Structure · Built 1884
Oliver P. Greenwood House
Oliver P. Greenwood House
| Address | 24 Andover Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.38 |
| Built | 1884 |
| Owners | Oliver P. Greenwood (1912 - 1966) |
The Oliver P. Greenwood House stands on the north side of Andover Road a short way east of the Billerica Common. Its half acre was once part of the John Sheldon House, which passed from the Sheldons to Sarah and John Shelden Center, to Capt. Josiah Bowers in 1781, and in 1834 to Ichabod G. Kimball, who farmed eleven acres there until his death in 1880. In 1875 Kimball conveyed "my homestead farm" to George W. Searles on condition that Searles support him and his wife, and Searles later sold house lots from its road frontage.
The first of those lots was this one. On June 28, 1884 Searles sold Ann R. Faulkner, an unmarried daughter of James R. Faulkner, "a certain tract of land" of "one fourth of an acre", ninety feet on Andover Street and 121 feet deep, beginning ninety feet from the corner of Ambrose F. Page's land, for $225. On October 2, 1884 she paid another $225 for the strip between it and the Page land. Neither deed mentions a building. The house was built on her lot soon afterward: it appears on the 1898 water-extension map (with the name Ethel A. Morse, evidently an occupant), and by 1910 the deeds describe "two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon". The date of 1830 that the town assessor gives does not fit the deeds.
Miss Faulkner, by then living in Santa Barbara, California, kept the property for 26 years. Searles confirmed her 1884 deed in October 1910, and on October 10, 1910 she sold both parcels to Louise F. Rand of Lowell. The earlier account that Rand bought it in October 1884 confuses this sale with Faulkner's own second purchase. Rand sold to Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica on June 27, 1912, and Greenwood gave Alice H. Greenwood a $2,000 mortgage "to secure a part of the purchase money".
Greenwood, a grandson of Deacon Moses P. Greenwood, worked for the Saco-Lowell Shops and was a public-spirited townsman for whom the town's elderly housing was later named. He borrowed from the Lowell Co-operative Bank in 1922 and again in 1927, the years in which he enlarged the cottage into the present two-story house with its additions; he also kept an office in one side of it. In 1941 he paid off the bank and, by a pair of deeds through Edna T. Desrochers, put the house in his and his wife Frances's names together. He died on April 1, 1966, and in 1967 his estate sold the house under a license of the Probate Court for $22,000. It has since been a two-family house in private hands, with sales in 1978, 1980 and 1993.
References
- MACRIS BIL.38
- Billerica assessor, 24 Andover Rd (parcel 51-43-0): 0.487 acre, two-family, sales history
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1724 | Will | Deacon John Sheldon of Billerica | Samuel Sheldon, his son (the homestead); the widow Deborah; daughters Mary Hunt and Hannah Sheldon | Sheldon homestead, from which the lot was later cut | Probate #20258 |
Will dated Aug. 28, 1723, proved Sept. 22, 1724. The widow Deborah is to have the use of "the West lower Room" and part of the cellar; the daughters Mary Hunt and Hannah Sheldon receive outlying land (113 acres at the Pond and 91 acres west of the Concord River). "My Will is that my son Samuel Sheldon shall have and Possess my homestead and all the lands and Medows In Billerica," valued at 350 pounds, entailed to his male heirs and otherwise to be divided. Samuel and Deborah were executors.
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| November 4, 1771 | Common Recovery (barring entail) | Samuel Sheldon of Billerica, yeoman, tenant in tail (Solomon Pollard, demandant) | Samuel Sheldon and his heirs in fee simple | Sheldon homestead freed of entail, 1771 | 73/4 (South) |
Indenture of May 3, 1771 between Samuel Sheldon, yeoman, and Solomon Pollard, innholder, with the judgment of the Inferior Court (Pollard v. Sheldon, Samuel Hinds vouchee) of May 21 and the writ of seisin of June 1771; recorded Nov. 4, 1771 (Billerica town book 6, pages 488-495). Sheldon, "seized ... in fee Tail" under his father's will, lets Pollard recover "one Peice or Tract of Land containing about Sixty acres with the Buildings thereon called the Homestead bounded Northerly on the County Road partly and partly on land of James Crosby and Benjamin Baldwin, Northeasterly partly on Land of Capt. Enoch Kidder and partly on Land of William French," easterly by the Frenches and David and Oliver Abbot, and "Southerly and Westerly on said Oliver Abbots Land until it comes to the said County Road," with 15 acres in Broad Meadow and 2 acres in Content Meadow, to the use of Samuel Sheldon and his heirs forever. The recovery ended the entail of 1724 and let Sheldon's daughters inherit.
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| 1778 | Administration | Estate of Samuel Sheldon of Billerica, yeoman, intestate | Simon Blanchard and David Abbot, administrators (his sons-in-law); his five daughters, heirs | Samuel Sheldon estate, 1778 | Probate #20263 |
Administration granted Jan. 27, 1778 to Simon Blanchard and David Abbot, yeomen, with Jonathan Pool of Reading and Isaac Lovejoy of Andover as sureties (all sons-in-law). The inventory of Feb. 4, 1778, sworn July 7, lists "The homestead containing about 83 acres with all the buildings" at 1266 pounds 13s 4d (inflated wartime currency), the Moffit place of 110 acres, the Dutton lot of 86 acres, 5 acres on Fox Hill, 18 acres of wood at Bedford, meadow in Content Meadow, Broad Meadow and Heath Swamp, and "A Pew in the Meeting house." The file has no division: the daughters divided the estate among themselves by deeds of 1778.
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| March 31, 1786 | Warranty | Sarah Center, widow, and John Shelden Center, yeoman, and Phebe his wife, all of Billerica | Josiah Bowers Jr. of Billerica, gentleman | Center homestead to Josiah Bowers Jr., 1781 | 93/390 (South) |
Dated Mar. 19, 1781, acknowledged June 13, 1781, recorded Mar. 31, 1786 (Billerica town book 8, pages 55-57). For 650 pounds in silver, "Two pieces of Land ... being the Homestead of Sarah Center & John Shelden Center aforesaid containing about thirty six acres": the first bounded west by Capt. Solomon Pollard, north by Ebenezer French, east by French and Solomon Manning, and south-east and south by the highway; the second south and west by Oliver Abbot, north and north-west by the highway, and north-east and east by Jonathan Pool; "with all the Buildings," and half a pew in the meeting house "formerly the property of Samuel Sheldon." Witnesses Josiah Bowers and Solomon Manning. Sarah Center was Samuel Sheldon's daughter; John Sheldon Center (married 1778 to Phebe Tay of Woburn) his grandson.
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| 1824 | Administration | Estate of Capt. Josiah Bowers of Billerica, gentleman, intestate | Andrew Bowers of Salisbury, N.H., administrator; his brothers and sisters, heirs | Capt. Josiah Bowers estate, 1824 | Probate #2301 |
Josiah Bowers died intestate on Nov. 17, 1824, leaving no widow. His heirs (James Bowers, Luther French, Amos Muzzy, Jacob Norton by his attorney Joseph Locke, and others) asked that "Andrew Bowers Esq. of Salisbury" be administrator, and he was appointed Nov. 23, 1824. The personal estate was auctioned Feb. 16-17, 1825; the account allowed Apr. 25, 1826 shows personal estate of $310.42 and "proceeds of sale of Real Estate sold by order of the Judge" of $1220, with the guardian's account of $488.32 among the debts.
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| May 31, 1834 | Heirs Quitclaim | Heirs of Andrew Bowers late of Salisbury, N.H., Esquire: Jacob and Hannah Norton; James Bowers of Fulton, Ohio (by Norton, attorney); William and Anna Muzzy of Lexington; Joseph and Ann B. Richardson of Hingham; Abraham and Frances B. True of Salem; Edward | Jonathan Gates of Lowell, machinist | Bowers heirs to Jonathan Gates, 1834 | 331/506 (South) |
Dated Apr. 2, 1834, recorded May 31, 1834 (Billerica town book 13, pages 552-555). For $2,500, a quitclaim of the lands "of which Andrew Bowers ... died seized": "the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers" of about eleven acres "with the buildings thereon" on the north side of the Salem road and Sheldon's lane, its south-west corner at the lane and Theophilus Manning, north by Manning and Ichabod Everett to the former Luther French farm, east by the French farm and the Nahum Baldwin lot; about 30 acres on the east side of the road opposite (John and Henry Baldwin, Fitch Tufts, the Nahum Baldwin pasture); a quarter of the Baldwin pasture; and six acres of wood on Fox Hill by the old Fox Hill road. Andrew Bowers died in New Hampshire, where his estate was settled.
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| September 22, 1836 | Warranty | Jonathan Gates of Billerica, machinist | Ichabod G. Kimball of Billerica, yeoman | Gates to Ichabod G. Kimball, 1834 | 354/457 (South) |
Dated June 30, 1834, recorded Sept. 22, 1836 (Billerica town book 15, pages 287-289). For $2,500, "formerly the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers deceased with the buildings thereon lying on the northerly side of the Salem road or Sheldon's lane so called containing about eleven acres," with 30 acres on the east side of the road opposite, 1 1/2 acres on the north side adjoining the first lot (north-east by the Luther French farm), and six acres of wood on Fox Hill, "being the same premises" quitclaimed to Gates by Jacob Norton and others on Apr. 2, 1834.
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| March 10, 1880 | Covenant to Stand Seized (conditional) | Ichabod G. Kimball of Billerica | George W. Searles of Billerica | Kimball homestead farm to George W. Searles, 1875/1880 | 138/261 |
Dated June 2, 1875, acknowledged June 20, 1875, recorded Mar. 10, 1880, six days after Kimball's death. For $1 and his support, Kimball covenants to stand seized of "my homestead farm": eleven acres "with the buildings thereon in which I now live" on the north side of the Andover road, 28 acres on the east side opposite, 1 1/2 acres adjoining the eleven acres (north-east by the Luther French farm) and six acres of wood on Fox Hill, his title from Jonathan Gates June 30, 1834 ("Book 354 Page 457"), except parts sold to John Ames, Gilman Fletcher and Thomas K. Shedd; to the use of Kimball and his wife Joanna P. for their lives and then of Searles, void if Searles failed to support them. Searles was meanwhile to have the farm and "the Westerly part of the house."
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| 1884 | Warranty Deed | George W. Searles of Billerica (wife Lucinda W. Searles releasing dower and homestead) | Ann R. Faulkner of Billerica | Searles to Ann R. Faulkner, the quarter-acre house lot, 1884 | 167/583 |
Dated June 28, 1884, acknowledged July 7 before Dudley Foster, for $225: "a certain tract of land" (no buildings named) beginning at a bound ninety feet from the corner of A. F. Page's land on the north side of Andover Street, thence northerly 121 feet to a bound eighty feet from the Page land, easterly 90 feet, southerly 121 feet to the street, "all by land of said grantor", and westerly on Andover Street 90 feet, "containing one fourth of an acre more or less". No title recital: the land was part of the Kimball homestead farm that Searles held under Ichabod G. Kimball's deed of 1875 (Book 138, Page 261). Margin: "See B.458 P.141". Recorded July 1884.
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| December 30, 1884 | Warranty Deed | George W. Searles of Billerica (wife Lucinda W. Searles releasing) | Ann R. Faulkner of Billerica | Searles to Faulkner, the west strip, 1884 | 171/242 |
Dated October 2, 1884, for $225: "a certain tract of land" beginning at the south-east corner "at land of said Faulkner on Andover street", westerly on the street to land of Ambrose F. Page, northerly by Page 121 feet, easterly "by my own land in a straight line" to the north-west corner of Faulkner's land, and southerly by it to the street: the strip between her June lot and the Page land, which made the two-parcel lot described in every later deed. Recorded December 30, 1884.
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| October 25, 1910 | Confirmatory Release | George W. Searles of Billerica | Anne R. Faulkner of Santa Barbara, California | Searles confirms the 1884 deed, 1910 | 458/141 |
Dated October 17, 1910, for one dollar (Searles signing by his mark): releases "a certain tract of land ... on the northerly side of Andover street, containing one fourth of an acre more or less and being the same land described in a deed given by me to the grantee dated June 28, 1884" (Book 167, Page 583). "This release is given for the purpose of correcting and confirming said deed", made a week after Faulkner had agreed to sell.
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| 1910 | Warranty Deed | Anne R. Faulkner of Santa Barbara, California, unmarried | Louise F. Rand of Lowell | Faulkner to Louise F. Rand, 1910 | 458/142 |
Dated and acknowledged at San Francisco October 10, 1910, for "One Dollar and other valuable considerations": "two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon" on the northerly side of Andover Street. The first, the quarter acre beginning 90 feet from the corner of Ambrose F. Page and bounded east and north by George W. Searles, was "conveyed by said George W. Searles by deed dated June 28, 1884" (Book 167, Page 583); the second, the strip west of it to the Page land, by Searles "by deed dated October 2, 1884" (Book 171, Page 242). This deed, not one of 1884, is the sale to Rand.
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| July 2, 1912 | Quitclaim Deed | Louise F. Rand of Lowell (husband Gilbert K. Rand releasing curtesy) | Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica | Rand to Oliver P. Greenwood, 1912 | 489/123 |
Dated June 27, 1912, "in consideration of One Dollar and other good and valuable considerations": "two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon" on the northerly side of Andover Street. The first begins at a bound 90 feet from the corner of land of Ambrose F. Page, runs northerly 121 feet, easterly by land of George W. Searles 90 feet, southerly by other Searles land 121 feet to Andover Street and westerly 90 feet on the street, "containing one fourth of an acre more or less"; the second is the strip west of it to the Page land. "All the same premises conveyed to me by Annie R. Faulkner by her deed dated Oct 10, 1910" (Book 458, Page 142). The grantee assumed the 1912 taxes.
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| July 2, 1912 | Mortgage | Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica | Alice H. Greenwood of Billerica | purchase-money mortgage, 1912 | 489/125 |
Dated June 27, 1912: $2,000 for one year at five per cent on the same "two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon" on Andover Street, "this mortgage being given to secure a part of the purchase money" of the Rand deed recorded with it. Margin notes refer to discharges in Book 515, Page 560 and Book 958, Page 540.
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| November 25, 1922 | Mortgage | Oliver P. Greenwood and Ida T. Greenwood, husband and wife, of Billerica | Lowell Co-operative Bank | Lowell Co-operative Bank mortgage, 1922 | 672/506 |
November 1922 mortgage for $1,500 on "two certain parcels of land, with the buildings thereon" on the northerly side of Andover Street, the same bounds as the 1912 deed. Recorded just after Alice H. Greenwood's discharge of a Greenwood mortgage of December 18, 1915. The loan falls in the years when Greenwood enlarged the cottage into the present house. Margin: "See Discharge B958 P542" (1941).
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| November 11, 1927 | Mortgage | Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica, "being unmarried" | Lowell Co-operative Bank | Lowell Co-operative Bank mortgage, 1927 | 757/149 |
November 11, 1927, for $2,600: "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon, being two certain parcels of land, situated on Andover Street", same bounds. Recorded with Alice H. Greenwood's discharge of a second Greenwood mortgage of November 24, 1922. Discharged in 1941 (Book 958, Page 542).
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| April 11, 1941 | Quitclaim Deed | Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica (wife Frances G. Greenwood releasing dower and homestead) | Edna T. Desrochers of Boston | straw deed to Desrochers, 1941 | 958/542 |
Dated April 10, 1941, "without any money consideration whatsoever": the same "two certain parcels of land with the buildings thereon" on the north side of Andover Street (the quarter-acre lot 90 feet from the Ambrose F. Page corner and the strip west of it to the Page land). "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Louise F. Rand ... Book 489, Page 123." A straw deed, recorded the same morning as the Lowell Co-operative Bank discharges of Greenwood mortgages of 1922 (Book 672, Page 506) and 1927 (Book 757, Page 149).
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| April 11, 1941 | Quitclaim Deed | Edna T. Desrochers of Boston, unmarried | Oliver P. Greenwood and Frances G. Greenwood, husband and wife, as tenants by the entirety | back to Oliver P. and Frances G. Greenwood, 1941 | 958/543 |
Dated April 10, 1941, without money consideration: reconveys the same two parcels "with the buildings thereon" on Andover Street, "being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Oliver P. Greenwood to be recorded herewith", putting the house in the names of Greenwood and his wife jointly.
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| April 11, 1941 | Mortgage | Oliver P. Greenwood and Frances G. Greenwood | Billerica Trust Company | Billerica Trust Co. mortgage, 1941 | 958/544 |
April 1941 mortgage at six per cent, repaid in quarter-annual installments, on the same two parcels on Andover Street, "being the same conveyed to us by deed of Edna T. Desrochers to be recorded herewith". It replaced the Lowell Co-operative Bank mortgages discharged the same day.
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| June 9, 1967 | Fiduciary's Deed | The fiduciaries of the estate of Oliver P. Greenwood of Billerica (died April 1, 1966), by license of the Middlesex Probate Court | A private buyer (husband and wife, of Dracut) | Greenwood estate sale, 1967; later private owners | 1798/552 |
Dated June 8, 1967, by power of a Probate Court license of April 6, 1967 (Middlesex Probate docket 406268), for $22,000: the same "two certain parcels" on Andover Street. Recorded with a U.S. certificate releasing the estate tax lien on "Two parcels of land, with the buildings thereon, situated on Andover Street ... described in deed dated April 10, 1941" (Book 958, Page 543), and the buyers' mortgage to the Lowell Institution for Savings. Later private sales: 1978 ($47,000), 1980, 1993 ($147,000) and a 2016 family transfer; the 1978 and 1980 deeds repeat the same two-parcel description.
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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.