Structure · Built 1905
Hannah Kenney House
The Hannah Kenney House is a small one-family house at 15 Call Street in North Billerica, on the south side of Call Street just west of Myrtle Street. It stands on a narrow lot seventy feet wide and 363 feet deep that was cut from farmland in 1903, and the house was built on it between 1903 and 1908, about 1905. A rear ell is attached behind the main house.
The land was part of the farm that Robert Call bought from Samuel Rogers in 1852, sixty acres between the Fordway Road (now Pollard Street) and the Concord River. Call laid out "the new road so called" through his farm, the street that now carries his name. On July 10, 1880 he sold ten acres on the south side of the new road to Owen Murningham for $600, bounded by land Call sold the same day to Hannah L. Salter, by Patrick Riley, and by "my own land". Anthony Jones, who held a mortgage on the Call farm, released the Murningham and Salter parcels from it the same day. Owen Murningham, an Irish-born farmer who lived on Pollard Street, kept the ten acres, which his family later laid out as the Concord River Park Annex.
On July 1, 1903 Owen Murningham and his wife Mary deeded to Hannah Kenney of Billerica, for one dollar, "a certain lot of land on the easterly side of Call St", seventy feet on the street between land of one Falls and other Murningham land and 363 feet deep. The deed names no buildings. When Hannah Kenney conveyed the same lot to Mary Kenney and Kate Kenney on April 25, 1908, it was "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon", so the house had been built in the meantime. A Hannah Kenney, aged 68, died in Billerica in March 1912.
Mary and Kate Kenney, both unmarried, sold the house in July 1919 to the sisters Margaret C. Fitzpatrick and Annie L. Fitzpatrick of Billerica. In April 1939 the sisters deeded it to Mary E. Hodnett of Lowell, who deeded it back to them the same day "as joint tenants and not as tenants in common", so that the survivor would hold the whole. Margaret died first, and on July 29, 1954 Annie L. Fitzpatrick sold the house to a private owner.
The house has been in private hands since 1954, changing owners in 1969, 1971 and several times since. Every deed through the 1980s repeats the old description, seventy feet on Call Street and bounded on the east by the Murningham land "now supposed to be Myrtle Street". The assessor dates the house to about 1810, but the deeds show that the lot was bare farmland until 1903.
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Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| March 8, 1852 | Deed | Samuel Rogers of Billerica, gentleman; Sarah Rogers, his wife, releasing dower | Robert Call of Billerica, yeoman | Robert Call buys the farm from Samuel Rogers, including this land | 626/205 (South) |
Billerica town book 19, pages 215-217. "In consideration of Twenty seven hundred and fifty dollars", "a certain piece or parcel of land with the buildings on the same" in Billerica "containing sixty acres more or less", bounded by other Rogers land, the wall of William Pollard, the "Ford way Road", other Pollard land and the Concord River. "The premises hereby conveyed being a part of the farm owned by said Samuel Rogers." Reserves to Call a right of way forever open from his house easterly to the road from Billerica Mills to the centre of the town. Call assumes mortgages to Jonas Parker (Nov 25, 1844, $1,099.53) and Albert Marshall (Nov 29, 1851, $500). Dated March 6, 1852. The six-acre lot that became the school site was part of this farm.
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| July 20, 1880 | Partial Release of Mortgage | Anthony Jones of Billerica, mortgagee | Robert Call of Billerica | mortgage on the Call farm released from the Murningham ten acres | 140/452 |
Dated July 10, 1880, acknowledged July 19 before Dudley Foster, Justice of the Peace. Anthony Jones, mortgagee "named in certain mortgage deed given by Robert Call" to him, for $900 paid by Call releases "so much of said mortgaged property" as is described in Call's deed to Hannah L. Salter of June 11, 1877 (half an acre, Book 126, Page 514), his deed to her of July 10, 1880 (five and three quarter acres), and "one of Robert Call to Owen Murningham dated July 10th 1880 containing ten acres", "intending to quitclaim only so much". This cleared the Murningham ten acres for sale.
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| August 3, 1880 | Warranty Deed | Robert Call of Billerica; Mehitable G. Call, his wife, releasing dower and homestead | Owen Murningham of Billerica | Robert Call sells ten acres on Call Street to Owen Murningham | 140/538 |
Dated July 10, 1880; acknowledged July 19 before Dudley Foster, Justice of the Peace. For $600, "the following described tract of land situate in Billerica containing ten acres more or less": beginning at a bound at "the new road so called" (Call Street) at land "this day conveyed by me to Hannah L. Salter", southerly by the Salter land to land of Patrick Riley, easterly by Riley about forty rods to a bound at "my own land", northerly by Call's own land in a straight line to the new road, and westerly by the road about forty rods. No buildings are named and there is no title recital: the land was part of the farm Robert Call bought from Samuel Rogers in 1852. Owen Murningham's ten acres were later laid out as the Concord River Park Annex.
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| July 10, 1903 | Warranty Deed | Owen Murningham of Billerica; Mary E. Murningham, his wife, releasing dower and homestead | Hannah Kenney of Billerica | Murningham deeds the bare house lot to Hannah Kenney | 356/353 |
Pages 353-354. Dated July 1, 1903, acknowledged before Joseph P. Thompson, Justice of the Peace; recorded July 10, 1903. For one dollar, "a certain lot of land on the easterly side of Call St in said Billerica": beginning on the street at land of one Falls, easterly on Call Street seventy feet more or less to a stake at other land of the grantor, southerly 363 feet to a stake at still other land of the grantor, westerly seventy feet to the Falls land, and northerly by the Falls land 363 feet to the beginning, "being part of the same premises conveyed to me by Robert Call see Book 140, Page 538". No buildings are named: the lot was bare.
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| May 9, 1908 | Warranty Deed | Hannah Kenney of Billerica, unmarried | Mary Kenney and Kate Kenney, both of Billerica | Hannah Kenney conveys the lot with the new house | 418/99 |
Pages 99-100. Dated April 25, 1908, acknowledged April 29 before Herbert A. King, Justice of the Peace. For one dollar "and other good and valuable considerations", "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon, on the easterly side of Call St.", 70 feet on Call Street from land of one Falls to other land of Owen Murningham and 363 feet deep, "the same premises as conveyed to me the said Hannah Kenney by Owen Murningham by deed dated July 1, 1903". The buildings first appear in this deed, so the house was built between 1903 and 1908. Hannah Kenney, "single woman", releases dower and homestead. A Hannah Kenney, aged 68, died in Billerica on March 8, 1912 (town report).
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| July 10, 1919 | Quitclaim | Mary Kenney and Kate Kenney, both of Billerica, both unmarried | Margaret C. Fitzpatrick and Annie L. Fitzpatrick, both of Billerica | the Kenneys sell to the Fitzpatrick sisters | 608/59 |
Dated July 9, 1919, acknowledged before James J. Kerwin, Justice of the Peace; Kate Kenney signs by her mark. For consideration paid ($1.50 in revenue stamps), "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Call Street", seventy feet on Call Street to land now or formerly of one Murningham, 363 feet deep, westerly to land of one Falls, "Being all and the same premises to us conveyed by Hannah Kenney by deed dated April 25th 1908". A Catherine Kenney, aged 76, died in Billerica on August 6, 1919.
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| April 11, 1939 | Quitclaim | Margaret C. Fitzpatrick and Annie L. Fitzpatrick, both of Billerica, unmarried | Mary E. Hodnett of Lowell | Fitzpatrick sisters to a straw party | 927/562 |
Dated April 11, 1939, recorded at 2:15 PM. For consideration paid, "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Call Street", seventy feet on Call Street to land now or formerly of one Murningham, 363 feet deep to a stake, seventy feet to land of one Falls, "Being all of the same premises described in a deed to us from Mary Kenney and Kate Kenney dated July 9, 1919". A conveyance to a straw party so that the sisters could take the house back as joint tenants.
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| April 11, 1939 | Quitclaim | Mary E. Hodnett of Lowell, unmarried | Margaret C. Fitzpatrick and Annie L. Fitzpatrick of Billerica, as joint tenants | back to the sisters as joint tenants | 927/563 |
Dated April 11, 1939, acknowledged before James J. Kerwin, Justice of the Peace; recorded at 2:16 PM, one minute after the deed to her. For consideration paid, the same land "with the buildings thereon situated on the easterly side of Call Street", seventy by 363 feet between land of one Murningham and land of one Falls, to the Fitzpatrick sisters "as joint tenants and not as tenants in common", "Being all and the same premises to me conveyed by deed of Margaret C. Fitzpatrick and Annie L. Fitzpatrick by their deed of even date".
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| July 29, 1954 | Quitclaim | Annie L. Fitzpatrick of Billerica, unmarried | A private buyer | Annie L. Fitzpatrick sells; later private owners | 1262/571 |
Dated July 29, 1954. For consideration paid, "the land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the southerly side of Call Street", seventy feet on Call Street to land now or formerly of one Murningham, 363 feet to a stake, seventy feet to land of one Falls, "Being all and the same premises conveyed to me and my late sister, Margaret C. Fitzpatrick, by Mary E. Hodnett" in 1939; Margaret had died in Billerica. Later private sales (none named here): 1969 (N 1906/697, $24,800), 1971 (N 1975/31, $28,500), family deeds of 1981 and 1983 (N 2504/590, N 2648/327; the 1983 deed for $16,000), and sales or family transfers in 1994, 1995, 1997 ($195,000), 2004, 2005 ($415,000), 2013 ($312,000) and 2019 ($348,900, N 32812/147). Every deed from 1969 on describes the lot as 15 Call Street, seventy feet on the street, bounded east by Murningham land "now supposed to be Myrtle Street".
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.