Structure · Built 1825 · Demolished 1959
Lois R. Faulkner House
The Lois R. Faulkner House stood on the north bank of the mill pond above the Faulkner dam in North Billerica, on the west side of the old road from the Canal Mills to Billerica Meeting House (now Rogers Street), just south of the bend where Faulkner Street crosses to the Faulkner Mills. It was the home of Francis Faulkner, who began making woolen goods at the mills in 1811, and then of his unmarried daughters Lois and Lydia. Its site is now a parking lot at 0 Faulkner Street.
The lot was put together by the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, who owned the mills and the pond. In March 1795 Jonathan Pollard sold them one acre bounded east "by the road near Wm. Rogers's" and west "by the mill pond so called". In December 1799 William Rogers sold them an acre and a quarter just south of it, beginning "opposite to the westerly end of said William Rogers dwelling house" and running from the stone wall of the canal to the pond. Neither deed mentions a building. On May 4, 1825 the Canal sold Francis Faulkner, clothier, the mill privilege he had been renting together with this lot, "about two acres and twenty seven rods" by William Rogers's land "on the road leading from the Canal Mills by said Rogers house to Billerica meeting house".
Francis Faulkner built his house there between 1825 and 1840. His will of 1840 left his widow Ann the use of "my Mantion House" with its lot, and his estate inventory of 1843 lists a "House out Buildings & five acres of land" worth $2,633. In 1850 the census found Ann Faulkner, 73, living there with her son William E. Faulkner, a manufacturer, and her daughters Lois R. and Lydia H. Faulkner. Walling's 1853 map marks the house beside the pond under the name of William E. Faulkner. In 1854 the heirs divided the property: the mill land went to James R. Faulkner and Charles Faulkner, and the house lot "with the buildings" went to Lois, Lydia and William E. in thirds. The brothers kept the right to use one corner of the lot for "a store and counting room", which stood at the corner by the mill.
William E. Faulkner died on September 1, 1861. His heirs released his third to his sisters for $1,000 in a deed dated December 24, 1861. Lydia H. Faulkner died on June 20, 1867, and by her will, written in 1854, everything she owned went "unto my beloved sister Lois R. Faulkner". Lois then lived in the house as its only owner for twenty years. She was one of the first women in town to register to vote for the school committee, and she placed a memorial tablet in the Unitarian church. R. A. Hale's 1880 plan of the Faulkner Manufacturing Company's property shows her lot as Lot 7, 2.93 acres including the pond bank, with the house, a shed and a barn in a line near Faulkner Street. L. R. Burleigh's 1887 view of North Billerica shows the house, ell and barn on the pond bank across the street from the mill.
Lois R. Faulkner died in August 1887. On November 8, 1887 her heirs and devisees, led by her brother Luther W. Faulkner and her sister Ann F. Rogers, sold the lot "with the buildings thereon" to the Faulkner Manufacturing Company for $5,200. That deed was not recorded until July 1914, when the company was clearing its title to sell, and the heirs of her brother Dwight F. Faulkner signed a confirming release that August, noting that she "died in the month of August, 1887". The company kept the house as part of the mill property. The Sanborn insurance maps of 1892 and 1907 show a two-story dwelling with a one-story ell and a story-and-a-half barn. It is still drawn on Smith and Brooks's survey of July 1914, which made the lot part of 4.47 acres between Faulkner and Rogers Streets, the old canal and the river, and on the county plan for the relocation of Faulkner and Rogers Streets in 1916.
On August 8, 1919 the Faulkner Manufacturing Company sold the 4.47 acres "with the buildings thereon" to Grace A. Morrill of Woodstock, Vermont, and on October 1, 1919 she conveyed them on the same terms to the North Billerica Company, which then ran the Faulkner mill. Those are the last deeds to mention the buildings, and the house still appears in aerial photographs of 1938. The 1960 assessor's map in the 1983 National Register nomination for the Billerica Mills Historic District shows the land between Faulkner Street, Rogers Street and the pond empty except for a later sewer pumping station, so the house was taken down between 1938 and 1960; it is also gone from aerial photographs of 1963. In 1962 the North Billerica Company gave the canal-bank end of the land to the Billerica Historical Society.
The rest stayed with the company, later called Faulkner Mills, Inc., which conveyed it to Faulkner Realty, Inc. in 1992. By the 1990s it was the mill's parking lot. In 2001 Faulkner Realty sold "the so-called Parking Lot" to a private trust, which still holds it.
References
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| August 1, 1795 | Deed | Jonathan Pollard of Billerica, yeoman (Olive Pollard releasing dower) | The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by their agents Loammi Baldwin, Samuel Jaques and Samuel Swan | 1795: Jonathan Pollard sells the Canal the acre on the mill pond, the north part of the later house lot | 118/214 (South) |
Billerica town book 9, pages 184-185. Dated March 25, 1795, acknowledged July 27, 1795. For 6 pounds, "a certain piece of Land laying in said Billerica containing one acre", bounded easterly "by the road near Wm. Rogers's", northerly by land of the Proprietors, westerly "by the mill pond so called" and southerly by Pollard's own land, an elm tree standing in the line. No buildings are mentioned. This acre on the east shore of the mill pond became the northern part of the lot the Canal sold to Francis Faulkner in 1825.
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| November 11, 1801 | Deed | William Rogers of Billerica, gentleman (Hannah Rogers releasing dower) | The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal | 1799: William Rogers sells the Canal 1 1/4 acres by the canal, the south part of the later house lot | 143/118 (South) |
Billerica town book 10, pages 92-93. Dated December 21, 1799, acknowledged October 27, 1801. For $319.22, two pieces. The first begins "opposite to the westerly end of said William Rogers dwelling house on the westerly side of the road which leads from the Proprietors Mills on Concord river by said Rogers house and Thomas Mears to Billerica Meeting house", five rods north of the wall of "the trunk of the Canal as now stoned up", runs by Rogers's other land into "the Mill pond or Concord river", by the pond "untill it comes to Jonathan Pollard land or land which he sold to said Proprietors", and east by that land to the road, "containing by estimation one acre and a quarter". The second piece, 20 acres 5 poles, is on the other side of the road along the canal. No buildings are mentioned. The first piece became the southern part of Francis Faulkner's 1825 lot.
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| May 5, 1825 | Deed | The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by Benjamin Guild, President | Francis Faulkner of Billerica, clothier | 1825: the Canal sells Francis Faulkner the bare 2 acre 27 rod lot (lot 1 of the deed) | 260/48 (South) |
Billerica town book 12, pages 407-412. For $2,500, "three certain lots or parcels of land ... on the Northerly side of Concord River and near the Canal Mills so called": 2 acres 27 rods by William Rogers on "the road leading from the Canal Mills by said Rogers house to Billerica meeting house"; "about twenty one acres" from "the creek or water course to the fulling mill" along "the little Bason so called" and down the river to John Rogers and Thomas Richardson; and the fulling mill lot, "with the privilege of keeping and maintaining the building of said Mill over said creek", the creek itself reserved. With "the privilege of using the water which passes through one half of the creek leading from the mill pond to the Fulling mill ... for the purpose of working said mill and Factory", but never when the pond is 3/4 inch below the top of the dam, on pain of "one dollar for every half hour said gates remain open". The canal reserved its water, a way across, and the right to repurchase within a year.
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| May 5, 1825 | Mortgage | Francis Faulkner of Billerica, Esq. (wife Ann releasing dower) | The President and Fellows of Harvard College | 1825: Francis Faulkner mortgages the three canal lots to Harvard College | 260/53 (South) |
Billerica town book 12, pages 413-415. For $3,000, payable in a year with semiannual interest, the three tracts "near the canal mills, so called and on the Northeast side of Concord river, with all the buildings thereon": the 2 acre 27 rod lot by William Rogers, the 21 acres on the creek and river, and the fulling mill lot, "the same premises which were conveyed to me by the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal by their deed dated this fourth day of May instant". Discharged by Harvard College (Samuel A. Eliot, Treasurer) May 15, 1845.
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| May 16, 1843 | Will | Estate of Francis Faulkner of Billerica, Esquire (died Feb. 12, 1843) | His widow Ann Faulkner for life, then his children; sons James R. Faulkner and Charles Faulkner, executors and trustees | 1843: Francis Faulkner's will leaves "my Mantion House" to his widow Ann for life | Probate #31567 |
Will of May 2, 1840, proved May 16, 1843. All property to his wife for life, "in trust, to my Executors ... with power to sell or let at their discretion, all my Interest owned in conection with James R Faulkner and known as the property of Francis Faulkner & Son", the income to the widow and the property then "divided among my children". The inventory of April 26, 1843 lists his house, outbuildings and five acres, 20 acres of pasture and 5 of meadow ($3,023) and adds "Interest in the concern of F. Faulkner and Sons not known". His two thirds of the mill passed through this will to the 1846-1854 family deeds.
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| June 21, 1843 | Quitclaim Deed | The children of Francis Faulkner (James R., William E., Luther W., George, Dwight F., Charles and Winthrop Faulkner, and Ann wife of Calvin Rogers) and the widow and children of Francis Faulkner Jr. of Keene, N.H. | Ann Faulkner of Billerica, widow of Francis Faulkner | 1843: the heirs release the estate to the widow Ann Faulkner | 430/57 (South) |
Billerica town book 17, pages 495-497. For $1, a release to the widow of "all the real and personal property of every description, which were of Francis Faulkner late of said Billerica Decd. and ... to which we ... may be entitled under the will of said Francis Faulkner and also ... as the heirs and next of kin", the sons' wives releasing dower. Dated May 24, 1843, eight days after the will was proved; it put all of Francis Faulkner's estate, including his share of the mill, in his widow's hands.
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| August 19, 1846 | Quitclaim Deed | Ann Faulkner of Billerica, widow of Francis Faulkner | The heirs of Francis Faulkner (James R., William E., Luther W., George, Dwight F., Charles and Winthrop Faulkner, Calvin Rogers, and Eliza, Charles S. and Elizabeth Faulkner of Keene) | 1846: Ann Faulkner releases the estate back to the heirs | 492/98 (South) |
Billerica town book 20, pages 213-214. For $1, the widow releases back to the family "all my right title & interest in & to all the real & personal property of every description which was conveyed to me by deed dated the twenty fourth day of May ... 1843" (Book 430 Page 57). Dated June 30, 1846; it returned Francis Faulkner's estate, including his share of the mill, to his heirs in common, ahead of the 1846-1854 buyouts by Charles and James R. Faulkner.
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| February 14, 1854 | Quitclaim Deed | The heirs at law of Francis Faulkner (James R., Dwight F., Charles, George, Winthrop and Luther W. Faulkner, Calvin and Ann F. Rogers, and the Keene heirs) | Lois R. Faulkner, Lydia H. Faulkner and William E. Faulkner of Billerica, a third each | 1854: the heirs give the house lot to Lois R., Lydia H. and William E. Faulkner | 668/420 (South) |
Billerica town book 21, pages 186-189. For $3,000, the 2 acre 27 rod lot by William Rogers "on the road leading from the canal mills by said Rogers house to Billerica Meeting house", reaching to a stake "twenty six feet easterly of a line drawn in the direction of the easterly end of the Fullings Mill", with the buildings, "the same piece ... first described in the deed of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal to Francis Faulkner dated May 4th A.D. 1825". James R. and Charles Faulkner reserved "the right to use one corner of said premises for the purpose of keeping a store and counting room thereon as the buildings at present used for those purposes now stand". Dated Jan 2, 1854.
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| October 8, 1861 | Administration | Estate of William E. Faulkner of Billerica, trader (died September 1, 1861, intestate) | His brother James R. Faulkner, administrator | 1861: William E. Faulkner dies intestate, owning a third of the house | Probate #31573 |
Petition of October 1, 1861 by James R. Faulkner, eldest brother: William E. Faulkner of Billerica, trader, "died on the first day of September" 1861 intestate, leaving no widow; next of kin his brothers James R., Dwight F., Charles, Winthrop, George and Luther W. Faulkner and his sisters Lois R., Lydia H. and Ann F. (wife of Calvin Rogers). Decree of October 8, 1861 appointing James R. Faulkner administrator, bond $20,000 with Calvin Rogers and Luther W. Faulkner as sureties; notice in the Boston Daily Advertiser. No inventory is in the file; his land passed to the heirs, who released it to James R. Faulkner (Book 30 Page 386).
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| March 25, 1862 | Quitclaim Deed | The heirs at law of William E. Faulkner (James R. Faulkner, Luther W. Faulkner, Dwight F., Charles, George and Winthrop Faulkner, Calvin Rogers and Ann F. Rogers, and the Keene and Sioux City heirs) | Lois R. Faulkner and Lydia H. Faulkner of Billerica, "the other heirs at law" | 1862: William E. Faulkner's heirs release his third of the house to his sisters Lois and Lydia | 30/389 |
Dated December 24, 1861; acknowledged January 1862 (Keene, N.H., and Sioux City, Iowa). For $1,000, the heirs of William E. Faulkner, "late of said Billerica, deceased, intestate", release to his sisters Lois and Lydia his "one undivided third part" of the lot conveyed to the three of them on January 2, 1854 (Book 668 Page 420): the 2 acre 27 rod lot by William Rogers on the road from the Canal Mills to Billerica Meeting House, "together with the buildings thereon standing", the same as the Middlesex Canal deed of May 4, 1825. James R. and Charles Faulkner keep "the right to use one corner of said premises for the purpose of keeping a store or counting room thereon, as the building at present used for those purposes now stands". Wives release dower.
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| 1867 | Will | Estate of Lydia H. Faulkner of Billerica, single woman (died June 20, 1867) | Her sister Lois R. Faulkner of Billerica; her brother Charles Faulkner of Boston, executor | 1867: Lydia H. Faulkner wills everything to her sister Lois, who becomes sole owner | Probate #31571 |
Will dated January 12, 1854: "unto my beloved sister Lois R. Faulkner, all my estate, real, personal and mixed ... for her sole use and disposal", with her brother Charles Faulkner of Boston as executor, empowered to sell real estate. On Charles Faulkner's petition of September 2, 1867 (Lydia "died on the twentieth day of June" 1867; heirs her brothers James R. Faulkner, Luther W. Faulkner, Dwight F., Charles, Winthrop and George Faulkner, her sisters Lois R. Faulkner and Ann wife of Calvin Rogers, and the children of Francis Faulkner Jr.), the will was allowed at Cambridge on September 24, 1867. The executor swore the estate did not exceed $9,000. Lydia's half of the house passed to Lois.
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| July 10, 1914 | Quitclaim Deed | The heirs and devisees of Lois R. Faulkner (Luther W. Faulkner, Ann F. Rogers, Anne R., Emily F. and Abby L. Faulkner, Winthrop and George Faulkner, Catharine R. Preston and others) | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 1887: after Lois R. Faulkner's death her heirs sell the house to the Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 523/152 |
Dated November 8, 1887, acknowledged November 14, 1887, but recorded only on July 10, 1914. For $5,200, "a certain lot of land, with the buildings thereon": the 2 acre 27 rod lot beginning at land of William Rogers on "the road leading from the Canal Mills by said Rogers house, now or formerly, to Billerica Meeting House", 8 1/2, 10, 14 and 12 rods to the road, 26 feet east of a line from the east end of the Fulling Mill. "Being the same premises described in a deed from James R. Faulkner and others to Lois R. Faulkner and others, dated January 2 A.D. 1854. Said Lois R. Faulkner subsequently became sole owner of the premises, and died testate, in the month of August last, and the grantors claim title ... under and by virtue of her last will and testament." Wives release dower and homestead.
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| November 7, 1914 | Quitclaim Deed | Alice B. Burgess of Brookline, widow, and Elizabeth J. Carson of New York (Joseph Carson releasing), heirs of Dwight F. Faulkner | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 1914: Dwight F. Faulkner's heirs confirm the company's title before it sells the land | 529/66 |
Dated August 1, 1914. For $1 and other considerations, a confirmatory release of "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon", the same 2 acre 27 rod lot, "all the same premises described in a deed from James R. Faulkner and others to Lois R. Faulkner and others dated January 2, 1854". "Whatever title, if any, we have to said premises is derived under the residuary clause in the will of said Lois R. Faulkner who died in the month of August, 1887"; the grantors are "grandchildren and two of the heirs at law of the late Dwight F. Faulkner, a brother of said Lois R. Faulkner, who died in her lifetime", and give the deed "for further assurance and in order to cure any defect" in the company's title under the 1887 deed (Book 523 Page 152).
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| 1919 | Warranty Deed | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company, by George M. Preston, President and Treasurer | Grace A. Morrill, wife of Walter C. Morrill, of Woodstock, Vermont | 1919: the Faulkner Manufacturing Company sells the 4.47 acres with the buildings to Grace A. Morrill | 609/92 |
Dated August 8, 1919, acknowledged in Boston August 9, 1919, recorded August 1919. With warranty covenants, "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon, situated on the westerly side of Faulkner and Rogers Streets", bounded by Faulkner Street from the North Billerica Company line, by Rogers Street to "the Old Middlesex Canal", and by the canal and the shore of Concord River about 1340 feet back to the North Billerica Company, 4.47 acres on the Smith and Brooks plan of July 1914 (Plan Book 36 Plan 46). "For our title see deed of Luther W. Faulkner et als, dated November 8, 1887 ... Book 523, Page 152; deed of Alice B. Burgess et al ... Book 529, Page 66, and deeds of Charles Faulkner as executor and trustee and in his own right ... Book 143, Pages 22 and 23." Recorded with the stockholders' vote of May 9, 1919 to sell "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon".
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| March 26, 1920 | Warranty Deed | Grace A. Morrill of Woodstock, Vermont, in her own right (Walter C. Morrill releasing curtesy) | The North Billerica Company | 1919: Grace A. Morrill passes the 4.47 acres to the North Billerica Company | 622/67 |
Dated October 1, 1919, acknowledged January 2, 1920. With warranty covenants, "a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon, situated on the westerly side of Faulkner and Rogers Streets", the same 4.47 acres on the Smith and Brooks plan of July 1914, "Being the same premises conveyed to said Grace A. Morrill by deed of the Faulkner Manufacturing Company dated August 8, 1919 ... Book 609, Page 92". Walter C. Morrill was an officer of the North Billerica Company, which ran the Faulkner mill.
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| 1962 | Quitclaim Deed | The North Billerica Company | The Billerica Historical Society | 1962: the North Billerica Company gives the canal-bank end of the land to the Billerica Historical Society | 1575/288 |
Recorded October 1962. With quitclaim covenants, "the land in said Billerica situated on the westerly side of Rogers Street, the northerly side of the Old Middlesex Canal and the easterly side of the Concord River", beginning where the west line of Rogers Street meets the northeast bank of the canal, north by Rogers Street about 212 feet to a stone bound on the 1914 plan (Plan Book 36 Plan 46), then west at a right angle to the river and back by the shore: the canal-bank end of the 4.47 acres, south of the old house site. "The land" only: no buildings.
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| December 21, 1992 | Quitclaim Deed | Faulkner Mills, Inc. (formerly the North Billerica Company) | Faulkner Realty, Inc. of Worcester | 1992: Faulkner Mills, Inc. (the old North Billerica Company) to Faulkner Realty, Inc., Parcel V, the 4.47 acres | 6269/264 |
Schedule A, "parcels of land, with the buildings thereon": Parcel I the 125,513 sq ft mill lot on Faulkner Street and the Concord River, Parcel II the triangle bounded by "the canal, formerly known as the creek", Parcel III east of the canal, Parcel IV the small lot by the Preston trustees' "Homestead", with the 1857 water rights, the Carleton Street way, the machinery and the Faulkner Manufacturing Company's trade names, "the same premises conveyed to the Grantor herein by deed of Daniel W. Farnsworth dated January 29, 1915 ... Book 533, Page 159"; also the 4.47 acres on Faulkner and Rogers Streets (1919), a Mount Pleasant Street lot (1957), lots 23-24 across the pond (Fabricon, 1968) and registered land on Indian Road (Ctf 16072). Dated Nov 30, 1992, after the 1992 tax takings of the North Billerica Company's land; the end of the textile company's ownership.
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| September 28, 2001 | Quitclaim Deed | Faulkner Realty, Inc. | The trustees of the Concord River Trust | 2001: Faulkner Realty, Inc. sells "the so-called Parking Lot" to the trustees of the Concord River Trust | 12167/52 |
For $200,000, lot 3 of the 1914 plan (7,142 sq ft between Faulkner Street, the canal and the river) and the 4.47 acres "on the westerly side of Faulkner and Rogers Streets" along "the Northeast bank of the Old Middlesex Canal" (Plan 36/46), "being the same Parcels referred to as Parcel III and Parcel V" in Book 6269 Page 264, "Meaning and intending to convey the so-called Parking Lot and Grantor's remaining property situated on the Southerly side of Faulkner Street". The mill's parking lot across the street, separated from the mill building.
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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.