Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1948
Samuel Baldwin House
The Samuel Baldwin House stood on the west side of Baldwin Road in East Billerica, on the farm now cut into the Castlewood East house lots; its site is 140 Baldwin Road. The "P. Holden" of the 1853 Walling map was Perkins Holden (born 1805), a blacksmith, son of Asa Holden. Hazen's genealogy notes that he "lived near Shawshin river." The farm of about forty acres kept the same description in every deed from 1813 to 1962: from the southeast corner at land of Solomon Cutter and the road, north by the road to land of Joel Baldwin, then by Baldwin, Ebenezer Page and John Crosby back to Cutter, with "about two acres of orchard land lying opposite the house" across the road, and a bridle way through the farm "for people to pass and repass" recorded in the town book.
The earliest deed found is from 1784, when Samuel Baldwin, yeoman, sold Thomas Crage (Craige) "the one half of my homestead farme in Billerica with the buildings thereon," reserving the same recorded bridle way. Samuel Baldwin's will was proved in 1797, and in 1812 Craige bought out the share a granddaughter, Elizabeth Crockett of Salem, had inherited from him. In January 1813 Thomas Craige sold "my homestead farm ... with the buildings thereon standing," about forty acres, to Asa Holden, yeoman, for $825.
Asa Holden passed the farm to his son in two deeds: half in September 1831 to "Perkins Holden ... Blacksmith" for $450, and the other half in January 1834, keeping for his own life "the east chamber in the dwelling house and a right in the shoe makers shop." Perkins Holden gave his father a $450 mortgage the same day. He married Harriet Munroe of Woburn in 1833 and farmed and worked here for some forty years; in 1872 he sold the twenty-acre "River Lot" meadow on the Shawsheen to his daughter Mary A. Lynde, wife of Stephen Lynde of Stoneham. No deed of the house farm out of Perkins Holden was recorded, and it came by inheritance to Mary A. Lynde, who in March 1922, as a widow, sold "a certain farm with the buildings thereon standing," forty acres, to Mike and Sophie Pickovicz, citing her grandfather's deeds of 1831 and 1834 as the title.
In July 1948 Nicholas M. (Mike) and Sofie Pichowicz deeded the farm to their son John R. Pichowicz. The assessor dates the present ranch house to about 1949, which fits the old farmhouse being replaced about 1948, though the deeds do not say so. In 1962 John R. Pichowicz sold the remaining 32.5 acres "with the buildings thereon" to Roberts Homes, Inc. of Concord, which laid out Castlewood East. Its plan of February 1962 (Plan Book 96, Plan 117) shows the "existing house" and garage on Lot 28, a lot of 45,804 square feet bounded on Baldwin Road "in parts by a stone wall." Roberts Homes sold Lot 28 with its house to private owners in 1964, and it changed hands again in 1965 and 1968. In 2019 the Town of Billerica took roadway easements along the front of 140 to 148 Baldwin Road.
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Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| October 29, 1810 | Deed | Samuel Baldwin of Billerica, yeoman | Thomas Crage (Craige) of Billerica, yeoman | 1784 half of Samuel Baldwin homestead to Thomas Crage (probable start) | 191/53 (South) |
Billerica town book 10, pages 574-575. Dated Feb. 2, 1784, acknowledged April 5, 1791, recorded Oct. 29, 1810. For 130 pounds, "the one half of my homestead farme in Billerica with the buildings thereon Quantity for Quality as it now lieth undivided", and eight acres near the Cove bounded by Jeremiah Allen, James Lewis and Reuben Kendall. Reserves "a Bridle way through the same for passing and repassing as shall more fully appear on Billerica Town Book of records", the same bridle way reserved in every deed of the Holden farm from 1813 to 1922; probable start of the farm's recorded title.
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| October 29, 1810 | Deed | John Baldwin and Joel Baldwin of Billerica, yeomen | Thomas Crage of Billerica, yeoman | 1796 adjoining ten acres to Crage | 191/54 (South) |
Billerica town book 10, pages 575-576. April 2, 1796, for $200, ten acres, "part of the third lot in the second part of the second division", bounded north by the highway, east by Ephraim Crosby about fifty poles, south by Deacon Oliver Crosby, west by Josiah Crosby. Adjoining land bought by Crage while he held the Baldwin homestead.
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| 1797 | Will | Estate of Samuel Baldwin of Billerica | His heirs | 1797 Samuel Baldwin will | Probate #864 |
Middlesex probate case 864. Citation of May 9, 1797 by Judge Oliver Prescott to the heirs at law of Samuel Baldwin, late of Billerica, to appear at Concord in September on the proving of "an Instrument purporting to be the last Will"; served by Ephraim Crosby, Sept. 20, 1797. His granddaughter Elizabeth Crockett later sold her bequest to Thomas Crage.
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| May 11, 1812 | Quitclaim | Chase Crockett of Salem, yeoman, and Elizabeth his wife | Thomas Crage of Billerica, yeoman | 1812 Crockett share of the Baldwin estate to Crage | 194/380 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 148-149. March 23, 1812, for $140, all their right "in and to the real estate which was bequeathed to the said Elizabeth Crockett by her Grandfather Samuel Baldwin late of said Billerica deceased situate in the easterly part of said Billerica". Gathers in a share of the Baldwin homestead the year before Crage sold the farm.
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| June 17, 1813 | Deed | Thomas Craige of Billerica, yeoman, and Martha his wife | Asa Holden of Billerica, yeoman | 1813 Craige to Asa Holden, homestead farm with buildings | 204/380 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 313-314. Jan. 16, 1813, for $825, "my homestead farm lying in said Billerica with the buildings thereon standing containing about forty acres": from the southeast corner at Ephraim Crosby and the road, north by the road to Joel Baldwin, west and north by Baldwin, west by Joseph Kendall and John Crosby, south by John Crosby, east by Ephraim Crosby; "also about two acres of orchard land lying opposite the house" on the east side of the road, reserving the bridle way recorded in the town book.
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| November 14, 1833 | Deed | Asa Holden of Billerica, yeoman, and Nancy his wife | His son Perkins Holden of Billerica, blacksmith | 1831 half to Perkins Holden | 326/565 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 499-500. Sept. 15, 1831 (acknowledged and recorded 1833), for $450, "the one undivided half of my farm with the undivided half of the building on the same standing", about forty acres, bounded by Solomon Cutter, the road, Joel Baldwin, Eben Page and John Crosby, with the two acres of orchard "opposite the house" and the bridle way; "reserving the present years crop", subject to a mortgage to Joseph Gleason.
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| February 12, 1834 | Deed | Asa Holden of Billerica, yeoman | His son Perkins Holden of Billerica, yeoman | 1834 other half to Perkins Holden | 329/388 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 509-510. Jan. 21, 1834, for $450, "one undivided half of my homestead farm situated in Billerica with the buildings on the same standing containing about forty acres", same bounds, orchard and bridle way, "Also reserving to myself the right to use and improve the east chamber in the dwelling house and a right in the shoe makers shop as I now improve the same during my natural life".
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| February 12, 1834 | Mortgage | Perkins Holden of Billerica, yeoman | Asa Holden of Billerica, yeoman | 1834 Perkins Holden mortgage to Asa Holden | 329/389 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 511-512. Jan. 21, 1834, the whole farm "with the buildings on the same standing containing about forty acres", same bounds, to secure $450 with interest by Jan. 21, 1835 and a promissory note of the same date: the purchase money for the second half.
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| June 1, 1872 | Deed | Perkins Holden of Billerica, Harriet his wife releasing | His daughter Mary A. Lynde of Stoneham, wife of Stephen Lynde | 1872 River Lot to daughter Mary A. Lynde | 86/513 |
Jan. 20, 1872, for $400, "a lot of meadow land ... called the River Lot", twenty acres on the Shawsheen River bounded by other land of the grantor, Rufus Cutter and John Crosby, "Reserving a right of way to my Cook lot through said land". Part of the Holden holdings near the river, not the house farm; the farm itself later came to Mary A. Lynde by inheritance.
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| March 18, 1922 | Quitclaim | Mary A. Lynde of Billerica, widow | Mike Pickovicz and Sophie Pickovicz, husband and wife | 1922 Lynde to Pickovicz, farm with buildings | 658/27 |
March 16, 1922, for one dollar and other consideration, "a certain farm with the buildings thereon standing situate in said Billerica, estimated to contain 40 acres", bounded as in 1813 (Solomon Cutter, the road, Joel Baldwin, Ebenezer Page and John Crosby), with the two acres of orchard "lying opposite the house" and the bridle way. "The granted premises are the same as described in the deed of Asa Holden to Perkins Holden dated September 15, 1831 ... and ... January 21, 1834".
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| July 14, 1948 | Quitclaim | Nicholas M. Pichowicz (Mike Pickovicz) and Sofie Pichowicz | Their son John R. Pichowicz of Billerica | 1948 to John R. Pichowicz | 1096/58 |
July 7, 1948, no money consideration, "the land in Billerica with the buildings thereon, estimated to contain forty (40) acres", same bounds, and the two acres of orchard "lying opposite the house". Title: Mary A. Lynde, Book 658, Page 27.
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| May 31, 1962 | Quitclaim | John R. Pichowicz of Billerica | Roberts Homes, Inc. of Concord | 1962 to Roberts Homes (Castlewood East) | 1557/566 |
Signed May 1962, recorded May 31, 1962. "A certain parcel of land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon, estimated to contain about thirty-two and 1/2 (32.5) acres", bounded as in the old deeds, except the part already conveyed to Roberts Homes on April 7, 1962 (Book 1554, Page 90). "Being a portion of the premises" from Nicholas M. and Sofie Pichowicz, 1948. Roberts Homes laid out Castlewood East on this and the adjoining Pichowicz land; its plan of Feb. 20, 1962 (Plan Book 96, Plan 117) shows the existing house and garage on Lot 28.
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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.