Talbot Textile Mill Worker Housing at 33-35 Wilson St
Talbot Textile Mill Worker Housing at 33-35 Wilson St
The double house at 33-35 Wilson Street is one of the row of two-family mill houses that C. P. Talbot and Company built on the west side of Wilson Street in North Billerica for the workers of the Talbot Mills. It stands on Lot 25 of the 1936 subdivision plan of the mill village, a lot of 10,750 square feet with 100.52 feet on the street.
The land was part of the Richardson farm at the old Richardson's Mills, which Thomas Richardson sold with the mills to the committee of the Middlesex Canal in 1794. The canal proprietors sold 27 acres of the farm to Nathan Mears in 1819. After Mears died in 1828 his homestead was surveyed into lots and sold at auction in 1832, and Daniel Wilson bought the lots west of the passage way that is now Wilson Street. Wilson farmed the land until his death in 1861. His administrator, Gardner Parker, sold the homestead farm at auction in 1863, and through a straw deed took it himself in 1864.
In 1869 Parker sold Charles P. Talbot and Thomas Talbot "ten acres and thirty nine rods ... being a part of the homestead of the late Daniel Wilson", running back from the lane to a wall about 1,151 feet long that is still the rear line of the west-side house lots. No buildings are named in that deed, and the double house appears on the 1875 map and in the row of houses drawn on the 1881 plan of the property of C. P. Talbot and Company, so it was built between 1869 and 1875, probably about 1873. This is later than the "ca. 1865" given in the 1974 inventory form and the 1983 National Register nomination. In 1884 the Talbot heirs and Thomas Talbot conveyed the mills and the village to The Talbot Mills, and the company rented the house to its workers for the next half century.
In the fall of 1936 The Talbot Mills began selling its houses on Wilson Street by the lots of Plan "A", surveyed by J. C. and W. T. Monahan. On September 30, 1936 the company sold Lot 25 "with the buildings thereon" to Marion A. MacDonald of Arlington, reserving the common sewer and keeping open the right of way behind the row "for the common use and benefit of the abutters". She sold it on July 12, 1947, then living in Cambridge, to John F. Shea of Boston, and Shea sold it in July 1952 to a Billerica couple.
The house has had private owners since then. It was sold in 1961 and again in 1971, for $17,000, to the family who were renting it, who were the owners when the town's historical commission recorded it in 1974. After one of them died in 1990 the house passed within the family, and in 2007 the estate sold it for $360,000. The Town took the property for unpaid 2018 taxes in 2019; the owner's bank redeemed it in 2021, and the house was sold that year for $522,000. In 2024 the Town accepted Wilson Street as a public way.
References
- MACRIS BIL.101
- Billerica assessor record for 33-35 Wilson St (parcel 15-218-0): Lot 25 on Plan Book 60 Plan 25, 0.247 acre, two-family house built about 1873, deed history from 1971
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| April 21, 1794 | Deed | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman (Judith Richardson releasing dower) | Ebenezer Hall of Medford and Samuel Jaques of Wilmington, a committee for the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal | 1794: Thomas Richardson sells his mills and farm to the Middlesex Canal committee | 115/259 (South) |
For 1350 pounds, "about forty acres of Land" bounded easterly by Concord River, westerly by the highway and northerly and southerly by the road; the reversion of half the dower of the widow Hannah Carlton, conveyed to him by Solomon, Moses and Nathan Carlton; five sixths of a small piece at the northeast end of the mill dam, bounded easterly "by Timothy Sprague's Ditch that conveys Water to the Fulling mill"; "together with all the Buildings ... including the Mills Mill priviledges ... commonly known by the name of Richardson's Mills being the same which was formerly granted by the Town of Billerica to Christopher Osgood together with the Mill Dam and Stream", on the conditions of the town's vote of October 4, 1708, a passage for fish, and his 1791 agreement with Timothy Sprague. Dated March 25, 1794; recorded April 21, 1794. Billerica town book 9, pages 81-82. The Canal Mills land from which the proprietors sold their small house lots.
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| September 23, 1820 | Deed | Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, by John L. Sullivan, agent | Nathan Mears of Billerica, yeoman | 1819: the canal proprietors sell Nathan Mears 27 acres of the Richardson farm | 235/64 (South) |
For $813.18, "a certain tract of land ... containing by measure twenty seven acres and seventeen poles being a part of the Richardson farm," from the southeasterly corner at Concord River "north of the ford way," easterly by "the road leading to the Canal mills" to "land of the Proprietors laid out in small lots," then by the Proprietors' land and several short courses to the river "according to the annexed plat," and by the river to the beginning. Signed August 10, 1819; recorded September 23, 1820. Billerica town book 12, pages 172-173. This became the Mears homestead farm around the tavern lot.
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| June 24, 1828 | Administration | Estate of Nathan Mears of Billerica, yeoman | His minor children Edwin, Charles, Nathan, Lucy Ann and Elbert Mears; Marshall Preston, administrator | 1828 estate of Nathan Mears; the homestead was surveyed into lots in 1832 | Probate #14955 |
Nathan Mears died in June 1828 leaving "no widow, nor heirs of twenty one years of age"; at his children's request (and his own before his death) Marshall Preston of Billerica was appointed administrator at Framingham June 24, 1828, bond $30,000. The inventory lists the homestead of about 27 acres with three dwelling houses, the saw mill, "The Woolen Factory, occupied by Francis Faulkner & son", the forge, the old homestead of Thomas Mears, the Patten lot, and "The Zac. Shed Lot, 7 acres" at $210, with no buildings. Real estate $15,245.
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| April 21, 1832 | Guardian's Deed | John Baldwin of Billerica, Esq., guardian of Lucy Ann, Nathan and Elbert Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Daniel Wilson of Billerica | 1832: Daniel Wilson buys Mears lots 3-5, west of the passage way (now Wilson St) | 313/22 (South) |
Licensed by the Supreme Judicial Court, sold at public vendue on the premises March 20, 1832, for $1,428.06, three undivided fifth parts of part of the Mears homestead farm (11 acres 25 1/2 rods, lots 3-5 on S. Livingston's plan) and of "the Z. Shed Lot so called, containing six acres and one hundred and forty three rods", from the northeasterly corner at the road from the "old Mears place" to William Rogers', westerly by the widow Lydia Mears's dower land 58 rods 15 links to William Pollard, southerly by Pollard to the road "leading from the corner so called, to said old Mears place," northeasterly by that road to the corner of the roads about 54 rods, and northerly by the road about 19 poles. Signed March 20, 1832, recorded April 21, 1832. Billerica town book 16, pages 93-95.
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| April 21, 1832 | Guardian's Deed | Nathaniel Stearns of Billerica, yeoman, guardian of Edwin and Charles Mears, minor children of Nathan Mears | Daniel Wilson of Billerica, yeoman | 1832: the other shares of Mears lots 3-5 to Daniel Wilson | 313/24 (South) |
Licensed by the Supreme Judicial Court, sold at public vendue on the premises March 20, 1832, two undivided fifth parts of the same two tracts: the 11 acres 25 1/2 rods of the homestead farm and "the Z. Shed lot so called, containing six acres and one hundred and forty three rods," bounded as in John Baldwin's deed of the other three fifths. Recorded April 21, 1832. Billerica town book 16, pages 96-98. With Baldwin's deed this gave Daniel Wilson the whole lot.
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| 1861 | Administration | Estate of Daniel Wilson of Billerica, who died November 29, 1861 intestate | Gardner Parker of Billerica, administrator; widow Mary Wilson and eight children | 1861 estate of Daniel Wilson (administrator Gardner Parker) | Probate #44864 |
Gardner Parker, husband of Wilson's daughter Adeline, petitioned December 11, 1861 that Daniel Wilson had died November 29, 1861 intestate, leaving his widow Mary and children Mary J. Wilkins, Adeline M. Parker, Horace N. Wilson, Daniel A. Wilson (at Rattlesnake Bar, California), Israel N. Wilson (a captain then serving in Virginia), Frances A. Faulkner and Charles H. Wilson; he was appointed administrator at Cambridge December 24, 1861. The license of April 7, 1863 led to the sale of Wilson's third of the Mears Tavern stand.
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| April 6, 1864 | Administrator's Deed | Gardner Parker of Billerica, administrator of the estate of Daniel Wilson | James Faulkner of Billerica | 1863: administrator's auction of the Wilson homestead farm to James Faulkner | 37/357 |
Under a license of the Probate Court at Lowell of April 7, 1863, after three weeks' notice in the Lowell Daily Courier, the administrator sold at public auction on December 7, 1863, to James Faulkner, the highest bidder, for $4,000, all Wilson's right at his death in "a certain piece or parcel of land situate in said Billerica, containing about twenty-eight acres being the homestead farm of the late Daniel Wilson", bounded west by the road from Billerica to North Billerica, north by that road and lands of Easty, I. N. Wilson, Foster, Lane and C. P. Talbot & Co., east by Easty, Foster, Lane and the Concord River, and south by the Concord River and the Common. Dated December 7, 1863; acknowledged April 5, 1864; recorded April 6, 1864.
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| April 6, 1864 | Quitclaim | James Faulkner of Billerica (Fanny A. Faulkner releasing dower and homestead) | Gardner Parker of Billerica | 1864: Faulkner deeds the Wilson farm to Gardner Parker | 37/358 |
For $4,000, the same twenty-eight acres "being the homestead farm of the late Daniel Wilson of said Billerica deceased", same bounds, "subject to a right of way over a portion of said premises, and to the dower of Mary Wilson, widow". Faulkner (husband of Wilson's daughter Frances) passed the farm to the administrator Parker (husband of his daughter Adeline) the day after the sale deed was acknowledged. Dated April 5, 1864; recorded April 6, 1864.
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| February 4, 1869 | Quitclaim | Gardner Parker of Billerica (Adeline M. Parker releasing dower and homestead) | Charles P. Talbot of Lowell and Thomas Talbot of Billerica | 1869: Parker sells the Talbots 10 acres of the Wilson homestead, including Lot 25 | 65/441 |
A tract "containing ten acres and thirty nine rods" in North Billerica from a bound at the Concord River by a wall and an open passage way, by walls to "the wall at the lane", then to the center of the Concord River and up the river, "being a part of the homestead of the late Daniel Wilson deceased", subject to a mortgage held by James R. Faulkner and a right of way. The river end of the Wilson farm, behind the house lot. Followed on the same page by the widow Mary Wilson's release of dower to the Talbots. Dated January 19, 1869; recorded February 4, 1869.
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| February 4, 1869 | Release of Dower | Mary Wilson of Billerica, widow of Daniel Wilson | Charles P. Talbot and Thomas Talbot | 1869: the widow Mary Wilson releases her dower in the 10 acres | 65/442 |
For $1, Mary Wilson releases to the Talbots "all my right title and interest in and to the premises within described and all my right of or to dower in said premises", the ten acres of the Wilson homestead sold by Gardner Parker (Book 65 Page 441). Recorded February 4, 1869.
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| October 16, 1884 | Guardian's Deed | Harriet Talbot et al., by their guardian | The Talbot Mills, Billerica | 1884: Talbot heirs (by guardian) to The Talbot Mills; Lot 25 is part of the "third parcel" | 169/468 |
Known from the grantee index 1881-1900 (Talbot Mills-Billerica, index page 82): received October 16, 1884, "N Billerica. Several parcels, water rts, mill privileges &c, see record", recorded with the deed of Thomas Talbot et al. (Book 169 Page 472). Book 169 images are unavailable at the registry; not read.
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| October 16, 1884 | Deed | Thomas Talbot et al. | The Talbot Mills, Billerica | 1884: Thomas Talbot et al. to The Talbot Mills; Lot 25 is part of the "third parcel" | 169/472 |
Known from the grantee index 1881-1900 (Talbot Mills-Billerica, index page 82): received October 16, 1884, "N Billerica. Several parcels, water rts, mill privileges &c, see record." Later Talbot Mills deeds cite it with Book 169 Page 468 as the deeds "from the Talbot heirs" to the new corporation (one recites a deed of Thomas Talbot et als. dated Oct. 15, 1884). The registry shows "Image is Unavailable" for Book 169, so the deed itself was not read; that it covered the land of the future Oval, part of the C. P. Talbot and Company property west of Wilson Street on the 1881 plan, is inferred.
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| October 15, 1936 | Quitclaim | The Talbot Mills, by Thomas T. Clark, treasurer | Marion A. MacDonald of Arlington | 1936: The Talbot Mills sells Lot 25 with the double house to Marion A. MacDonald | 888/573 |
Dated and acknowledged September 30, 1936 at Billerica (Albert H. Richardson, justice of the peace); $1.00 in revenue stamps cancelled October 1, 1936; recorded October 15, 1936 at 3:55 PM (deed no. 306; the deed runs onto page 574). "The land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon situated on the westerly side of Wilson Street": easterly by Wilson Street 100.52 feet, southerly by Lot 24 132.77 feet, westerly by Lots 42 and 43 "by the center line of a right of way" 68.84 feet, northerly by Lot 26 118.41 feet, 10,750 square feet, "Lot 25" on Plan "A" of the Talbot Mills property (Plan Book 60 Plan 25, surveyed 1926-27-36 by J. C. and W. T. Monahan). "Being a part of the third parcel of land described in two deeds to the grantor, one from Frank P. Putnam, Guardian, and the other from Thomas Talbot and others, both dated October 15, 1884" (Book 169 Pages 468 and 472). The right of way from Elm Street to Wilson Street "shall be forever kept open"; the grantor reserves the common sewer. One of the first sales of the mill village, two weeks after the company began selling the Wilson Street houses.
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| July 23, 1947 | Quitclaim | Marian A. MacDonald, otherwise known as Marion A. MacDonald, of Cambridge, unmarried | John F. Shea of Boston | 1947: Marion A. MacDonald sells Lot 25 to John F. Shea | 1072/144 |
Dated July 12, 1947 and acknowledged in Suffolk County (John A. O'Halloran, notary); $2.75 in revenue stamps (a price of about $2,500); recorded July 23, 1947 at 11:25 AM (no. 763). "The land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon situated on the westerly side of Wilson Street", Lot 25 on Plan "A" with the bounds of 1936, 10,750 square feet. "Being a part of the third parcel" of the 1884 deeds (Book 169 Pages 468 and 472) "who conveyed by deed to the above mentioned Marian A. Macdonald"; the right of way kept open. The grantor index shows no mortgage of the lot by her between 1936 and 1947.
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| July 24, 1952 | Quitclaim | John F. Shea of Boston (June F. Shea, his wife, releasing dower and homestead) | Private owners, husband and wife, of Billerica | 1952 sale to private owners; later private sales 1961, 1971, 1991, 2007, 2018, 2021 | 1201/3 |
Dated and acknowledged July 24, 1952 (Edward L. Monahan, notary), documentary stamps affixed; recorded July 24, 1952 at 1:12 PM (#929). "The land in that part of said Billerica called North Billerica, with the buildings thereon, situated on the westerly side of Wilson Street, being Lot 25" on Plan "A" (Plan Book 60 Plan 25), 10,750 square feet; "Intending hereby to convey ... all and the same premises conveyed to me by Marian A. MacDonald, alias, by deed dated July 12, 1947 ... Book 1072, Page 144"; the buyers assume the 1952 taxes. Later sales were private: April 21, 1961 (Book 1510 Page 404, a page missing from the registry scan; the buyers' mortgage follows at page 406), July 22, 1971 for $17,000 to the tenants of "35 Wilson Street", the owners named on the 1974 MACRIS form (Book 1969 Page 357), a 1991 transfer after the death of one owner in 1990 (Book 5552 Page 294), a 2007 executor's sale for $360,000 (Book 21011 Page 18), a 2018 transfer for $1 (Book 31944 Page 264) and a 2021 sale for $522,000 to the present owner (Book 35677 Page 171). Each deed repeats the Lot 25 bounds.
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| April 24, 2019 | Tax Taking | Town of Billerica, by John F. Clark, Collector of Taxes | Town of Billerica | 2019 Town tax taking for fiscal 2018 taxes, redeemed 2021 | 32917/264 |
Instrument of taking under General Laws Chapter 60, Sections 53 and 54, executed March 15, 2019 and recorded April 24, 2019: "LAND & BUILDING", 10,750 square feet at 33 Wilson Street (parcel 15-218), title Book 21011 Page 18, taken because the fiscal 2018 taxes were not paid after a demand of June 1, 2018: taxes $1,977.67, interest $229.03 and costs $170.36, "TOTAL FOR WHICH LAND IS TAKEN $2,377.06". The tax title was redeemed by the owner's mortgagee, Comerica Bank; the Town Treasurer acknowledged satisfaction on March 10, 2021 (recorded March 19, 2021, Book 35497 Page 243), before the April 2021 sale.
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| August 2, 2024 | Taking | Town of Billerica, by its Select Board | Town of Billerica (public way easements) | 2024: the Town takes Wilson Street as a public way | 38664/219 |
Under G.L. c. 79 and the vote of the May 16, 2024 Town Meeting (Article 30) accepting Bancroft, Clinton, Dillworth, Exeter Place, North Rexhame, Rexhame, Shannon, Tirone Path and Wilson Street as public ways, the Select Board took "a permanent easement for all purposes for which public ways are used" over the accepted ways, with a drainage easement between Lots 14 and 15 of the Talbot Mills plan (Plan Book 60, Plan 25). No damages were awarded. Wilson Street, the old passage way along the west side of the tavern lot, thus became a public way. Recorded August 2, 2024 (38 pages).
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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.