William Rogers House
William Rogers House
| Also Known As | Toothaker Tavern |
| Address | 20-22 Rogers St |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.128 |
| Built | 1807 |
| Other Lot Structures | Roger Toothaker House (1662 - 1806) |
The William Rogers House is a Federal-style brick-ender at 20-22 Rogers Street in North Billerica, next to the old line of the Middlesex Canal where it left the Concord River. It stands on the homestead of Roger Toothaker, one of the town's first settlers, whose wife Mary was killed in the raid of 1695 (see Roger Toothaker House).
William Rogers (1759-1838) bought the house lot, 27 acres "with a Dwelling house & Barn standing thereon," and three acres by the mill pond, from Dr. Roger Toothaker in April 1782 for 200 pounds. Notes written about 1907 by his granddaughter Harriet Rogers date the brick house to 1807; a later local history gives 1812, which the Billerica Historical Commission thought was probably wrong. Family tradition says it was paid for with money William earned digging the Middlesex Canal, which opened past his door in 1803. Canal enthusiasts know it as the "Toothaker Tavern." Perhaps the old Toothaker house, kept as an ell, took in canal travelers, or perhaps the new house was built with a tavern in mind, but the story has never been confirmed.
William Rogers's son Calvin also lived here. Calvin married Ann Faulkner, daughter of Francis Faulkner, founder of the Faulkner Mills, and their daughters left a mark: Mary Howe Rogers became the first wife of Thomas Talbot, later governor of Massachusetts; another daughter married Joseph Gould, manager of the Talbot Chemical Works; and Harriet Burbank Rogers (1834-1919), born here, became the first director of the Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes at Northampton in 1867 and a pioneer in teaching deaf children to speak.
In July 1859 Calvin and Ann Rogers sold the house, with about six and a half acres between the road to Billerica Centre (then called Mill Street), the road to Tewksbury and the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and an acre running to the river and the old canal, to James R. and Charles Faulkner for $3,500. The Faulkners later made it a two-family house. The simple fanlight doorway was replaced by a double doorway, now hidden by a porch, and the old ell by two newer ones.
In December 1916 the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, selling off land it no longer needed, sold the house on Lot C, about 30,600 square feet on the east side of Rogers Street, to Timothy John McCarthy Jr. and Mary Etta McCarthy. The house has stayed in the McCarthy family ever since.
References
- MACRIS BIL.128
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the brick "Toothaker" house and the Rogers family
- Wikipedia: Harriet Burbank Rogers
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| July 19, 1771 | Common Recovery | Thomas Rogers (demandant) | Mary Toothaker, widow, and Roger Toothaker, physician (tenants) | Toothaker land before William Rogers | 72/64 (South) |
Indenture of Feb. 26, 1771 to suffer a common recovery, reciting that Roger Toothaker "is seized of the Messuage Lands & Tenements herein after described in Tail male," namely "a Tract of Land in Billerica ... containing about ninety seven acres with a Dwelling house & barn thereon," bounded westerly and northerly on the County Road, easterly partly on the road and partly on Joseph Ruggles and William Kidder, southerly partly on Daniel Shed and partly on land of the said Roger "formerly belonging to the heirs of Thomas Danforth"; also three acres on the west side of the County Road by Joseph Ruggles and the mill pond, Sauce Meadow (7 acres) in Tewksbury and eight acres of Hamlet's Meadow. After the recovery the part set off to Mary as dower in her late husband Roger Toothaker's estate was to be hers for life, and the rest Roger's in fee simple. The judgment of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas at Charlestown, March 12, 1771, is recorded as an exemplification at Book 72 Page 66. The Toothaker homestead descended from Roger Toothaker, the settler; the generations between have not been traced. Billerica town book 6, pages 468-475.
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| March 17, 1783 | Deed | Roger Toothaker, yeoman, and Mary Toothaker | William Rogers, husbandman | William Rogers buys the Toothaker house lot | 84/626 (South) |
For 200 pounds, two tracts in Billerica: the first beginning at the southwest corner at stake and stones, northerly as the road goes, easterly by the road and the heirs of Capt. William Stickney, by Samuel Rogers, southerly by the Stickney heirs to a ditch, northerly along the ditch, westerly and southeasterly to a pine tree and westerly to the first bound, "containing twenty seven acres ... with a Dwelling house & Barn standing thereon"; the second, three acres beginning at the southeast corner, northerly by the highway to a stone, westerly by Joseph Ruggles "to the mill pond," southerly by the pond to Jonathan Pollard and easterly by Pollard to the first bound. Mary Toothaker quits her right. Signed April 8, 1782, "in the sixth year of the Independency," before Robert Harris and David Morrill Jr.; acknowledged March 14, 1783. William Rogers was 23. Billerica town book 7, pages 399-400.
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| August 12, 1859 | Deed | Calvin Rogers and Ann Rogers | James R. Faulkner, manufacturer, and Charles Faulkner of Boston, merchant | Calvin Rogers sells to James R. and Charles Faulkner | 20/390 |
For $3,500, "all that tract of land with the buildings now standing thereon" in the northerly part of Billerica, beginning at the northwesterly corner "at the junction of two roads leading from North Billerica so called, one to Billerica Centre and sometimes called Mill Street, and the other to Tewksbury and sometimes called North Street," southerly by Mill Street past "a barn or building on said premises" and by a curve to the Boston and Lowell Railroad, northwesterly by the railroad to North Street and by North Street back to the start, 6 acres 95 square rods; also a tract opposite on the westerly side of Mill Street, running to the Concord River, down the river to a willow tree "on what was formerly the Middlesex Canal," and by the canal back to Mill Street, 1 acre 130 square rods; with his right of way over the railroad. Both tracts are on a plan of the land of Calvin Rogers and Gov. Talbot by Samuel Sage Jr., 1858. Signed July 1, 1859; Ann, a daughter of Francis Faulkner, released dower. The MHC form puts the Faulkner takeover "between 1853 and 1875." The steps from the Faulkners to the Faulkner Manufacturing Co. have not been traced.
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| December 23, 1916 | Quitclaim | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | Timothy John McCarthy Jr. and Mary Etta McCarthy | Faulkner Mfg. Co. sells Lot C to the McCarthys | 565/388 |
"The land in that part of said Billerica known as North Billerica, with the buildings thereon, containing about 30,633 square feet," Lot C on "Plan of Land in North Billerica, Mass., belonging to the Faulkner Manufacturing Co.," August 1911, Smith and Brooks, beginning at a stone bound in the easterly line of Rogers Street, 164.83 ft easterly, 207.97 ft southerly and 160.45 ft westerly on other company land, and 67.56 and 104.78 ft along Rogers Street. Signed Dec. 7, 1916 by George M. Preston, treasurer, under a stockholders' vote of Feb. 3, 1914 to sell land not needed for the business. The company had converted the house to two families.
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| October 14, 1958 | Quitclaim | Timothy John McCarthy Jr. and Mary Etta McCarthy | Timothy John McCarthy Jr., Mary Etta McCarthy and Elizabeth F. McCarthy | McCarthy family | 1417/221 |
Lot C with the buildings, same bounds, title from the Faulkner Manufacturing Co. (Book 565 Page 388), nominal consideration. Signed Oct. 1958. The McCarthys were the owners when the house was recorded in 1973-74. Elizabeth F. McCarthy conveyed 20 Rogers Street to herself, Sandra B. McCarthy Lanteigne and Sharon M. McCarthy in 1993, reserving a life estate (Book 6716 Page 316), and to Sandra and Sharon (Carlson) in 2000 (Book 11233 Page 249).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.