Structure · Built 1925
Williams Barn
Williams Barn
| Address | 2-4 Letchworth Av |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.278 |
| Built | 1925 |
The Williams Barn is the two-family house at 2-4 Letchworth Avenue in North Billerica, on the west corner of Letchworth and Mason Avenues in the Billerica Garden Suburb. Local tradition, recorded in the 1983 historical survey, holds that it began as a barn that stood at the corner of Carleton Street and Letchworth Avenue, at the home of Charles H. Williams, the Baptist minister who laid out the Garden Suburb, and that it was moved to this lot and remodelled as a duplex. When the owners remodelled the kitchen in 1982 they found the outlines of cow stanchions on the stripped walls.
The land was part of the farm that Thomas Rogers left by his will of 1784, sold in 1786 to Samuel Danforth and in 1788 to Thomas Richardson, whose daughter Elizabeth sold the back land to William E. Faulkner in 1831. His heirs conveyed it to James R. Faulkner in 1861 and 1862, and in 1880 it became lot 1 of the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, where the company built houses for its mill hands along the road to the depot.
On June 30, 1914 the company sold the 26-acre lot 1 to Charles H. Williams and, the same day, the 20,244 square foot lot on Carleton Street "with the buildings thereon" to his wife Louisa A. Williams; the Smith and Brooks plan of June 1914 shows the Williams house there with an outbuilding at the north end of the lot, against the proposed street that became Letchworth Avenue. Williams registered the tract in the Land Court and turned it over to the Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc., which divided it on plan 4992-E (November 1914). This corner was Lot 14 of Block 7. The company never sold Lots 11 to 15; the City Institution for Savings took them by foreclosure in 1930 and sold them in 1939 to Thomas J. and Mary J. Murphy of Chelmsford.
Thomas J. Murphy replotted the block in August 1942 (plan 4992-P) and on August 18, 1942 sold Lot 14A, 85.88 feet on Letchworth Avenue and 58.15 feet on Mason Avenue, to Thomas H. and Elizabeth B. Conway, with a $2,800 mortgage to the Lowell Co-operative Bank. Their certificate gives their address as 2 Letchworth Avenue, so the converted barn was a dwelling by then; the assessor dates it to about 1925, and no recorded instrument fixes the year of the move. The Conways lived there for more than thirty years: the 1951 directory lists T. Howard Conway, a laborer, and Elizabeth B. Conway, a teacher at the Pollard School, with their children, and the 1957 directory has a second household in the other unit. Elizabeth Conway died in 1966, and in 1976 the property passed to a North Billerica couple who owned it at the time of the 1983 survey and held it into the 2000s. In 2020 their family sold it to Coljack Development Corp. of Dracut, which renovated the building and sold it to private owners later that year.
References
- MACRIS BIL.278
- Billerica assessor, parcel 10-19-0 (2-4 Letchworth Ave): 0.112 acre, Garden Suburb Block 7 Lot 14A (plan 4992-P), two-family built about 1925
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| 1784 | Will | Estate of Thomas Rogers of Billerica, yeoman | Widow Martha Rogers for life; then Timothy Crosby, Abigail wife of Shemuel Griffin, and Cato | 1784: will of Thomas Rogers; his homestead farm included this land | Probate #19490 |
Will dated March 3, 1784: to "Martha my beloved wife the full use ... of all my Lands Buildings & Estate" for life; "my Negro boy Cato shall be a free man"; after the widow's death "my homestead farm laying in Billerica" and the rest of the estate to Timothy Crosby, Abigail wife of Shemuel Griffin, and Cato equally; the executors may sell "my Meadow of about four acres called Broad meadow" for debts. Proved June 2, 1784 (Shemuel Griffin executor). Inventory Sept. 8, 1784: "the Homestead and building thereon" 272 pounds 4s, a piece of land in Broad Meadow 36 pounds. The homestead was the land west of the corner lot Rogers had sold Isaac Kidder in January.
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| August 26, 1786 | Executor's Deed | Shemuel Griffin of Andover, executor of the will of Thomas Rogers late of Billerica | Samuel Danforth of Billerica, yeoman | 1786: Rogers executor sells the homestead farm to Samuel Danforth | 94/202 (South) |
Billerica town book 8, pages 69-70. Dated April 26, 1786, under an order of the Court of Common Pleas (March 1785) to sell for debts and legacies. For 174 pounds 10s 8d, "a certain Tract or parcel of land situate in the Northerly part of said Town of Billerica containing chief of the Homestead farm of said Thomas Rogers deceased with all the Buildings thereon by Estimation fifty acres", bounded north and west by Isaac Kidder's land and south by "the Road leading from Tewksbury through said Billerica to Chelmsford" (about 120 poles). The western 24 acres by the fulling mill had gone to Timothy Sprague (Book 108 Page 210).
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| March 31, 1794 | Deed | Samuel Danforth of Billerica, yeoman (wife Mary releasing dower) | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman | 1788: Danforth to Thomas Richardson | 115/276 (South) |
Billerica town book 9, pages 94-95. Dated April 21, 1788, "in the twelfth year of America Independency" (the acknowledgment is copied as May 1, 1783). For 153 pounds 7s, "A Farm linge in the Northly parte of Billerica containing about fifty acres", bounded east by "the Roade leeding to Isaac Kidder's", north and west by Isaac Kidder's land and south on Timothy Sprague's land, "together with the House and Barn and Shope thereon standing": the Thomas Rogers homestead.
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| September 18, 1826 | Deed | Thomas Richardson of Billerica, gentleman | His daughter Elizabeth Richardson of Billerica, singlewoman | 1822: Thomas Richardson to his daughter Elizabeth, 20 acres | 269/449 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 445-446. Dated March 12, 1822. For $800, "a certain farm formerly owned by Thomas Rogers with the buildings thereon containing twenty acres be it more or less", from the southwest corner by the road leading to John Rogers's, east by that road, north and west by land of Rogers "to land of Francis Faulkner Esqr. as the fence now stands", south by Faulkner to "the road leading from the Canal Mills to Billerica Meeting house" and by that road to the corner. The old Rogers farm east of the Canal Mills land, later William E. Faulkner's back land.
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| March 25, 1831 | Deed | Elizabeth Richardson of Boston, singlewoman | William E. Faulkner (William Emerson Faulkner) of Billerica | 1831: Elizabeth Richardson to William E. Faulkner, the back land | 303/157 (South) |
Billerica town book 11, pages 543-544. Dated March 24, 1831. For $350, "a certain lot of land formerly owned by Thomas Rogers containing twenty acres be it more or less", bounded by the road leading to John Rogers's, by land of Rogers, west by land of Francis Faulkner, Esquire, "as the fence now stands", by land of John and Henry Baldwin and the heirs of Nathan Mears, and south by "the road which leads from the Canal Mills to Billerica Meeting house". The land her father had deeded her in 1822; William E. Faulkner's farm behind the road east of his father's mill land.
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| February 14, 1854 | Quitclaim Deed | The other heirs at law of Francis Faulkner (Dwight F., George, Winthrop, Luther W., Lois R., Lydia H. and William E. Faulkner, Calvin and Ann F. Rogers, and the Keene heirs) | James R. Faulkner of Billerica, manufacturer (two thirds), and Charles Faulkner of Boston, merchant (one third) | 1854: James R. and Charles Faulkner take the adjoining plain land (joined in 1880 lot 1) | 668/424 (South) |
Billerica town book 21, pages 191-193. For $600, land "at the canal mills so called" bounded by land of James R. and Charles Faulkner and of William E. Faulkner, by Herman Rogers, by Concord River on two sides, and by "land of said James R. Faulkner where he now lives, consisting of plain land and containing about fifteen acres": the rest of the 21 acres of the 1825 canal purchase, behind the mill. Dated Jan 2, 1854. With it James R. and Charles Faulkner held the whole mill property, two thirds and one third, the shares of the later 1857 and 1880 deeds.
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| October 8, 1861 | Administration | Estate of William E. Faulkner of Billerica, trader (died September 1, 1861, intestate) | His brother James R. Faulkner, administrator | 1861: administration of William E. Faulkner | Probate #31573 |
Petition of October 1, 1861 by James R. Faulkner, eldest brother: William E. Faulkner of Billerica, trader, "died on the first day of September" 1861 intestate, leaving no widow; next of kin his brothers James R., Dwight F., Charles, Winthrop, George and Luther W. Faulkner and his sisters Lois R., Lydia H. and Ann F. (wife of Calvin Rogers). Decree of October 8, 1861 appointing James R. Faulkner administrator, bond $20,000 with Calvin Rogers and Luther W. Faulkner as sureties; notice in the Boston Daily Advertiser. No inventory is in the file; his land passed to the heirs, who released it to James R. Faulkner (Book 30 Page 386).
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| March 25, 1862 | Quitclaim Deed | The heirs at law of William E. Faulkner (Dwight F., Lois R., Lydia H., Charles, George, Winthrop and Luther W. Faulkner, Calvin and Ann F. Rogers, and the Keene and Sioux City heirs) | James R. Faulkner of Billerica, "the only other heir at law" | 1861/62: his heirs to James R. Faulkner, incl. the six acres of back land | 30/386 |
Dated December 24, 1861. For $1,800, the land of "William E. Faulkner, late of said Billerica, deceased, intestate": (1) about half an acre "with the dwelling house thereon" on "the road leading from North Billerica Mills to the centre of the town", 343 ft deep between land of James Faulkner and "other land formerly of said William E. when living" (W. E.'s interest "was one undivided half part only"); (2) "six acres, more or less" running back from the road along J. R. Faulkner and Company's land to the Jones, Haynes and Foster line, east 423 ft on that line, south 791 ft on the Boston and Lowell Railroad and by C. P. Talbot and Company to "the road leading to the depot"; (3) about two acres at the corner of the depot road and the road to Tewksbury. Piece (2) is the back land where the house now at 3 Mason Avenue stands.
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| December 2, 1880 | Deed | Charles Faulkner of Boston (wife Annie S. Faulkner releasing dower) | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 1880: Charles Faulkner to the Faulkner Manufacturing Company (lot 1) | 143/22 |
For $25,000, "one undivided third part of the lot of land with the buildings thereon", lot 1 on R. A. Hall's October 1880 "plan of the property of the Faulkner Manufacturing Company", with "all the water rights, water privileges, rights of flowage", especially the rights in the 1857 Talbot deed (Book 9 Page 378), and "all the machinery, tools and fixtures in the buildings", plus one third of lots 2 and 3 and of three other lots on the roads to Billerica Centre and Tewksbury. Charles Faulkner's own third, conveyed the same day as the executor's deed for the other two thirds.
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| December 2, 1880 | Executor's Deed | Charles Faulkner of Boston, executor of and trustee under the will of James R. Faulkner | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 1880: executor of James R. Faulkner to the Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 143/23 |
For $50,000, "two undivided third parts of all that lot of land with the buildings thereon": lot 1 of 29.55 acres from "the stone pier of the bridge across Concord River" across "the little basin, so-called", along the river about 1,540 ft to Jones and Foster, by the Boston and Lowell Rail Road and the schoolhouse lot back to the road to Billerica Centre, with the water rights, flowage, the 1857 Talbot rights (Book 9 Page 378) and "all the machinery, tools and fixtures in the buildings"; lot 2 "with the building thereon ... on the east end of the dam south of the County road", bounded 10 ft from the canal wall; and two thirds of five more lots, including land "on what was formerly the Middlesex Canal" (Sage plan 1838, Book 18 Page 374; Calvin Rogers to James R. and Charles Faulkner, 1859, Book 20 Page 390) and an acre by the old William Rogers house on "the road ... to the Canal Mills".
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| September 8, 1914 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree, case 4992 (petition of Charles H. Williams) | Charles H. Williams of Billerica | 1914: Land Court registration of the Williams tract (case 4992) | Ctf 558 |
Original certificate on the Land Court decree of September 4, 1914, received for transcription September 8, 1914: the 26-acre tract bought from the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, bounded by Carleton Street 65.13 ft, the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, the Concord River, Williams's other land "on the upland about 1704 ft" and the Boston and Lowell Railroad 788.85 ft (Smith and Brooks plan, June 1914; Land Court plan 4992-A). "Subject to and has the benefit of the easements set forth in a deed given by the Faulkner Manufacturing Company to Charles H. Williams, dated June 30, 1914" (Book 523 Page 301), and to three mortgages of that date: to the company (Book 523 Page 304, not registered), to William T. Sheppard ($3,000, document 814) and to Grace L. Backer et al. ($7,000, document 815).
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| September 28, 1914 | Certificate of Title | Charles H. Williams (Original Certificates 520 and 558) | The Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. | 1914: Williams to the Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. | Ctf 568 |
Partial transfer certificate entered September 28, 1914: the Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. owner of Lot A on Land Court subdivision plan 4720/4992-B (C. B. Humphrey, September 19, 1914), the land of both of Williams's registrations between Carleton Street, the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, the Concord River, Charles P. Smith and the Boston and Lowell Railroad. With the railroad rights of way of 1879 (Book 183 Page 454), subject to Hermon Rogers's 1848 flowage deed to Oliver M. Whipple and his 1856 lease of a 3-ft strip to the railroad, the easements of the 1914 Faulkner deed, and the unregistered mortgage to the Faulkner Manufacturing Company. Cancelled the same day for Certificate 733, which was itself replaced by Certificate 1520.
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| September 28, 1914 | Certificate of Title | Original Certificates 520 and 558 (Transfer Certificate 733 cancelled) | The Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. | 1914-1930: Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. (Lot 14, Block 7) | Ctf 1520 |
Partial transfer certificate dated September 28, 1914, issued "to take its place" when Transfer Certificate 733 was cancelled: the Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc. owner of Lot A on plan 4720/4992-B, with the same bounds and appurtenances as Certificate 568, followed by a 17-page lot schedule as the Garden Suburb lots of Block 7 and the other blocks (plans 4992-C and 4992-E, after Arthur C. Comey's plan of October 9, 1914) were sold. Memoranda: Lowell Electric Light Corporation pole rights 1914, 1915 and 1917; the Town's easement in the streets (document 1308, May 24, 1916); mortgages to the Lowell Institution for Savings (1917, $20,000) and to Grace L. Backer et al.; and on June 22, 1922 a $15,000 mortgage to the City Institution for Savings of Lowell (document 3963), "See Mtgee's Deed Document 8813"; a 999-year right of way lease to Talbot Mills across lots 10, 11, 12 and 17 of Block 7 (document 4221, December 14, 1922).
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| July 7, 1914 | Quitclaim Deed | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company, by George M. Preston, president and treasurer | Charles H. Williams of Billerica | 1914: the company sells lot 1 to Rev. Charles H. Williams, who lays out the Garden Suburb | 523/301 |
Dated June 30, 1914. "The land in that part of said Billerica known as North Billerica, with the buildings thereon, containing twenty-six and 5/100 acres", lot 1 on the Smith and Brooks plan of June 1914 (Plan Book 31 Plan 82): the back land of the mill between the Boston and Lowell Railroad (635 ft), Carleton Street (65.13 ft), the mill lot, the Concord River (about 1,323 ft) and Williams's own land (1,704 ft by a stone wall). The company kept a 20-ft "Private Right of Way" to Carleton Street and its water rights; "a certain dwelling house shown on said plan and located within the space covered by the aforesaid Private Right of Way shall be wholly removed from such space at the expense of the grantee within sixty days". "A portion of the same conveyed to said Faulkner Manufacturing Company by Charles Faulkner as Trustee and in his own right in two deeds both dated Nov. 22, 1880", Book 143 Pages 22 and 23. Williams laid out the Billerica Garden Suburb on it.
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| July 7, 1914 | Mortgage | Charles H. Williams of Billerica | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company | 1914: Williams purchase-money mortgage to the company | 523/304 |
Purchase-money mortgage given with the deed at Book 523 Page 301: "to secure the payment of Eleven Thousand Dollars in six months with five per centum interest", the same 26.05-acre lot 1 "with the buildings thereon" on the Smith and Brooks plan of June 1914, same bounds. Margins note the Land Court registration ("See Certificate 558"), an assignment to William T. Sheppard (Book 536 Page 25, 1915) and partial releases as Garden Suburb lots were sold.
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| July 7, 1914 | Quitclaim Deed | The Faulkner Manufacturing Company, by George M. Preston, president and treasurer | Louisa A. Williams of Billerica (wife of Charles H. Williams) | 1914: Lot 2 on Carleton St to Louisa A. Williams, the Williams home; the barn is said to have stood here before it was moved | 523/316 |
Dated June 30, 1914, with quitclaim covenants: "the land in that part of said Billerica known as North Billerica, with the buildings thereon", 20,244 square feet, lot 2 on the Smith and Brooks plan of June 1914 (Plan Book 31 Plan 82), bounded south by Carleton Street 112.11 ft, west by land conveyed the same day to Charles H. Williams 239 ft, north by other land conveyed the same day to him 76.12 ft and east by "land of Town of Billerica" 207.62 ft. Subject to the 1914 taxes. "A portion of the same conveyed to said Faulkner Manufacturing Company by Charles Faulkner as Trustee and in his own right in two deeds both dated Nov. 22, 1880", Book 143 Pages 22 and 23. The directors' vote of July 6, 1914 is recorded with it. The house on the lot was the two-family dwelling later called Mill Worker Housing.
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| January 24, 1930 | Certificate of Title | The Billerica Garden Suburb, Inc., by mortgagee's deed (document 8813) under its 1922 mortgage | The City Institution for Savings, Lowell | 1930-1939: City Institution for Savings, by foreclosure | Ctf 3927 |
Partial transfer certificate entered January 24, 1930 (from Certificates 1520 and 3779): the City Institution for Savings, "body corporate at Lowell", owner in fee simple of the unsold remainder of Lot A on plan 4992-B, with the same bounds and appurtenances, after foreclosing the Garden Suburb's mortgage of June 22, 1922 (document 3963) by mortgagee's deed, document 8813. Memoranda include the Talbot Mills right of way lease of 1922 and a tax deed of the Town of Billerica for 1929 taxes (1931). Its lot schedule records the sale of "Block 7 lots 11, 12, 13, 14, 15" to Thomas J. Murphy et al. by document 13703 on September 16, 1939 (new Certificate 5491).
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| September 19, 1939 | Certificate of Title | The City Institution for Savings, Lowell (deed document 13703, September 16, 1939) | Thomas J. Murphy and Mary J. Murphy of Chelmsford, an undivided half each | 1939: the bank sells Lots 11-15, Block 7 to Thomas J. and Mary J. Murphy | Ctf 5491 |
Partial transfer certificate entered September 19, 1939 from Certificate 3927: Thomas J. Murphy (married to Grace L. Murphy) and Mary J. Murphy, single, of Chelmsford, owners of Lots 11 to 15 inclusive in Block 7 on Land Court plan 4992-E (C. B. Humphrey, November 25, 1914), the corner block bounded by Hampstead Avenue, Letchworth Avenue and Mason Avenue, subject to the provisions of the bank's deed, document 13703. Memoranda: Lowell Electric Light pole rights, the Town's street easement of 1916, the Talbot Mills right of way across Lots 11, 12 and 17, and a $5,500 mortgage to the City Institution for Savings of September 16, 1939 (document 13704). Cancelled in December 1940, when Mary J. Murphy's half passed to Thomas.
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| December 9, 1940 | Certificate of Title | Mary J. Murphy and Thomas J. Murphy (Certificate 5491) | Thomas J. Murphy of Chelmsford | 1940-1942: Thomas J. Murphy, who replots the block in 1942 (Lot 14A) | Ctf 5774 |
Transfer certificate entered December 9, 1940: Thomas J. Murphy of Chelmsford (24 North Road), married to Grace L. Murphy, sole owner of Lots 11 to 15 in Block 7, bounded "Northwesterly by Hampstead Avenue 99.78 feet; Northeasterly by Letchworth Avenue 211.06 feet; Southeasterly by Mason Avenue 120.13 feet" and southwesterly by Lots 16 and 10, 207.85 feet. Memoranda include a $6,300 mortgage to the Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank (February 15, 1941) and the deeds that broke up the block in 1942 and 1946: Lot 14A to Thomas H. Conway (document 15499), Lot 15A to Harry E. Merriman and his wife (document 15532, September 5, 1942), Lot 13A and Lot 12A in 1946, on the replotting filed as plan 4992-P.
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| August 22, 1942 | Certificate of Title | Thomas J. Murphy of Chelmsford (Certificate 5774; deed document 15499, August 18, 1942) | Thomas H. Conway and Elizabeth B. Conway of Billerica, married to each other | 1942: Thomas J. Murphy sells Lot 14A, the converted barn at 2 Letchworth Ave, to Thomas H. and Elizabeth B. Conway | Ctf 6139 |
Partial transfer certificate entered August 22, 1942 at 11:56 am from Certificate 5774: the Conways as tenants by the entirety of Lot 14A on Land Court plan 4992-P (Brooks, Jordan and Graves, August 13, 1942, filed with this certificate), the corner lot "Northeasterly by Letchworth Avenue, eighty-five and 88/100 (85.88) feet; Southeasterly by Mason Avenue, fifty-eight and 15/100 (58.15) feet; Southwesterly by Lot 15 A, eighty-one and 69/100 (81.69) feet; and Northwesterly by Lot 13 A, fifty-eight (58) feet", subject to document 13703 (the 1939 bank deed). Owners' address "2 Letchworth Ave., No. Billerica", so the converted barn was standing and occupied. Memoranda: a $2,800 mortgage to the Lowell Co-operative Bank (15 years, 6%, discharged February 6, 1957) and a $200 purchase-money mortgage to Thomas J. Murphy, both August 22, 1942; suggestion of death of Elizabeth Conway, "Died May 1, 1966", tax certificate of Thomas Howard Conway and affidavit, all registered July 20, 1976. Cancelled by deed document 69893 (Certificate 21491).
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| July 20, 1976 | Certificate of Title | Thomas Howard Conway, surviving tenant by the entirety (deed document 69893) | Private owners (a married couple of North Billerica) | 1976: the Conway family sells to the owners of 1976-2019; later sales to 2020 summarized | Ctf 21491 |
Transfer certificate entered July 20, 1976 at 8:30 am from Certificate 6139, after the registration that day of the death of Elizabeth B. Conway (May 1, 1966): a North Billerica couple as tenants by the entirety of Lot 14A on plan 4992-P, same bounds (Letchworth Avenue 85.88 ft, Mason Avenue 58.15 ft, Lot 15A 81.69 ft, Lot 13A 58 ft), subject to document 69893. Owners' address 2 Letchworth Avenue; they were the owners in the 1983 MACRIS survey and found the outlines of cow stanchions on the kitchen walls in 1982. Later history (private, summarized): the couple held the house until 2009 (Certificate 40027) and 2019 (Certificate 44653, family); in July 2020 the family sold it for $342,000 to Coljack Development Corp. of Dracut (Certificate 44894, Registration Book 227 Page 121, read), which renovated it and sold it in December 2020 for $520,000 (deed document 313604, Certificate 45646; Book 35009 Page 177).
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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.