Nathan Mears
Nathan Mears
| Born | 1775-04-12 |
| Died | 1828-06-10 |
| Select Board | |
| In Office | 1821 - 1828 |
| Father | Thomas Meers |
| Mother | Lydia Carleton |
| Spouses | Lucy Levistone |
| Children | Lucy (b. 1818-05-02) |
Nathan Mears was the first trader and tavern keeper at the Canal Mills in North Billerica, and for a quarter century one of the busiest buyers of land in that part of town. He was born on April 12, 1775, a son of Thomas Mears and Lydia Carleton, whose family had owned the mill privilege at North Billerica before the canal; his sisters Lydia and Anna married Joshua Thistle of Dracut and Daniel Wood. At the sale of pews in the new meetinghouse on December 8, 1797, the young Nathan bought gallery pew number 2 for $33.
When the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal began selling off land around their mills, Mears was among the first buyers. On December 6, 1802 they sold him, a trader, half an acre "near the mills and on the south westerly side of the highway on the westerly side of Concord river" for $30, with leave "to remove his shop on the land sold him from where it now stands within a year." By 1815 his house stood there, when the company sold him two strips that widened the lot by five rods, and in 1819 he bought 27 acres of the old Richardson farm running back to the river, which became his homestead farm. That house is the Mears Tavern at 12 Old Elm Street; a deed of 1823 calls him an innholder. Hazen's genealogy says he "lived at the corner," but his deeds and the inventory of his estate place his dwelling house at the Canal Mills.
He went on adding land. In 1817 he bought from Zaccheus Shed a seven acre lot "by the road leading to the Canal mills," now the corner of High and Rogers Streets, and with Nathaniel Stearns, a bricklayer, eighteen acres by the Mock meadow road, which the two sold to Stearns's nephews Royal and Joseph Stearns Jr. in 1823. In 1818 he paid $1,000 for the whole homestead farm of the Rogers family on the road to Bradley's ferry, about sixty acres reaching to the Concord River, later known as the Thomas Rogers Place. By the time of his death he also owned a saw mill and a forge at the falls and the small woolen factory that Francis Faulkner and his son were working.
On April 19, 1812 he married Lucy Levistone, daughter of Nathaniel Levistone. Their children were Edwin, born in 1812; Charles, 1814, later a merchant in Chicago; Nathan, 1815, who also settled in Chicago; Lucy Ann, 1818, who married John Baldwin in 1836; and Albert, 1821. All five were baptized together on June 3, 1827. Mears served the town as one of its selectmen every year from 1821 to 1828.
Lucy Mears died on January 28, 1827, aged 39, and Nathan died on June 10, 1828, aged 53. Both are buried in the North Cemetery. He left "no widow, nor heirs of twenty one years of age," and at the children's request, and his own before his death, Marshall Preston was appointed administrator under a bond of $30,000. The inventory began with "The Homestead place, containing about 27 acres, with the dwelling house of the deceased, two other small dwelling houses and all the other buildings thereon," and valued his real estate at $15,245. The children's guardians, Nathaniel Stearns and John Baldwin, sold the woolen factory lot to Francis Faulkner in 1831 under a special resolve of the General Court, and on March 20, 1832 they auctioned the rest on the premises: the tavern stand to Joel Dix, the Shed lot and part of the homestead to Daniel Wilson, and the Thomas Rogers Place to Michael McGlone of Lowell.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 97, MEERS 4
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 307: list of selectmen, Nathan Mears 1821-28.
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 264: sale of pews in the 1797 meetinghouse, gallery pew 2 to Nathan Mears.
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908): baptisms of Edwin, Charles, Nathan, Lucy Ann and Albert, children of Nathan, June 3, 1827.
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908): marriage of Nathan Mears and Lucy Levistone, April 19, 1812.
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908): deaths of Lucy, wife of Nathan, 1827, and Nathan Mears, June 10, 1828, aged 53 (North Cemetery gravestones).
- Middlesex County probate case 14955 (1828): administration and inventory of the estate of Nathan Mears.
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| August 24, 1803 | Deed | Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by James Sullivan, president | Nathan Mears of Billerica, trader | Details | Mears Tavern Anna Mears Wood's "Red House" |
153/364 (South) |
For $30, "half an acre of land in said Billerica near the mills and on the south westerly side of the highway on the westerly side of Concord river," staked by the Proprietors' committee on December 3: from a stake 17 feet southwesterly of "the small elm tree," 8 rods northerly, extending back southwesterly 10 rods. The strip between the half acre and the highway was to remain "open and uncovered" for Mears's use as an open way, and Mears had leave "to remove his shop on the land sold him from where it now stands within a year." Signed December 6, 1802; recorded August 24, 1803. Billerica town book 10, pages 200-202 (MACRIS misdates it 1812).
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| August 20, 1817 | Deed | Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by John L. Sullivan, agent | Nathan Mears of Billerica, trader | Details | Mears Tavern Anna Mears Wood's "Red House" |
223/124 (South) |
For $62.50, "two several pieces or parcels of land adjoining each side the lot conveyed to him by said Proprietors" in December 1802 (the copy reads 1812): 2 rods wide on the west side, extending southward ten rods "from the line of the front of said Mears house," and 3 rods wide on the east side, also ten rods back; "the said two pieces of land widen said Mears lots together five rods," bounded by the Proprietors' land. The first deed to mention Mears's house. Signed and acknowledged August 9, 1815; recorded August 20, 1817. Billerica town book 12, pages 36-37.
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| May 21, 1817 | Deed | Isaac Sprake of Billerica, yeoman | Nathan Mears, yeoman, and Nathaniel Stearns, bricklayer | Details | John Wallis House Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
222/41 (South) |
For $306, 18 acres of woodland and mowing by the Mock-meadow road and the old road, by land formerly of Levi Sprake and Henry Newman (the 18-acre tillage lot of the 1811 division). Dated April 15, 1817. Billerica town book 12, page 20. Farm land only, not the house.
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| August 20, 1817 | Warranty Deed | Zaccheus Shed of Billerica, yeoman (wife Miriam releasing dower) | Nathan Mears of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Barker House 44 High St |
222/119 (South) |
For $350, "a certain lot of land containing seven acres be the same more or less situate in the northerly part of said Billerica by the road leading to the Canal mills", beginning at the northeasterly corner at said road, westerly by land of the heirs of Thomas Mears 58 poles to land of William Pollard, southerly by Pollard's land "as the wall now stands" to the road, easterly 54 poles by the road to the corner, and northerly by the road 19 poles to the beginning. Warranty; no buildings named and no title recital. Signed Feb. 7, 1817, recorded Aug. 20, 1817. Billerica town book 12, pages 25-26. This is the lot at the corner of High and Rogers Streets, North Billerica, where the Barker House stands.
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| October 15, 1818 | Deed | Olive Barrett, Samuel Rogers of Boston and Olive W. Rogers | Nathan Mears | Details | Thomas Rogers Homestead McGlone Homestead |
228/51 (South) |
Olive Barrett, widow, Samuel Rogers of Boston, trader, and Olive W. Rogers of Billerica, singlewoman, for $1,000 sell to Nathan Mears of Billerica, trader, "the whole of the homested farm formerly owned by Samuel Rogers with all the buildings thereon," about 60 acres, in four pieces: (1) from the northeast corner "at the road leading to Bradley's ferry" westerly "by a lane as the wall now stands" to Josiah Rogers, southerly as the wall stands to Zadock French, easterly by French to the road and northerly by the road, "all of which are stakes and stones"; (2) "one other small tract of land part of said homestead on which stands the dwelling house containing two acres be it more or less and is enclosed with a stone wall"; (3) a lot bounded by French and Josiah Rogers; and (4) the rest of the homestead farm from a black oak southwesterly by Josiah Rogers to a maple, westerly to the Concord River, down the river to land formerly of William Levistone, and back by the division line. Signed April 20, 1818, before Samuel Whiting. The town book copy names the former owner as Samuel Rogers; the 1815 release and the 1832 sale connect the farm to Thomas Rogers. Billerica town book 11, pages 486-488.
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| September 23, 1820 | Deed | Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by John L. Sullivan, agent | Nathan Mears of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Mears Tavern Anna Mears Wood's "Red House" |
235/64 (South) |
For $813.18, "a certain tract of land ... containing by measure twenty seven acres and seventeen poles being a part of the Richardson farm," from the southeasterly corner at Concord River "north of the ford way," easterly by "the road leading to the Canal mills" to "land of the Proprietors laid out in small lots," then by the Proprietors' land and several short courses to the river "according to the annexed plat," and by the river to the beginning. Signed August 10, 1819; recorded September 23, 1820. Billerica town book 12, pages 172-173. This became the Mears homestead farm around the tavern lot.
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| April 30, 1823 | Deed | Nathan Mears of Billerica, innholder, and Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer; Lucy Mears and Sarah Stearns releasing dower | Royal Stearns of Billerica, bricklayer, and Joseph Stearns Jr. of Billerica, laborer | Details | Treble Cove Plaza 199 Boston Rd Starbucks Joseph Stearns House |
247/524 (South) |
For $300, "a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica west of Concord River containing eighteen acres more or less", beginning "at the northeasterly corner at the end of a Ditch by Mock Meadow Cause way so called", northerly by "Mock meadow Road" 102 rods "to the old road", southwesterly by the old road to land formerly of Levi Sprake, then by Levi's land and land formerly of Henry Newman to the corner first mentioned, "being the same conveyed to us by Isaac Sprake by his deed bearing date the 15th day of April 1817." No buildings are named. Signed January 28, 1823. Billerica town book 13, pages 207-208.
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| June 24, 1828 | Administration | Estate of Nathan Mears of Billerica, yeoman | His minor children Edwin, Charles, Nathan, Lucy Ann and Elbert Mears; Marshall Preston, administrator | Details | Barker House 44 High St Mears Tavern Anna Mears Wood's "Red House" |
Probate #14955 |
Nathan Mears died in June 1828 leaving "no widow, nor heirs of twenty one years of age"; at his children's request (and his own before his death) Marshall Preston of Billerica was appointed administrator at Framingham June 24, 1828, bond $30,000. The inventory lists the homestead of about 27 acres with three dwelling houses, the saw mill, "The Woolen Factory, occupied by Francis Faulkner & son", the forge, the old homestead of Thomas Mears, the Patten lot, and "The Zac. Shed Lot, 7 acres" at $210, with no buildings. Real estate $15,245.
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| 1831 | Guardians' Deed | Nathaniel Stearns and John Baldwin, guardians of Edwin, Charles, Lucy Ann, Nathan and Elbert Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Francis Faulkner of Billerica, Esquire | Details | Faulkner Mills | 305/44 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 529-532. Under a special Resolve of the General Court (January 1829), for $1,042, the minors' land "at the Canal Mills so called ... with the building thereon, called the Little Factory or Woolen Factory": about 20 square rods from the stone abutment of "the second bridge over Concord River North of the Grist Mills", by "a large rock in the falls", along "the Fulling Mill Creek, so called" to the road "leading to the Canal Mills ... from Tewksbury". With a gateway 16 by 18 inches to draw water "to turn the water wheel for the works in said Little Factory" when water runs over the canal proprietors' dam; reserving a 4 ft way to the minors' sawmill, the floating of logs from "the Great Mill pond", and water for "the Blacksmith Forge and Iron Works", conveyed the same day to James Rice. The wooden factory lot "nearly opposite" the brick mill in later deeds, today the canal side of Faulkner Street.
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| April 21, 1832 | Guardian's Deed | John Baldwin of Billerica, Esq., guardian of Lucy Ann, Nathan and Elbert Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Daniel Wilson of Billerica | Details | Barker House 44 High St |
313/22 (South) |
Licensed by the Supreme Judicial Court, sold at public vendue on the premises March 20, 1832, for $1,428.06, three undivided fifth parts of part of the Mears homestead farm (11 acres 25 1/2 rods, lots 3-5 on S. Livingston's plan) and of "the Z. Shed Lot so called, containing six acres and one hundred and forty three rods", from the northeasterly corner at the road from the "old Mears place" to William Rogers', westerly by the widow Lydia Mears's dower land 58 rods 15 links to William Pollard, southerly by Pollard to the road "leading from the corner so called, to said old Mears place," northeasterly by that road to the corner of the roads about 54 rods, and northerly by the road about 19 poles. Signed March 20, 1832, recorded April 21, 1832. Billerica town book 16, pages 93-95.
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| April 21, 1832 | Guardian's Deed | Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica, yeoman, guardian of Edwin and Charles Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Daniel Wilson of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Barker House 44 High St |
313/24 (South) |
Licensed by the Supreme Judicial Court, sold at public vendue on the premises March 20, 1832, two undivided fifth parts of the same two tracts: the 11 acres 25 1/2 rods of the homestead farm and "the Z. Shed lot so called, containing six acres and one hundred and forty three rods," bounded as in John Baldwin's deed of the other three fifths. Recorded April 21, 1832. Billerica town book 16, pages 96-98. With Baldwin's deed this gave Daniel Wilson the whole lot.
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| August 14, 1832 | Guardian's Deed | John Baldwin, guardian of Lucy Ann, Nathan and Elbert Mears | Michael McGlone | Details | Thomas Rogers Homestead McGlone Homestead |
316/166 (South) |
Under license of the Supreme Judicial Court, John Baldwin, Esq., guardian of three of the minor children of Nathan Mears, late of Billerica, deceased, sold at public auction on the premises on March 20, 1832 to Michael McGlone of Lowell, the highest bidder at $1,347.19, three undivided fifths of "a certain Farm of said deceased called his Thomas Rogers' Place with the buildings thereon" of 51 acres 65 1/2 rods: the road lot beginning at the northeast corner at the road leading to Bradley's Ferry and running westerly by a lane as the wall stands to the Billerica Town Farm, southerly to Zadock French and back by the road; "one other piece of land, part of said place, on which stands the dwelling house, containing one hundred and thirty one rods and a half rods, and is enclosed with a stone wall"; a lot between French and the Town Farm; the river lot from a black oak by the Town Farm to a maple and the Concord River, down the river to land formerly of William Livingston; and a ten acre lot called the "Dam Swamp." Signed March 20, 1832, witnessed by Marshall Preston and Nathaniel Stearns. The other two fifths, belonging to Edwin and Charles Mears, were sold to McGlone by their guardian Nathaniel Stearns in the same auction (Book 316 Page 168), and in 1835 C. Mears conveyed the "Thomas Rogers Place" and Dam Swamp to McGlone (Book 342 Page 334, index only). Billerica town book 16, pages 134-137.
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| January 12, 1836 | Guardian's Deed | Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica, yeoman, guardian of Edwin and Charles Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Joel Dix of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Mears Tavern Captain Joel Dix House |
349/237 (South) |
Licensed by the Supreme Judicial Court and sold at public vendue March 20, 1832, for $3,276.17, two undivided fifth parts of five tracts, first "a part of the homestead of said deceased, situate at the Canal Mills so called, containing three acres and fifty five & a half rods, with the Tavern house, one small house in the rear of said Tavern house, two barns and other out buildings thereon standing," from a corner "in the front yard between said Tavern house & said Dix's dwelling house," by Dix's land and the Garden lot to Concord River, by the river 20 rods to a board fence, and by the passage way on S. Livingston's plan of the homestead, Isaiah Bussey's house lot and "the side house lot" to the road: "lots numbered one & eleven on said plan." Also lot 9, the Patten lot, the Trull pasture and half the Sims place. Recorded January 12, 1836. Billerica town book 15, pages 223-226.
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| January 12, 1836 | Guardian's Deed | John Baldwin of Billerica, Esquire, guardian of Lucy Ann, Nathan and Elbert Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Joel Dix of Billerica, yeoman | Details | Mears Tavern | 349/240 (South) |
At the same vendue of March 20, 1832, for $3,276.17, the other three undivided fifth parts of the same tracts, first "a part of the Homestead of said deceased situate at the Canal Mills so called containing three acres and fifty five & a half rods with the Tavern House one small house in the rear of said Tavern house, two barns and other out buildings thereon standing," bounded as in Stearns's deed. With that deed it gave Joel Dix the whole tavern stand. Acknowledged April 2, 1832; recorded January 12, 1836. Billerica town book 15, pages 226-230.
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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.