Structure · Built 1847
John Knowles House
John Knowles House
| Address | 15 Wyman Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.199 |
| Built | 1847 |
The John Knowles House is a small farmhouse that once had delicate lace-like trim under its eaves, on the west side of Wyman Road just north of School Lane. For almost ninety years it was the home of the Knowles family, and since 1953 it has belonged to a single family. Across School Lane lay the "School House lot", where the district school, later called the Little Red Schoolhouse, stood by easement on private land.
The house can be traced to 1847. In that year Jonas Merriam Jr., who in 1837 had bought the Crosby lands along the road from Michael Crosby, sold Enos Woodbury, for $4,000, thirteen acres on the west side of the road "with a dwelling house barn and other out buildings thereon", together with the School House lot of thirty-two acres south of the lane. Woodbury mortgaged both to Joseph Blanchard. In January 1853 he sold them, subject to that mortgage, to Jonathan Sanborn and Jonathan A. Sanborn of Canaan, New Hampshire.
On 31 January 1859 the Sanborns sold "our Homestead ... with the buildings thereon" and the School House lot for $3,500 to John Knowles of Boston, a farmer born in Centre Harbor, New Hampshire, and took back a $2,500 mortgage. Knowles raised his family here; his first child born in Billerica was recorded in 1864. In 1869 he sold the Town a corner lot at the north end. His widow, Betsey J. Knowles, paid off the old mortgage in 1895, and the estate was surveyed in 1914. Their daughters kept the house into the 1940s, among them Grace L. Knowles, a teacher and principal of the Pollard School.
In 1943 the heirs began selling the land, first 6.5 acres of the School House lot. In February 1946 Mary A. Knowles and John R. Bowman sold the house parcel to Robert T. and Estelle I. Desrosiers, who sold it in October 1952 to George H. McCormack. In January 1953 McCormack sold the house and eleven acres to the family that still owns it.
A. Warren Stearns wrote that the house was "built by Gilman in 1858", and the inventory form repeats that date. The deeds show the dwelling house and barn already standing in 1847, so the house is older than that and its builder is not yet known. The ornamental trim may date from a later remodeling.
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| May 4, 1837 | Warranty Deed | Michael Crosby of Billerica, yeoman | Jonas Merriam Jr. of Boston, trader | Michael Crosby to Jonas Merriam Jr. (Crosby lands on Wyman Road) | 363/117 (South) |
For $5,700, five parcels: "the homested Farm so called, of the late Josiah Crosby of Billerica deceased containing about fifty acres" (from Book 253 Page 441, less ten acres sold to Sereno Fiske), the Waters land of 59 acres by the Old Wyman road, the "Guggin" lot of 8 acres 38 rods (Book 322 Page 142), the Ross land, and "the 'School House' lot so called containing eight acres & 38 rods more or less bounded Easterly by the road leading from my house to Jos. Blanchard's southerly by land of me the grantor called the 'Guggin' lot westerly by other land of me the Grantor and northerly by the same road so called being the same premises conveyed to me by Deed dated 2d May 1834" (Book 332 Page 384). Dated May 1, 1837, witness Ephraim Buttrick; recorded May 4, 1837. Billerica town book 15, pages 385-388. The School House lot and the Guggin lot together became the 32-acre "School House Lot and orchard" of the 1847 and later deeds.
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| June 5, 1847 | Warranty Deed | Jonas Meriam Jr. of Billerica, yeoman, and Sophronia M. Meriam | Enos Woodbury of Cambridge, yeoman | Merriam sells the 13-acre homestead "with a dwelling house barn" to Enos Woodbury | 509/222 (South) |
For $4,000, 13 acres on the west side of "the road leading from the dwelling house of Josiah B. Gleason to Joseph Blanchard's" (Wyman Road) "with a dwelling house barn and other out buildings thereon," beginning "nearly opposite the Sampson house so called" and running to "the lane road so called leading from the Lexington road" (School Lane); and south of the lane "the school house Lot ... and orchard containing thirty two acres," from its northeast corner "at the intersection of said roads," westerly by the lane about 108 rods to Jeremiah Crosby, southerly to Joseph Blanchard and easterly to the road. "The same being subject to the easement which School District No. Three has to set their School house thereon." Sophronia M. Meriam releases dower. Dated May 1, 1847; acknowledged June 3, 1847; recorded June 5, 1847. Billerica town book 18, pages 339-341.
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| June 5, 1847 | Mortgage | Enos Woodbury of Cambridge, yeoman, and Catharine B. Woodbury | Joseph Blanchard of Billerica, yeoman | Woodbury mortgage to Joseph Blanchard | 509/224 (South) |
Mortgage for $2,000, payable in three years with annual interest, of the same 13-acre homestead with its buildings and "the School house Lot ... and orchard containing thirty two acres more or less" at the intersection of the road and the lane. Dated May 1, 1847; recorded June 5, 1847. Woodbury later certified that Blanchard, "the mortgagee within named," had with his consent entered and taken possession "for the breach of the conditions of this Mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same" on May 28, 1851 (recorded June 18, 1851) and again on Feb. 6, 1852. When Woodbury sold to the Sanborns in January 1853, $1,741.53 was still due to Blanchard. Billerica town book 18, pages 341-344.
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| January 15, 1853 | Warranty Deed | Enos Woodbury of Cambridgeport, yeoman, and Maria L. Woodbury | Jonathan Sanborn and Jonathan A. Sanborn of Canaan, N.H., yeomen | Woodbury sells the homestead to Jonathan and Jonathan A. Sanborn | 644/220 (South) |
For $2,400, 13 acres on the west side of "the road leading from the dwelling house of Nathaniel Daniels to Joseph Blanchards," north of "the lane road so called leading from the Lexington Road," and "another tract ... separated therefrom by said lane road called the School House lot ... and Orchard containing thirty two acres," from "the northeasterly corner of said School House lot at the intersection of said roads," westerly by the lane about 108 rods to Jeremiah Crosby, southerly to Joseph Blanchard and easterly to the road. "The same being subject to the easements which School District No. Three has to set their School House thereon." Subject also to a mortgage to Joseph Blanchard with $1,741.53 unpaid, which the buyers assumed. Maria L. Woodbury releases dower. Dated and acknowledged Jan. 14, 1853; recorded Jan. 15, 1853. Billerica town book 19, pages 402-404. The earliest deed found that names the school district's right to keep its schoolhouse on the lot.
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| February 4, 1859 | Warranty Deed | Jonathan Sanborn and Jonathan A. Sanborn of Billerica, yeomen, and Achsah D. Sanborn | John Knowles of Boston | Sanborns sell their homestead "with the buildings" to John Knowles | 18/51 |
For $3,500, two parcels on the west side of "the Road leading from the house of the late Nathl. Daniels to L. S. Bryant formerly Jos. Blanchard's" (Wyman Road): the Sanborn homestead, 13 acres "with the buildings thereon," north of "the lane road, so called, leading from the Lexington Road" (School Lane), and south of the lane "the School House Lot and orchard, containing thirty two acres," from its northeast corner "at the intersection of said roads," westerly by the lane about 108 rods to Jeremiah Crosby, southerly by Crosby to land formerly of Joseph Blanchard and easterly by Blanchard to the road. "The same being subject to the easement which School District No. Three has to set their School house thereon." "Being land conveyed to us by Amos Woodbury. Deed dated Jan. 14, 1853" (Middlesex South Book 644 Page 220). Achsah D. Sanborn releases dower and homestead. Dated Jan. 31, 1859; recorded Feb. 4, 1859 (Book 18 Pages 51-52). The deed shows the schoolhouse standing on private land by an easement, not on a lot owned by the district.
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| February 4, 1859 | Mortgage | John Knowles of Boston | Jonathan Sanborn and Jonathan A. Sanborn of Billerica | Knowles purchase mortgage to the Sanborns | 18/53 |
Purchase-money mortgage for $2,500, payable in three years at six percent, of the same two parcels, including the "School House lot and orchard," 32 acres, "subject to the easements which School District No. Three has to set their School House thereon," "Being premises conveyed to me this day by said Sanborns." The buildings were to be insured for $2,000. Dated Jan. 31, 1859; recorded Feb. 4, 1859 (Book 18 Pages 53-54). Margin: assignments Book 35 Page 26 and Book 178 Page 545; "See Discharge Book 268 Page 58."
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| March 22, 1870 | Warranty Deed | John Knowles of Billerica, yeoman, and his wife Betsey J. Knowles (release of dower and homestead) | The Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica | Knowles sells the north corner of his homestead to the town for a schoolhouse | 72/331 |
For one hundred dollars, a tract "Beginning at the northeast corner of the premises on the road leading from Billerica to Lexington at land of D. L. Mason", westerly on Mason's land 197 feet to a bound at Knowles's land, southeasterly by Knowles 140 feet to the road, and northerly on the road 140 feet to the beginning, "Being the lot of land staked out by the Committee of the town to build a school house and other buildings upon." Taken from the north end of Knowles's Wyman Road homestead (bought in 1859, N.18/51). Signed June 28, 1869, acknowledged July 28, 1869 before Dudley Foster, recorded March 22, 1870. The Crosby Schoolhouse was built on it that year.
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| September 27, 1895 | Discharge of Mortgage | Ann B. Whitford, assignee of the 1859 Sanborn mortgage | Betsey J. Knowles of Billerica | widow Betsey J. Knowles pays off the 1859 mortgage | 268/58 |
"The assignee of a certain mortgage given by John Knowles to Jonathan and J. A. Sanborn dated January thirty first A.D. 1859, and recorded with North Middlesex Registry Deeds, libro 18, folio 53," acknowledges payment in full "from Betsey J. Knowles of Billerica, Massachusetts, who claims to be the present owner of the mortgaged premises," and discharges the mortgage and quitclaims to her. On the same page she also discharges a mortgage given by John Knowles to Rachel Mackay on Dec. 21, 1883 (Book 165 Page 211). Signed Sept. 9, 1895 and acknowledged in Worcester County; recorded Sept. 27, 1895. By then John Knowles had died and his widow Betsey held the farm, including the School House Lot, which their heirs kept until 1943-1946.
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| August 24, 1943 | Quitclaim Deed | Grace L. Knowles and Mary A. Knowles of Billerica and John R. Bowman of Medford, heirs of John and Betsey Knowles and Annie L. Bowman | Willis G. Lindsay of Medford | Knowles heirs (title through the Knowles probates) | 996/165 |
The heirs of John Knowles sell 6.5 acres "situated on the Southerly side of School Lane," beginning about 394 feet east of Lexington Road, as shown on a plan for Willis G. Lindsay, Aug. 14, 1943 (Plan Book 65, Plan 65). "For our title see Middlesex Probate Estate of John Knowles Docket 34225 and Betsey J. Knowles, Docket 55823 and Estate of Annie L. Bowman, Docket 97834 see also ... Book 18 Page 59." Dated and recorded Aug. 24, 1943 (Book 996 Pages 165-166). This took the west end of the School House Lot; the schoolhouse corner at Wyman Road stayed with the family.
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| February 11, 1946 | Quitclaim Deed | Mary A. Knowles of Billerica and John R. Bowman of Medford, heirs of John and Betsey J. Knowles | Robert T. Desrosiers and Estelle I. Desrosiers of Lowell, husband and wife | Knowles heirs sell the house to the Desrosiers | 1037/259 |
"A part of a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica ... on the Westerly side of Wyman Road", the first parcel of the 1859 Sanborn deed to John Knowles (Book 18, Page 51), by land formerly of Nathaniel Daniels and School Lane, less the corner lot sold to the Town in 1869 (Book 72, Page 331) and a lot on the 1914 plan of the John Knowles Estate (Plan Book 31, Plan 81). Recorded 11 February 1946; page 259 has no image at the registry.
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| October 11, 1952 | Quitclaim Deed | Robert T. Desrosiers and Estelle I. Desrosiers of Billerica | George H. McCormack of Billerica | Desrosiers sell to George H. McCormack | 1208/305 |
The same "part of a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon" on the west side of Wyman Road, the first parcel of the 1859 Sanborn deed to John Knowles, with the same two exceptions (the 1869 Town lot and the lot on the 1914 Knowles Estate plan). Signed 11 October 1952.
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| January 26, 1953 | Quitclaim Deed | George H. McCormack of Billerica | A couple of Lowell (owners from 1953) | McCormack sells to the present owning family | 1215/469 |
"The land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon situated on the Northwesterly side of Wyman Road, and the Northerly side of School Lane, containing 11 acres", 825 feet on School Lane, by land conveyed to Frank W. Crosby in 1941 and the D. L. Mason estate, "being the same premises to me conveyed by Robert T. Desrosiers et ux" (Book 1208, Page 305). The same family still owns the house; a lot was sold off in 1958 (plan 90-157) and the land passed within the family in 1985 and 2017.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.