Peter Dolan
Peter Dolan was a farmer who for more than forty years owned the old farm of Charles Stearns on the Middlesex Turnpike at Nutting's Pond, in the south part of Billerica. In November 1864, while living in Concord, he bought the forty-acre homestead "with all the buildings thereon" and an eight-acre lot once Seth Crosby's: six sevenths from the Stearns heirs for $1,851.43, and the last seventh, the share of a minor grandson, at the guardian's auction for $308.57. The widow released her dower in both. The farmhouse is the Charles Stearns House.
He financed the farm with mortgages. In December 1864 he and his wife Johanna mortgaged it to the Middlesex Institution for Savings at Concord for $1,500, and he sold a half interest to Stephen Evans, who took on half the loan. In April 1866 he bought Evans out for $640 and gave him a mortgage for $440. In 1878 he refinanced both loans with Moses P. Greenwood, borrowing $1,500 at six per cent, and he paid that mortgage off in 1898. The 1875 atlas marks the place P. Dolan, and he was on the town's list of voters in 1880. In 1885 the town paid him $185 for land taken for a road, and in the 1880s and 1890s it paid him for work on the roads.
In 1901 he was still farming on the turnpike near Nutting's Pond, with his son Francis J., a farmer, and his daughters Elizabeth L., a clerk, and Margaret L., an inspector at the Lowell Manufacturing Company, living with him. In 1899 he sold his son Philip B. Dolan, who was a clerk at F. H. Parker's store in 1901, a house lot at the corner of Stewart's road for $100. Peter Dolan died before June 1910, leaving a will. That year his heirs and devisees, among them Philip B., Francis J., Henry, Susie G. and Margaret L. Dolan, Mary L. Lyons, Catherine A. Loftus, Bessie L. Conway and Annie F. Dullea, put "the homestead of Peter Dolan, deceased" in the names of his widow Johanna and his son Francis J. Dolan, later the town's tree warden. Francis laid out much of the farm as the Indian Knoll Terrace house lots, and in 1911 Johanna gave the old house to their daughter Susie G. Dolan. Dolan Road near the lake is named for the family.
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| December 28, 1864 | Warranty Deed | George E. Stearns, William B. Stearns, Albert Stearns, Chauncy C. Stearns, Clara C. Hutchinson (with husband Levi W. Hutchinson) and Lucy A. Targett (with husband Joseph D. Targett of Leominster), heirs of Charles Stearns | Peter Dolan of Concord | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/433 |
Signed Nov 16, 1864. For $1,851.43, "six undivided seventh parts" of "the Homestead of the late Charles Stearns deceased, situate in said Billerica containing forty acres, more or less, with all the buildings thereon": from the southeast corner at Nutting's Pond at the Middlesex Turnpike north by the Turnpike past the former Dorcas Bridge land about 25 rods to B. L. Judkins, west about 8 rods, south and west by Asa N. Hannaford, south by stone wall to the former Seth Crosby land and to the pond; reserving Seth Crosby's right of way. Also six-sevenths of the 8-acre "Crosby lot" west of the Turnpike. Title recital: the deeds of Benjamin Fiske (1840), George Bacon (1836), Dorcas Bridge (1844) and Seth Crosby (1845), Book 33, Pages 375-378.
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| December 28, 1864 | Release of Dower | Lorinda Stearns of Billerica, widow of Charles Stearns | Peter Dolan of Concord | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/435 |
Signed Nov 16, 1864. For $462.86, the widow releases her dower and homestead rights in the six-sevenths of the Charles Stearns homestead conveyed by the heirs the same day (Book 38, Page 433).
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| December 28, 1864 | Guardian's Deed | Stephen H. Wilson of Billerica, guardian of Charles Lothrop Stearns, minor heir of Charles Stearns | Peter Dolan of Concord | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/435 |
Signed Nov 16, 1864. Under a license of the Probate Court at Framingham, Oct 25, 1864, after notice in the Lowell Weekly Journal, the guardian of Charles Lothrop Stearns (born 1857, a grandson of Charles Stearns according to the probate petition) sold at public auction on Nov 14, 1864 to Peter Dolan, "the highest bidder", for $308.57 the minor's one undivided seventh of the 40-acre homestead "with all the buildings thereon" and of the 8-acre Crosby lot, same bounds and title recital as the heirs' deed.
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| December 28, 1864 | Release of Dower | Lorinda Stearns of Billerica, widow | Peter Dolan of Concord | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/437 |
Signed Nov 16, 1864. For $77.14, the widow releases dower and homestead in the guardian's-deed seventh of the homestead and Crosby lot.
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| December 28, 1864 | Mortgage | Peter Dolan of Billerica (wife Johanna joins) | Middlesex Institution for Savings, Concord | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/438 |
Dec 12, 1864. Mortgage for $1,500 on "the homestead of the late Charles Stearns", 40 acres "with the buildings thereon", and the 8-acre Crosby lot, "the same conveyed by George E. Stearns and others to said Dolan ... and by a deed from Stephen H. Wilson, Guardian, dated November 16, 1864". Discharged 1878 (Book 130, Page 215).
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| December 28, 1864 | Quitclaim | Peter Dolan of Billerica | Stephen Evans of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 38/440 |
Dec 12, 1864. For $1,350, "one undivided half part" of the 40-acre homestead of the late Charles Stearns "with the buildings thereon" and of the 8-acre Crosby lot, "being one undivided half part of the land conveyed to said Dolan by George E. Stearns and others, and by Stephen H. Wilson, Guardian"; Evans assumed half of the $1,500 savings-bank mortgage.
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| April 12, 1866 | Quitclaim | Stephen Evans of Billerica (wife Bridget releases) | Peter Dolan of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 48/13 |
Apr 9, 1866. For $640, all his interest in "a certain farm situated in the Southerly part of Billerica near Nutting Pond (so called) known as the Homestead of the late Charles Stearns deceased with the buildings thereon", bounded by the Middlesex Turnpike, B. L. Judkins, Ira N. Hanniford, Seth Crosby and Nutting Pond, and the other half of the Crosby lot; "meaning to convey the same premises conveyed to me by Peter Dolan by deed dated December twelfth A.D. 1864 ... Book 38 Page 440". Dolan assumed the whole $1,500 mortgage and gave Evans a $440 mortgage (Book 48, Page 15).
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| April 12, 1866 | Mortgage | Peter Dolan of Billerica | Stephen Evans of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 48/15 |
April 1866. Mortgage for $440 on "my farm situate in the town of Billerica near Nuttings Pond so called containing about forty acres", same bounds as the 1864 deeds. Released 1878 (Book 130, Page 143).
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| August 8, 1878 | Mortgage | Peter Dolan of Billerica | Moses P. Greenwood of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 130/352 |
Aug 8, 1878. Mortgage for $1,500 at 6 percent on the 40-acre "homestead of the late Charles Stearns, deceased, with the buildings thereon" and the Crosby lot, "Being the same premises conveyed to me by Geo. E. Stearns & others ... and by deed from S. H. Wilson Guard." The buildings were to be insured for at least $800. It refinanced the 1864 savings-bank and 1866 Evans mortgages, both discharged that summer. Discharged by Greenwood Feb 15, 1898.
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| June 5, 1899 | Deed | Peter Dolan of Billerica (wife Joanna releases) | Philip B. Dolan of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 308/306 |
June 2, 1899. For $100, a lot at the corner of the Turnpike and Stewart's road, 255 feet on the Turnpike and on Stewart's road and 190 feet deep, "being in part the same premises as conveyed to me by heirs of Charles E. Stearns". A house lot cut from the north end of the farm for a son; the Stearns house stayed with Peter Dolan.
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| July 18, 1910 | Quitclaim | Heirs and devisees of Peter Dolan: William J. and Mary L. Lyons, Philip B. Dolan, Catherine A. Loftus, Richard J. and Bessie L. Conway, Susie G. Dolan, Johanna Dolan, Francis J. Dolan, Margaret L. Dolan, Charles A. and Annie F. Dullea, Henry Dolan | Florence E. Grant of Chelmsford | Details | Charles Stearns House | 454/213 |
June 14, 1910. For $1, the 40 acres "with all the buildings thereon formerly known as the homestead of Charles Stearns, deceased, and more recently known as the homestead of Peter Dolan, deceased" (same bounds as 1864) and the 8-acre Crosby lot, "Being all and the same premises to Peter Dolan conveyed by four deeds, all dated November 16, 1864 ... Book 38, Pages 433, 435, 435 and 437", releasing all interest "whether derived as legatees or devisees under the will of Peter Dolan ... or otherwise". A straw deed to settle the estate.
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| July 18, 1910 | Quitclaim | Florence E. Grant of Chelmsford | Johanna Dolan (widow of Peter) and Francis J. Dolan of Billerica | Details | Charles Stearns House | 454/216 |
Recorded July 18, 1910. For $1, the same 40-acre homestead "with all the buildings thereon formerly known as the homestead of Charles Stearns, deceased, and more recently known as the homestead of Peter Dolan, deceased" and the Crosby lot, to Peter's widow and their son Francis "as joint tenants and not as tenants in common"; "Being all and the same premises to me conveyed by William J. Lyons et als, by deed of even date".
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| November 8, 1921 | Affidavit | Susie G. Shaw, formerly Susie G. Dolan, of Billerica | (certificate of identity) | Details | Charles Stearns House | 655/98 |
Nov 5, 1921. She certifies "that I am the Susie Dolan named as a daughter and heir in the will of Peter Dolan, recorded in the Registry of Probate for Middlesex County and numbered 79843", and the same Susie G. Dolan who signed the 1910 heirs' deed (Book 454, Page 213), which she ratifies. She had married James A. Shaw.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.