Structure · Built 1875
Mathew Maley House
The house at 65 Rogers Street stands on six acres that the deeds called, for more than a hundred years, a lot of "plain land" on "the Rogers Plains so called". From the 1830s to the 1950s every conveyance gave the same bounds: easterly by "the road leading from the old Mears house to William Rogers' place" (now Rogers Street), northerly by the widow Olive Barrett, westerly by William Pollard, and southerly by "the Warren lot".
The land was once part of the farm of Thomas Mears, who died in 1807. It was set off to his widow, Lydia Mears, as part of her dower, and after her death it passed to their daughter Anna Mears Wood (written "Anna Woods"), who mortgaged it to John Baldwin in 1832. In May 1836 she and Baldwin sold it for $50 to Joel Dix of North Billerica, who kept it until he died in 1860; his estate inventory lists it as the "Plain lot 6 a.", worth $139.98.
At the administrator's auction of June 14, 1862 Martha Dix, wife of Joel Dix's son Joel, bought the lot for $150. That December she and her husband sold it with a Broad Meadow lot to John A. Dix of Lowell, who mortgaged both back to her. When the mortgage went unpaid she sold the six acres at auction on February 18, 1867 to Daniel Hartford for $102.50. Because her 1862 deed from the administrator had been "wholly lost before the same was recorded", the administrator gave her a confirming deed in 1867.
In October 1868 Hartford sold the still bare "tract of plain land" to Mathew Maley for $200, taking back a mortgage for $150. When Maley sold to Eben Baker in April 1875 the price was $550 and Maley owed money to C. P. Talbot & Co., which suggests the house had been built, though that deed names no buildings. Baker's own deed to Thomas Lewin of May 31, 1878, for $575, is the first to describe the six acres "with the buildings thereon"; by then the narrow-gauge Billerica and Bedford Railroad crossed the northeast corner of the lot. The assessor's estimate of 1880 for the house is a few years late.
Lewin sold the place in 1880 to Charles K. Talbot for $550. William H. Greenwood of Lowell won a judgment against Talbot in 1884, and a deputy sheriff sold the house at auction to Greenwood on August 2, 1884 for $400; Talbot's widow Fanny released her dower that November. In 1888 Greenwood put the title in his wife Sarah A. Greenwood. After her death her widower and her daughter Sarah E. Knowles sold it in 1895 to George W. Poore of Lowell. Poore left the residue of his estate to the Smithsonian Institution, which in 1914 released its interest in the Billerica house to Mrs. Knowles. In March 1925 Nellie Hughes bought out Mrs. Knowles, the other Greenwood heirs and the estate of Robert H. Greenwood.
Nellie Hughes, by then living on the place, sold it in 1947 to Jesse B. and Louise Witham, and they sold it in 1952 to private owners, whose family still holds it. The new owners registered the land in the Land Court in 1955. Plan 25544-A shows a lot 284 feet along Rogers Street running back about 790 feet to the ends of Beacon and Maple Streets, with the house by the street and a brook across the rear. In 1974 a small lot at the railroad corner was divided off. The house lot is now about five acres, assessor's parcel 16-19-0.
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Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| April 14, 1807 | Administration | Estate of Thomas Mears of Billerica, yeoman (died February 1807) | His widow Lydia Mears and his son Nathan Mears, administrator and later sole assignee | 1807: Thomas Mears estate; the six acres were part of the widow Lydia Mears dower | Probate #14962 |
Thomas Mears died intestate in February 1807; his widow Lydia and two elder sons declined, and his third son Nathan Mears, a Billerica trader, was appointed administrator at Concord April 14, 1807 (bond $30,000, sureties Jonathan P. Pollard and Joshua Thissell of Dracut). The inventory of April 6, 1807 lists "The homestead of said deceased situated in said Billerica, containing 40 acres with the buildings thereon", 20 acres near it bounded by William Pollard (the Warren lot), 10 acres called Dam Swamp and 43 acres in Tewksbury. The widow's dower was the "upright part" of the house, the east end of the barn, the Warren lot and parts of the homestead; in 1809 the estate, found incapable of division, was assigned whole to Nathan, who paid the other heirs (Roger, Thomas, Lydia Thissell, the children of Elizabeth Farmer, Anna Wood).
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| April 16, 1832 | Mortgage | Anna Mears Wood (written Anna Woods) of Billerica, widow (by her mark) | John Baldwin of Billerica, Esquire | 1832: Anna Woods mortgages the six acres on the Rogers Plains to John Baldwin | 312/73 (South) |
To secure $356 in three yearly payments (her purchase price), the widow mortgaged "a certain parcel of land, situate in said Billerica, at the Canal Mills so called, with a small dwelling house thereon, called the Red House with about eighteen and three quarters square rods", with the same bounds (Isaiah Bussey, the notch in the fence, the elm tree, the east gate post, the road), together with her undivided fifth of the dower land "set off to my mother, Lydia Mears late of said Billerica deceased for her right of dower, in the estate of her husband, Thomas Mears", and about six acres by the road from "the Old Mears Place" to William Rogers. Signed March 20, 1832 (witnesses Marshall Preston, Isaiah Bussey). The mortgage shows that Anna Wood was a daughter of Thomas and Lydia Mears and so a sister of Nathan Mears. Billerica town book 16, pages 64-66.
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| September 3, 1839 | Quitclaim | Anna Mears Wood (written Anna Woods) of Billerica, widow (by her mark), and John Baldwin of Billerica, Esquire, mortgagee | Joel Dix of Billerica, yeoman | 1836: the six acres of plain land to Joel Dix | 387/39 (South) |
Billerica town book 14, pages 536-537. Dated May 3, 1836, acknowledged May 7, 1836 before Marshall Preston, recorded Sept. 3, 1839. For $50, "a certain lot of plain land situate in said Billerica on the Rogers Plains, so called, containing six acres more or less, & bounded easterly by the road leading from the 'old Mears house' so called to William Rogers; northerly by land of the widow Olive Barrett; westerly by land of William Pollard; southerly by the Warren lot, so called, or part of what was formerly the widow Lydia Mears' dower", Baldwin's interest "being only that of mortgage" under Anna's 1832 mortgage. Witnesses Marshall Preston, Jesse Hopkins Jr. The later deeds repeat these bounds into the 1950s.
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| 1859 | Guardianship and Administration | Joel Dix of Billerica, "an insane person"; his estate after his death in December 1860 | Horace N. Wilson of Billerica, guardian; Edwin A. Alger of Lowell, administrator | 1859-1862: Joel Dix estate; the "Plain lot 6 a." in the inventory | Probate #30707 |
On his daughter Mary Dix's petition Joel Dix was found "an insane person" and Horace N. Wilson was appointed his guardian at Groton May 24, 1859. The inventory of June 7, 1859 lists about four acres "known as the Homestead" with buildings ($3,200), the "Tavern Stand," 4 acres ($3,667), and meadow and wood lots. The guardian's license of February 7, 1860 to sell for maintenance covered only meadow and wood lots. After Dix's death the administrator was licensed April 1, 1862 to sell real estate, including the two thirds of the tavern stand.
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| December 11, 1862 | Quitclaim | Martha Dix of Billerica and Joel Dix her husband | John A. Dix of Lowell | 1862: Martha and Joel Dix to John A. Dix | 32/458 |
Dated Dec. 8, 1862 (pages 458-459). For $400, "a certain lot of plain land situate in said Billerica in the Rogers plain so called containing six acres", with the usual bounds, "or part of what was formerly the widow Lydia Mears dower; being the same premises as conveyed to Joel Dix in his life time by deed of John Baldwin and Anna Woods ... Book 387 Page 29" [39], with ten acres of meadow in the Great (Broad) Meadow.
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| December 11, 1862 | Mortgage | John A. Dix of Lowell | Martha Dix of Billerica, wife of Joel Dix, to her sole and separate use | 1862: John A. Dix mortgages the lot back to Martha Dix | 32/459 |
Dated Dec. 8, 1862 (pages 459-460). To secure $300 in one year at six per cent, the same six acres on the Rogers plain ("being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of even date herewith") and the ten acres of meadow. Margin: "See Affidavit of Sale B.54 P.558".
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| March 2, 1867 | Mortgagee's Deed | Martha Dix of Billerica, mortgagee (husband Joel Dix assenting) | Daniel Hartford of Billerica | 1867: mortgagee sale of the six acres to Daniel Hartford | 54/181 |
Dated Feb. 21, 1867 (pages 181-182). Under the power in John A. Dix's mortgage of Dec. 8, 1862 (Book 32, Page 459), after three weeks' notice in the Lowell Daily Courier, sold at public auction Feb. 18, 1867 to Daniel Hartford, highest bidder, for $102.50: "a parcel or tract of plain land situate in said Billerica in the Rogers Plain so called containing six acres", same bounds, "being a portion of the premises in said mortgage".
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| March 9, 1867 | Administrator's Deed | Edwin A. Alger of Lowell, administrator of Joel Dix late of Billerica | Martha Dix of Billerica | 1862 (confirmed 1867): Joel Dix estate auction of the lot to Martha Dix | 54/556 |
Dated March 1, 1867 (pages 556-558). Licensed by the Probate Court at Cambridge April 1, 1862, the administrator sold at public auction June 14, 1862, after three weeks' notice in the Lowell Weekly Journal, to Martha Dix, highest bidder, for $300, "each of said parcels for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars": the six acres "in the Rogers Plain so called", bounded by the road from the old Mears house to Wm. Rogers, the widow Olive Barrett, William Pollard and the Warren Lot, and ten acres in Broad Meadow on Concord River. The deed given her in 1862 "has been wholly lost before the same was recorded", so this second deed confirms her title.
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| March 9, 1867 | Affidavit of Sale | Martha Dix, mortgagee | (affidavit) | 1867: affidavit of the mortgagee sale | 54/558 |
Martha Dix, mortgagee in the mortgage of real estate in Billerica made by John A. Dix Dec. 8, 1862 (Book 32, Page 459), swears to the notice and public sale under the power, the Feb. 18, 1867 auction of the Rogers Plain lot to Daniel Hartford.
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| October 29, 1868 | Mortgage | Mathew Maley of Billerica | Daniel Hartford of Billerica | 1868: Maley mortgage back to Hartford for the price | 64/339 |
Dated Oct. 23, 1868 (pages 339-340). To secure $150 of the price in one year at six per cent, the same six acres of "plain land" on the Rogers Plains, "Being the same premises this day conveyed to me by said Hartford and this mortgage is given to secure the payment of a part of said consideration." Discharged on the margin at Lowell April 7, 1875, as the lot was sold.
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| January 23, 1869 | Deed | Daniel Hartford of Billerica (wife Harriette releasing dower and homestead) | Mathew Maley of Billerica | 1868: the bare six acres to Mathew Maley | 65/376 |
Dated Oct. 23, 1868 (pages 376-377). For $200, "a certain tract of plain land situate in said Billerica in the Rogers plains so called containing six acres", bounded by the road from the old Mears house to Wm. Rogers place, the widow Olive Barrett, William Pollard and the Warren lot; title from Martha Dix, Feb. 21, 1867. Witness and justice Dudley Foster.
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| April 10, 1875 | Warranty Deed | Mathew Maley of Billerica, unmarried | Eben Baker of Billerica | 1875: Mathew Maley to Eben Baker for $550 | 109/224 |
April 1875 (pages 224-225). For $550, "a certain piece or parcel of land situate in said Billerica in the Rogers Plains so called, containing six acres", bounded by the road from the Old Mears House to William Rogers Place, the widow Olive Barrett, William Pollard and the Warren Lot; title from Daniel Hartford, Book 65, Page 376. Excepts a mortgage to C. P. Talbot & Co. with about $124 due, which the grantee assumes. No buildings are named, but the price had risen from $200 in 1868.
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| June 3, 1878 | Warranty Deed | Eben Baker of Billerica (wife Ann E. Baker releasing dower and homestead) | Thomas Lewin of Billerica | 1878: first deed "with the buildings thereon", Baker to Thomas Lewin | 129/404 |
Dated May 31, 1878 (pages 404-405). For $575, "a certain tract of plain land with the buildings thereon situate in said Billerica in the Rogers plains so called, containing six acres", bounded easterly by the road from the old "Mears House" to the Wm. Rogers place "and the Narrow Gauge Railroad", northerly by land formerly of the widow Olive Barrett, westerly by land formerly of William Pollard, southerly by the Warren lot "till you come to the Narrow Gauge Railroad". The first deed to name the buildings. Witnesses Dudley Foster, John H. Baker.
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| June 26, 1880 | Warranty Deed | Thomas Lewin of Billerica (wife Elizabeth releasing dower and homestead) | Charles K. Talbot of Billerica | 1880: Lewin to Charles K. Talbot | 140/264 |
Dated April 26, 1880. For $550, "A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the Rogers Plains, so-called, containing six acres", same bounds, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Eben Baker dated May 31 A.D. 1878" (Book 129, Page 404).
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| August 13, 1884 | Sheriff's Deed | George F. Stiles of Lowell, deputy sheriff, on execution against Charles K. Talbot of Billerica | William H. Greenwood of Lowell | 1884: sheriff sale of Talbot's house lot to William H. Greenwood | 168/478 |
Pages 478-479. On a Superior Court judgment of May 21, 1884 for William H. Greenwood against Charles K. Talbot ($581.95 damage, $15.86 costs), the deputy sheriff seized June 20, 1884 Talbot's interest as of Jan. 10, 1884 in "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica on the Rogers Plains so called containing six acres", same bounds and title (Book 140, Page 264), and after notices in Billerica, Lowell and Tewksbury and three weeks in the Lowell Weekly Journal sold it at auction Aug. 2, 1884 to Greenwood, highest bidder, for $400, subject to redemption.
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| May 6, 1925 | Release of Dower | Fanny G. Talbot of Billerica, widow of Charles K. Talbot | William H. Greenwood of Lowell | 1884: the widow Fanny G. Talbot releases her dower | 722/110 |
Dated Nov. 24, 1884, acknowledged Nov. 28, 1884, but recorded only May 6, 1925 with the deeds to Nellie Hughes. For $1, quitclaims "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica in the Rogers Plains so called containing six acres", "Being the same premises conveyed to Charles K. Talbot, my late husband deceased, by Thomas Lewin ... Book 140 Page 264, and the same premises sold upon an execution in favor of said Greenwood against said Talbot", releasing all rights of dower and homestead.
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| July 6, 1888 | Warranty Deed | William H. Greenwood of Lowell (wife Sarah A. Greenwood releasing dower and homestead) | Charles L. Woods of Lowell | 1888: Greenwood to Charles L. Woods (straw) | 197/228 |
Dated July 5, 1888 (pages 228-229). For $1 and other valuable considerations, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica ... on the Rogers Plains so called and containing six acres", same bounds, title from Lewin to Talbot (Book 140, Page 264) and the sheriff's deed (Book 168, Page 478). A straw deed to put the title in Greenwood's wife.
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| July 6, 1888 | Warranty Deed | Charles L. Woods of Lowell, unmarried | Sarah A. Greenwood of Lowell, wife of William H. Greenwood | 1888: to Sarah A. Greenwood | 197/229 |
Dated July 5, 1888. For $1 and other valuable considerations, the same six acres "with the buildings thereon", "Being the same premises conveyed to me by William H. Greenwood by his deed dated July 5th A.D. 1888." Sarah A. Greenwood died owning it; her estate is in the Middlesex probate records, record book 472, page 529.
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| March 19, 1895 | Warranty Deed | William H. Greenwood, widower of Sarah A. Greenwood, and Sarah E. Knowles, her daughter (husband Edwin G. Knowles releasing), all of Lowell | George W. Poore of Lowell | 1895: Greenwood heirs to George W. Poore | 262/162 |
Dated March 16, 1895 (pages 162-163). For $250, all their interest in "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica ... on the Rogers Plains so called and containing six acres", same bounds, conveyed to Sarah A. Greenwood by Charles L. Woods July 5, 1888 (Book 197, Page 229); "this conveyance is made by William H. Greenwood as widower of said Sarah A. Greenwood now deceased late of said Lowell, and is made by Sarah E. Knowles as daughter".
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| January 24, 1914 | Release | The Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C., by Charles D. Walcott, Secretary | Sarah E. Knowles of Lowell | 1914: the Smithsonian Institution, Poore's residuary legatee, releases to Sarah E. Knowles | 516/446 |
Dated Jan. 21, 1914. "For consideration paid", releases all its interest in "a certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica ... on the Rogers Plains so-called, containing six acres", same bounds, "conveyed to George W. Poore, late of said Lowell, by William H. Greenwood, and said grantee [Knowles], by their deed dated March 16, 1895" (Book 262, Page 162), "and this release is made by the said The Smithsonian Institution as sole residuary legatee under the will of said George W. Poore", Middlesex probate, 1911.
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| May 6, 1925 | Deed | Sarah E. Knowles of Lowell (husband Edwin G. Knowles releasing curtesy) | Nellie Hughes of Wilmington | 1925: Sarah E. Knowles sells her half to Nellie Hughes | 722/111 |
Dated March 25, 1925. Her "undivided one-half interest in and to a certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica ... on the Rogers Plains so-called, containing six acres", same bounds; "For my title see Probate Records, Middlesex County, Estate of Sarah Ann Greenwood", record book 472, page 529, "and release of the Smithsonian Institution ... to me, dated Jan. 21, 1914" (Book 516, Page 446).
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| May 6, 1925 | Quitclaim | Betsey H. MacPhie of Bridgeport, Connecticut, unmarried | Nellie Hughes of Wilmington | 1925: Betsey H. MacPhie sells her sixth to Nellie Hughes | 722/111 |
Dated March 24, 1925 (pages 111-112). Quitclaim of her "undivided one-sixth interest" in the six acres "with the buildings thereon" on the Rogers Plains, same bounds, her title through the estate of Sarah Ann Greenwood.
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| May 6, 1925 | Quitclaim | Mary Jane Stevens of Somerville, unmarried | Nellie Hughes of Wilmington | 1925: Mary Jane Stevens sells her sixth to Nellie Hughes | 722/112 |
Dated March 24, 1925. Quitclaim of her "undivided one-sixth interest" in the six acres "with the buildings thereon" on the Rogers Plains, same bounds, her title through the estate of Sarah Ann Greenwood.
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| May 6, 1925 | Administrator's Deed | Sarah E. Knowles of Lowell, administratrix of Robert H. Greenwood late of Lowell | Nellie Hughes of Wilmington | 1925: Robert H. Greenwood's share to Nellie Hughes | 722/112 |
Dated March 27, 1925 (pages 112-113). Under license of the Probate Court of March 26, 1925, for $183.34, the undivided interest of Robert H. Greenwood, an heir of Sarah Ann Greenwood, in the six acres "with the buildings thereon" on the Rogers Plains. With the three other deeds of March 1925 it gave Nellie Hughes the whole lot.
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| June 26, 1947 | Quitclaim | Nellie Hughes of Billerica, unmarried | Jesse B. Witham and Louise Witham of Boston, husband and wife | 1947: Nellie Hughes to Jesse B. and Louise Witham | 1071/33 |
Dated June 11, 1947. "The land with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica, on Rogers Plains so-called, containing six acres", bounded by the road from the old "Mears House" to William Rogers place, one Barrett, William Pollard and the Warren lot, "Being the same premises conveyed to me" by Mary Jane Stevens, Sarah E. Knowles, Betsey H. McPhie and Robert H. Greenwood's administrator in March 1925 (Book 722, Pages 111-112). Stamps $1.25.
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| October 23, 1952 | Quitclaim | Jesse B. Witham and Louise Witham of Billerica | Private owners (husband and wife, of Boston) | 1952: the Withams sell to private owners | 1208/260 |
Dated Oct. 23, 1952. "The land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the westerly side of Rogers Street, formerly known as the road leading from the old Mears house to William Rogers' place", bounded easterly by Rogers Street, northerly by one Barrett, westerly by William Pollard, southerly by Patrick Francis Shea "formerly known as the Warren lot", six acres; "being the same premises conveyed to us by Nellie Hughes" (Book 1071, Page 33). The buyers gave a $3,900 mortgage to the Merrimack River Savings Bank.
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| December 5, 1955 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 25544 | Private owners (the 1952 buyers) | 1955: the lot registered in the Land Court (Ctf 9752; Ctf 39219 since 2008) | Ctf 9752 |
Original certificate on the decree of Nov. 29, 1955: northeasterly by Rogers Street 284.28 feet; easterly by the Boston and Maine Railroad 72.42 feet; southeasterly by John Kondziela 793.90 feet; westerly by the ends of Maple and Beacon Streets and land of Newell A. Ritchie et al., Edgar G. Hardy and Elliott Cowdrey 348.44 feet; northwesterly by Louis J. Witkowski et al. 770.19 feet, as on plan 25544-A, which draws the house by the street; a brook crosses the rear. In 1974 Lot 2 at the railroad corner was cut off (plan 25544-B, Ctf 20574), and in 2008 Lot 1, the house lot of about five acres, passed within the family to Ctf 39219, the current certificate.
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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.