John Brown House
The John Brown House at 6 Pages Court is a small Greek Revival cottage on one of the house lots that Ann Parker cut from her "Whitman lot" in the center of Billerica in 1844. The land had been the south end of the homestead of her father, Col. John Parker, next to the farm of the Rev. Nathaniel Whitman. On April 1, 1844 Ann Parker sold several lots by a "chalk plan" drawn by George W. Randall, laid out along a 25-foot "public passway" running west from Concord Road: one went to the First Baptist Church for its meeting house, one to George Bacon, one to Cornelius Sweetser, and "lot numbered two", about 38 square rods, to the Rev. Benjamin Knight, the Baptist minister, for $70.60. The passway is today's Pages Court.
Knight built the house. On July 3, 1845, now of Reading, he sold the same 38 square rods to John Brown of Billerica, yeoman, for $600, "with a dwelling house and carriage house thereon". On March 31, 1846 Brown added the adjoining 27 square rods to the west, a half lot that Ann Parker had sold to George E. White, a Boston clerk, for which he paid White $28. The house stands across the line between the two parcels. The 1975 historical inventory form dated the house after the 1846 purchase and credited it to Brown, but the 1845 deed shows otherwise: the price had risen from $70.60 to $600 because Knight had built a house and carriage house on the lot.
John Brown made his will on December 22, 1849, leaving "the homestead estate, upon which I now reside" and everything else to his wife Abigail H. Brown; it was proved at Cambridge on March 19, 1850. The 1853 map marks the house "A. H. Brown", and the 1875 map "Mrs. Fisher", for Abigail had remarried. As Abigail H. Fisher she left the place by will, proved December 10, 1878, to Charity M. Bridge of Boston, who had witnessed John Brown's will. On November 14, 1888 Miss Bridge sold both parcels "with the buildings thereon" to Charles H. Shedd of Billerica for $950, taking back a $650 mortgage, and on the same day White's 1846 deed was finally recorded to complete the title.
Charles H. Shedd (the "C. H. Shedd" of the 1889 map) lived here until his death on January 23, 1913, at fifty. His widow Charlotte M. Shedd kept the house until her death; in 1936 her administrator, Ralph W. French, sold it under license of the Probate Court for $520 to her son C. Herbert Shedd, and his sisters Addie E. Markham and Florence M. French and brother Harold E. Shedd quitclaimed their shares. A corrective deed of December 1939 described the surveyed land as 65,041 square feet "with the buildings thereon", running west from the Roman Catholic Archbishop's land along the passage way to Dwight L. Hubbard's.
C. Herbert Shedd then brought the land under the Land Court. The decree of January 30, 1940 (case 17318, plan 17318-A by E. P. Simpson) registered his title, and three days later the land passed to Arthur S. and Carrie E. Cook, who divided it on plan 17318-B: Lot 4, with the old house, went to Hilda Holman of Wellesley in June 1940, Lot 1 to Dwight L. Hubbard, and Lots 2 and 3 to Hilda Holman in 1943. After her death her heirs sold Lots 2, 3 and 4 in March 1945 to Norman N. and Hazel T. Holden. In 1962 the house lot, enlarged by a strip shown on plan 17318-C, was sold to private owners, and it has changed hands privately since, in 1979, 1992 and by trust transfers in 2009 and 2025. The assessor's figure of "about 1880" for the house is too late by some 35 years.
References
- MACRIS BIL.58
- Billerica assessor, 6 Pages Ct, parcel 61-6-1: 0.626 acres, Land Court plan 17318B lot 4, registered land sales history
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | Will | John Parker of Billerica (d. 1832) | His wife Susan Parker and daughter Ann Parker; other children and grandchildren | Col. John Parker's will: the homestead whose south end became the Whitman lot | Probate #16646 |
Will dated Dec. 20, 1831: to his wife Susan Parker "two undivided third parts of my House Lot in Billerica, consisting of about twelve acres of land, with a Dwelling House, Barn & outbuildings thereon: bounded easterly on the road, southerly on land of the Rev. N. Whitman, westerly on land of Gardner Parker, and northerly on land late of Stephen Parker & Samuel Foster to said road," with a wood lot and the Oliver Abbot lot for life; to his daughter Ann Parker "one undivided third part of my House Lot containing about twelve acres of land, with Dwelling House, Barn & out buildings"; to his son David half the tanyard; to his daughter Maria, wife of Marshall Preston, the Minister Lot; to his grandsons Francis James Parker, Charles Henry Parker and Frederic Augustus Parker and granddaughter Henrietta Parker, other land and money; son-in-law Marshall Preston executor. Witnesses Phineas How, Tilly Merrick and Nathan Brooks. Proved at Lowell June 5, 1832. Middlesex probate case 16646.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| October 11, 1842 | Warranty Deed | Marshall Preston of Billerica, Esq., and Maria Preston his wife in her right as joint tenant | Ann Parker of Billerica, singlewoman | Ann Parker acquires the rest of the homestead, 1842 | 421/4 (South) |
For $2,000, "two undivided third parts of a certain tract or parcel of land situate in said Billerica late the homestead of Col. John Parker deceased & containing twelve acres more or less," from the northeast corner at the Billerica Academy and the Common, southerly by the Common and the Concord road to George Bacon, westerly by Bacon to Gardner Parker, northerly by Gardner Parker to the widow Sybil Parker's dower, then by the dower, Capt. Samuel Foster and the heirs of Wm. Bowers to the horse stables, and by the stables and the Academy land back to the Common. Dated Sept. 9, 1842, witnessed by Lovice M. Preston and John Baldwin, recorded Oct. 11, 1842. With her own third under her father's will, Ann Parker now owned the whole house lot. Billerica town book 17, pages 388-389.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| May 10, 1844 | Release | Marshall Preston of Billerica, Esq., and Maria Preston his wife | Ann Parker of Billerica, singlewoman | Preston release to Ann Parker, 1844, before she cut the Whitman lot into house lots | 442/272 (South) |
Billerica town book 16, pages 538-539. Dated April 1, 1844, acknowledged April 3 before Dudley Foster. For $1, Preston remises and quitclaims "all my right title and interest in and to a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica called her Whitman Lot containing four acres more or less": from the northeast corner "at the Concord road so called at the corner of the wall nearly opposite the dwelling house of Cornelius Sweetser", west by the stone wall to Gardner Parker, south by Parker to George Bacon, east by Bacon to the Concord road, and by the road back to the corner. Maria Preston releases dower. A partial release of the 1842 mortgage, signed the same day Ann Parker began selling the Whitman lot in house lots.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| 1844 | Deed | Ann Parker of Billerica, singlewoman | Rev. Benjamin Knight of Billerica, clerk | Ann Parker sells lot 2 of the Whitman lot to Rev. Benjamin Knight, 1844 | 459/333 (South) |
For $70.60, "a certain tract or parcel of land situated in said Billerica, being a part of my Whitman lot, so called, containing about thirty eight square rods": from the SW corner at land of George Bacon, N by land "this day conveyed to Cornelius Sweetser" about 122 ft to the centre of the Passage way "as marked on a Chalk plan of my said Whitman lot drawn by Geo. W. Randall, dated April 1, 1844", E on the passage way about 89 1/2 ft, S by land "I this day conveyed to George Bacon" about 114 ft, W by Bacon about 89 1/2 ft; reserving a 25 ft strip across the northerly end "to be used as a public passway", "the said premises being lot numbered two on said Chalk Plan". No buildings named. Signed April 1, 1844, acknowledged April 3 before Marshall Preston. Billerica town book 17, pages 578-579 (margin gives Southern Registry Book 459 Page 333; the grantor index has 459/338).
Title from:
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| 1845 | Warranty Deed | Rev. Benjamin Knight of Reading, clerk (wife Abigail releasing dower) | John Brown of Billerica, yeoman | Knight sells the new house and carriage house to John Brown, 1845 | 467/43 (South) |
"In consideration of six hundred dollars", the same 38 square rods "with a dwelling house and carriage house thereon": from the SW corner at land of George Bacon and land of Cornelius Sweetser, N by Sweetser about 122 ft to the centre of "the passageway so called", E about 89 1/2 ft to Bacon, S by Bacon about 114 ft, W by Bacon about 89 1/2 ft; reserving the 25 ft public passway, "the said Lot being the lot numbered two on a chalk plan of the Whitman lot so called, drawn by George W. Randall, dated April 1, 1844". Signed and acknowledged July 3, 1845 before Marshall Preston. The rise from $70.60 shows Knight built the house in 1844-45. Billerica town book 18, pages 16-17.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 15, 1888 | Warranty Deed | George E. White of Boston, clerk | John Brown of Charlestown | George E. White sells Brown the adjoining half lot, 1846 | 201/509 |
For $28, a tract in Billerica "being the same conveyed to me by Ann Parker of said Billerica in a deed dated April 1st 1844, containing twenty seven square rods": from the SE corner at land of George Bacon, N by land "now owned by said John Brown" to the centre of a passage "as shown in a plan of my lot and those adjoining sketched by Geo. W. Randall and dated April 1st 1844", W on the passage about 44 ft to a stake and stones, S by land of Ambrose F. Page about 169 ft to Bacon, E by Bacon about 44 ft; reserving the 25 ft public pass way. Signed March 31, 1846, witnesses W. J. Buckminster and Geo. Everett; recorded only on Nov. 15, 1888, with the Bridge deed.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| 1850 | Will | Estate of John Brown of Billerica, yeoman | His wife Abigail H. Brown, executrix and sole devisee | John Brown leaves the homestead to his wife Abigail, 1850 | Probate #28202 |
Will dated Dec. 22, 1849: "All the rest, residue & remainder of my estate & property, as well the homestead estate, upon which I now reside & situated in said Billerica, as all other estate" to "my beloved wife Abigail H. Brown", sole executrix. Witnesses George H. Whitman, Wm. O. Partridge and Charity M. Bridge. Proved at Cambridge March 19, 1850 on the oath of Charity M. Bridge; recorded vol. 190, page 290. Abigail, later Mrs. Fisher, held the house until her death; her will, proved Dec. 10, 1878, left it to Charity M. Bridge.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 15, 1888 | Warranty Deed | Charity M. Bridge of Boston | Charles H. Shedd of Billerica | Charity M. Bridge, Abigail H. Fisher's devisee, sells to Charles H. Shedd, 1888 | 201/510 |
"In consideration of Nine Hundred and fifty Dollars", two tracts: about 38 square rods "with the buildings thereon" on the passage way at land of Cornelius Sweetser and land formerly of George Bacon, "being the same premises conveyed to John Brown by Benjamin Knight deed dated July 3d 1845 and recorded with Middlesex Deeds at Cambridge lib. 467 fol. 43", and the adjoining 27 square rods by land of Ambrose F. Page, "being the same premises conveyed to John Brown by Geo. E. White deed dated March 31st 1846 and bequeathed to me by the widow of the late John Brown deceased, Abigail H. Fisher, which was duly proved and allowed at Middlesex Probate court held December tenth A.D. 1878"; both subject to the 25 ft public passway. Signed Nov. 14, 1888 before F. G. Newhall, notary; recorded Nov. 15, 1888.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| November 15, 1888 | Mortgage | Charles H. Shedd of Billerica | Charity M. Bridge of Boston | Shedd's purchase-money mortgage to Charity M. Bridge, 1888 | 201/512 |
Purchase-money mortgage of the same two tracts (38 square rods "with the buildings thereon" and 27 square rods), "Being the same premises conveyed to me by said Charity M. Bridge deed dated this day", to secure $650 in five years with interest semi-annually at 6 percent, the buildings to be insured for at least $500. Dated Nov. 14, 1888. Margin: assigned (Book 230 Page 500, to Elizabeth C. Baxter) and discharged Book 517 Page 323.
Title from:
|
|||||
| February 4, 1914 | Discharge of Mortgage | Horace W. Baxter, late junior administrator of the estate of Elizabeth C. Baxter | Charles H. Shedd and his estate | The 1888 mortgage discharged, 1913 | 517/323 |
Horace W. Baxter, "the present holder of a certain mortgage given by Charles H. Shed to Charity M. Bridge dated November 14 A.D. 1888 and recorded with Middlesex No. Dist. Deeds, book 201 page 512", acknowledges full payment and discharges it. Signed Oct. 3, 1913 before George D. Bigelow, eight months after Charles H. Shedd died (Jan. 23, 1913, aged 50); recorded Feb. 4, 1914.
Related:
|
|||||
| June 10, 1936 | Administrator's Deed | Ralph W. French of Bedford, administrator of the estate of Charlotte M. Shedd of Billerica | C. Herbert Shedd of Billerica | Charlotte M. Shedd's administrator sells to C. Herbert Shedd, 1936 | 881/476 |
"By power conferred by the Probate Court for Middlesex County on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1936, see Middlesex Probate Records No. 209146", "for the sum of Five Hundred and twenty ($520) Dollars paid", the two parcels: about 38 square rods "with the buildings thereon" and the adjoining 27 square rods, with the 25 ft passageway, "conveyed by Charity M. Bridge to Charles H. Shedd by deed dated November 14, 1888 ... Book 201, Page 510". Signed and acknowledged June 8, 1936.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| June 10, 1936 | Quitclaim | Addie E. Markham of Killingworth, Conn., Florence M. French of Bedford and Harold E. Shedd of Billerica (with spouses) | Their brother C. Herbert Shedd of Billerica | The other Shedd heirs quitclaim to C. Herbert Shedd, 1936 | 881/477 |
"For consideration paid", with quitclaim covenants, the same two parcels (38 square rods "with the buildings thereon" and 27 square rods), "conveyed by Charity M. Bridge to Charles H. Shedd" in 1888, "For our title see Probate of the Estate of Charles H. Shedd, Middlesex Probate Records, Case No. 94076"; Harold Markham, Ralph W. French and Blanche Shedd release curtesy, dower and homestead. Signed May 29, 1936.
Title from:
|
|||||
| January 17, 1940 | Quitclaim | Addie E. Markham, Florence M. French and Harold E. Shedd (with spouses) | C. Herbert Shedd of Billerica, unmarried | Corrective deed to C. Herbert Shedd, 65,041 sq ft, 1939 | 941/225 |
Corrective deed, "for consideration paid": "A certain tract of land containing 65,041 square feet more or less, with the buildings thereon", from a drill hole on the stone wall at land of Dwight L. Hubbard and William H. and Maude G. Smith, N 169.80 ft to the center line of a passage way, east 357.50 ft by land of Chester L. Page and the Roman Catholic Archbishop, then by the Smiths 114.12, 165.50, 35 and 188 ft to the beginning; a 12 1/2 ft strip reserved for the 25 ft passage way. "Being all and the same premises conveyed to our father, Charles H. Shedd by deed of Charity M. Bridge, Nov. 14, 1888"; "a deed to correct the defective description in our previous conveyances". Signed Dec. 18, 1939 before Edwin P. Simpson, the surveyor of the Land Court plan.
Title passed to:
Related:
|
|||||
| January 31, 1940 | Land Court Decree | Land Court, case 17318, on the petition of C. Herbert Shedd | C. Herbert Shedd of Billerica, not married | Land Court decree registering C. Herbert Shedd's title, 1940 | Ctf 5592 |
Original Certificate of Title on the decree of Jan. 30, 1940: C. Herbert Shedd "is the owner in fee simple" of the land bounded N by the middle line of a Way 25 feet wide on lands of Chester L. Page and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston 357.50 ft, E 114.12 ft, S 165.50 ft, E 35 ft and S 188 ft by William H. Smith et al, W by Dwight L. Hubbard 169.80 ft, as on the plan by E. P. Simpson, Engineer, Oct. 7, 1939 (17318-A). The plan draws the house and ell near the east end of the land, by Concord Road. Registration Book 30, page 407.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| February 3, 1940 | Certificate of Title | C. Herbert Shedd | Arthur S. Cook and Carrie E. Cook of Billerica, husband and wife | Registered land passes to Arthur S. and Carrie E. Cook, 1940 | Ctf 5595 |
Transfer Certificate from Original Certificate 5592, issued Feb. 3, 1940: the Cooks of Boston Road own the whole registered parcel (plan 17318-A) as tenants by the entirety. Memoranda: deed of Lot 4 on the subdivision plan to Hilda Holman, May 2, 1940 (Ctf 5650); Lot 1 to Dwight L. Hubbard, May 2, 1940; Lots 2 and 3 to Hilda Holman, Dec. 10, 1943. Registration Book 30, page 413.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| June 4, 1940 | Certificate of Title | Arthur S. Cook and Carrie E. Cook | Hilda Holman of Wellesley, not married | Lot 4, the house lot, to Hilda Holman, 1940 | Ctf 5650 |
Partial Transfer Certificate from Ctf 5595, June 4, 1940: Lot 4 on subdivision plan 17318-B (E. P. Simpson, April 1940), the house lot, bounded N by the middle line of the 25 ft Way and the Roman Catholic Archbishop 130.50 ft, E 114.12 ft and S 131 ft by William H. Smith et al, W by Lot 3 125.65 ft. Owner of 84 Linden St., Wellesley. Registration Book 31, page 101.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| February 26, 1945 | Certificate of Title | Estate of Hilda Holman | John A. Holman, Carl H. Holman, Laura H. Cook (3/10 each) and Alice H. Wright (1/10) | Hilda Holman's heirs, 1945 | Ctf 6625 |
Transfer Certificate from Ctfs 5650 and 6366, Feb. 26, 1945: Hilda Holman's heirs, John A. Holman of Boston Road and Alice H. Wright of Pond Street, Billerica, Carl H. Holman of New London, N.H., and Laura H. Cook of South Newbury, N.H., own Lots 2, 3 and 4 on plan 17318-B together. Registration Book 36, page 51.
Title from:
Title passed to:
|
|||||
| March 1, 1945 | Certificate of Title | John A. Holman, Carl H. Holman, Laura H. Cook and Alice H. Wright | Norman N. Holden and Hazel T. Holden of Billerica, husband and wife | Norman N. and Hazel T. Holden, 1945; later private owners summarised | Ctf 6626 |
Transfer Certificate from Ctf 6625, March 1, 1945: Lots 2, 3 and 4 on plan 17318-B, N on the 25 ft Way and the Archbishop 335.50 ft. Memoranda: purchase-money mortgage to John A. Holman et ux., Nov. 28, 1944, $4,200 at 6 percent; Lot 2 sold 1949; mortgages to Middlesex County National Bank 1953 and 1954. Later owners are private: Lot 4 with the new Lot 5 (plan 17318-C) was sold May 18, 1962 (Ctf 12469), and the house lot sold again in 1979 and 1992 and passed to family trusts in 2009 and 2025 (assessor parcel 61-6-1, 0.626 acres, 6 Pages Court). Registration Book 36, page 53.
Title from:
|
|||||
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.