Matthew McElman House
This house was likely constructed for Matthew McElman (1847–1923) between 1886 and 1889. Born in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada on August 22, 1847, McElman immigrated to the United States in 1881 and married Alice Celena Shaw (1861–1945), an immigrant from Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia, Canada, ca. 1883. The couple settled in Billerica and eventually had three children: Kenneth Matthew McElman (1883–1967), Thurza McElman (1885–1954), and Clarence Elmore McElman (1894–1976). McElman purchased two tracts of land at the northeast intersection of present-day Boston Road and Farmers Lane between 1886 and 1889, and the house stood on the easternmost of these tracts by 1889. McElman worked as a mason and occupied the dwelling with his family. After McElman's death at the age of 75 in 1923, his widow inherited his property in Billerica, which she subsequently conveyed to her daughter, Thurza, in 1924. It appears that the Matthew McElman House was moved approximately 10 feet west towards Boston Road and an outbuilding was constructed east of the dwelling on Farmers Lane sometime between 1889 and 1924, for the deed recording the transfer from Alice to Thurza indicates that buildings stood on each parcel. Alice resided with her daughter, who served as principal of the Richardson School, a one-room schoolhouse formerly located near the intersection of Salem (Route 129) and Andover roads in Billerica, until her death in 1945. Thurza retained ownership of the house until her death in 1954. The property subsequently passed to her brothers, Reverend Kenneth Matthew McElman and Clarence Elmore McElman. Clarence’s son, Edwin Kenneth McElman (1928–2016), received title to the property after his uncle died in 1967 and his father transferred ownership to him. Edwin subsequently sold the house and property to Pinemere Properties, Inc. in 1967.