Dutton - Holden Homestead
Dutton - Holden Homestead
| Also Known As | Jonathan Dutton House |
| Address | 28 Pond St |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.161 |
| Built | 1724 |
The Dutton - Holden Homestead stands back from the west side of Pond Street a short way northeast of the Center, a two and a half story, center-chimney farmhouse with a rear lean-to, a long east wing and, at its end, the small shoe shop of the Holden family, raised in the 19th century over a carriage house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as a well preserved evolved farmhouse, and the shoe shop is a rare survivor of Billerica's home industries.
In the last great division of the common land, in 1706, John Dutton and Ebenezer Farley received the land between the Township, Pond Street and Salem Road. On Dec. 9, 1723 John gave his son Jonathan, the first of his sons to marry, "one Messuage or Tract of Land ... containing eighty acres ... of upland and meadow," bounded east "by the Road to Andover," "with all the Buildings fences and Trees thereon." Tradition, followed by the Historical Commission in 1976, holds that Jonathan built the house about 1724 and sold it to his brother Samuel, a blacksmith, when he moved to Tewksbury in 1732. The National Register study found the visible framing and finish to be later, about 1750 to 1770, so the present house may be a rebuilding or enlargement of the Duttons' house. After Samuel died in 1737 his widow Hannah kept the "west room" of the "most northerly house," and his son Samuel Jr., then of Bedford, sold the farm of about 36 acres in the 1740s to Thomas Kidder, who lived on the farm next door and may have fitted it up for his son.
Between 1765 and 1767 Kidder sold the farm to Deacon Joshua Davis, a selectman and a leader of the town's Revolutionary committees, and after his death in 1777 it passed to his son Timothy, who sold it in 1785 to John Soley, a Charlestown and Boston merchant who used it as a country seat and bought one of the costliest pews in the new meetinghouse. Soley died a bankrupt in 1801, and on July 16, 1802 his heirs and the assignee of his estate sold the farm "together with all the buildings standing thereon," with his share of pew No. 20, to Thomas Holden of Woburn, a shoemaker.
Three generations of Holdens worked the farm. Thomas's son Amasa Holden (1813-1876) enlarged it to 88 acres, raised hay, peas and potatoes and a large orchard crop, made shoes in the shop, and served as a selectman in 1855 and 1856; his will left the farm to his son Warren on condition that he support his stepmother. Warren Holden turned to market gardening and poultry and served on the Board of Public Welfare and the Water Commission. Shortly before his death in 1928 he deeded the farm to a relative, Lester Holden of Stoneham, who sold it in 1929 to Forrest F. Collier, a lawyer and treasurer of the Billerica Trust Company. Collier laid out most of the land as "Pondale Acres" in 1936, sold the barn lot to the Odd Fellows in 1950 (see Dutton Barn), and the same year gave the house to his son Dudley F. Collier and his wife, who cared for it for more than forty years. After Dudley's death the house lot of about 1.7 acres was sold in 1992 to private owners, who had it listed on the National Register.
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 9, 1723 | Gift | John Dutton of Billerica | Jonathan Dutton, his son | John Dutton's gift of eighty acres to his son Jonathan | 33/249 (South) |
Deed of gift "for and in Consideration of the Love and affection which I have and do bear unto my son Jonathan Dutton ... and in full of his part and portion in my Estate": "one Messuage or Tract of Land situate in Billerica aforesaid containing eighty acres be it more or less of upland and meadow bounded Northward by the Land of Ebenezer Farley eastward by the Road to Andover Southward by the Land of Samuel Shelden westward by my own Land," running from a stake at the southwest corner in a straight line "to the long Dam" and to a pine tree by Ebenezer Farley's field marked D, reserving convenient ways to his own land and excepting about twelve acres of Enoch Kidder's within the bounds, "with all the Buildings fences and Trees thereon standing or being," the land and buildings valued at two hundred pounds. Dated Dec. 9, 1723. Billerica town book 5 page 1.
Title passed to:
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| July 26, 1802 | Warranty | Nathan and Hannah Adams, Samuel and Mary Soley of Charlestown, and John Ward Gurley of Boston, assignee of the estate of John Soley, a bankrupt | Thomas Holden of Woburn | Soley heirs and assignee to Thomas Holden; Holden and Collier ownership to 1992 noted | 146/297 (South) |
For $1,080, "four undivided fifth parts of a certain piece of land together with all the buildings standing thereon situated in Billerica ... which said land is the same which was conveyed by a certain deed given by Timothy Davis & Martha Davis to John Soley late of said Boston merchant deceased" (Southern Registry Book 89 Page 456; town book 7 page 505), with four fifths of a ten acre lot on Fox Hill that Soley bought of Ben. Davis, "Also the four undivided fifth part of pew No 20 in the Meeting house in said Billerica." Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Soley, released her dower. Dated July 16, 1802, acknowledged at Boston and Charlestown July 17 and recorded July 26, 1802. The remaining fifth came to Holden by a second deed (town book 10 page 174, not read). The farm stayed with Thomas Holden (d. 1842), his son Amasa (d. 1876) and grandson Warren Holden (d. 1928), then went to Lester Holden and in 1929 to Forrest F. Collier; on Sept. 15, 1950 Collier deeded the house lot to his son Dudley F. Collier and his wife, and in December 1992, after Dudley's death, Lot A, 73,100 square feet "with buildings thereon" on the westerly side of Pond Street (Plan Book 68 Plan 89A), was sold to private owners for $164,000 (Book 6238 Page 249). Billerica town book 10 pages 152-153.
Title from:
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.