Martha A. Dodge House
Martha A. Dodge House
| Also Known As | Samuel Cole House #2 |
| Address | Concord Road |
| Built | 1850 |
| Demolished | 1951 |
The Martha A. Dodge House was a small two-story house on the east side of Concord Road (the old road from Billerica to Bedford) in South Billerica, on an acre enclosed by a stone wall just south of the home of the blacksmith Samuel Cole. Cole had bought twenty acres here from Jonathan Hill in 1835. The house appears as his second house on the 1853 Walling map, and it is sometimes called the Samuel Cole House #2.
On August 9, 1855 Samuel Cole sold his father, Joseph Cole, for $700 "a certain tract or parcel of land ... containing One acre, more or less, with a two story dwelling house thereon", about eight rods on the road and twenty rods deep, "enclosed by a stone wall ... and occupied by the said Joseph Cole". After Joseph Cole and his wife died the place "descended" to their children. On August 4, 1864 Samuel Cole, Caroline S. Page of Watertown, Emma P. Clark of Boston, Lucy L. Lothrop of Philadelphia and William F. Whalen of Peacedale, Rhode Island sold their four fifths to Stephen H. Wilson, a machinist, for $480. The last fifth belonged to Josiah S. Cole of San Francisco.
In August 1866 Wilson passed the house through George R. Cobb to his wife Hattie G. Wilson, "an estate of homestead to be held and enjoyed by her in her own right free from control of her husband". In June 1874 the Wilsons, by then of Lynn, sold it for $650 to Mary D. Boyden of Billerica, a widow; the 1875 Beers atlas marks the house "Mrs. M. D. Boyden". After her death the Probate Court appointed Dudley Foster and two others to divide her real estate, and at their auction on October 22, 1890 Martha A. Dodge of Billerica bid $350 for the house. Miss Dodge was active in town affairs as an officer of the Billerica Historical Society and president of the Bennett Library Association.
On August 1, 1899 Martha A. Dodge sold the house for $700 to Hannah Louise Dugan, a single woman, taking back a $600 mortgage. Miss Dugan owned it for 37 years and in 1936 gave it to Katharine Agnes Dugan, who sold it in September 1940 to Frank Henry and Verna Dorothy Gilman. In February 1948 the Gilmans sold "the land with the buildings thereon ... on the road leading to Bedford, now called Concord Road" to William J. and Lily P. Murphy of Waltham. Every deed from 1855 to 1948 repeats the same bounds: Samuel Cole's land on three sides and the road on the west.
The house was gone by the early 1950s, when Route 3 was built across the neighboring Cole land. The acre is not among the parcels listed in the 1953 Route 3 award list, so the records found so far do not show how it was cleared.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| May 23, 1835 | Warranty Deed | Jonathan Hill of Billerica, gentleman | Samuel Cole of Billerica, blacksmith | 1835: the Cole land from which the house acre was cut | 341/485 (South) |
For $375, "a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica containing twenty acres more or less," beginning by "the road leading from Billerica Meeting house to Concord at land of George Bacon," south by the road to land of Joseph F. Hill, east by Joseph's land, north by "my Pond meadow lot" to Bacon and west by Bacon to the road; also the seven acre "Pond Meadow" behind it, bounded by the dower land of Susan Jaquith, George Bacon, Henry Crosby, Amos Adams and the heirs of Isaac French. No buildings are named: the land was bare when Cole bought it. Dated Feb. 3, 1835, witnessed by Marshall Preston and Lucretia Hill. Billerica town book 15, pages 110-111.
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| September 20, 1855 | Warranty Deed | Samuel Cole of Billerica, yeoman (wife Mary Cole releasing dower) | His father Joseph Cole of Billerica, yeoman | 1855 Samuel Cole sells the house his father occupied to Joseph Cole | 2/206 |
Dated Aug. 9, 1855 (pages 206-207). For $700, "a certain tract or parcel of land, situate in the Southerly part of said Billerica, on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford, containing One acre, more or less, with a two story dwelling house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road "and at land owned by myself", east about twenty rods and south about eight rods by "my own land", west about twenty rods to the Bedford road and north by the road about eight rods, "said premises being enclosed by a stone wall, as above described, and occupied by the said Joseph Cole". Cut from the twenty acres Samuel Cole bought from Jonathan Hill in 1835. Witnesses Benjamin F. Judkins and Mary E. Cole.
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| May 16, 1865 | Quitclaim | Heirs of Joseph Cole: Samuel Cole of Billerica, yeoman; Caroline S. Page (with John Page) of Watertown; Emma P. Clark (with James D. Clark) of Boston; Lucy L. Lothrop (with David Lothrop) of Philadelphia; William F. Whalen of Peacedale, R.I. | Stephen H. Wilson of Billerica, machinist | 1864 Joseph Cole's heirs sell four fifths to Stephen H. Wilson | 42/476 |
Dated Aug. 4, 1864, recorded May 16, 1865 (pages 476-477). For $480, "all our undivided rights ... comprising four fifths thereof in the aggregate" in "a certain tract or parcel of land situated in the southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two story dwelling house thereon", bounded by Samuel Cole's land on three sides and the road on the west, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall which the said Samuel Cole conveyed to his Father Joseph Cole by deed dated 9th August 1855 ... Book 2 Page 206 and which since the death of his said Father and his Mother has descended to us his heirs", the other fifth going to Josiah S. Cole of San Francisco.
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| August 14, 1866 | Warranty Deed | Stephen H. Wilson of Billerica (wife Hattie G. Wilson releasing) | George R. Cobb of Billerica | 1866 Stephen H. Wilson to George R. Cobb (straw) | 51/352 |
Dated Aug. 14, 1866 (pages 352-353). For $500, "a certain tract of land situate in the Southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two Story dwelling house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road and land of Samuel Cole, east about twenty rods, south about eight rods, west about twenty rods to the Bedford road and north by the road about eight rods, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall and conveyed to me by Lucy L. Lothrop, Samuel Cole and others by deed dated August 4th 1864", subject to "a Mortgage to Leonard Wilson for three hundred dollars" dated Aug. 7, 1866. The first half of a same-day transfer from husband to wife through a third party.
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| August 14, 1866 | Warranty Deed | George R. Cobb of Billerica | Hattie G. Wilson of Billerica, married woman | 1866 Cobb to Hattie G. Wilson, a homestead in her own right | 51/353 |
Dated Aug. 14, 1866 (pages 353-354). For $500, the same acre "with a two Story dwelling house thereon", "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall and conveyed to me by Stephen H. Wilson by deed of an even date herewith. Intending by these presents to convey to the said Hattie G. Wilson an estate of homestead to be held and enjoyed by her in her own right free from control of her husband", subject to the $300 mortgage to Leonard Wilson.
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| June 29, 1874 | Quitclaim | Hattie G. Wilson of Lynn, married woman in her own right (husband Stephen H. Wilson assenting) | Mary D. Boyden of Billerica, widow | 1874 Hattie G. Wilson sells the house to the widow Mary D. Boyden | 102/556 |
Dated June 24, 1874 (pages 556-557). For $650, "a certain tract of land situated in the southerly part of said Billerica on the road leading to Bedford, containing one acre, more or less with a two story house thereon", beginning at the northwest corner at the road at land of Samuel Cole, east about twenty rods, south about eight rods and west about twenty rods to the road, all by Cole land, and north by the road about eight rods, "Being the same premises enclosed by a stone wall and conveyed to me by George R. Cobb by deed dated August 14, 1866" (Book 51, Page 353). Acknowledged before Dudley Foster.
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| July 30, 1891 | Commissioners' Deed | Dudley Foster, Albert R. Richardson and a third commissioner, appointed by the Probate Court to make partition of the real estate of Mary D. Boyden, late of Billerica | Martha A. Dodge of Billerica | 1890 probate commissioners sell the Boyden house to Martha A. Dodge | 225/367 |
Dated Oct. 29, 1890, recorded July 30, 1891 (pages 367-368). Under a Middlesex Probate Court warrant of September 1890 the commissioners, after notice in "The Boston Post", sold at auction on Oct. 22, 1890 to Martha A. Dodge, "the highest bidder having offered therefor the sum of Three Hundred and fifty Dollars", "a certain parcel of land situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less with a two-story house thereon", bounded by land "now or formerly of Samuel Cole" on three sides and the road on the west, "Being the same premises described in a deed thereof from Hattie G. Wilson to said Mary D. Boyden dated June 24, 1874" (Book 102, Page 556).
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| August 29, 1899 | Warranty Deed | Martha A. Dodge of Billerica, singlewoman | Hannah Louise Dugan of Billerica, singlewoman | 1899 Martha A. Dodge sells to Hannah Louise Dugan | 310/361 |
Dated Aug. 1, 1899, recorded Aug. 29 (pages 361-362). For $700, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre more or less", bounded by land "now or formerly of Samuel Cole" and the road, "Said premises being enclosed by a stone wall as above described and being the same premises conveyed to me by the Commissioners of the Estate of Mary D. Boyden by deed dated October twenty ninth A.D. 1890" (Book 225, Page 367). Witness Herbert A. King. The buyer gave back a $600 mortgage to Miss Dodge (page 362).
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| April 8, 1936 | Gift | Hannah Louise Dugan of Billerica, unmarried | Katharine Agnes Dugan of Billerica | 1936 Hannah Louise Dugan to Katharine Agnes Dugan | 880/308 |
Dated April 8, 1936 (pages 308-309). Warranty deed of "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof, on the road leading to Bedford containing one acre", the same Cole-bounded acre, "Said premises being enclosed by a stone wall. Being the same premises to me conveyed by Martha A. Dodge by deed dated August 1, 1899" (Book 310, Page 361). "There is no consideration for this deed and no stamp required": a family transfer after 37 years of Hannah Louise Dugan's ownership.
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| September 10, 1940 | Quitclaim | Katharine Agnes Dugan of Billerica, unmarried | Frank Henry Gilman and Verna Dorothy Gilman of Billerica, husband and wife | 1940 Katharine Agnes Dugan sells to the Gilmans | 948/33 |
Dated Sept. 10, 1940. For consideration paid ($2.75 in revenue stamps), "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford, containing one acre, more or less", the same acre bounded by land "now or formerly, of Samuel Cole" and the road, "enclosed by a stone wall", "Being all and the same premises to me conveyed by Hannah Louise Dugan by her deed dated April 8th 1936" (Book 880, Page 308).
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| September 10, 1940 | Mortgage | Frank Henry Gilman and Verna Dorothy Gilman of Billerica | Rachel T. Broadhead of Somerville and Walter H. Broadhead of Medford | 1940 Gilman purchase mortgage | 948/34 |
Dated Sept. 10, 1940. Purchase mortgage for $2,474.89 in fourteen years at six percent, "A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica, in the southerly part thereof, on the road leading to Bedford, containing one acre more or less", "Being the same premises conveyed to us this day by deed of Katherine Agnes Dugan".
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| February 27, 1948 | Quitclaim | Frank Henry Gilman and Verna Dorothy Gilman of Billerica | William J. Murphy and Lily P. Murphy of Waltham, husband and wife | 1948 the Gilmans sell to William J. and Lily P. Murphy | 1086/245 |
Dated Feb. 26, 1948 (pages 245-246). For consideration paid ($7.15 in revenue stamps), "the land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the Southerly part thereof on the road leading to Bedford, containing one (1) acre of land", beginning at the northwest corner "at said road, now called Concord Road, and at land now or formerly of Samuel Cole", the stone-walled acre, "being the same premises conveyed to us by Katherine Agnes Dugan by deed dated September 10, 1940" (Book 948, Page 33). The Gilmans had mortgaged it in 1944 and 1946; the buyers financed it with a $6,400 mortgage to the Lexington Co-operative Bank (page 246).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.