Structure · Built 1846
George Bacon House
George Bacon House
| Address | 27 Andover Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.33 |
| Built | 1846 |
The George Bacon House is a Greek Revival house at 27 Andover Road, a short walk east of the Billerica Common, on the road the early deeds call "the road leading to Salem or Sheldon Lane". Its lot of a quarter acre and fifteen rods has kept the same bounds since 1837: about 97 feet on the road, with stone walls on the other sides that once divided it from the land of Ichabod G. Kimball.
On 3 March 1837 Ichabod G. Kimball sold the lot, "a few rods from the meeting house", to John Eames for $100, with no buildings mentioned. When Eames sold it to George Bacon on 22 October 1846 the price was $1,300 and the deed included "all the buildings standing thereon", so the house was built by Eames in the decade between. George Bacon, a yeoman who served as town treasurer, lived here with his wife Sophronia until 9 October 1855, when they sold the house, "the homestead of us the said George & Sophronia", for $2,000 to Mary L. Fox, the wife of Charles Fox, a teacher, to hold in her own right.
Mary L. Fox died on 25 July 1860. Her will left "my real estate in said Billerica, and on which I and my husband now reside" to her sons Edward A., Frederick E. and Charles J. Fox in equal shares, and in December 1861 the three sons, by then living as far away as Iowa and Tennessee, leased the house for the rest of her life to Lucia K. Sparhawk, a single woman who was already living in it and had witnessed the will. In July 1884 Charles J. Fox and his wife, of San Diego, sold the house to John H. Baker for $1,150.
John H. Baker kept the house for more than fifty years. In 1918 he had it surveyed by E. P. Sellew for registration in the Land Court; the plan shows the long house with its ell and two outbuildings, between land of Bessie A. Messer and land of the Town. The court confirmed his title in January 1931. In 1940 the property passed to Alberta L. Frost, wife of Erwin C. Frost, and in 1946 to Andrew J. Mirabella and his wife. It was sold in 1984 and in 1988 became a two-unit condominium, with an addition about the size of the original house.
Earlier accounts said Kimball laid out the lot about 1845, called the house the "Fox parsonage" and had Baker selling to the Frost family about 1900. The deeds show that the lot was sold in 1837, that the Foxes were a teacher's family rather than a minister's, and that Baker owned the house until 1940.
References
- MACRIS BIL.33
- Billerica assessor, 27 Andover Rd unit 1 (parcel 51-73-1): registered land, Land Court plan 7088-A, condominium
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| April 7, 1837 | Deed | Ichabod G. Kimball of Billerica, yeoman (Joanna P. Kimball releasing dower) | John Eames of Billerica, yeoman | Ichabod G. Kimball sells the bare lot to John Eames | 362/23 (South) |
Billerica town book 15, pages 345-346. For one hundred dollars, "a tract of land situate in Billerica a few rods from the meeting house on the road leading to Salem or Sheldon Lane so called containing half an acre more or less", north by the road 93 feet, south by land of Ichabod G. Kimball 93 feet, east and west by Kimball 145 feet, "all the corners having stake and stones". No buildings are named. Signed 3 March 1837 before Marshall Preston JP.
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| February 20, 1847 | Deed | John Eames of Billerica, Esquire (Hannah B. Eames releasing dower) | George Bacon of Billerica, yeoman | John Eames sells the house to George Bacon | 505/353 (South) |
Billerica town book 18, pages 312-313. For $1,300, "a certain tract of land situated in Billerica on the road leading to Salem containing one quarter of an acre and fifteen rods": from a corner of the wall by the Salem road at land of I. G. Kimball, south by the wall 9 rods 8 links, east 5 rods 17 links, north by a stone wall 10 rods 8 links to the road, west by the fence 6 rods 19 links, "with all the buildings standing thereon it being the same premises as described in a deed of Ichabod G. Kimball to John Eames" of 3 March 1837 (Book 362 Page 23). Signed 22 October 1846 before Dudley Foster JP, recorded 20 February 1847.
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| October 13, 1855 | Mortgage | Mary L. Fox and Charles Fox, in her right | George Bacon of Billerica | Fox purchase mortgage to Bacon | 2/270 |
Purchase-money mortgage of the same house lot, conditioned on notes "to the amount of twelve hundred dollars to the said George Bacon or order"; begins on page 270 and ends on page 271. Signed 9 October 1855, recorded 13 October 1855.
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| October 13, 1855 | Warranty Deed | George Bacon of Billerica, yeoman, and Sophronia Bacon his wife | Mary L. Fox of Billerica, wife of Charles Fox, teacher | George and Sophronia Bacon sell their homestead to Mary L. Fox | 2/271 |
For $2,000, to her sole and separate use "free from the interference or control of her said husband", the quarter acre and fifteen rods "on the road leading to Salem" with the same bounds, "with all the buildings standing thereon", being the premises of the Kimball deed to John Eames (1837) and the Eames deed to Bacon (1846), "said premises also being the homestead of us the said George & Sophronia". Signed 9 October 1855 before George H. Whitman JP, recorded 13 October 1855.
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| 1860 | Will | Estate of Mary L. Fox of Billerica | Her sons Edward A. Fox, Frederick E. Fox and Charles J. Fox | Will of Mary L. Fox leaves the house to her three sons | Probate #32183 |
Will of Mary L. Fox, wife of Charles Fox: "My real estate in said Billerica, and on which I and my husband now reside, I give devise and bequeath to my three sons, Edward A. Fox, Frederick E. Fox and Charles J. Fox in equal shares ... Said real estate I own in my own right". She died 25 July 1860; Frederick E. Fox of Boston, executor, petitioned 16 November 1860, naming the husband Charles Fox and the children Edward A. of Keokuk, Iowa, Frederick E., Charles J. of Memphis, Tennessee, Ellen L. Clark, Arthur G. Fox and a grandchild. Proved December 1860 (wills vol. 389, page 493).
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| February 6, 1862 | Lease | Edward A. Fox, Frederick E. Fox and Charles J. Fox, devisees of Mary L. Fox | Lucia K. Sparhawk of Billerica, singlewoman | Fox sons lease the house to Lucia K. Sparhawk for life | 30/174 |
Indenture of lease for "the term of her natural life" of the estate, dwelling house and premises on the road leading to Andover and Salem "where the said Sparhawk now resides and which is now in her occupation", devised to the lessors by the will of their mother Mary L. Fox (proved 1 December 1860); she pays the taxes and keeps the house in repair. Dated 24 December 1861, recorded 6 February 1862.
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| December 29, 1884 | Warranty Deed | Charles J. Fox and A. A. Fox his wife, of San Diego, California, by their attorney Charles A. Burditt | John H. Baker of Billerica | Charles J. Fox sells to John H. Baker | 171/406 |
For $1,150, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon" on "the southerly side of the road leading from Billerica Centre to Salem containing about one quarter of an acre and fifteen rods", the same bounds (land of S. G. Kimball), "being the same premises conveyed by John Eames to George Bacon" (Book 505 Page 353) "and being the same premises conveyed by said Bacon and Sophronia Bacon his wife to Mary L. Fox by deed dated the 9th day of October 1855". Signed 16 July 1884, recorded 29 December 1884.
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| December 29, 1884 | Mortgage | John H. Baker of Billerica | John Haskell of Billerica | Baker mortgage to John Haskell | 171/407 |
Mortgage deed for $800 of the same quarter acre and fifteen rods "with the buildings thereon", "being the same premises conveyed to me by Charles J. Fox and wife". Margin notes an assignment (Book 180 Page 16), a second assignment (Book 222 Page 15) and the discharge (Book 582 Page 387). Recorded 29 December 1884.
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| January 30, 1931 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 7088 | John H. Baker of Billerica, married to Cora L. Baker | Land Court registers the lot to John H. Baker | Ctf 4104 |
Original Certificate of Title on the decree of 28 January 1931 on the petition of John H. Baker: northwesterly by Andover Street 96.73 feet, northeasterly by land of Bessie A. Messer 174.01 feet, southeasterly by Henry D. Livingston et al 93.72 feet, southwesterly by the Town of Billerica 153.78 feet, as on the plan by E. P. Sellew dated 11 June 1918 (Land Court plan 7088-A). Received at Lowell 30 January 1931; cancelled for Certificate 5698.
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| August 26, 1940 | Certificate of Title | John H. Baker (Certificate 4104) | Alberta L. Frost of Billerica, married to Erwin C. Frost | Certificate to Alberta L. Frost | Ctf 5698 |
Transfer Certificate from Certificate 4104 for the same lot on plan 7088-A, entered 26 August 1940. Its memoranda record a suggestion of death of Edwin Carr Frost registered 20 July 1946 (document 17969). Cancelled for Certificate 7040.
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| July 20, 1946 | Certificate of Title | Alberta L. Frost (Certificate 5698) | Andrew J. Mirabella and his wife, of Billerica, as tenants by the entirety | Certificate to Andrew J. Mirabella and his wife; later condominium | Ctf 7040 |
Transfer Certificate from Certificate 5698 for the same lot on plan 7088-A, entered 20 July 1946. Its memoranda record the death of Andrew Joseph Mirabella on 29 June 1971 (registered 1984). Cancelled in 1984 by a deed (document 101825) to a private owner (Certificate 25995); in 1988 the house became the two-unit 27 Andover Road Condominium (Land Court plan 7088-CONDO), whose units have since been sold privately.
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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.