Asa Hill
Asa Hill
| Born | 1798-02-15 Billerica, MA |
| Father | Alpheus Hill |
| Mother | Martha Manning |
| Spouses | Susan Lawrence |
| Children | Asa (b. 1824-02-15) |
Asa Hill was born in Billerica on February 15, 1798, the youngest child of Alpheus Hill and Martha Manning, who farmed on the road from Treble Cove toward the Nickles farms in West Billerica, now West Street. His father died without a will in 1811, leaving a homestead of about two hundred acres, and on June 10, 1812, being over fourteen, Asa chose Amos Carlton of Billerica as his guardian. His mother kept her thirds in the old house.
He married Susan Lawrence, and their son Asa was born on February 15, 1824, his father's twenty-sixth birthday. On July 10, 1824 Samuel Brown 2nd sold him for $10 a quarter acre of pasture "on the road leading from said Asa's mothers house to Stephen Nickles house," beginning "nearly opposite the widow Martha Hill's house," and there he built the brick house, laid in Flemish bond, that still stands at 17 West Street (see Asa Hill House). Over the next years he bought out the other heirs in his father's farm across the road; in 1829 he mortgaged "three undivided fourth parts" of it, with the buildings, to Sewall Stearns for $400. Their other children were Susan Elizabeth (1827), who died as an infant; Sarah Jane (1828), who married Isaac Reed of Acton in 1846; John Lawrence (1830); a second Susan Elizabeth (1832); and Albert George (1834), who died at two months.
He held the militia rank of captain, and the church record of his son John Lawrence's baptism in 1842 calls him "Capt. Asa." In the census of 1850 he was a farmer with real estate of $5,000. In June 1861 he sold the whole farm, 99 acres in Billerica and Carlisle on the Treble Cove road and "the road leading by Asa Hill's house," with thirty acres of Carlisle woodland, to Ebenezer W. Larrabee of Milford, New Hampshire, for $4,900, but Larrabee gave it back that October. In April 1862 Asa conveyed the farm to his son, Asa Hill Jr., taking back a mortgage of $1,500, and moved to Harvard. When the son's affairs failed in 1868 he reconveyed the farm to his father, and on May 18, 1869 Asa Hill "of Harvard" sold the farm and brick house to Prescott Reed of Stow for $3,300.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 72, HILL 31
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908), births p. 97: Asa, s. Alpheus and Martha, Feb. 15, 1798; Asa Jr. and his other children by Susan L.
- Vital Records of Billerica (1908), marriages p. 270: Sarah I., d. Asa and Susan, and Isaac Reed of Acton, Feb. 26, 1846
- Middlesex probate case 11408 (1812): Asa Hill, son of Alpheus, chooses Amos Carlton as guardian
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Property | Recorded |
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| July 12, 1824 | Deed | Samuel Brown 2d of Billerica, yeoman (wife Betsy releasing dower) | Asa Hill of Billerica, yeoman | Buys the quarter acre of pasture where he built the brick house, 1824 | Asa Hill House | 255/130 (South) |
Billerica town book 13, pages 284-285. For $10, "a piece of Pasture land situated in said Billerica on the road leading from said Asa's mothers house to Stephen Nickles house containing one quarter of an acre", beginning "at a stake and stones at the northeast corner nearly opposite the widow Martha Hill's house", 10 rods on the road by 4 rods deep. Bare pasture: no buildings and no title recital. Signed 10 July 1824, witnessed by William G. Shed and Marshall Preston, recorded 12 July 1824. The brick house was built on this lot after the purchase.
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| March 20, 1829 | Mortgage | Asa Hill of Billerica, yeoman | Sewall Stearns of Billerica, yeoman | Mortgages three quarters of his father's homestead to Sewall Stearns, 1829 | Asa Hill House | 288/160 (South) |
Billerica town book 14, pages 166-167. For $400 on demand, "three undivided fourth parts" of the Alpheus Hill homestead across the road from the brick house: beginning "by the road leading to Stephen Nickles", westerly by the road "to the house set off to the widow Martha Hill as thirds" and on "to the middle of the back side of the barn on said land", south to Amos Carlton and east to "the road leading from Billerica to Carlisle", "with the buildings thereon", plus 14 acres by Carlton and Major Jonas Parker. Signed 20 February 1829, recorded 20 March 1829. Shows Asa buying out his co-heirs in his father's farm while living in the new brick house opposite.
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| June 25, 1861 | Warranty Deed | Asa Hill of Billerica (wife Susan Hill releasing dower and homestead) | Ebenezer W. Larrabee of Milford, New Hampshire | Sells the 99-acre farm and brick house to Ebenezer W. Larrabee, 1861 | Asa Hill House | 28/211 |
Pages 211-212. For $4900, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situate in said Billerica and Carlisle", 99 acres 117 rods on "the Triple Cove road so called", Major Jonas Parker, the heirs of David P. Winning and Stephen J. Nickles, "to the road leading by Asa Hill's house, thence on said road easterly to a point opposite my house, thence across said road nearly at right angles on land of Joel Dix about six rods" and back "to a point opposite the easterly corner of the house", with 30 acres of Carlisle woodland. Signed and recorded 25 June 1861. Larrabee gave back a $2900 mortgage (Book 28 Page 212) and reconveyed the farm in October 1861.
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| June 25, 1861 | Mortgage | Ebenezer W. Larrabee of Milford, New Hampshire | Asa Hill of Billerica | Larrabee's $2,900 mortgage back to him, 1861 | Asa Hill House | 28/212 |
For $2900, mortgage back to Asa Hill of the farm and buildings just bought from him (Book 28 Page 211). Recorded 25 June 1861. Margin: see Book 29 Page 250, where Larrabee reconveyed the premises to Hill subject to this mortgage.
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| October 12, 1861 | Quitclaim | Ebenezer W. Larrabee of Billerica, yeoman | Asa Hill of Billerica | Larrabee reconveys the farm, Oct. 1861 | Asa Hill House | 29/250 |
Pages 250-251. For $4550, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon, situate in said Billerica and Carlisle", the same 99 acres 117 rods, bounded "to the road leading by said Larrabee's house, thence on said road Easterly to a point opposite my house", across on Joel Dix land and back "to a point opposite the Easterly corner of the house", with the 30 acres of Carlisle woodland, free of encumbrances "except a mortgage of twenty nine hundred dollars running to said Hill which is a part of this consideration". Signed 11 October 1861 in the presence of Dudley Foster, recorded 12 October 1861. Larrabee had lived in the brick house for the summer of 1861.
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| October 12, 1861 | Mortgage | Asa Hill of Billerica, yeoman | Lyman Haynes, Anthony Jones and Dudley Foster of Billerica, yeomen | Mortgages the farm to Lyman Haynes, Anthony Jones and Dudley Foster, 1861 | Asa Hill House | 29/251 |
Pages 251-252. On demand, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon, situate in said Billerica and Carlisle", bounded "to the road leading by my house, thence on said road Easterly to a point opposite my house", across on Joel Dix land and back "to a point opposite the Easterly corner of the house", 99 acres. The record reads "thirteen hundred dollars"; later deeds call it the $1600 mortgage of 11 October 1861. Signed 11 October 1861, witnessed by Eben W. Larrabee, recorded 12 October 1861. Margin: discharged in Book 302 Page 576 (by Dudley Foster's administrator, November 1898).
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| April 28, 1862 | Deed | Asa Hill of Billerica, yeoman (wife Susan) | His son Asa Hill Jr. | Conveys the farm and brick house to his son Asa Hill Jr., 1862 | Asa Hill House | 30/587 |
Pages 587-588. "A certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situate in said Billerica and Carlisle", 99 acres 117 rods bounded on "the Triple cove road", Jonas Parker, the heirs of David P. Winning, Stephen J. Nickles and "the road leading to the dwelling house on the premises", crossing the road onto Joel Dix land and back "to a point opposite the Easterly corner of the house"; also 30 acres of Carlisle woodland. Subject to the October 1861 mortgage to L. Haynes, A. Jones and Dudley Foster, which the son assumed. Signed and acknowledged 26 April 1862 before Dudley Foster JP, recorded 28 April 1862.
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| April 28, 1862 | Mortgage | Asa Hill Jr. of Billerica, yeoman | His father Asa Hill | His son's $1,500 purchase-money mortgage, 1862 | Asa Hill House | 30/589 |
Purchase-money mortgage for $1500 of the same farm "with the buildings thereon", the same bounds as Book 30 Page 587. Signed 26 April 1862, recorded 28 April 1862. Margin: see assignment Book 67 Page 487 (to Prescott Reed, 1869) and release Book 74 Page 172.
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| February 17, 1868 | Mortgage | Asa Hill Jr. of Billerica | Asa Hill of Harvard | Of Harvard; his son's further mortgage, 1867 | Asa Hill House | 60/265 |
Pages 265-267. For $1500, "two certain parcels of land situate in said Billerica and in Carlisle ... being the same premises conveyed to me by the said Asa Hill by his deed dated April 26 A.D. 1862 ... Book 30 Page 587", with two Carlisle parcels (from Otis Byam's 1845 title and from Joseph S. Adams, Book 32 Page 418), payable in one year. Signed 1 January 1867, recorded 17 February 1868, as Asa Jr.'s affairs were failing (his estate went into bankruptcy in 1868). Discharged 24 May 1869, Book 67 Page 487.
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| May 21, 1868 | Deed | Asa Hill Jr. of Billerica | His father Asa Hill of Harvard | Of Harvard; his son reconveys the farm before his bankruptcy, 1868 | Asa Hill House | 62/136 |
Pages 136-137. For $50, "two certain parcels of land situated in said Billerica and in Carlisle ... being the same premises conveyed to me by the said Asa Hill by his deed dated April 26th A.D. 1862 ... Book 30 Page 587", with two Carlisle parcels (Otis Byam's, Book 60 Page 264, and Joseph S. Adams', Book 32 Page 418), free of encumbrances "except the mortgage to the said Asa Hill". Signed 19 May 1868, recorded 21 May 1868: the farm went back to the father days before the son's bankruptcy (25 May 1868).
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| May 21, 1869 | Release of Dower | Dorothy G. Hill of Billerica, wife of Asa Hill Jr. | Asa Hill of Harvard | Release of dower by his son's wife Dorothy G. Hill, 1869 | Asa Hill House | 67/392 |
Pages 392-393. For $1, releases "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Billerica and Carlisle", 99 acres 117 rods with the same bounds ("the road leading by the dwelling house on the premises", "a point opposite the Easterly corner of the house"), and 30 acres of Carlisle woodland, "intending hereby to release ... all my right and title of or to both dower and homestead". Signed 5 May 1869, recorded 21 May 1869, clearing the title for the sale to Prescott Reed.
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| May 24, 1869 | Warranty Deed | Asa Hill of Harvard (wife Susan Hill releasing dower and homestead) | Prescott Reed of Stow | Of Harvard; sells the farm and brick house to Prescott Reed of Stow, 1869 | Asa Hill House | 67/425 |
Pages 425-427. For $3300, the Hill farm of "ninety nine acres and one hundred and seventeen rods" bounded on "the Triple cove road so-called", Jonas Parker, the heirs of David P. Winning and Stephen J. Nickles, "to the road leading by the dwelling house on the premises", then easterly "to a point opposite said house, thence across said road nearly at right angles on land of Joel Dix about six rods", easterly by Dix and back "across said road to a point opposite the Easterly corner of the house": the brick house on the strip north of the road. Subject to Asa Hill's $1600 mortgage of 11 October 1861 to L. Haynes, A. Jones and Dudley Foster and to the $1500 mortgage of 26 April 1862 (Book 30 Page 589). Signed 18 May 1869, recorded 24 May 1869.
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| May 26, 1869 | Assignment of Mortgage | Asa Hill of Harvard | Prescott Reed of Stow | Of Harvard; assigns the 1862 mortgage to Prescott Reed, 1869 | Asa Hill House | 67/487 |
Pages 487-488. Asa Hill first discharges the 1867 mortgage (Book 60 Page 265) as paid by Asa Hill Jr.; then, for $1500 paid by Prescott Reed of Stow, assigns to Reed the 1862 mortgage from Asa Hill Jr. (Book 30 Page 589) with "the premises therein described, and the debt and note thereby secured", subject to Asa Hill Jr.'s right of redemption. Both signed 24 May 1869, recorded 26 May 1869: with the deed of 18 May 1869 this put the whole Hill title in Reed.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.