Structure · Built 1807 · Demolished 1987
Edward Farmer House
Edward Farmer House
| Address | 2 Riverbank Tr |
| Built | 1807 |
| Demolished | 1987 |
The Edward Farmer House was the farmhouse of a hundred-acre farm on the Boston Road in the southeastern corner of Billerica, between the Shawsheen River and the Burlington line. The 1853 Walling map labels it "J. Harnden", for Joshua Harnden Jr., who owned it from 1853 to 1883, and the corner of Boston Road where it stood was long known as Harnden's Corner. The house stood on what are now lots 79 and 80 of the Homestead Plot in Riverbank Terrace, at 2 Riverbank Trail, until it was replaced by the present house in 1987.
The earliest owner the records show with the house is Edward Farmer (born 1755), a son of Andrew Farmer, who married Hannah Shed, daughter of the neighbor Samuel Shed of Burlington, in 1783. When Edward died without a will in 1807 his inventory began with "The homestead of said deceased containing 120 acres of land with the buildings thereon", valued at $3,400, with outlying pasture and the Stickney meadow, an ox cart, six cows, a loom and "9 barrels of Cider". Samuel Shed administered the estate, Hannah's dower was set off to her in 1808, and the farm passed to the only son, Cyrus Farmer. How Edward Farmer acquired the homestead has not been found; the deeds of the 1780s to the several Edward Farmers of Billerica describe other lots.
Cyrus Farmer married Margaret Tufts Richardson in December 1813 and died four months later. His will, made "weak in body" on March 31, 1814, left "all my freehold estate" to "my beloved Wife Margaret Farmer"; the inventory valued "The Homestead farm with all the buildings thereon" at $2,519. Margaret married Michael Crosby in 1816, and the couple lived on the farm. In November 1824 Michael Crosby Jr. and "Margaret T. Crosby wife of said Michael in her right" sold "the farm recently occupied by the said Michael", one hundred acres "with the buildings thereon standing" from the brook by Carter's cider mill to the Burlington line, together with "the plain" by the Shawsheen bridge and an upper pasture, to David Fitch Jr. of Bedford for $2,500. The sale reserved the widow Hannah Farmer's dower in part of the farm and her use "of a part of the new barn during her life". Fitch gave a mortgage back, which was assigned to Josiah Crosby; in 1834 Crosby's administrator released it.
The farm, "now occupied by David Fitch Jr.", was sold in 1841 to Isaac Shattuck Jr. of West Cambridge, in 1844 to Winslow Battles, a Dorchester teacher, and on April 1, 1853 to Joshua Harnden Jr. of Wilmington for $3,000, each time "with the buildings thereon standing". Harnden lived there until his death on May 15, 1883, and his children Lydia A., George F. and Catharine Harnden kept the farm. After her brother and sister died, Catharine Harnden sold the hundred acres "with the buildings thereon standing", and the Plain by the river, to Aaron Adelman of Boston in August 1911.
Adelman laid the farm out as Riverbank Terrace (C. A. Thayer, May 1911), with a street named Harnden Street, and the Plain as Riverbank Acres. Block 29, at the corner of Main Street (Boston Road), Burlington Road and River Road, was left whole on the plan with the farmhouse drawn on it. In December 1916 Adelman divided this "Homestead Plot" into lots 56 to 80 (Plan Book 35, Plan 3) and sold them all to Thomas W. Donovan of Boston, whose mortgages of 1916 and 1923 cover the lots "together with all the buildings thereon". Donovan's heirs, Alice L. Donovan and Lillian G. Murray, sold lots 73 to 80 "together with the buildings thereon" to Hugh J. and Florence F. McAdam in 1946.
The house then passed through several private owners (1953, 1958, 1970), each deed conveying lots 79 and 80 "with the buildings thereon". The last of them sold in August 1987 to a group of local builders, who took the old house down and built the present gambrel house on the lot later that year; it was sold in December 1987 and has had private owners since.
References
- Billerica assessor, 2 Riverbank Tr (parcel 106-339-1): house built about 1987, Riverbank Terrace Block 29 Lot 80, sales from 1987
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register: Farmer 13 (Edward Farmer m. Hannah Shed; son Cyrus d. 1814) and Crosby 21 (Michael Crosby m. 1816 Margaret, widow of Cyrus Farmer)
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1807 | Administration and Dower | Estate of Edward Farmer of Billerica, yeoman | Samuel Shed of Burlington, administrator; Hannah Farmer, widow; Cyrus Farmer, only heir | Edward Farmer's homestead "with the buildings thereon", 1807 | Probate #7182 |
Edward Farmer died intestate in 1807. His widow Hannah (a daughter of the abutter Samuel Shed) declined administration on September 30 1807, and Samuel Shed of Burlington was appointed October 8 1807, there being "only one son & he a minor". The inventory taken December 25 1807 by Oliver Crosby, James Bennett and John Walker begins with "The homestead of said deceased containing 120 acres of land with the buildings thereon" at $3,400, then a 16 acre pasture, the Stickney Meadow, the Dodge and Ditson plain (28 acres), half a pew and half a stable at the meeting house; personal estate $799.33, including oxen, six cows, an ox cart, a loom and "9 barrels of Cider & the Casks". On Hannah's petition commissioners were appointed February 18 1808 to set off her dower. The account was allowed January 16 1812 with the consent of the widow and of John Walker, guardian of "Cyrus Farmer the only heir of said Estate".
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| 1814 | Will | Estate of Cyrus Farmer of Billerica, yeoman | His wife Margaret Farmer (later Margaret T. Crosby) | Cyrus Farmer's will: the homestead farm to his wife Margaret | Probate #7177 |
Will of Cyrus Farmer, "weak in body", signed March 31 1814 (witnesses Josiah Batchelder, Amariah Preston, Josiah Crosby Jr.): one third of his personal estate to "my beloved Mother Hannah Farmer", and to "my beloved Wife Margaret Farmer ... and to her heirs and assigns forever, all my freehold estate", with the rest of the personal estate; William Richardson of Billerica, gentleman, executor. Proved at Woburn April 27 1814 with Hannah Farmer's assent. The inventory by Oliver Crosby, Joseph Locke and James Bennett values "The Homestead farm with all the buildings thereon" at $2,519, with the Goldings lot, the upper pasture, the Stickney lot, the Ditson plain and the Dodge plain; household goods include a loom "and weaving apparatus" and a cartridge box. Cyrus had married Margaret Tufts Richardson in December 1813 and died April 14 1814.
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| September 1, 1827 | Warranty Deed | Michael Crosby Jr. of Billerica, gentleman, and Margaret T. Crosby his wife, in her right | David Fitch Jr. of Bedford, yeoman | the Crosbys sell the farm with the buildings to David Fitch Jr. | 276/264 (South) |
Billerica town book 12, pages 562-565. For $2,500, "the farm recently occupied by the said Michael situate in the southeasterly part of said Billerica on the Boston road containing one hundred acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing", from the brook by Carter's cider mill easterly by the great road to the Burlington line at Samuel Shed's, by the town line and Shed's orchard wall to the road from Shed's to the Middlesex Turnpike, by land occupied by Edward Bennet to the Shawshean River, and back by Francis Carter, the brook and the Brook pasture wall; "Also another piece of land (called the plain)", 20 acres from the river near the Shawshean Bridge by the Boston road to Jonathan Bowers Esq., William Richardson and Capt. James Jaquith; and "the upper pasture", 12 acres, on the east side of the great road. Excepted is "the life estate or right of dower which the widow Hannah Farmer has in part of the above described premises" as set off by the commissioners, "and also the use to her ... of a part of the new barn during her life". Signed November 24 1824, recorded September 1 1827. Fitch mortgaged the farm back to Michael Crosby Jr. the same day.
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| June 28, 1834 | Administrator's Release | Joseph Locke of Lowell, Esq., administrator de bonis non of the estate of Josiah Crosby of Billerica | David Fitch Jr. of Billerica | release of the 1824 mortgage on the farm | 333/486 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 599-600. For $900, Locke releases all the right Josiah Crosby had at his death "in and to a certain farm with the buildings thereon, situate in the southeasterly part of said Billerica containing one hundred and forty acres more or less and is the same farm now occupied by said Fitch and which he conveyed by mortgage deed to Michael Crosby Jr. November 24th 1824 and which mortgage was afterwards assigned by said Michael to the said Josiah". The purchase money mortgage of 1824 (town book 13, page 399) is thus paid off. Signed April 1 1834.
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| October 1, 1841 | Deed | David Fitch, with his wife Olive Fitch releasing dower | Isaac Shattuck Jr. of West Cambridge, gentleman | Fitch to Isaac Shattuck Jr.: the farm with the buildings | 408/235 (South) |
Billerica town book 17, pages 203-205. Signed and acknowledged Sept. 28, 1841 before Marshall Preston, recorded Oct. 1, 1841. For $3,000, "a certain farm situate in the southeasterly part of Billerica ... on the Boston road now occupied by David Fitch Jr., containing one hundred acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing", from the brook by Carter's cider mill easterly by the great road to the Burlington line, by Samuel Shed, the road from Shed's to the Middlesex Turnpike, Edward Bennett, the Shawsheen River and Francis Carter; "also another piece of land called the Plain", twenty acres, "beginning at Shawsheen river near the bridge", easterly by the Boston road to land formerly of Jonathan Bowers Esq., southerly by Bowers to land formerly of William Richardson, westerly by Richardson and Capt. James Jaquith to the river. The Plain is the land later laid out as Riverbank Acres.
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| April 16, 1844 | Deed | Isaac Shattuck Jr., with his wife Lucy W. Shattuck releasing dower | Winslow Battles of Dorchester, teacher | Shattuck to Winslow Battles | 441/283 (South) |
Billerica town book 16, pages 501-503. Signed and acknowledged April 13, 1844 before Marshall Preston. The same farm of "one hundred acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing" on the Boston road, with the same bounds, and "another piece of land called the Plain situate in said Billerica containing twenty acres more or less", beginning at the Shawsheen River near the bridge. A mortgage back to Shattuck was recorded with it (town book 16, page 499).
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| April 5, 1853 | Warranty Deed | Winslow Battles of Dorchester, teacher | Joshua Harnden Jr. of Wilmington, yeoman | Battles to Joshua Harnden Jr., the J. Harnden of the 1853 map | 649/12 (South) |
Billerica town book 19, pages 460-462. Signed and acknowledged at Dorchester April 1, 1853 before Eben Clapp, recorded April 5, 1853. For $3,000, "a certain farm situated in the southeasterly part of Billerica ... on the Boston road so called containing one hundred acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing", from the brook by Carter's cider mill to the Burlington line, and "another piece of land called the 'Plain'", twenty acres, beginning "at Shawsheen River near the bridge", by the Boston road, Jonathan Bowers, William Richardson, Capt. James Jaquith and the river. The 1911 deed of the same land recites this deed as Joshua Harnden Jr.'s title.
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| April 5, 1853 | Mortgage | Joshua Harnden Jr. of Wilmington, yeoman | David Fitch of Bedford, yeoman | Harnden mortgage to David Fitch | 649/13 (South) |
Billerica town book 19, pages 462-463. For $1,500, the same farm on the Boston road, "one hundred acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing", and the lot "called the 'Plain'", twenty acres near the bridge over the Shawsheen, with a proviso for repayment: a mortgage to the earlier owner, given with the purchase.
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| August 16, 1911 | Quitclaim | Catharine Harnden of Billerica, unmarried, surviving heir of Joshua Harnden Jr. | Aaron Adelman of Boston | Catharine Harnden sells the farm to Aaron Adelman | 472/461 |
Signed and acknowledged Aug. 14, 1911 before Philip A. Hendrick. For one dollar and other valuable considerations, "a certain farm situated in the southeasterly part of said Billerica, on the Boston road so called, containing one hundred (100) acres more or less, with the buildings thereon standing", and "another piece of land, called the 'Plain'", thirty-three acres, "beginning at Shawsheen River near the bridge, thence running easterly by the said Boston road to land formerly of Jonathan Bowers". Being the premises conveyed to Joshua Harnden Jr. by Winslow Battles on April 1, 1853; excepting land sold to Eliza B. Mixon in 1910. The deed recites that Joshua died May 15, 1883 "leaving no widow and his only heirs at law Lydia A., George F. and Catharine Harnden", and that Lydia A. died Nov. 1, 1901 and George F. on Feb. 18, 1910. Adelman's A. Adelman Realty Company laid out the farm as Riverbank Terrace and the Plain as Riverbank Acres.
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| August 16, 1911 | Mortgage | Aaron Adelman of Boston | Catharine Harnden of Billerica | Adelman mortgage; partial releases as the lots sold | 472/463 |
Purchase money mortgage for $10,000 on the same farm of one hundred acres "with the buildings thereon" on the Boston road, and the Plain. The margin notes a notice of lis pendens, assignments of the mortgage to Joseph P. Morse and to Samuel Lebowich, and a series of partial releases from 1911 to 1914 as Adelman sold the Riverbank Acres and Riverbank Terrace lots.
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| November 30, 1917 | Warranty Deed | Aaron Adelman of Boston, with his wife Rose Adelman | Thomas W. Donovan of Boston | Adelman sells the Homestead Plot (Block 29) to Donovan | 581/344 |
Lots 56 through 80 "located on Main Street, River Road and Parker Terrace, as shown on sub-division plan of Homestead Plot in block twenty-nine (29) on plan of Riverbank Terrace recorded ... Book 29 Plan 25. Said Sub-division plan being recorded herewith" (Plan Book 35, Plan 3). Block 29 was the Harnden homestead, left whole on the 1911 Riverbank Terrace plan with the farmhouse drawn on it. Signed December 18 1916. The next deed is Donovan's mortgage back to Adelman for $1,100 on the same lots "Together with all the buildings thereon" (Book 581, Page 345).
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| January 3, 1924 | Mortgage | Thomas W. Donovan of Boston, with his wife Julia F. Donovan | Lillian G. Murray of Boston | Donovan mortgage of the Homestead Plot with the buildings | 698/401 |
For $5,000 in three years at six per cent, "the land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica", lots 56 to 80 on Main Street, River Road and Parker Terrace, Homestead Plot in Block 29 of Riverbank Terrace, "being the same premises" conveyed by Aaron Adelman December 18 1916 (Book 581 Page 344). Signed December 29 1923. Discharged (Book 784, Page 210).
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| September 20, 1946 | Quitclaim | Alice L. Donovan and Lillian G. Murray, joint tenants, of Boston | Hugh J. McAdam and Florence F. McAdam, joint tenants, of Billerica | Donovan heirs sell lots 73-80 with the buildings | 1053/501 |
"Being lots 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79 and 80, together with the buildings thereon, located on Main Street, River Road and Parker Terrace", Homestead Plot, Plan Book 29 Plan 25, the plan "being registered with deed of Aaron Adelman to Thomas W. Donovan, dated December 18, 1916 ... Book 581, page 344. These lots being a part of the premises described therein." Signed June 24 1946; the buyers gave back a $2,100 mortgage (same page). Florence F. McAdam died September 24 1948. Later transfers, all to private owners, are summarized without names: 1953 (Book 1235, Pages 175-176), 1958 (Book 1426, Page 325), 1970 (Book 1944, Page 238), and August 1987 (Book 4199, Pages 251 and 255), each "with the buildings thereon"; the old house was then taken down and the present house built and sold in December 1987 (Book 4349, Page 72), with later private sales in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2002.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.