Structure · Built 1801 · Demolished 1987

Thomas Goodwin House

Thomas Goodwin House
Address 178 Allen Rd
Built 1801
Demolished 1987


The Thomas Goodwin House was the farmhouse of a 100-acre (later 140-acre) farm on the northeast side of Allen Road in the part of Billerica later called Riverdale, at the corner of what became Dell Road, where 178 Allen Road stands today. It appears on the 1853 Walling map as "H. Mackey" and on the 1875 Beers atlas as "M. C. Mengis", after two of its many owners. The house stood for nearly two centuries and was taken down in 1986 or 1987.

The first recorded owner was Thomas Goodwin, who bought the farm from Josiah Richardson in 1801 "with the buildings thereon standing" (Middlesex South Book 214, Page 264). Who built the house is not known; it was already standing then, and the 1831 Hales map shows a house on the spot. Goodwin lived here for more than thirty years. In April 1833 he sold "my homestead farm ... containing one hundred acres more or less, with the buildings thereon standing" to Haslet Mackay (also spelled Mackey or McKay) for $3,000, the farm then reaching east along "the road leading from my house to Shawsheen River" (Book 353, Page 521). Mackay, the "H. Mackey" of the 1853 map, kept it until 1856, when he sold his "Homestead Farm ... one hundred & forty acres more or less with the buildings thereon standing" to Seth Heaton for $5,150 (Middlesex North Book 4, Page 331).

After Heaton's death his administrators conveyed the farm to his widow Sarah Heaton in 1862, and it then changed hands quickly: to Ebenezer A. Twycross in 1863, Sarah L. Adams in 1868, John R. Farnum in 1874, and Mary L. Mengis, wife of Morris C. Mengis (the "M. C. Mengis" of the 1875 atlas), in 1875. Elias Larkin and William L. Bradley owned it briefly in 1877, and Reuben G. Holmes bought it in 1887 for $6,000 with a mortgage to the East Bridgewater Savings Bank. The bank foreclosed in 1892, buying "a certain piece or parcel of land with the buildings thereon" at auction for $1,000, and in 1893 sold the 140 acres to the surveyor and developer Edgar P. Sellew (Book 248, Page 113).

Sellew divided the old farm into the "Camp-Lots at Riverdale" (1908, Plan Book 25, Plan 12) and the "Garden-Lots at Riverdale" (1912, Plan Book 30, Plan 93). The 1912 plan draws the old farmhouse on Lot 306, a 4.10-acre lot at the corner of Allen Road and Dell Avenue. In a deed dated August 20, 1918 Sellew sold Lot 306 to Amalia T. Rohwedder of Somerville, and in February 1923 a pair of straw deeds put "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon known as lot 306" in the names of Frederick C. and Amalia T. Rohwedder together (Book 676, Pages 204-205). In 1925 the Rohwedders sold the lot to John R. and Esther A. Carey of Somerville, who moved to Billerica and that July deeded the north end of the lot (Lot A, 45,240 square feet) to their son John R. Carey Jr. After the elder Carey's death his administrator and his widow each sold a half interest in "the land with the buildings thereon" to Henry B. Taylor of Malden in July 1931, and the son sold back Lot A the same day, so that Taylor again held the whole 4.10 acres (Book 804, Pages 124-126).

Henry B. Taylor and his wife Muriel lived here for more than fifty years. In 1971 the house was numbered 182 Allen Road, and that year the Taylors sold off a 53,600-square-foot lot to the north. The compiled plan made for that sale (Plan Book 112, Plan 172B) still shows the L-shaped "Exist. House" and a hen house on the remaining 125,000-square-foot Lot C. Mrs. Taylor sold Lot C "with the buildings thereon" in 1984. After a resale it passed in November 1986 to Wildwood Realty Trust (Book 3784, Page 326), the last deed to mention the buildings. The trust divided the land into two lots (Plan Book 158, Plan 102), and when it sold Lot 1 in March 1987 no buildings were named. The present split-entry house at 178 Allen Road was built on that lot about 1987.



Thomas Goodwin House
Riverdale, 1908 (Plan 25/12)
Thomas Goodwin House
Garden Lots at Riverdale (Edgar P. Sellew), 1912 (Plan 30/93)
Thomas Goodwin House
Compiled Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., Dana F. Perkins and Sons, June 22, 1971, 1971 (Plan 112/172)
Thomas Goodwin House
Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., owned by H. J. Allan (Raymond Engineering Service, 574 Boston Road, Billerica, January 23, 1987), 1987 (Plan 158/102)


References

  1. Billerica assessor, 178 Allen Rd (parcel 80-151-0): Plan 158-102 Lot 1, house built about 1987


Title References

Date Type Grantor Grantee Summary Recorded
1801 Deed Josiah Richardson of Billerica, yeoman (Lydia Richardson joining) Thomas Goodwin of Billerica, yeoman 214/264 (South)
1833 Quitclaim William P. P. Pollard and Andrew R. Pollard of Billerica, yeomen Thomas Goodwin of Billerica, yeoman 332/385 (South)
June 30, 1836 Warranty Deed Thomas Goodwin of Billerica, yeoman Haslet Mackay of Billerica, yeoman 353/521 (South)
April 24, 1856 Warranty Deed Haslet Mackay of Billerica, yeoman, A. Nancy Mackay his wife releasing dower and homestead Seth Heaton of Billerica, yeoman 4/331
1862 Administration Estate of Seth Heaton of Billerica Dudley Foster and Benjamin F. Judkins, administrators Probate #34026
June 17, 1862 Administrator's Deed Dudley Foster and Benjamin F. Judkins of Billerica, administrators of Seth Heaton Sarah Heaton of Billerica, widow of Seth 31/243
1863 Warranty Deed Sarah Heaton of Billerica, house keeper Ebenezer A. Twycross (E. Austin Twycross), interlined as of Lincoln County, Maine 34/211
August 28, 1868 Warranty Deed Ebenezer A. Twycross of Billerica Sarah L. Adams, wife of Frederick A. F. Adams of Lexington 63/434
1874 Warranty Deed Frederick A. F. Adams and Sarah L. Adams his wife, in her right, of Billerica John R. Farnum of Waltham 99/215
October 7, 1875 Assignee's Deed John M. Lane of Medford, assignee in bankruptcy of Morris C. Mengis Mary L. Mengis, wife of Morris C. Mengis 112/578
October 7, 1875 Quitclaim John R. Farnum of Waltham, Henrietta M. Farnum releasing dower and homestead Mary L. Mengis, wife of Morris C. Mengis of Billerica, in her own right 112/580
March 13, 1877 Quitclaim Mary L. Mengis of Boston, Morris C. Mengis assenting and releasing curtesy Elias Larkin of Boston 122/351
September 15, 1877 Warranty Deed Elias Larkin of Charlestown District, Boston, Lucy E. Larkin releasing dower and homestead William L. Bradley of Chelsea 125/490
November 8, 1887 Warranty Deed William L. Bradley of Boston, unmarried Reuben G. Holmes of Boston 193/24
November 8, 1887 Mortgage Reuben G. Holmes of Boston East Bridgewater Savings Bank 193/26
October 14, 1892 Foreclosure Deed East Bridgewater Savings Bank, mortgagee of Reuben G. Holmes East Bridgewater Savings Bank 237/538
September 5, 1893 Quitclaim East Bridgewater Savings Bank, by Charles F. Mann, treasurer Edgar P. Sellew of Somerville 248/113
September 5, 1893 Mortgage Edgar P. Sellew of Somerville East Bridgewater Savings Bank 248/114
February 14, 1923 Warranty Deed Edgar P. Sellew of Billerica, not married Amalia T. Rohwedder of Somerville 676/201
February 14, 1923 Quitclaim Amalia T. Rohwedder of Somerville (Frederick C. Rohwedder releasing curtesy) William J. McCarty of Boston 676/204
February 14, 1923 Quitclaim William J. McCarty of Boston, unmarried Frederick C. and Amalia T. Rohwedder of Somerville, tenants by the entirety 676/205
February 21, 1925 Warranty Deed Frederick C. and Amalia T. Rohwedder of Somerville John R. and Esther A. Carey of Somerville 718/450
July 18, 1925 Warranty Deed John R. and Esther A. Carey of Billerica John R. Carey Jr. and May E. Carey of Somerville 725/523
July 11, 1931 Administrator's Deed Alfred E. Carey of Somerville, administrator of the estate of John R. Carey Henry B. Taylor of Malden 804/124
July 11, 1931 Quitclaim Esther A. Carey of Somerville, widow of John R. Carey Henry B. Taylor of Malden 804/125
July 11, 1931 Quitclaim John R. Carey Jr. and May E. Carey of Somerville Henry B. Taylor of Malden 804/126
July 11, 1931 Mortgage Henry B. Taylor of Malden, unmarried Esther A. Carey of Somerville 804/126
March 29, 1971 Gift Henry B. Taylor of Billerica Henry B. Taylor and his wife Muriel E. Taylor, tenants by the entirety 1953/395
November 14, 1986 Deed Private owners Wildwood Realty Trust (George T. Allen Jr. and Bryan P. Duby, trustees) 3784/326
March 24, 1987 Quitclaim Wildwood Realty Trust (George T. Allen Jr. and Bryan P. Duby, trustees) Private owners 3970/185

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.