Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1919
Nathaniel Daniels House
Nathaniel Daniels House
| Address | 599 Boston Rd |
| Built | 1852 |
| Demolished | 1919 |
| Other Lot Structures | Edith M. Spaulding House (1915 - 1919) |
The Nathaniel Daniels House was the farmhouse of a farm of about sixty-five acres on the west side of the road from Boston to Lowell (now Boston Road) at the corner of the cross road to the Lexington Road (now Wyman Road), the land that later became the Mason farm and then the Griggs Farm. On the 1852 Walling map the house is marked "N. Daniels."
Nathaniel Daniels bought the farm from Samuel D. Ames, as a later deed recites. He does not appear in the 1850 census of Billerica, so he probably came out from Boston about 1851. He was a man of some property: when he died, besides the Billerica farm, he owned a house at 76 Leverett Street in Boston, a house at 7 Maverick Street in East Boston and a place in Nunda, New York. He died without a will in the spring of 1853, leaving his widow Hannah and eight children, three of them minors. His neighbors Dudley Foster, George Proctor and Haslet Mackay appraised the estate on June 4, 1853. They valued "the Homestead Farm of said deceased situate in said Billerica containing about 65 acres" at $3,300, and listed the furniture of three chambers, a parlor, a sitting room, a lower bedroom and a kitchen, a carriage, a buggy chaise, a sleigh, carpenter's tools, lumber and shingles, casks of vinegar and one cow.
The farm passed to the widow and children. In June 1854 the probate court licensed Edwin T. Daniels, guardian of his younger sister Hannah E. Daniels, to sell her share of "a certain farm situated in said Billerica consisting of mowing, tillage, pasturing and woodland and containing about sixty five acres and being the same occupied by said Nathl at the time of his decease," because the other heirs were "about to sell their interest." On April 7, 1855 the Daniels heirs sold the farm to Robert Burrows.
Burrows sold it on November 9, 1858, as "my Homestead farm," sixty-four acres "with the buildings thereon," to David L. Mason, a Boston police officer, and the house remained the Mason family's farmhouse for more than fifty years. Frederick L. Mason registered the farm in the Land Court in 1912, and after his death it passed in 1914 to his widow, Mary A. Mason. The old farmhouse was gone by 1919, and the farm buildings that stand on the land today date from about 1920.
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1853 | Administration | Estate of Nathaniel Daniels of Billerica, yeoman | Hannah Daniels of Billerica, widow, administratrix | 1853: Nathaniel Daniels dies; his homestead farm of about 65 acres appraised at $3,300 | Probate #30364 |
Nathaniel Daniels died intestate in the spring of 1853, leaving a widow and eight children, three of them minors. Hannah Daniels was appointed administratrix June 7, 1853 (bond May 17, sureties Charles L. Hendley of South Abington and Nathaniel A. Daniels of Boston). Inventory June 4, 1853 by Dudley Foster, George Proctor and Haslet Mackay: "The Homestead Farm of said deceased situate in said Billerica containing about 65 acres" $3,300; house and land on Leverett St., Boston $6,500; house and land in East Boston $1,800; place in Nunda, N.Y. $600; personal estate $2,560.68 (furniture of three chambers, parlor, sitting room, lower bedroom and kitchen; carriage, buggy chaise, sleigh, carpenter tools, one cow). First account allowed June 13, 1854, the balance divided among the widow and heirs Lavina T. Cate, Edwin T., Hannah E., Nathaniel A., William E. (deceased), George, Albert C. and Henry Daniels and the Hendley grandchildren.
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| 1854 | License to Sell | Hannah E. Daniels, minor heir of Nathaniel Daniels, by her guardian Edwin T. Daniels | Licensed sale (to Robert Burrows, 1855) | 1854: license to sell a minor heir's share of the Daniels farm | Probate #30351 |
Guardianship of Hannah Elizabeth Daniels, minor daughter of Nathaniel Daniels: Nathaniel A. Daniels of Somerville appointed Feb. 21, 1854, resigned "being about to depart beyond sea"; Edwin T. Daniels of Somerville, milkman, appointed June 13, 1854. Same day the court licensed him to sell her interest in "a certain farm situated in said Billerica consisting of mowing, tillage, pasturing and woodland and containing about sixty five acres and being the same occupied by said Nathl at the time of his decease," and in 76 Leverett Street, Boston and 7 Maverick Street, East Boston, the ward being a co-heir "with six others, who are about to sell their interest." Consent signed by the widow Hannah Daniels, Lavina T. Cate, Edwin T., George and Henry Daniels. The sale followed on Apr. 7, 1855, the heirs to Robert Burrows (S.709/49).
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| November 27, 1858 | Warranty Deed | Robert Burrows of Billerica, yeoman, and Cornelia Jane Burrows his wife | David L. Mason of Boston, police officer | the farmhouse: homestead farm "with the buildings thereon", 1858 | 17/195 |
Dated Nov. 9, 1858, recorded Nov. 27, 1858 (pages 195-196). For $4,200, "my Homestead farm situated in said Billerica on the great road leading from Boston to Lowell, containing sixty four acres," from the southeasterly corner at the road and land of Jona. Danforth (formerly E. Woodbury), by Danforth to the cross road to the Lexington road, by the cross road to the Lexington road, northerly by that road to land of Wm. H. Osborne, by Osborne to Harvey Crosby, by Crosby in a crooked line to land of Haslet MacKay (formerly Lowell Jamieson), by MacKay to the Boston road and southerly on that road to the corner, "with the buildings thereon, being the same premises conveyed by Samuel D. Ames to Nathaniel Daniels and by said Daniels' heirs to me, by deed dated April 7th 1855," recorded at Cambridge Lib. 709 Fol. 49; subject to a $2,000 mortgage that Mason assumes.
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| December 10, 1860 | Warranty Deed | David L. Mason of Billerica, yeoman (Betsey I. Mason releasing dower and homestead) | David Mason of Billerica, yeoman | half of the farm "with the buildings" to David Mason, 1860 | 26/341 |
Dated Dec. 3, 1860, recorded Dec. 10, 1860 (pages 341-342). For $2,100, "one undivided half of my homestead farm situated in said Billerica on the great road leading from Boston to Lowell, containing sixty four acres," with the bounds of 1858 (John Knowles, formerly Jona. Danforth; the cross road; the Lexington road; Wm. H. Osborne; Harvey Crosby; Haslet MacKay; the Boston road), "with the buildings thereon," "being premises conveyed to me by Robert Burrows deed dated Nov. 9, 1858," Book 17, Page 195, subject to the $2,000 mortgage.
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| September 16, 1912 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 3708 | Frederick L. Mason of Billerica, married to Mary A. Mason | the Mason farmhouse lot registered, 1912 | Ctf 333 |
Original Certificate of Title 333, entered on the decree of Sept. 16, 1912 in case 3708: the Mason farm, westerly by Lexington Road about 405 feet, by Frederick L. Mason, Anna A. Jones and Charles Moore et al, easterly by Boston Road about 608 feet, by Boston and Wyman Roads 220 feet, by the Town of Billerica and Annie L. Bowman et al, and southerly by School House Lane about 1,220 feet, as on plan 3708-A by E. P. Sellew, Feb. 20, 1912. Cancelled by Ctf 522.
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| April 2, 1914 | Certificate of Title | Estate of Frederick L. Mason (died about Sept. 26, 1913) | Mary A. Mason, widow (3/9); Edith M. Spaulding, wife of Leroy E. Spaulding, Archibald L. Mason and Frederick E. Mason (2/9 each) | the farm to the Mason heirs, 1914 | Ctf 522 |
Transfer Certificate 522, Apr. 2, 1914, from Original Certificate 333: the same farm to the widow and children of Frederick L. Mason, issued by order of the court under section 91 of chapter 128 of the Revised Laws, subject to any debts of the estates of David L. Mason (died about Mar. 1, 1911) and Frederick L. Mason (died about Sept. 26, 1913) and to a mortgage of a small piece by Boston Road given by Frederick L. Mason to Albert H. Jones Dec. 10, 1895 (Book 270, Page 544). Cancelled by Ctf 523.
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| April 2, 1914 | Certificate of Title | Mason heirs | Mary A. Mason of Billerica, widow | Mary A. Mason, widow, owner 1914-1925 | Ctf 523 |
Transfer Certificate 523, Apr. 2, 1914, from Ctf 522: the whole farm to Mary A. Mason, widow. Memoranda: deed of Lot 4 to Edith M. Spaulding, June 5, 1914 (Ctf 540); Lots 2 and 3 to William H. Hutchins and wife, July 25, 1914 (Ctf 550); orders eliminating the debt clauses of David L. Mason (1914) and Frederick L. Mason (1918); taking by Middlesex County "for highway purposes," relocation of Boston Road, Apr. 29, 1916; Lot 5 to Carrie M. Knowles, Apr. 9, 1918 (Ctf 1103); George C. Crosby mortgage 1922; Lot 6 to Susan E. Clark, Mar. 14, 1925 (Ctf 2698).
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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.