Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1952
Stephen Hooker House
The Stephen Hooker House was a small farmhouse at the corner where Springs Road (the old Bedford Springs road, later Spring Street) meets Orchard Road (the old Manning Lane, later Manning Road), on the line between Billerica and Bedford. The 1853 Walling map of Billerica marks the house "S. Hooker" at that corner, next to a "Bound Stone" on the town line. The probate papers of its owner show that it stood just over the line in Bedford, across the road from today's 79 Orchard Road, which is the nearest Billerica lot to the map's dot.
Stephen Hooker was a carpenter who also kept a small farm. He died on October 6, 1861, "late of Bedford," with no children, parents, brothers or sisters living, and his widow Rachel Hooker settled the estate. The appraisers, Constantine Hill, Thomas B. Hosmer and Samuel Sage, valued "Homestead" at $490 and "outlands" at $130. His goods were a horse, a wagon and sled, hay, farming tools, lumber, carpenter's tools worth $40.75, and household furniture. To pay his debts the court let Rachel sell the land, and on May 1, 1862 she offered at auction, "at the farm house," half of "a certain tract or parcel of land known as the Hooker Farm, and situated in the northerly part of said Bedford, on the Back Road leading from Bedford to Billerica, being the farm lately owned and occupied by said Stephen Hooker," about eight acres bounded by George R. Stearns and Nathan Fitch, with half of seven acres of woodland and pasture nearby. The sale brought $300.
On the Billerica side of the corner, the land that is now 79 Orchard Road and its neighbors was a woodlot with no house. In 1831 Josiah Hill of Bedford gave his son Elijah B. Hill "the Jaquith lot," about twenty acres bounded "Southerly by the road leading to said Josiah Hill's and Easterly by the Manning Lane." In 1850 Elijah B. Hill sold it to Amasa Lane as "a certain lot of pasture and woodland ... containing twenty four acres." It passed in 1856 to George A. Sampson of Bolton, in 1858 to Reuben A. Lane of Charlestown, and in 1874, for $2,000, to Thomas B. Hosmer, a Bedford dentist, still "twenty four acres of wood and pasture land." Hosmer's son and heir Ernest H. Hosmer sold the lot in 1910 to Dexter M. and Cora A. Rogers of Boston, who had it registered in the Land Court in 1923 as Lot A of plan 8946-A, about 26 acres between Spring Street, the town line and Manning Road. By then a farmhouse stood on the lot by Spring Street (today's 609 Springs Road). In 1926 the Rogerses sold the farm to Samuel W. Lunt, who ran it as Orchard Corners Farm.
In 1952 Lunt had the Manning Road and Spring Street frontage divided into house lots (Land Court plan 8946-B). Lot 2, at the corner, was sold in December 1953 to private owners, who built the Cape that stands at 79 Orchard Road. Manning Road was later renamed Orchard Road.
The 1853 map name "S. Hooker" belongs to Stephen Hooker and his Bedford farmhouse. The deeds of 1831 to 1874 show that the Billerica lot where the map point falls was pasture and woodland, so the house was never on 79 Orchard Road. When the Hooker house was built and when it was taken down are not known from these records.
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| January 10, 1833 | Quitclaim Deed | Josiah Hill of Bedford, yeoman | Elijah Bacon Hill of Billerica, yeoman, his son | the Jaquith lot across the road, no buildings | 319/428 (South) |
For $800, four tracts: the Jaquith lot (about 20 acres on "the road leading to said Josiah Hill's" and Manning Lane); "the School House Pasture", about 6 acres bounded north by "a road leading by Job Hill's", west by Job, "Southerly by lands of Josiah Hill and Artemas Hill" and east by the road from Billerica to Bedford; 14 acres of upland and meadow from "the flume in an old dam"; and 30 acres by Jonathan Hill and William Whitford. Signed Nov. 7, 1831, the day before the deed to Artemas. Elijah sold the School House Pasture to William Whitford (Book 319, Page 430), who became the north abutter of the house lot. Billerica town book 16, pages 162-163.
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| November 25, 1850 | Warranty Deed | Elijah B. Hill of Billerica, yeoman, with his wife Lucy | Amasa Lane of Billerica, yeoman | the lot at the map point: pasture and woodland | 597/447 (South) |
"A certain lot of pasture and woodland situated in the south westerly part of Billerica aforesaid containing twenty four acres more or less bounded northerly on land of Jonathan Hill westerly on land of Amasa Lane southerly on the Bedford Spring road and easterly by the Manning lane so called being the Jaquith lot and the same conveyed to me by my father Josiah Hill by deed bearing date Nov. 7th 1831, recorded Book 319 Page 428." No buildings. Signed November 20 1850. Billerica town book 18, pages 505-506.
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| May 31, 1859 | Warranty Deed | George A. Sampson of Bolton, with his wife Sarah A. Sampson | Reuben A. Lane of Charlestown | wood and pasture, no buildings | 19/454 |
For $700, "twenty four acres of wood and pasture land, situated in the Southerly part of Billerica": northerly by land of Jonathan Hill, westerly by land of Murphy, southerly by the Bedford Spring road and easterly by the Manning lane so called; "the same premises that were conveyed to Amasa Lane by deed from Elijah B. Hill dated November 20th 1850 ... Book 597 Page 447, and conveyed to me by deed from said Amasa Lane dated January 3d 1856" (that deed was not recorded in the Northern District). Signed July 1 1858.
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| 1861 | Administration | Estate of Stephen Hooker, late of Bedford | Rachel Hooker of Bedford, his widow, administratrix | estate of Stephen Hooker: the Hooker Farm in north Bedford | Probate #34526 |
Stephen Hooker died intestate October 6 1861, leaving a widow "but no children, nor father nor mother nor sister nor brother". Rachel Hooker was appointed administratrix October 29 1861. Inventory December 2 1861 by Constantine Hill, Thomas B. Hosmer and Samuel Sage of Bedford: real estate $620 ("Homestead" $490, "outlands" $130); personal $236.25, including a horse, wagon, sled, hay, farming tools, lumber, "Carpenters Tools" $40.75 and household furniture. License to sell real estate March 11 1862 to raise $759.75; the account of June 3 1862 shows $300 "for sale of real estate". The affidavit of sale (filed 1869) copies the Lowell Weekly Journal notice of an auction May 1 1862 "at the farm house" of "one undivided half of a certain tract or parcel of land known as the Hooker Farm, and situated in the northerly part of said Bedford, on the Back Road leading from Bedford to Billerica, being the farm lately owned and occupied by said Stephen Hooker", about 8 acres bounded by George R. Stearns, Nathan Fitch and one Hayward, and half of about 7 acres of woodland and pasture.
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| May 3, 1875 | Warranty Deed | Reuben A. Lane of East Somerville, baker, with his wife Mary L. Lane | Thomas B. Hosmer of Bedford, dentist | wood and pasture, no buildings | 109/464 |
For $2,000, "twenty four acres of wood and pasture land situated in the southerly part of Billerica": northerly by land now or formerly of the late Jonathan Hill, westerly by land of Murphy, southerly by the Bedford Spring road and easterly by the Manning Lane so called; the same premises conveyed to Amasa Lane by Elijah B. Hill (Book 597 Page 447), to Geo. A. Sampson by Amasa Lane in 1856, and to the grantor by Sampson. Signed November 28 1874.
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| October 18, 1910 | Quitclaim | Ernest H. Hosmer of Bedford, unmarried, sole heir of Thomas B. Hosmer | Dexter M. Rogers and Cora A. Rogers, his wife, of Boston | Hosmer heir to the Rogerses | 457/497 |
For one dollar and other consideration, with covenants, "a certain parcel of land, situated in Billerica ... and possibly a small portion thereof in said Bedford, containing about twenty-six acres", from the corner of the Bedford Springs Road and the Manning road, northeasterly by Manning road 1061 feet to a stone bound, westerly 728 feet, southwesterly 974 feet and southeasterly 950 feet by stone walls to drill-hole stones, and by the Bedford Springs road to the corner; "being the said premises conveyed by Reuben A. Lane to Thomas B. Hosmer by deed, dated November 28, 1874 ... Book 109, Page 464 ... My title is as sole heir at law of Thomas B. Hosmer, formerly of said Bedford, deceased." Signed October 11 1910.
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| February 19, 1923 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 8946 | Dexter M. Rogers and Cora A. Rogers of Boston, tenants by the entirety | Lot A registered, 1923 | Ctf 2008 |
Original Certificate of Title 2008 on the decree of Feb. 16, 1923 in case 8946: Lot A on plan 8946-A by L. G. Humphreys, C.E., August 1922, southwesterly by Spring Street 236.59 feet, southerly by the Billerica-Bedford town line 499.12 feet, westerly by William P. Crowther 911.17 feet, northerly by Laura Hill 994.39 feet, northeasterly by Hill 706.31 feet and southeasterly by Manning Road 1,085.49 feet. The plan draws the house, barn and outbuildings by Spring Street.
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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.