Bicknell Town Forest
The Bicknell Town Forest is a wooded town forest of 15 acres on Bicknell Road near Cook Street, on the edge of Pinehurst, close to the New England Power Company's land at 16 Bicknell Road. The town reports long spelled the road and the forest "Bignell"; the assessors now list the parcel as "BICKNELL TOWN FOREST", under the care of the Conservation Commission.
The land was a 15-acre lot among the lands of the Bennett and Gleason families. George Bennett sold it to Abel Harrington in 1850, and on October 21, 1890 Abel W. Harrington of Burlington gave it, "in consideration of love and affection", to his daughter Ellen M. Harrington: a tract "in the easterly part of Billerica" beginning on "the road leading from Billerica to Wilmington" at the land of William S. Gleason, running by the Gleason land to an oak tree and "southerly on land now or formerly of Joshua Bennett to the road leading to the residence of the late James Bennett". As Ellen M. Hanson she and her husband Walter A. Hanson sold the fifteen acres on October 22, 1898 to Frank H. and J. Watson Alexander of Billerica, whose deed calls the road "the Bennett Road so called", and on November 5, 1898 the Alexanders sold the lot to Daniel Gage of Lowell, the ice dealer. Gage died in February 1901; Martina A. Gage of Lowell administered his estate and held the lot afterwards. In 1928 she granted the New England Power Construction Company a perpetual easement for a line of towers on "a strip of my land 250 feet in width, in Billerica".
Martina A. Gage's will, dated February 5, 1935, left "all my real estate situated outside of Lowell to the city or town in which the same may be located". The special town meeting of November 4, 1935 accepted her Billerica land "for the benefit of the poor of said Town", and in 1936 the town meeting voted that it "be transferred to the Town Forest Committee for their supervision". Besides this lot the bequest included a woodlot on the Rangeway Road (the Rangeway Town Forest) and land at Nutting Lake. The Town Forest Committee's reports name the lot only now and then: in 1965 it allowed a neighbour "to fill and cover trash along the edge of Martina Gage's Town Forest on Bignell Road", and in 1974 the power company, "who have right of ways through the Town Forest", received a cease and desist order "for removing trees from the Town Forest on Bignell Road", and the town recovered damages. In 1977 the town meeting turned down a proposal to buy a 4.6-acre lot from the power company near Munroe and Allard Ways and Bignell Road.
On October 7, 1997 the town meeting disbanded the Town Forest Committee and gave the Conservation Commission the care of the five town forests, among them the "Bignell Town Forest". The road itself was accepted as a public way, "Bicknell Road ... from Cook Street to the Burlington town line", in 1996. The records read for this article do not say how the road came by the name Bignell or Bicknell; the deeds of the 1890s knew it as the road to the Bennett homestead.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | Deed | George Bennett | Abel Harrington | George Bennett sells the tract to Abel Harrington (1850) | 584/352 (South) |
Dated February 27, 1850 (Middlesex South; known from the recital in Book 219, Page 381). George Bennett conveys to Abel Harrington the tract in the easterly part of Billerica between the road to Wilmington and the road to the Bennett homestead.
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| December 2, 1890 | Deed | Abel W. Harrington of Burlington, otherwise known as Abel Harrington, having no wife | His daughter Ellen M. Harrington of Burlington | Abel W. Harrington gives the tract to his daughter Ellen M. Harrington (1890) | 219/381 |
Signed and acknowledged October 21, 1890 before John W. Johnson, recorded December 2, 1890 (pages 381 and 382). "In consideration of love and affection and of one dollar", a half-acre house lot in the southeasterly part of Burlington, "Also a certain tract of land situated in the easterly part of Billerica", "Beginning on the road leading from Billerica to Wilmington at the north corner at land now or formerly of William S. Gleason; thence southeasterly on said Gleason's land and land now or formerly of Josiah B. Gleason to an oak tree; thence southerly on land now or formerly of Joshua Bennett to the road leading to the residence of the late James Bennett", and back by the roads to the first bound, "excepting however out of this conveyance that portion of said lot heretofore conveyed by me to one Bryant", "Being the same premises described in a deed to the grantor from George Bennett dated February 27, 1850 and recorded with Middlesex Deeds Book 584, Page 352."
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| October 26, 1898 | Warranty Deed | Walter A. Hanson and Ellen M. Hanson, his wife, in her own right, both of Burlington | Frank H. Alexander and J. Watson Alexander, both of Billerica | Walter A. and Ellen M. Hanson sell the 15 acres on the Bennett Road to Frank H. and J. Watson Alexander (1898) | 302/55 |
Signed and acknowledged October 22, 1898 before John G. Maguire, recorded October 26, 1898 at 2 PM (pages 55 and 56). For one dollar and other valuable consideration, "a certain tract of land situated in the easterly part of said Billerica, containing fifteen acres more or less", beginning "at the north corner of the granted premises at a ditch at land now or late of Bryant and by land now or formerly of William S. Gleason", southeasterly by the Gleason lands "to an oak tree; thence southerly on land now or formerly of Heirs of Joshua Bennett to the Bennett Road so called; thence northerly on said Road to the ditch at land now or late of Bryant; thence easterly on said ditch and land of Bryant to the bound first mentioned", "Being the second tract conveyed to said Ellen M. Hanson under the name of Ellen M. Harrington in deed from Abel Harrington, dated October 21 1890 ... Book 219 Page 381."
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 5, 1898 | Warranty Deed | Frank H. Alexander and J. Watson Alexander, both of Billerica, with Mary C. Alexander and Alice B. Alexander | Daniel Gage of Lowell | The Alexanders sell the 15 acres to Daniel Gage of Lowell (1898) | 302/158 |
Signed and acknowledged November 5, 1898 before Joseph P. Thompson, recorded November 5, 1898 at 12:50 PM (pages 158 and 159). For one dollar and other good and valuable consideration, with warranty covenants, "a certain tract of land situated in the easterly part of said Billerica containing fifteen acres more or less", with the same bounds as in October, "southerly on land now or formerly of Heirs of Joshua Bennett to the Bennett Road so called; thence northerly on said road to the ditch at land now or late of Bryant", "Being the same premises to us conveyed by Walter A. Hanson and Ellen M. Hanson his wife by their deed dated October 22, 1898" (Book 302, Page 55). Mary C. and Alice B. Alexander, their wives, release dower and homestead. Daniel Gage (1828 to 1901) was the Lowell ice dealer.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 10, 1928 | Easement | Martina A. Gage of Lowell, single | New England Power Construction Company | Martina A. Gage grants New England Power a 250-foot power line easement over her Billerica land (1928) | 770/300 |
Signed and acknowledged October 30, 1928 before Wm. E. Pearson, recorded November 10, 1928 at 8:30 AM. "For consideration paid", with warranty covenants, "the perpetual right and easement" to build, maintain and patrol lines of towers or poles for high and low voltage electric current and telephone use "over, across and upon a strip of my land 250 feet in width, in Billerica", the strip "to commence at land now or formerly of Dominick Flaherty and or one Richardson and extend to land now or formerly of Joshua Holden", to be fixed by the company's final survey plan, with the right to keep it cleared of trees, underbrush and structures. The deed does not say which of her Billerica lots it crosses; it is her only Billerica grant in the 1926-1940 grantor index, and the Town Forest Committee later reported the company's rights of way "through the Town Forest on Bignell Road".
Related:
|
|||||
| 1935 | Will | Martina A. Gage, late of Lowell | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica | Martina A. Gage leaves her Billerica land to the town; accepted 1935, given to the Town Forest Committee 1936 | ?/? (Probate) |
Will dated February 5, 1935, probated in the Probate Court for Middlesex County (case number not found). "I give, devise and bequeath all my real estate situated outside of Lowell to the city or town in which the same may be located." Her Billerica land included the 25-acre woodlot on the Rangeway Road and the Middlesex Turnpike (bought by Daniel Gage in 1900, Book 315, Page 292), the 15-acre lot on the Bennett (Bignell, now Bicknell) Road (bought by Daniel Gage in 1898, Book 302, Page 158) and land at Nutting Lake. The special town meeting of November 4, 1935 (Article 7) "Voted to accept the real estate situate in Billerica ... bequeathed to the Town of Billerica under the Will of Martina A. Gage ... for the benefit of the poor of said Town", and the 1936 annual town meeting (Article 17) voted that the property "be transferred to the Town Forest Committee for their supervision".
Title from:
|
|||||
Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Annual Reports 1935-1939: acceptance of the Gage bequest (1935), transfer to the Town Forest Committee (1936), hurricane timber in the Gage Lot (1939)
- Annual Reports 1965-1967: permission to fill and cover trash along the edge of "Martina Gage's Town Forest on Bignell Road" (1965)
- Annual Report 1974: New England Power ordered to stop removing trees from the Town Forest on Bignell Road; damages recovered
- Annual Report 1998: October 7, 1997 town meeting puts the "Bignell Town Forest" under the Conservation Commission
- Wikipedia: Daniel Gage (1828-1901), the "Ice King of Lowell"
- Annual Report 1977: town meeting rejects buying a 4.6-acre New England Power lot near Munroe and Allard Ways and Bignell Road
- Annual Report 1996: acceptance of Bicknell Road, Cook Street to the Burlington line, as a public way