Town Founder

The founders of Billerica: the men who signed the petition of 1654 asking the General Court to enlarge the Shawshin settlement and name it Billericay, which the Court granted, with the town's name approved in 1655. Hazen counts twelve of the signers as settlers already living at Shawshin; Daniel Gookin and Richard Champney were Cambridge men who owned land here but never lived in Billerica.