Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1987
Hiram Harrington House
The Harrington House was a double farmhouse on the road to Wilmington that became Cook Street, in the Shawshin District of east Billerica. By 1835 it was known as the Cook family's "Mansion house". On January 1, 1773, Joseph Walker sold Paul Cook of Wilmington about 140 acres of his homestead farm "with all the Buildings thereon standing", bounded by Ridge Hill and the College Farm, the Wilmington line and the Shawshin River, reserving "the way by my house straight to the new causeway". In the tax list of 1776 Henry A. Hazen placed Paul Cook at the "Harrington pl.", the name the place kept.
Paul Cook's will of 1785 left the rest of his estate to his son Sears Cook, who died in 1816 and left the farm to his son Francis Cook, with the use of the house to his widow Abigail. When Francis Cook died in 1831 the homestead had grown to 214 acres. On August 31, 1835, a probate committee divided it among his five children, and the house itself was split down the middle. The younger Sears Cook received the land east to the Wilmington line, beginning "at a stake near the Elm in front of the Mansion house, at the road" and running back "southerly through said House to the stake near the Elm tree", with half the barn, its line "through the centre of the Barn". Francis Cook Jr. received the western half, and the two shared "The well, in front of said House, the front yard, the front Entry and stairs, and the aqueduct ... also the large cellar under the main house".
Both brothers died within a year. Francis Cook Jr.'s estate, "a westerly half of Dwelling House & Easterly half of a Barn and about 30 acres of Land", was advertised for auction on the premises on March 22, 1837, with "a Corn Barn and Hog house on the same, in good repair and an aqueduct of good water, that supplies the House and Barn yard", and sold to William, William S. and Josiah B. Gleason for $590. Sears Cook's estate held "about 50 Acres Also one half of a House & Barn"; his widow, Fanny T. Cook, became guardian of their two children, Fanny Jane and Sears James Cook.
The widow married Hiram Harrington, son of Isaac Harrington of Lexington. On March 1, 1849, William S. Gleason deeded Harrington three acres with the Gleasons' west half of the house. That deed was never recorded, but Harrington's mortgage back to Gleason in 1850 repeats the 1835 line, from "a stake near the elm tree, thence Northerly through the center of the house". The Cook side said the same: in 1862 Sears J. Cook mortgaged the 50-acre farm "by land of Hiram Harrington, the line passing through the middle of the dwelling house". In 1855 Fanny J. Reed of Charlestown quitclaimed her half of her father's farm to her brother Sears J. Cook, who mortgaged it to her for $350 and paid it off in 1860. Fanny Harrington died November 18, 1873, and ten days later Hiram Harrington, "being unmarried", deeded his barn lot, "a part of the Cook farm so called", to Sears J. Cook. The deeds that carried the house and farm on from there have not yet been found.
By 1927 the land north of Cook Street near Alexander Road was part of the "Shawsheen Pines" development of the L. C. Morang Co., laid out in small lots on paper streets (Plan Book 50 Plan 61), and from 1945 part of the Billerica-Wilmington Airways land. In 1987-88 lots in Blocks 50, 51, 75 and 76 were gathered into a 4.302-acre parcel between Cook Street and the paper Jefferson and Islington Streets (Plan Book 164 Plan 9), which the Alexander Realty trusts sold to the Pescatore Family Trust in March 1988 for $455,000. The warehouse now at 148 Cook Street was built about 1988; after a 1993 deed to Somerset Savings Bank the parcel was sold to the Cook Street-148 Realty Trust for $900,000. None of the 1987-88 deeds or plans mention a building, and whether the old house stood inside this parcel or just west of it is not settled.
The records correct the old date for the house. The Cook farm had buildings when Paul Cook bought it in 1773, and the house, already called the "Mansion house", was divided through the middle in 1835, so the 1852 date it was given is far too late; the deeds do not show when it was built. The year of demolition, 1987, matches when the lot was cleared for the warehouse, but no deed shows it.
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Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| February 24, 1783 | Deed | Joseph Walker of Billerica, yeoman (his wife Abigail releasing dower) | Paul Cook of Wilmington, gentleman | Walker homestead farm with the buildings to Paul Cook | 86/42 (South) |
For 400 pounds, "one certain piece or parcel of land lying in Billerica aforesaid being a part of my homestead Farm together with that land which my Father Mr Jacob Walker late of Billerica Deceased gave to his grand Children Jacob & Uriel Walker", "Containing about one hundred and Forty acres ... with all the Buildings thereon standing": from a small pine tree marked with a heap of stones on a ridge hill in the line of the College Farm, easterly to a pine between Samuel Richardson Jr. and the grantor near the end of a ditch in the swamp, across the meadow to a stake in the Wilmington line, by that line and by Richardson to a swamp white oak near the bank of the Shawshin River, across the river by John Baldwin, up the river to the College Farm, and by the College Farm to the beginning; reserving the two highways across the land and "the way by my house straight to the new causeway". Signed January 1, 1773 (witnesses William Gleason, Jonas Wyman), acknowledged before Thomas Kidder, recorded February 24, 1783 (Billerica town book 7, pages 427-429). This is the farm that Hazen's 1776 tax list calls the "Harrington pl."
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| April 2, 1788 | Will | Estate of Paul Cook of Billerica, gentleman | His son Sears Cook, executor and residuary devisee | Paul Cook to his son Sears | Probate #5028 |
Will dated December 5, 1785 (witnesses Benjamin Walker, Jonathan Beard, Timothy Walker): five shillings each to his eldest son John Cook and his daughters Abigail Pearson and Sarah Laws, four pounds to his daughter Mercy Knap and to his granddaughter Sarah Fay, and "to my well beloved son Sears Cook the Remaining part of all my Estate both Real and personal wheresoever it may be found to him and his Heirs forever", Sears to be sole executor. Citation December 5, 1787; Sears Cook gave bond as executor April 2, 1788 (sureties Timothy Walker and Jonathan Beard of Wilmington).
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| 1816 | Will | Estate of Sears Cook of Billerica, gentleman | His widow Abigail and son Francis Cook, executor and residuary devisee | Sears Cook to his son Francis | Probate #5053 |
Will dated Oct. 26, 1811 (witnesses Joseph Parker, Francis Kidder and Joseph Locke): to his wife Abigail "the improvement of all my house and one half of all my other real estate" for life; $500 each to his daughters Abigail Crosby, Susannah Walker and Sarah Gleason; the residue to his son Francis Cook, sole executor. Sears Cook died in the summer of 1816; the will was proved at Chelmsford Oct. 1, 1816. The file has no inventory, and neither the will nor the indexes show the house lot he bought in 1815 still in his estate: William Richardson, a witness to the 1815 deed, held it and sold it with full warranty in June 1816, so Cook's title passed to him by a conveyance that was never recorded.
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| August 31, 1835 | Partition | Estate of Francis Cook of Billerica, yeoman (died 1831) | His children Sears, Francis, John and William Cook and Betsey Flint | 1835 partition of the Mansion house through its centre | Probate #4984 |
Francis Cook died intestate in the summer of 1831 (administrator Marshall Preston). The inventory of October 1, 1831, puts the "Homestead and Buildings" at 120 acres and $3,208, with the College lot, the Reed lot, the "Peartree lot", land over the river and a swamp lot. On the petition of Sears Cook the committee (Josiah Rogers, Ichabod Everett, Edmund Parker) divided the real estate on August 31, 1835: "The Homestead of said deceased, situate in said Billerica, with the Buildings thereon, containing Two hundred & Fourteen acres" on the road to Wilmington at the town line. To Sears Cook went the part "Beginning at a stake near the Elm in front of the Mansion house, at the road", easterly to the Wilmington line and north by Joseph Gleason, "thence southerly through said House to the stake near the Elm tree", with "The well, in front of said House, the front yard, the front Entry and stairs, and the aqueduct, to be used in common with the owner & occupant of the westerly half of said House, also the large cellar under the main house to be used in common", and half the barn, the line running "through the centre of the Barn". To Francis Cook went the other part, from the same elm "Northerly through the centre of said House", with the rest of the barn, the Over River meadow lot and the Pear tree lot, subject to the life estate of Abigail Cook; John Cook received the College land (73 1/4 acres), William Cook 44 acres to the Shawsheen River and the Read lot, and Betsey Flint 22 acres south of the road.
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| December 4, 1837 | Administration | Estate of Francis Cook Jr. of Billerica, yeoman (died 1836) | Marshall Preston, administrator; William, William S. and Josiah B. Gleason, buyers | Francis Cook Jr.'s west half of the house sold to the Gleasons | Probate #4986 |
The widow Eliza Cook declined and Marshall Preston was appointed November 15, 1836. The inventory of November 10, 1836, lists the "Homestead of said deceased, consisting of a westerly half of Dwelling House & Easterly half of a Barn and about 30 acres of Land", $500, and a seven-acre river meadow, $175. William S. Gleason, guardian of the two minor heirs George Francis and Eliza Maria Cook, assented to a sale, licensed January 10, 1837. The notice advertised for March 22, 1837, on the premises, "about 30 or 33 acres of Mowing, Pasturing and orchard land, with half a Dwelling House & half of a Barn, with a Corn Barn and Hog house on the same, in good repair and an aqueduct of good water, that supplies the House and Barn yard". The return sworn December 4, 1837, reports "the said Homestead, to Wm. Gleason, William S. Gleason & Josiah B. Gleason for the sum of $590.00" and the meadow to Henry Baldwin for $218.75. The administrator charged for "writing 2 Deeds", but only the meadow deed was recorded.
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| January 10, 1837 | Administration | Estate of Sears Cook of Billerica, yeoman | Sewall Buck of Wilmington, administrator | Sears Cook estate: 50 acres and "one half of a House & Barn" | Probate #5054 |
Sears Cook, yeoman, died within the year intestate, "leaving a widow & two children only who are minors"; the widow Fanny T. Cook declined to administer and asked that Sewall Buck of Wilmington be appointed (decree at Cambridge, January 10, 1837, bond $10,000 with Ezra Kendall and James Jaques). The inventory taken January 9, 1837, by Joseph Gleason, Jesse Hopkins and Timothy Carter lists as the only real estate "A certain lot of Land situate in Billerica Containing about 50 Acres Also one half of a House & Barn situate on the same", $1,000, with personal estate of $275.65 (oxen, hay, beds, a spinning wheel, a shoemaker's bench, cider). The widow was allowed $240.
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| January 10, 1837 | Guardianship | Fanny Jane Cook and Sears James Cook, minors, children of Sears Cook | Their mother Fanny T. Cook of Billerica, widow, guardian | guardianship of the two Cook heirs | Probate #5055 |
Petition of Fanny T. Cook of Billerica, widow: "Fanny Jane Cook & Sears James Cook" are minors under fourteen and children of Sears Cook, late of Billerica, yeoman, deceased, and she as their mother is entitled to be their guardian. Appointed at Cambridge, January 10, 1837, with Ezra Kendall of Wilmington and Simeon Butters Jr. of Billerica as sureties. The two children were the heirs of the Cook farm.
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| September 14, 1837 | Administrator's Deed | Marshall Preston of Billerica, administrator of Francis Cook | Capt. Henry Baldwin of Billerica, gentleman | Cook river meadow (related) | 367/168 (South) |
Sold at public vendue on the premises March 22, 1837, under the license of January 10, 1837, for $218.75, "a certain piece of Shawsheen River meadow situate in the Easterly part of said Billerica containing seven acres", from the northeast corner at land of William Gleason at a watering place, by Gleason by a wall and fence to the Dean meadow of John Crosby, by a ditch to the Shawsheen River, down the river to Gleason, and by Gleason to the watering place. Acknowledged August 30, 1837, before John Baldwin (Billerica town book 15, pages 493-495). The other deed of that day, the homestead with the west half of the house to the Gleasons, was not recorded.
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| 1841 | Quitclaim | Josiah B. Gleason of Billerica | William S. Gleason of Billerica | Gleason brothers' interests to William S. Gleason | 417/325 (South) |
For $800, "all my right title and interest to a certain farm in Billerica owned and occupied by William Gleason and called the home place, and also a wood lot situated in Bedford in said County near the Middlesex turnpike, with all the personal property belonging to said estate," warranting only against his own acts. Dated and acknowledged Dec. 10, 1841 before Silvanus Wood; the grantee index gives 1842 for the recording ("Int. in William Gleason's Home Place"). Billerica town book 17, page 317 (Southern Registry Book 417 Page 325). The "home place" is the College Farm, which William Gleason (d. 1818) had bought from Harvard College and his son William (d. 1844) occupied; William S. Gleason kept it until he moved to the village in 1850.
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| August 21, 1878 | Mortgage | Hiram Harrington of Billerica, yeoman, and his wife Fanny T. Harrington | William S. Gleason of Billerica, yeoman | Hiram Harrington's three acres, the line "through the center of the house" | 130/509 |
For $300, "a certain part of the Cook farm, so called, situated in the easterly part of said Billerica, containing three acres": beginning at a stake near the elm tree, "thence Northerly through the center of the house to a stake in the rear thereof", easterly about four rods, northerly 27 1/2 rods to the wall and 14 rods more, back southerly by walls 13 and 7 rods to a stake at the road, and easterly four rods by the road to the start. Void if Harrington paid $300 in three yearly installments of $100 with interest, so a purchase-money mortgage for the land Gleason deeded him March 1, 1849 (that deed was never recorded). Signed April 23, 1850, before Dudley Foster, with Fanny J. Cook a witness; recorded only in 1878, with a margin note of a later assignment to Arthur S. Cook.
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| January 23, 1856 | Mortgage | Sears James Cook of Billerica, yeoman | His sister Fanny J. Reed of Charlestown, wife of Levi H. Reed, trader | Cook farm mortgaged to Fanny J. Reed; Hiram Harrington abutter | 2/508 |
For $350, to her sole and separate use, "all my right, title and interest in and to ... about fifty acres of land with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica, and bounded southerly by a road leading to Wilmington, westerly partly by a road, and partly by land of Hiram Harrington, Northerly by the County road, and easterly by land formerly ..." (the next page is missing from the registry scans). Acknowledged October 6, 1855, before Isaac F. Jones. The discharge in Book 22 Page 528 (1860) shows this was security for $350 owed to his sister. The same day the Reeds deeded Fanny's half back to her brother (Book 101 Page 133).
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| April 21, 1874 | Quitclaim | Levi H. Reed of Charlestown, trader, and his wife Fanny J. Reed | Her brother Sears J. Cook of Billerica, yeoman | Cook farm, half to Sears J. Cook | 101/133 |
For $400, "About fifty acres of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica, and bounded southerly by a road leading to Wilmington, westerly partly by a road, and partly by land of Hiram Harrington, northerly by the County road, and easterly by land formerly belonging to Joseph Gleason, deceased: and being the same estate formerly owned and occupied by Sears Cook, deceased, father of said Fanny J. and from whom she derived her interest therein: her interest therein being one undivided half thereof, subject to the widow's right of dower." Signed October 6, 1855; recorded April 21, 1874.
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| February 6, 1860 | Discharge | Levi H. Reed of Charlestown and his wife Fanny J. Reed | Her brother Sears J. Cook of Billerica | discharge of the 1855 Cook mortgage | 22/528 |
Dated February 4, 1860: "in consideration of the payment of the sum within secured to said Fanny", the Reeds cancel and discharge the mortgage recorded in Book 2 Page 508 and quitclaim the premises to the grantor. The 1855 deed to Fanny J. Reed of the fifty acres "with the buildings thereon" was therefore security for $350, paid off in 1860. Acknowledged before Chas. Robinson Jr.
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| November 5, 1862 | Mortgage | Sears J. Cook of Billerica | His sister Fanny Jane Reed of Charlestown, wife of Levi H. Reed | Cook farm mortgage: line "through the middle of the dwelling house" | 32/327 |
For $336, "a certain farm with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica, containing about fifty acres": from the southwest corner on the county road leading from Wilmington to the county road from Lowell to Boston, "thence running Northwesterly by land of Hiram Harrington, the line passing through the middle of the dwelling house to a stake and stones at the rear of the house", by Harrington and William S. Gleason to an old road, by the old road to the heirs of George Gleason, by those heirs across the brook to Jaquith, and back to the first road; with a second parcel south of that road (old road, White, Gleason). "All of the above described lands being the estate of the late Sears Cook", subject to the widow's dower. Void on payment in five years. (The margin note of a release in "Book 42, Page 212" does not match that page, which holds a Wright and Ranlett mortgage of 1865.)
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| April 21, 1874 | Warranty Deed | Hiram Harrington of Billerica, "being unmarried" | Sears J. Cook of Billerica | Harrington's barn lot to Sears J. Cook | 101/135 |
For one dollar and other considerations, "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon standing situated in the south easterly part of said Billerica. It being a part of the Cook farm so called": from a stake at the southwest corner at the road, northwesterly by "my other land" to a stake "twelve feet in the rear of the barn", by William S. Gleason 35 and about 52 feet to the corner of the barn, and about 36 feet to the road; "being the same premises that were conveyed to me by William S. Gleason, by his deed dated March 1st 1849". Signed November 28, 1873, ten days after the death of his wife Fanny, before Sherman Converse.
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| March 24, 1988 | Quitclaim | Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust III | Trustees of the Pescatore Family Trust | house site cleared about 1987; warehouse lot | 4445/157 |
For $455,000, the same 4.302 acres between Cook Street and the paper Jefferson and Islington Streets (Plan Book 164 Plan 9), recorded three seconds after the deed that put it in the grantor. The grantor kept its rights in the "paper streets" of the April 1927 Shawsheen Pines plan (Plan Book 50 Plan 61) outside the parcel, and the grantee released any rights in the parts of Melrose and Kingston Streets inside it, which the plan marks "to be eliminated". Acknowledged March 2, 1988. The present warehouse was built on the lot about 1988.
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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.