William French House
William French House
William French Jr. sold the homestead in 1766, and his marriage in 1735 is the minimum age attributed to the house. The house sat very low to the ground with an odd chimney location, suggesting that it may have been an expansion of an older house that his father (m. 1711) built.
The "first" William French was one of the original settlers of Billerica and settled on the Dudley Farm with his two grown sons, John and Jacob.
William bought house-lots for his sons east of the Township, and present-day Allen Road runs in front of them. Jacob's house may have been standing as of 1880. This house is on John's lot, but was most likely built by his son in 1711 or his grandson in 1735, both were named William. Whichever William French built it, it was the oldest French family house still standing when it was destroyed by fire in April 1976.
On the 1853 map, it was owned by W. Alonzo Evans and in 1875, it was owned by Hugh M. Sanborn.