10, 1889 | Warranty Deed | Alma A. Wilson of Billerica, widow | Almeda M. Flint of Dracut, wife of O. A. Flint, M.D. | Wilson sells "my Homestead" to Almeda M. Flint, $3,500 | 208/340 |
Dated and acknowledged August 5, 1889, before Dudley Foster, justice of the peace. For $3,500, Mrs. Wilson conveys "my Homestead situated in North Billerica", bounded as in her 1885 deed: from the southeasterly corner at land of the North Billerica Baptist Society northerly about 100 feet along the Society's fence, about 90 feet "along the line of a fence put up by said Mrs. Wilson", about 100 feet to Elm St, and along "the northerly side of said Elm street" to the beginning. The jump from $200 for the bare lot in 1885 to $3,500 shows the house was built between 1885 and 1889.
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| August 12, 1889 | Mortgage | Almeda M. Flint of Lowell and Omar A. Flint, her husband | Mechanics Savings Bank in Lowell | Flint purchase mortgage, $2,300, foreclosed in 1902 | 208/367 |
Dated August 10, 1889, the day of her purchase. Mortgage of the parcel "on the northerly side of Elm street" between Elm St and land of the Talbot Mills, with the bounds of the 1885 deed (the North Billerica Baptist Society's fence, "a fence put up by said Mrs. Wilson"), to secure $2,300 in one year at five percent; the mortgagors were to keep "the buildings now or hereafter standing thereon" insured for at least $2,500. The margin points to the 1902 entry for possession (Book 344 Page 21) and the foreclosure deed (Book 344 Page 432).
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| May 26, 1902 | Certificate of Entry | Almeda M. Flint et al., mortgagors | Mechanics Savings Bank in Lowell, mortgagee | bank enters to foreclose the Flint mortgage | 344/21 |
Witnesses certify that on May 14, 1902, they saw the Mechanics Savings Bank in Lowell, by its treasurer Charles C. Hutchinson, make an open and peaceable entry on the Elm St premises described in the 1889 Flint mortgage (Book 208 Page 367), to foreclose it for breach of condition.
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| June 14, 1902 | Mortgagee's Deed | Mechanics Savings Bank in Lowell, mortgagee of Almeda M. Flint, by Charles C. Hutchinson, treasurer | James Howarth of Billerica | foreclosure sale to James Howarth, $2,675 | 344/431 |
Dated and acknowledged June 7, 1902. Under the power of sale in the mortgage given by "Almeda M. Flint and Omer A. Flint" in 1889 (Book 208 Page 367), for $2,675 the bank conveys the parcel "on the Northerly side of Elm Street" between Elm St and land of the Talbot Mills, with the 1885 bounds. The affidavit says the sale was advertised in the Lowell Morning Citizen on April 25 and May 2 and 9, 1902, and held at public auction on the premises on Thursday, May 22, 1902, at three in the afternoon, C. F. Keyes auctioneer. The margin calls the grantors the "Flint Est."
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| December 23, 1926 | Quitclaim | Everett Sutcliffe of Marblehead and Mary Elizabeth Sutcliffe of Lowell, heirs of Sarah Ann Sutcliffe, and Elizabeth A. Stevenson of Spray, N.C. | James F. Delmege and Martha B. Delmege of Billerica, husband and wife | Howarth heirs sell the two-house lot to the Delmeges | 745/149 |
Dated November 26, 1926. Quitclaim of "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon situated in the northerly village of Billerica on the northerly side of Elm Street": from a stone bound at the southeasterly corner of land of the Baptist Church, northerly by the Church land 99.69 feet, easterly and southerly by land of the Talbot Mills 89.92 and 99.72 feet, and westerly by Elm St 90 feet. "Said premises comprise two lots, with a house on each", shown on the "Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., belonging to the Estate of Elizabeth Howarth, April 16, 1925, Brooks, Jordan & Graves". The recital explains the title: "Said real estate passed by will of James Howarth who died March 16, 1914, to his widow Elizabeth Howarth, who died April 16, 1924, and by her will to said Sarah Ann Sutcliffe and Elizabeth A. Stevenson", her daughters; Sarah Ann died May 13, 1925, and her share passed to her children.
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| December 23, 1926 | Mortgage | James F. Delmege and Martha B. Delmege of Billerica | Middlesex Co-operative Bank, Lowell | Delmege purchase mortgage | 745/150 |
Dated November 26, 1926, recorded with the purchase deed. Mortgage of the two-house lot on the northerly side of Elm St (same bounds and Howarth plan) for $3,000, payable $30 a month, secured also by fifteen shares of the bank. It recites the premises as conveyed "by Everett Sutcliff, executor of the will of Elizabeth Howarth, delivered and recorded herewith". Discharged in the margin (Book 1030 Page 599).
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| November 5, 1945 | Quitclaim | Martha B. Delmege of Billerica, widow | Chester M. Wilson and Alice Y. Wilson of Waltham, husband and wife | Delmege widow sells to Chester M. and Alice Y. Wilson | 1032/366 |
Dated November 5, 1945; $6.05 in revenue stamps. Quitclaim of the lot "with the buildings thereon" on the northerly side of Elm St next to the Baptist Church, same bounds, "two lots, with a house on each", on the 1925 Howarth estate plan. "Being the same premises conveyed to me and my late husband James F. Delmege as tenants by the entirety" by Everett Sutcliffe et als in 1926 (Book 745 Page 149); "My husband James F. Delmege deceased April 12, 1937, in Billerica". The buyers gave the Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Co. a $4,000 mortgage the same day (Book 1032 Page 367).
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| December 20, 1948 | Quitclaim | Chester M. Wilson and Alice Y. Wilson of Waltham, husband and wife | Harold L. Wilson and Veronica D. Wilson of Billerica, husband and wife | Chester M. Wilson to Harold L. Wilson | 1107/163 |
Dated December 17, 1948; $7.70 in revenue stamps. Quitclaim of the same lot with the buildings on the northerly side of Elm St, "two (2) lots, with a house on each", on the 1925 Howarth plan; "For our title see deed from Martha B. Delmege to us dated November 5, 1945" (Book 1032 Page 366). The buyers mortgaged it the same day to the Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Co. for $5,000 (Book 1107 Page 164, discharged Book 1130 Page 126).
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| December 12, 1949 | Quitclaim | Harold L. Wilson and Veronica D. Wilson of Billerica, husband and wife | James Gray Sr. and Anna Gray, husband and wife | Harold L. Wilson to James and Anna Gray | 1130/37 |
Dated and acknowledged December 10, 1949, at Lowell. Grant with quitclaim covenants of the lot on the northerly side of Elm St beside the Baptist Church (99.69, 89.92, 99.72 and 90 feet), "two lots, with a house on each", on the 1925 Howarth estate plan; "Being the same premises conveyed to us by Chester M. Wilson et ux" in 1948 (Book 1107 Page 163). About $8 in revenue stamps.
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| November 22, 1955 | Quitclaim | James Gray Sr. and Anna Gray of Billerica, husband and wife | O. Edward Dutile and Mary H. Dutile, husband and wife | Grays to the Dutiles, owners into the 2000s | 1317/234 |
Acknowledged and recorded November 22, 1955 (the assessor lists it under 1963). Grant with quitclaim covenants of "the land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the northerly side of Elm Street", same bounds, "two lots, with a house on each", on the 1925 plan of the Estate of Elizabeth Howarth; title from Harold L. Wilson et ux, 1949 (Book 1130 Page 37). MACRIS recorded the Dutiles as owners in 1981. Later private transfers, summarized without names: a 2004 conveyance into a family trust (Book 17752 Page 186), a 2007 sale (Book 21458 Page 136), conversion to two condominium units by master deed in 2015 (Book 29398 Page 87) after a 2014 fire in No. 35, and a 2016 sale to a limited liability company (Book 30274 Page 49).
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| September 4, 2015 | Master Deed | The owner of 35-37 Old Elm Street (a private individual), as declarant | 35-37 Old Elm Street Condominium | master deed: 37 Old Elm St becomes Unit 1 of the 35-37 Old Elm Street Condominium | 29398/87 |
Dated August 31, 2015, 23 pages. The sole owner of "the land with the buildings thereon known as and numbered 35-37 Old Elm Street" submits it to Chapter 183A as the 35-37 Old Elm Street Condominium, two units. Exhibit A repeats the 1925 bounds (from a stone bound at the southeasterly corner of land of the Baptist Church, northerly 99.69 feet by the Church land, easterly 89.92 and southerly 99.72 feet by land of the Talbot Mills, westerly 90 feet by Elm Street), "two lots, with a house on each", on the 1925 plan of the Estate of Elizabeth Howarth (Brooks, Jordan and Graves); title by a 2007 deed (Book 21458 Page 136). Exhibit B: wood frame, Unit 1 "aluminium siding with stone features", Unit 2 vinyl siding, foundations of brick, stone and concrete, both two stories with basements. Exhibit C: Unit 1, 37 Old Elm St, 11 rooms, 3,409 square feet, 65 percent; Unit 2, 35 Old Elm St, 6 rooms (living room, kitchen, bath and three bedrooms), 1,837 square feet, 35 percent. Unit 2 has the exclusive use of the rear porch and gravel driveway marked "#35". Condominium trust recorded at Book 29398 Page 110.
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| July 28, 2016 | Quitclaim | The owner of 35-37 Old Elm Street (a private individual), individually and as trustee of the 35-37 Old Elm Street Condominium Trust | 35 Old Elm Street, LLC, North Billerica | both condominium units sold to 35 Old Elm Street, LLC, $450,000 | 30274/49 |
Dated and recorded July 28, 2016. For $450,000, quitclaim of "the land in Billerica with the buildings thereon, situated on the northerly side of Elm Street", with the 1925 bounds, "two lots, with a house on each", on the Howarth estate plan, including "Unit 1 and Unit 2 and all common areas" of the 35-37 Old Elm Street Condominium (master deed Book 29398 Page 87, trust Book 29398 Page 110); title by the 2007 deed from the trustee of a realty trust (Book 21458 Page 136). The earlier owners O. Edward and Mary H. Dutile (1955) had conveyed to a family trust in 2004 (Book 17752 Page 186), which sold in 2007 to a private owner.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.