Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1984
Rodney Brown House
The Rodney Brown House stood on the east side of Nashua Road, then called the Bedford road, near the Chelmsford line in the northwest part of Billerica, across the road from the Deacon Edward Spaulding House. The 1853 Walling map marks it "R. Brown". Rodney Brown, a stone mason and farmer, married Abigail Eastee in 1835, and their children were born in Billerica between 1836 and 1848. In the 1840s he owned land on the Bedford road just over the line in Chelmsford, which he sold in 1848, and by 1853 he lived on this lot. How he acquired it has not been found in the registry.
On March 17, 1859, Rodney Brown, with his wife Abigail, sold "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in the Northwesterly part of said Billerica" to Thomas Spaulding, yeoman, for $750. Thomas, a son of Deacon Edward Spaulding across the road, had married Brown's daughter Eliza Jane in 1856; she died in July 1859. The lot ran from the southwest corner at "the Bedford road so called" and land of Edward Spaulding, by a stone wall to "a heap of stones", by land of Israel Putnam, and by the wall along the land of Joseph Manning and Ebenezer Cowdry and of the heirs of Abel Spaulding back to the road, "containing two and one half acres more or less". In 1860 Thomas Spaulding bought an adjoining half acre from Israel Putnam of Chelmsford for $25, beginning at "a large rock at land of Edward Spalding". Rodney Brown married Sarah (Spaulding) Searles Jenkins in 1860 and moved to the Rangeway farm he later sold to Henry Duren.
Thomas Spaulding, who married Augusta M. French in 1863, kept the place for twenty-five years. In 1884 he sold both parcels "with buildings thereon" to Ella F. Hannaford, wife of Waldo Hannaford, for $700, and in 1896 the Hannafords, then of Carlisle, sold them "with the buildings thereon" to Kate E. Curley of Lowell for $800.
In January 1900 Kate Curley's guardian, William L. Marshall, sold the land under a license of the Probate Court to Elbridge G. Howard and James A. Leighton of Chelmsford for only $100, and that deed and the next four mention no buildings, which suggests the old house was gone by then. Howard and Leighton sold it in 1902 to Charles H. Hill of Lowell, who also owned land in Chelmsford. After his death his heirs Laura G. Hill and Haven G. Hill held it, and in 1916 Haven G. Hill sold the three acres to Thomas P. O'Sullivan of Lowell.
O'Sullivan, later of Billerica, owned the lot until 1960, when he sold it "with the buildings thereon" to private owners; the road was by then "Nashua Road, formerly called Bedford Road". It changed hands again in 1970 and in 1985, when it was resurveyed as Parcel T, 2.642 acres, still bounded by the old stone walls. The last building on the lot was taken down about that time, and garages for an excavating business were built in 1985. A second parcel from the adjoining Swanson land was added in 2002, making the present 5.64-acre lot at 2 Nashua Road.
References
- Billerica assessor, 2 Nashua Rd, parcel 37-3-1: 5.64 acres, garages built about 1985, deeds 12986/208 and 8116/187, Plans 206-103 and 149-106
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register: Brown 23 (Rodney) and Spaulding 11 (Thomas m. 1856 Eliza Jane Brown, dau. of Rodney)
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| March 18, 1859 | Warranty Deed | Rodney Brown of Billerica, stone mason (Abigail his wife releasing homestead and dower) | Thomas Spaulding of Billerica, yeoman (his son-in-law) | Rodney Brown sells the house lot with the buildings to Thomas Spaulding, 1859 | 18/344 |
Signed March 17, 1859. For $750, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in the Northwesterly part of said Billerica": beginning at the southwest corner of "the Bedford road so called" (now Nashua Road) at land of Edward Spaulding, easterly by Spaulding about 12 rods "to a heap of stones by the wall", northwesterly by land of Israel Putnam about 12 rods, easterly by Putnam about 8 rods to the corner of the wall at land of Joseph Manning and Ebenezer Cowdry, northwesterly on the wall by Manning and Cowdry about 16 rods, southwesterly on the wall by the heirs of Abel Spaulding about 11 rods to the road, and southerly on the road about 23 rods, "containing two and one half acres more or less". No title recital. Thomas Spaulding had married Rodney Brown's daughter Eliza Jane in 1856.
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| January 17, 1866 | Quitclaim Deed | Israel Putnam of Chelmsford (Mary L. his wife releasing dower) | Thomas Spaulding of Billerica | half-acre addition from Israel Putnam, 1860 | 46/337 |
Signed March 17, 1860, acknowledged March 19, 1860, recorded only on January 17, 1866. For $25, "a certain piece or parcel of land situate in the Northwesterly part of Billerica aforesaid containing one half an acre more or less": from "a large rock at land of Edward Spalding" northerly about 4 rods, northeasterly about 5 rods to land of Joseph Manning and Ebenezer Cowdrey, by Manning and Cowdrey about 7 rods to the end of a wall, westerly and southerly by Thomas Spalding's own land about 7 and 11 rods to "the wall at land of Deac. Edward Spalding", and easterly by him about 5 rods to the beginning. This half acre was conveyed with the house lot in every later deed.
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| March 17, 1884 | Warranty Deed | Thomas Spaulding of Billerica (Augusta M. his wife releasing dower and homestead) | Ella F. Hannaford of Billerica, wife of Waldo Hannaford | Thomas Spaulding to Ella F. Hannaford, with buildings, 1884 | 165/563 |
Signed February 28, 1884. For $700, "a certain parcel of land with buildings thereon, situated in the north westerly part of said Billerica", the 2 1/2 acres bounded as in 1859 (the Bedford road, Edward Spaulding, Israel Putnam, land formerly of Joseph Manning and Ebenezer Cowdrey, "the heirs of Abel Spaulding deceased"), and "one other tract of land adjoining" of half an acre from the large rock at land of "Dea. Edward Spaulding". No title recital; acknowledged before Dudley Foster.
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| May 4, 1896 | Warranty Deed | Waldo Hannaford of Carlisle and Ella F. Hannaford his wife, in her own right | Kate E. Curley of Lowell | Hannaford to Kate E. Curley, with buildings, 1896 | 274/543 |
Signed May 1, 1896. For $800, "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in the northwesterly part of Billerica", the same 2 1/2 acres on the Bedford Road and the adjoining half acre. "Being same premises as conveyed to me by deed of Thomas Spaulding, dated Feb. 28, 1884 ... Book 165 Page 563."
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| January 11, 1900 | Guardian's Deed | William L. Marshall of Lowell, guardian of Kate E. Curley of Lowell | Elbridge G. Howard and James A. Leighton, both of Chelmsford | guardian's sale, no buildings mentioned, 1900 | 315/210 |
Signed January 8, 1900. Kate E. Curley being under guardianship, the guardian sold her land by private sale under a license of the Probate Court of January 2, 1900, for $100: "a certain parcel of land situated in the north westerly part of Billerica" at the southwest corner of the Bedford Road and land of Edward Spaulding, 2 1/2 acres, and the adjoining half acre. Unlike the deeds of 1859-1896 it mentions no buildings, and the price fell from $800 to $100, so the house had probably burned or been taken down by 1900.
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| January 28, 1902 | Warranty Deed | Elbridge G. Howard (unmarried) and James A. Leighton, both of Lowell (Nellie A. Leighton releasing dower and homestead) | Charles H. Hill of Lowell | Howard and Leighton to Charles H. Hill, 1902 | 339/592 |
Signed January 28, 1902. For "one dollar and other valuable considerations", "a certain parcel of land situated in the northwesterly part of Billerica", the 2 1/2 acres at the southwest corner of the Bedford Road and land of Edward Spaulding and the adjoining half acre at land of Deacon Edward Spaulding. No buildings mentioned and no title recital. Recorded with a deed of Chelmsford lots from the Leightons to Hill (N.339/590).
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| November 30, 1914 | Quitclaim Deed | Laura G. Hill of Lowell, unmarried (an heir of Charles H. Hill) | Haven G. Hill of Lowell | Hill heirs: Laura G. to Haven G. Hill, 1914 | 529/434 |
Laura G. Hill released to Haven G. Hill her share of the lands of Charles H. Hill of Lowell: 34.11 acres in Chelmsford on the road to Billerica (Plan Book 7, Plan 23), Cove Avenue lots 44 and 45 and Middlesex Village lot 40 in Chelmsford, and "a certain other parcel of land situated in Billerica" beginning "at the southwesterly corner of the Bedford road so called and at land of Edward Spaulding, now or formerly", bounded as before.
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| November 17, 1916 | Quitclaim Deed | Haven G. Hill of Lowell, unmarried | Thomas P. O'Sullivan of Lowell | Haven G. Hill to Thomas P. O'Sullivan, 1916 | 564/267 |
Signed November 6, 1916. The 2 1/2 acres at the southwesterly corner of "the Bedford road so-called" and land of Edward Spaulding, and the adjoining half acre, no buildings mentioned. "Both of the above-described parcels being the same premises described in a deed from Elbridge G. Howard, et al. to Charles H. Hill dated January 28, 1902 ... book 339, page 592. My title to said premises being acquired as one of the heirs at law of the said Charles H. Hill, late of Lowell, deceased, intestate, and also under deed from Laura G. Hill." Subject to unpaid taxes.
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| December 31, 1960 | Quitclaim Deed | Thomas P. O'Sullivan of Billerica | Private owners | O'Sullivan sale 1960; later private owners | 1499/522 |
Signed December 13, 1960. The same two parcels, now "with the buildings thereon" (a later building on the lot), the first beginning "at the Bedford road so-called" at land of Edward Spaulding. "Being the same premises conveyed to me by Haven G. Hill by deed dated November 6, 1916 ... Book 564, Page 267." Later transfers to private owners: a 1970 sale for $18,000 "with the buildings thereon", the road then "Nashua Road, formerly called Bedford Road" (N.1927/492); a 1985 resurvey as Parcel T, 2.642 acres, on Plan Book 149, Plan 106 (N.3152/168, 3181/212, 3181/214), when the old buildings were cleared and excavating company garages built; a 1996 transfer to a realty trust (N.8116/187); and a 2002 addition of Parcel 2 of Plan 206-103 from the adjoining Swanson land (N.12986/208), making the present 5.64-acre parcel 37-3-1.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.