Bernard W. Kearney

Bernard W. Kearney (about 1865-1942) was a Billerica teamster who held town offices for more than thirty years, as a surveyor of wood and lumber, a Public Weigher, a Water Commissioner and a member of the Finance Committee. The town records almost always give his middle initial as W.; a few entries of 1915 to 1917 print it as F. He lived on High Street, where the selectmen put up new street lights near his house in 1915. On November 23, 1898, he married Katherine A. Gannon of Billerica.

For years the town hired his teams and labor, for snow work, road work and hauling pipe for the water department. Town meeting first named him among the measurers of wood and lumber in 1908, and chose him again every year until 1942; for some years he was also one of the public weighers appointed by the selectmen. He was elected a Water Commissioner in 1915 and was chairman of the board by 1917, serving with Warren Holden and Frank L. Day.

In 1917 he was chairman of a town meeting committee, with Albert H. Richardson and Nathaniel R. Jones, on additional water storage. They had the engineers Metcalf and Eddy drain and inspect the standpipe, learned that a new concrete reservoir would cost at least $60,000, and recommended that new storage be "indefinitely postponed" because of the high cost of materials and labor, that the old standpipe be repaired and painted, and that the mains on Boston Road and High Street be connected. The commissioners later reported the standpipe "painted inside and out" for $955.97. He served on the Finance Committee from 1918 into the late 1920s, and in 1931 on a committee to examine old bills of the highway department.

By 1933 he was listed as retired, but he was still chosen a surveyor of wood and lumber. At the annual town meeting of 1941, at his request, the assembly "stood at salute for one minute in respect to the flag." He died on November 28, 1942, aged 77.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1899, marriages recorded in 1898 (Bernard W. Kearney and Katherine A. Gannon, Nov. 23)
2. Billerica Town Report 1915, selectmen's report (street lights on High Street near the residence of Bernard Kearney)
3. Billerica Town Report 1917, list of town officers (Kearney, Chairman of Water Commissioners)
4. Billerica Town Report 1917, report of the Committee on Water Storage signed by B. W. Kearney, Chairman
5. Billerica Town Report 1917, report of the Water Commissioners on painting the standpipe
6. Billerica Town Report 1919, Finance Committee appointed by the Moderator (Bernard W. Kearney)
7. Billerica Town Report 1941, annual town meeting (salute to the flag at the request of Bernard W. Kearney)
8. Billerica Town Report 1942, deaths recorded in 1942 (Bernard W. Kearney, Nov. 28, aged 77)