Horace N. Wilson House
The Horace N. Wilson House stands on the west side of Nashua Road just south of the Rangeway Road, on land that was part of the Spaulding family's farms in the southwest corner of Billerica for more than half a century before the Wilsons came.
In November 1799 Asa Spaulding sold his son Thomas Spaulding, then of Carlisle, "a certain farm lying in the westerly part of said town of Billerica" of about 189 acres, running from "a road called the rang way" south past the lands of John Parker and Zebediah Rogers to the Carlisle town line, with "a road leading through the premises" and "all the buildings standing on the same." Captain Thomas Spaulding farmed it until his death in 1849. A building already stood at this spot on the 1830 town map, so the core of the present house may be a Spaulding building. When the estate was settled in 1849 the 55-acre homestead (the house lot east of the road and the barn lot west of it) went to his grandson Thomas Simonds, and the rest of the land came into the hands of his son Edward Spaulding, then living in Nashua, whose brother Thomas released his share to him.
Edward Spaulding's daughter Sybel had married Horace N. Wilson, son of Daniel Wilson of the Billerica Mills, in 1845. No deed to the young couple was ever recorded, but the 1853 map shows "H. N. Wilson" here, across the road from Sybel's sister Martha Simonds. On June 7, 1859 Horace sold his father "a certain Farm ... on the west side of Concord River, containing one hundred and twenty acres, more or less, with all the buildings thereon," running from the Rangeway road across the county road to the Carlisle line and "the lower side of the great dam," for $6,000. (MACRIS cites this deed as Book 19 Page 258; it is Page 298.) Horace and Sybel moved to Carlisle, just over the town line.
Daniel Wilson mortgaged the farm to Joseph Dows for $3,000 in 1860. After Daniel's death in November 1861 Dows made an "open and peaceable entry" to foreclose, and in July 1863 the administrator, Gardner Parker, sold the estate's remaining interest at auction to Elijah Corliss for five dollars, subject to the mortgage. In April 1865 Corliss sold the eighty acres west of the county road, "with the buildings thereon," to Timothy and Michael Sullivan of Lowell for $2,160; the Dows mortgage was discharged the same week. Timothy sold his half to John Sullivan of Billerica in 1868 and Michael sold his in 1870, taking back a $1,700 mortgage. "J. Sullivan" is the name on the 1875 and 1889 atlases. MACRIS remembers a Jeremiah Sullivan living here into the twentieth century and speaking up at Town Meeting, but no deed in his name has been found.
By 1925 the farm belonged to Edward J. Welch of Lowell: when the County Commissioners widened the Boston Road (today's Nashua Road, Route 4) that year, they took two small parcels "on westerly side of highway" from him. How it passed from the Sullivans to Welch is not recorded in the deed indexes and probably went through a probate court. After Welch's death his widow and executrix, Katherine L. Welch, sold "the land in Billerica ... situated on the southwesterly side of the Boston Road and the southeasterly side of Rangeway Road, with the buildings thereon, containing 80 acres" to Evald B. and Ruth S. Larson of Chelmsford in April 1933, still bounded by the Simonds land, the Carlisle line and the great dam as in 1865. The Larsons, remembered for their chicken farm, sold the eighty acres in 1955, and in 1957 the house and 14.8 acres on the west side of Nashua Road were sold to new owners, who kept it for forty years.
In January 1997 the house lot, cut down to 1.757 acres on a 1990 plan, went to Remington Investments, Inc. of Indiana by a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The company sold it in 1998 to the Rolling Hills Nominee Trust, which sold it to a private owner in 1999. The assessor dates the house to about 1840; the farmhouse, with its asymmetrical front, still stands at the road's edge as it did when the Wilsons lived here.
References
- MACRIS BIL.210
- Billerica assessor, parcel 57-14-5 (119 Nashua Rd): 1.757 acres, built about 1840, sales history 1957-1999
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| February 19, 1800 | Deed | Asa Spaulding of Billerica, gentleman | His son Thomas Spaulding of Carlisle, yeoman | 1799: Asa Spaulding sells the 189-acre farm, which takes in this lot, to his son Thomas | 135/117 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 8-9. For $2,000 Asa Spaulding sells his son "a certain farm lying in the westerly part of said town of Billerica ... about one hundred and eighty nine acres", from its northerly corner "by a road called the rang way" southeasterly by John Miller "to a road leading through the premises", crossing it, east by John Parker, south by Zebediah Rogers, by Isaac Barron and Thomas Shead to the Billerica-Carlisle line, along the town line back to the rangeway, "including all the buildings standing on the same", and a second farm of about 35 acres on the west side of Concord River bought from Thomas Brown Jr. that September. Dated Nov. 25, 1799. The farm straddled the later county road (Nashua Road): its western part became the Wilson farm (119 Nashua Road) and its homestead lots the 55-acre farm Capt. Thomas Spaulding held at his death in 1849.
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| 1849 | Administration | Estate of Capt. Thomas Spaulding of Billerica (died 1849), William Chandler of Lexington administrator | His children Thomas Spaulding, Edward Spaulding, Rebecca Simonds and Sibel Duren | 1849: estate of Capt. Thomas Spaulding, owner of the farm since 1799 | Probate #42081 |
The heirs Thomas Spaulding, Edward Spaulding, Rebecca Simonds and Samuel R. Duren asked on Aug. 4, 1849 that William Chandler of Lexington administer the estate, and he was appointed Aug. 21, 1849. The inventory of Aug. 17, 1849 (John Baldwin, David P. Winning and Jacob Spaulding) lists the "Homestead containing 55a 2r 19p" ($1,999), the Turnpike lot, Meadow lot (19 acres), Great pasture (25 acres), Miller lot, Dowse lot (17 acres), Claypit lot and the Parker field, $3,463 in real estate, with livestock, half the hay in the barn and furniture in the east lower room, west room, north room and two chambers; $7,711.50 in all. A plan of the estate was drawn by Cyrus Thompson in August 1849.
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| 1849 | Quitclaim | Thomas Spaulding of Billerica, yeoman (Harriett Spaulding releasing dower) | His brother Edward Spaulding of Nashua, N.H., yeoman | 1849: Thomas Spaulding Jr. releases his share of his fathers land to Edward Spaulding | 569/59 (South) |
For $842.60, "all my right title and interest in and to all the real estate of which my father Thomas Spaulding late of Billerica died seized & possessed of wherever the same may be containing one hundred and fifty acres more or less, reference being had to a plan of the same ... drawn by Cyrus Thompson August 25th 1849". Signed Aug. 31, 1849, witnessed by William Chandler (the administrator) and Stephen Nickles. Edward was then living in Nashua; this deed and the other heirs' release of October brought the homestead to him. The grantor died within months (will Dec. 18, 1849, probate 42082). Billerica town book 19, page 9.
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| June 9, 1859 | Warranty Deed | Horace N. Wilson of Billerica, yeoman, and Sybel Wilson his wife | His father Daniel Wilson of Billerica, yeoman | 1859: Horace N. Wilson sells the 120-acre farm to his father Daniel Wilson | 19/298 |
For $6,000, "A certain Farm, situate in said Billerica, on the west side of Concord River, containing one hundred and twenty acres, more or less, with all the buildings thereon," beginning at its northeast corner at "the Rangeway Road so called," south by Isaac Brown, east by land formerly of John or Stephen Parker, south by land formerly of Seth Rogers, then by land formerly of Samuel Brown, across the county road to a bog pen and on to the Carlisle town line, by the town line to the further causeway, along a ditch bank and "the lower side of the great dam," and by a division fence back to the Rangeway. No title recital. Sybel Wilson joined to release dower and homestead; witnesses Dudley Foster and Thomas Simonds. Signed June 7, 1859; recorded June 9, 1859. (MACRIS cites it as 19/258.)
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| June 7, 1860 | Mortgage | Daniel Wilson of Billerica, yeoman | Joseph Dows of Billerica, yeoman | 1860 mortgage of the farm to Joseph Dows | 24/228 |
For $3,000, payable in one year with interest, Daniel Wilson mortgaged "a certain Farm situate in said Billerica, on the west side of Concord River, containing one hundred and twenty acres, more or less, with all the buildings thereon," with the same bounds as his 1859 deed from Horace N. Wilson (Rangeway road, Isaac Brown, the county road, the Carlisle town line, "the lower side of the great dam"). A marginal discharge acknowledging "full payment" was sworn May 15, 1865 before J. A. Knowles, the same day Elijah Corliss sold the western part to the Sullivans. Recorded June 7, 1860.
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| October 24, 1863 | Administrator's Deed | Gardner Parker of Billerica, administrator of Daniel Wilson | Elijah Corliss of Billerica | 1863: Daniel Wilson estate sells the equity in the farm to Elijah Corliss | 33/577 |
Under a license of the Probate Court, after three weeks notice in the Lowell Daily Courier, the administrator sold at auction on July 13, 1863, to Elijah Corliss, the highest bidder, for "five dollars," "all the right, title and interest which the said Daniel Wilson had at the time of his decease" in the farm "on the west side of Concord River, containing one hundred and twenty acres, more or less, with all the buildings thereon," with the 1859 bounds from the Rangeway road to the Carlisle line. "Being the same premises described in a deed from Horace N. Wilson to said Daniel Wilson dated June 7th 1859 ... Book 19 Page 298. Said premises are subject to a mortgage to Joseph Dows," which is why the equity brought only $5. Signed July 13, 1863; recorded October 24, 1863.
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| May 4, 1863 | Certificate of Entry | Joseph Dows, mortgagee (witnesses Abel S. Farwell and Munroe Morris) | Joseph Dows (entry against the estate of Daniel Wilson) | 1863 Joseph Dows enters to foreclose | 34/234 |
Abel S. Farwell and Munroe Morris of Billerica certified that on April 28, 1863 Joseph Dows, mortgagee, "did in our presence make an open and peaceable entry, not being opposed," upon the Wilson farm "for breach of the condition named in said deed of Mortgage, with the view and intent and for the purpose of foreclosing said Mortgage" (Book 24 Page 228). The administrator then sold only the equity of redemption, for $5 (Book 33 Page 577), and the mortgage was paid off in May 1865. Sworn before Dudley Foster April 28, 1863; recorded May 4, 1863.
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| May 17, 1865 | Quitclaim | Elijah Corliss of Billerica, with his wife Melinda | Timothy Sullivan and Michael Sullivan, both of Lowell | 1865: Elijah Corliss sells the 80 acres west of the county road, with the buildings, to Timothy and Michael Sullivan | 42/497 |
For $2,160, "a certain piece of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon," beginning at its southeast corner "at land of Thos. Simonds," southwest by Simonds to the Carlisle town line, north on the line to the further causeway, along the ditch bank "by the lower side of the great dam," by the division fence to the Rangeway Road, northeast by that road "to the new or County road" and by the new road back to the beginning, "containing eighty acres more or less and a part of the farm formerly owned by Daniel Wilson and conveyed to me by Gardner Parker admr. July 13, 1863 ... Book 33 Page 577." This is the part of the Wilson farm west of the county road (Nashua Road), with the house. Signed April 21, 1865; recorded May 17, 1865.
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| May 20, 1865 | Mortgage | Michael and Timothy Sullivan of Lowell | Amos W. Dows of Lowell | 1865 purchase mortgage by the Sullivans to Amos W. Dows | 42/535 |
For $1,500, a mortgage of "a certain piece of land with the buildings thereon situate in Billerica ... containing eighty acres more or less," bounded as in the Corliss deed from the Simonds land to the Carlisle line, the great dam, the rangeway road and "the new or County road," "Being the same premises this day conveyed to us by Elijah Corliss." A marginal discharge records "full payment and satisfaction" at Lowell on May 11, 1875 (with marginal references to Book 73 Page 227 and Book 74 Page 180). Recorded May 20, 1865.
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| March 14, 1868 | Quitclaim | Timothy Sullivan of Lowell | John Sullivan of Billerica | 1868: Timothy Sullivan's half to John Sullivan of Billerica | 60/464 |
For $500, "one undivided half" of "A certain piece of land situate in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon," bounded from the Simonds land to the Carlisle line, the great dam, the rangeway road and "the new or County road," "Containing eighty acres more or less and the same conveyed to me and Michael Sullivan by Elijah Corliss April 21st 1865 ... Book 42, page 497," subject to "a mortgage made to A. W. Dows, the half of which said John is to pay as a part of the consideration." John Sullivan, already living in Billerica, is the "J. Sullivan" of the 1875 and 1889 atlases. Signed March 12, 1868; recorded March 14, 1868.
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| March 25, 1879 | Quitclaim | Michael Sullivan of Billerica, with his wife Honora | John Sullivan of Billerica | 1870: Michael Sullivan's half to John Sullivan, who now owns the whole 80 acres | 132/589 |
For $500, Michael Sullivan, by then living in Billerica, released to John Sullivan "a certain piece of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon," with the 1865 bounds, "Containing eighty acres more or less. Being the same conveyed to me and Timothy Sullivan by Elijah Corliss April 21st 1865 ... Book 42 Page 497." With this and Timothys 1868 deed John Sullivan held the whole farm. Signed in 1870 (witnesses J. A. Knowles and Bartholomew Sheehan) but not recorded until March 25, 1879.
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| June 16, 1873 | Mortgage | John Sullivan of Billerica | Michael Sullivan of Billerica | 1873: John Sullivan mortgages the farm back to Michael Sullivan for his half | 94/377 |
For $1,700, payable on demand at six per cent, with the buildings to be kept insured for at least $1,500, John Sullivan mortgaged to Michael Sullivan "a certain piece of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon," the 80 acres between the Simonds land, the Carlisle line, "the Great dam," the Rangeway road and "the new or County road," "Being the same premises this day conveyed to me by Michael Sullivan" (Michaels quitclaim, Book 132 Page 589): John paid for Michaels half with a mortgage back. A marginal note refers to a later court petition and final decree (No. 77) clearing the mortgage. Recorded June 16, 1873.
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| July 2, 1925 | Taking | Middlesex County Commissioners | The public (Boston Road, now Nashua Road / Route 4); land taken from Edward J. Welch and others | 1925: county widening of the Boston (Nashua) Road takes frontage from Edward J. Welch | 725/32 |
At their June 1925 meeting the County Commissioners, on a petition of the inhabitants of Chelmsford, Billerica and others first presented in 1915, altered "the Boston Road, so-called, in Chelmsford, and its continuation in Billerica and Bedford, to the North Road in Bedford," fixed a 50-foot layout and ordered the macadam road continued south about 6,000 feet toward the Concord River bridge. Among the lands taken were "Edward J. Welch 2 parcels on westerly side of highway," about 700 and 1,500 square feet, the frontage of this farm; Edward G. Simonds lost five parcels across the road. Later deeds of the farm are made "subject to a Taking by the Middlesex County Commissioners for highway purposes" in Book 725, Page 32. Recorded July 2, 1925.
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| April 22, 1933 | Affidavit | Katherine L. Welch of Lowell, widow and executrix of Edward J. Welch | (Estate of Edward J. Welch late of Lowell) | 1933: affidavit on the will of Edward J. Welch | 824/93 |
Katherine L. Welch swore that she was the widow of Edward J. Welch, late of Lowell, and "was appointed Executrix of the will of said Edward J. Welch on March 19, 1929," and that three legatees named in the will, Timothy Finnegan, Francis A. Finnegan and Julia Conners, had died before him (Timothy without issue; Francis survived by his children Mary and Francis A. Finnegan; Julia by her son Martin E. Conners). Recorded with her deed of the farm to the Larsons to show her title under the will. Sworn April 20, 1933 before James J. Kerwin; recorded April 22, 1933.
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| April 22, 1933 | Quitclaim Deed | Katherine L. Welch of Lowell, widow of Edward J. Welch | Evald B. Larson and Ruth S. Larson, husband and wife, of Chelmsford | 1933: Katherine L. Welch sells the 80-acre farm to the Larsons | 824/94 |
"The land in Billerica ... situated on the southwesterly side of the Boston Road and the southeasterly side of Rangeway Road, with the buildings thereon, containing 80 acres," from the corner of the two roads southeast along the Boston (Nashua) Road "about 2820 feet to land supposed to belong, now or formerly, to Thomas Simonds," then to the Carlisle line, "the further causeway," the ditch bank and "the lower side of the great dam," the division fence and back to Rangeway Road: the 1865 Sullivan bounds word for word. "Subject to a Taking by the Middlesex County Commissioners for highway purposes" (Book 725, Page 32). The Larsons gave back a $2,500 mortgage (Book 824, Page 95). They kept a chicken farm here and in 1955 sold the 80 acres in pieces; the house lot of 14.8 acres on the west side of Nashua Road (Plan Book 88, Plan 147) was sold in 1957 to private owners, who sold it in 1997 to Remington Investments Inc. Signed and recorded April 22, 1933.
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| April 22, 1933 | Mortgage | Evald B. Larson and Ruth S. Larson of Chelmsford | Katherine L. Welch of Lowell | 1933 Larson purchase mortgage | 824/95 |
Purchase-money mortgage of $2,500, payable in three years at five per cent, on "the land in Billerica ... situated on the southwesterly side of the Boston Road and the southeasterly side of Rangeway Road, with the buildings thereon, containing eighty (80) acres," same bounds as the deed of the same day, subject to the county highway taking (Book 725, Page 32). Recorded April 22, 1933.
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| January 29, 1997 | Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure | The private owners of 119 Nashua Road since 1957 | Remington Investments, Inc., an Indiana corporation | 1997: deed in lieu of foreclosure to Remington Investments, Inc. | 8409/18 |
For forgiveness of a debt of $198,041.67, the owners who had bought the house lot in 1957 conveyed "The land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon" designated "Area = 76,541 +/- SQ FT. or 1.757 +/- ACRES" on a "Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass." of January 22, 1990 by The Malcolm N. Johnston Co. (Plan Book 172, Page 57), "in lieu of foreclosure" of their 1990 mortgage to the Bank of New England-North, which had been assigned to Remington Investments. "For our title see deed dated March 25, 1957 ... Book 1366, Page 65" (a quitclaim of 14.8 acres "with the buildings thereon, located on the westerly side of Nashua Road," shown on Plan Book 88, Plan 147, part of the 80-acre farm the sellers had bought from Evald B. and Ruth S. Larson in 1955, Book 1306, Page 255). Signed January 13, 1997; recorded January 29, 1997.
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| June 15, 1998 | Quitclaim Deed | Remington Investments, Inc. of Remington, Indiana | The trustee of the Rolling Hills Nominee Trust (declaration of 1984, Book 7646 Page 221) | 1998: Remington Investments sells to the Rolling Hills Nominee Trust (private sale 1999) | 9350/69 |
For $145,000, "The land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon, located at 119 Nashua Road," the 1.757 acres on Plan Book 172, Page 57, "Meaning and intending to convey the same premises as conveyed to Grantor herein by Deed of [the 1957 owners] dated January 13, 1997." The trust sold the house in June 1999 to a private owner (Book 10217, Page 123, the assessors current deed). Signed June 1998; recorded June 15, 1998.
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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.