Benjamin L. Judkins House

The Benjamin L. Judkins House stood on the west side of Concord Road (the old Bedford road) about a mile south of the Common, on the farm where Ralph Hill, one of the first settlers, made his home. In 1657 Ralph Hill bought Isaac Learned's share of Governor Thomas Dudley's Shawshin farm, the parcel "whereon the buildings are erected," bounded southwest by Concord River and north by George Farley. Hazen placed his house "near Mrs. Judkins'" and wrote that Benjamin L. Judkins "lived on the original 'Ralph Hill' place." Ralph Hill's will of 1662 gave his son Jonathan "all the rest of my lands and houses," and the farm stayed in Jonathan's line for more than 150 years.

Jonathan Hill lived on the farm for more than half a century. On March 27, 1717, styled "Jonathan Hill Senr," he divided it between his two surviving sons, giving the elder, Jonathan Hill Jr. (born 1669), land on the same farm between the farms of Capt. Samuel Hill and Samuel Hill Jr., "the lines to Run to the River." In January 1741/2 the younger Jonathan deeded to his son Peter Hill (born 1709), the land around the home lot, including an acre at the corner of "my homestead" running "to the road about four poles South of the said Peter Hill's house," so Peter already had a house of his own here. By his will of March 1741/2 Jonathan left Peter "my Homestead or lands and Buildings thereon standing," about 25 acres bounded west by Concord River and east on the road; the inventory taken after his death in 1743 lists "about twenty acres of land, with a house and part of a barn." The house that survived into the 20th century was probably one of these two 1740s houses, which fits the traditional date of 1734, but the records do not say which.

In March 1773 Peter Hill deeded his son Peter half the homestead, "the east end of my dwelling House throughout, being the upright part of said house and the whole of the Back Kitchen," keeping for himself and his unmarried daughter Mary the right to pass through the fore room and to use its oven. His will of July 1773 left the son the rest, "my Homestead with all the Buildings thereon Standing." The younger Peter, born in 1748, was taxed here in 1776, and Hazen's key to that tax list places him at "Mrs. Judkins's place, Bedford St." He never sold or mortgaged the farm, and when he died early in 1823 his daughter Elizabeth, his only heir, settled the estate and inherited it.

On Jan. 1, 1827 Elizabeth Hill married Benjamin L. Judkins, born in New Hampshire in 1797, and the Hill homestead became the Judkins place. The story that Judkins bought the house when he married is not borne out: none of his many Billerica purchases and sales between 1827 and 1880 touches this farm, which came to him through his wife. He added meadow, pasture and woodland around it and died here in 1875. Hazen's history, published while his widow was still living, pictures the "Judkins Homestead" and the "Residence of Mrs. Benjamin L. Judkins." Their younger son Edward took the name Edward Judkins Hill in 1872, and a survey of January 1883 by Osgood and Snell shows the land "belonging to the Judkins estate and to E. J. Hill": the house and barns on a 2.78 acre lot west of the road, surrounded by the Rocky Pasture, Big Field, Muddy Pasture, Further Field and Aunt Foster lot running down to the Concord River, with the old "Peter Hill Lot" still named across the river.

The farm then passed by inheritance, with no deed on record, to two brothers of the next generation, Putnam R. Judkins of Goshen, Indiana, and Edward F. Judkins, who held it as tenants in common. Putnam left his share to his nephew Richard H. Judkins, and in 1915 Putnam's widow Francelia released to Richard the whole list of Judkins lots "with the buildings thereon," including "an unnamed lot containing 2.78 acres." Richard deeded his interest to his wife Belva C. Judkins in 1921. Edward F. Judkins left his half to his wife Emily C. Judkins for life and then to their daughter Frances M. Stearns. In 1926 the Probate Court partitioned the family lands, and the house fell in Lot 9, 52 acres on the west side of the road; Belva C. Judkins then deeded Lots 7, 8 and 9 to a trustee for Emily and Frances under Edward's will. After Emily's death Frances Judkins Stearns took the lots outright by a trustee's deed of 1953. In October 1968 she sold the house with 7.9 acres to Gordon C. Brainerd and his wife, ending 141 years of Judkins ownership and about three centuries in the Hill line.

After Gordon Brainerd's death his executors conveyed the 7.9 acres to a family trust in 2005. In 2008 the trust sold all but a 40,004 square foot lot around the house to Brightview Billerica LLC for its senior living community, and in December 2020 the house lot was sold to a developer, Landsmart LLC. The house was demolished in 2021. It had not been surveyed as a historic building.

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): Ralph Hill, the Hill and Judkins families, the 1776 tax list, and the Judkins Homestead illustration
2. Middlesex probate 11498: will of Peter Hill of Billerica, 1773
3. Middlesex probate 11500: administration of Peter Hill of Billerica, 1823
4. Will and inventory of Jonathan Hill, 1741/2-1744 (Middlesex probate 11467): the homestead to his son Peter
5. Will of Ralph Hill Sr., 1662/3 (Middlesex probate 11502): his lands and houses to his son Jonathan

Title References Expand all

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.