Sunnyside

Sunnyside
Sunnyside
Also Known As St. Theresa's Rectory
Address 80 Concord Rd
Built 1888
Demolished 2004
Tenants
Sweeney Memorial Funeral Home (1960 - 1973)


Sunnyside was a house at 80 Concord Road, on the southeast side of the road a short way south of Billerica Center. It was built about 1888 by Moses C. Mitchell as the headmaster's house of his Mitchell Boys' School, and stood until 2004. The land under it was the front of an old farm long known as "the Shed place."

The farm was the homestead of the Shed family, among the first settlers of the town. In 1733 John Shed deeded "my Homestead or Houselot containing twenty one acres," bounded by the highway and by land his son Benjamin already owned, to that son, Benjamin Shed. In 1768 Capt. Benjamin Shed passed "my Homestead or House Lot with the Buildings thereon standing containing about forty acres," bounded by the Stickney, Crosby, Bowers, Parker, Abbot, Whiting and Needham lands, to his son Joseph Shed, a housewright. In 1791 Joseph Shed sold "a certain Farm in said Billerica containing Forty Acres more or less, it being the same I now live on," bounded by "the highway leading from Billerica Meeting House to Concord," for 200 pounds to Jonathan Bowers and the blacksmith Jesse French "in equal shares."

Jesse French gave his half to his son Luther French in 1794, keeping back half the barn, and in 1823 Luther French sold that half "commonly called the Shed place," about fifty-six acres with its buildings, to William, Mary and Fanny Bowers, children of Dr. William Bowers of the Old Providence House. The other half stayed with Jonathan Bowers Esq. until his death in 1829. He left no widow or children, and his inventory lists "an undivided half of Shed place so called of 42 acres." That half went to his heirs, and in 1831 William Bowers gave his right in it to his sister Mary. The Bowers sisters kept the farm for forty years and left it by will to the Town of Billerica, for the poor, and to the First Baptist Church, which sold it in 1871 to Charles E. Gorham.

In 1887 Gorham sold the Shed place to Dudley Foster, who sold it the same year, "containing forty-nine acres and eighty-one rods," to Moses C. Mitchell for $1,500. Mitchell, who had opened his boys' school in Billerica in 1879, moved it to the farm and built Sunnyside for his own family. After his death the property passed to his widow, Mary H. Mitchell, who in 1935 conveyed the school grounds to the Mitchell School corporation on the Mitchell Estates plan. The school sold the house lot in 1941 to Richard T. and Louise F. Rounds, 43,000 square feet "with the buildings thereon" on a plan by E. P. Simpson, and they sold it in 1945 to Harriett H. Treworgy. Her estate sold it in 1950, and in 1959 it was bought by the family of the Sweeney Memorial Funeral Home, who kept the funeral home here.

On Oct. 3, 1973 the family sold the house for $70,000 to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, and Sunnyside became the rectory of St. Theresa's Catholic Church, replacing the smaller George H. Whitman House at 33 Concord Road. The 1985 directory lists "St Theresa's Rectory" at 80 Concord Road, the home of the pastor, the Rev. Henry T. Ronan, and his assistant pastors. In November 2003 the Archbishop sold the lot for $450,000 to the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Billerica Meetinghouse, whose meetinghouse stands next door at 70 Concord Road. The church gave a small strip of the front to the Town for the widening of Concord Road in 2004, the house was taken down the same year, and the 0.59-acre lot remains vacant church land.



Sunnyside
Mitchell Estates, 1935 (Plan 59/16)
Sunnyside
Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., belonging to Richard T. Rounds (E. P. Simpson, Engr., Sept. 4, 1941), 43,000 sq. ft. on the southeasterly side of Concord Road with the house Sunnyside; recorded Sept. 27, 1941, 1941 (Plan 64/49)
Sunnyside
Plan Showing the Widening of a Portion of Concord Road in Billerica, Mass., prepared for Town of Billerica (Bruce Campbell and Associates, May 2004), 2004 (Plan 215/123)


References

  1. St. Matthew the Evangelist Parish history: 80 Concord Road bought in August 1974 as the new rectory
  2. Polk Lowell City Directory 1985: St Theresa's Rectory, 80 Concord Rd, Billerica; Rev. Henry T. Ronan pastor
  3. Billerica assessor, 80 Concord Rd (parcel 60-128-1): 0.593 acres, no building; 2003 sale by the Archbishop for $450,000 (16492-132); comment "RECTORY"
  4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): Moses C. Mitchell's boys' school (opened 1879) and the Shed family in the Genealogical Register


Title References

Date Type Grantor Grantee Summary Recorded
November 8, 1736 Deed John Shed of Billerica His son Benjamin Shed of Billerica 37/420 (South)
March 29, 1769 Deed Capt. Benjamin Shed of Billerica, gentleman (Elizabeth Shed releasing dower) His son Joseph Shed of Billerica, housewright 68/576 (South)
February 21, 1792 Deed Joseph Shed of Billerica, husbandman (Rebeckah Shed releasing dower) Jonathan Bowers, gentleman, and Jesse French, blacksmith, both of Billerica, in equal shares 107/17 (South)
April 15, 1795 Deed Jesse French of Billerica, yeoman; Abigail French releasing dower Luther French of Billerica, yeoman 118/312 (South)
1823 Deed Luther French of Billerica, yeoman (Sally French releasing dower) William Bowers, gentleman, Mary Bowers and Fanny Bowers, all of Billerica 250/116 (South)
October 19, 1824 Quitclaim Josiah Crosby of Billerica, Esq. William Bowers, gentleman, Mary Bowers and Fanny Bowers, gentlewomen, all of Billerica 256/348 (South)
April 14, 1829 Administration Estate of Jonathan Bowers, Esq., of Billerica His heirs at law Probate #2295
June 2, 1842 Quitclaim William Bowers of Billerica, yeoman Mary Bowers of Billerica, singlewoman (his sister) 415/471 (South)
March 16, 1869 Will Estate of Priscilla Bowers of Billerica, singlewoman (d. Feb. 22, 1869) The First Baptist Church in Billerica (remainder, after the deaths of her sisters Mary and Fanny Bowers) Probate #27759
May 17, 1870 Will Estate of Mary Bowers of Billerica, singlewoman (d. 1870) The Town of Billerica, for the benefit of the poor Probate #27756
May 2, 1872 Quitclaim The Members of the First Baptist Church and Society in Billerica, by Edward Spaulding and Geo. C. Gilman, committee Charles E. Gorham of Billerica 86/117
May 2, 1872 Quitclaim The Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by Dudley Foster, Israel A. Colson and David L. Mason, committee; Dudley Foster, Treasurer Charles E. Gorham of Billerica 86/118
May 19, 1887 Warranty Deed Charles E. Gorham of Billerica, unmarried Dudley Foster of Billerica 188/149
June 3, 1887 Warranty Deed Dudley Foster of Billerica (Mary P. Foster releasing dower and homestead) Moses C. Mitchell of Billerica 189/55
December 7, 1935 Deed Mary H. Mitchell of Billerica, widow Mitchell School, a Massachusetts corporation 876/245
September 27, 1941 Quitclaim Deed Mitchell School, a Massachusetts corporation of Billerica (by Blanche S. Mitchell, treasurer) Richard T. Rounds and Louise F. Rounds of Billerica, husband and wife, as tenants by the entirety 967/593
November 5, 1945 Quitclaim Deed Richard T. Rounds and Louise F. Rounds of Billerica, husband and wife Harriett H. Treworgy of Billerica 1032/386
November 5, 1945 Mortgage Harriett H. Treworgy of Billerica The Lowell Co-operative Bank 1032/387
August 28, 1950 Administrator's Deed Estate of Harriett H. Treworgy of Billerica, by its administrator A straw grantee of Chelmsford 1149/540
October 3, 1973 Deed Private owners of Billerica (the family of the Sweeney Memorial Funeral Home) Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a corporation sole 2088/9
November 5, 2003 Deed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a corporation sole Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 16492/132
February 3, 2005 Grant Deed Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Utah corporation sole, of Salt Lake City The Town of Billerica 18377/21

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.