Samuel Needham House

The Samuel Needham House stood on the north side of Salem Road in East Billerica, on a lot of two and a half acres that is now 118 Salem Road. The map of 1852 marks it with the name D. Sherman. The deeds show the house was there by 1833, and it stood until the 1970s.

The lot was cut from the farm that Thomas Richardson sold to Amos Needham in 1822 and that Amos and his sister Polly passed to their brother Samuel Needham in 1824 and 1828 (see Amos Needham House). On December 30, 1833 Samuel Needham, then of Cambridge, sold to David Sherman Jr. of Charlestown, housewright, for $275 "a certain piece of land with the buildings thereon standing" on "the northerly side of the road leading from Haynes Tavern to Salem". It ran about 21 rods along the road from the corner of a stone wall to a split stone, north "by land I retain" about 20 1/2 rods to a stake and stones by the ditch, and was bounded west and south by Josiah Stevens "as the fence now stands", "containing two and a half acres more or less." These same bounds were copied into every deed for the next 140 years.

On February 23, 1839 David Sherman, still of Charlestown, and his wife Elizabeth sold the place for $258 to Henry Poor of Lowell; Asenath Sherman witnessed the deed. In June 1841 Poor sold it back for the same $258 to Asenath Sherman of Billerica, which suggests the 1839 sale was a loan. By then the road was described as leading "from Stevens Tavern to Salem." Asenath Sherman, a widow, owned the house when the 1852 map was drawn. The deeds do not say how she was related to David.

On September 3, 1853 Asenath Sherman sold the house and land to Stephen Hill of Billerica for $400. Hill, a yeoman, mortgaged it for $65 to John Baldwin in 1855. He died intestate on February 9, 1866, leaving a widow, Elvira D. Hill. His sister's husband Oliver Foster of Tewksbury was appointed administrator, and on April 28, 1866 the heirs (Amos Hill, Oliver and Abby Foster, Elizabeth Trow, George W. Hill and Frederick R. Hill) sold "the homestead of the late Stephen Hill deceased", now called two acres, to Thomas Talbot of Billerica for $250.

The house stayed in the Talbot family's hands for 45 years. After Thomas Talbot's death his will (allowed in 1885) left his property to trustees. On September 29, 1911 the trustees, Frederic S. Clark, Victor I. Cumnock and Thomas Talbot Clark, sold the house to Frances R. Kittredge. By then the lot was surrounded on three sides by Josiah Wright's land, which later became the Central Park house lots. Two months later, on November 27, 1911, Frances Kittredge sold it "with the buildings thereon" to Lottie Steinberg and Jennie Warshauer of Lowell, who gave a $350 mortgage to John H. Eacrett. In 1943 Lottie Steinberg deeded her half to Jennie Warshauer, then of Belmont, still "with the buildings thereon."

The land passed through the estates of Henry and Jennie Warshauer to an heir, who sold it in June 1976 to the New England Home Improvement Company of Pinehurst for $11,500. This deed mentions no buildings, because the old house had been taken down. The builders had the two acres surveyed into Lot 1 and Lot 2 (Plan Book 122, Plan 119, June 1976) and built the present split entry house on Lot 1, 40,012 square feet. They sold it to private owners in October 1976. It has changed hands several times since, most recently in 1986.

References

1. Billerica assessor, 118 Salem Rd, parcel 33-21-0: Lot 1 of Plan 122-119, 0.919 acres, split entry house built about 1976

Title References Expand all

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.