lisa June 10th, 2003
The property was originally part of the “Brooks Homestead,” an area about 3 acres, from Florida Road to Nason Street, plus an orchard near the Stow line. The homestead was divided up in 1873 when Mrs. Thomas H. (Rebecca) Brooks died. On the 1875 map in the Assabet Mills book, the large area between the Assabet River and Summer Street is noted as belonging to T. Brooks and Mrs. T. Brooks (divided into three parcels). There is one house shown on the map in approximately the same present-day location of 50-52 Summer Street, belonging to Mrs. T. Brooks ? the rest of the property is shown as having no buildings.
Rebecca and Thomas had three (?) children: Mary Jane (Brooks) Reed, Luke S. Brooks, and Thomas H. Brooks Jr., who was living in Montevideo, Uruguay at the time. Mary Jane Reed gave her third of the inheritance to Luke in 1887 for one dollar. Luke bought out Thomas in 1888 for $3,750. It is unclear whether the house at 48 Summer Street existed at that time, but probably not.
Paul Boothroyd (local realtor) told us that 48 Summer Street was built in 1890. The story is that the two-family house next door, 50-52 Summer Street, was the main house and this was originally the barn, which was converted into a house in 1890. We found newspaper from 1888 behind the wall in the living room. On the 1879 Bailey & Hazen map shown below, there are two houses on the Summer and Nason corner (but the one to the east is the larger house, so this probably isn?t 48 Summer, but rather 50-52 Summer).
Luke’s wife’s name was Zipporah; after Luke died in 1914, Zipporah sold the house to Kate C. Goodenow for $2,500. Kate was married to Daniel Goodenow, but he is noted as releasing any claim on the property and Kate is the one who bought it. Daniel Goodenow was the town doctor during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.
In 1918, the house was deeded to Lucy A. Newton; since no money changed hands, I assume this was an inheritance. Lucy owned the house for 24 years. In 1942, George E. Newton sold the house to Mary Mabel Holly for $7,500 (the equivalent of about $90,000 today). Lucy is not listed on the 1942 transaction, so I assume she had died before then.
Mary Mabel Holly was a widow with five children. When Mary died in 1973, the house passed to Mildred and Virginia, who at that time were in their fifties and had never married.
Mildred died in 1999 at the age of 78. She willed everything to her sister.
Virginia died in 2000, also at age 78. She didn’t leave a will, and so her estate went into probate. Their brother John was the executor; we bought the house on August 31, 2001 from John Holly.
Questions that remain:
1. When was the house built or converted into a house?
2. Why is the house a mixture of balloon framing and post-and-beam?
3. Who lived in the house from 1914-1918? Just Kate, or Kate, Daniel, and family?
4. How was Lucy Newton related to Kate Goodenow?
5. Who lived in the house from 1918-1942? Was Lucy Newton married to George Newton, or was he a brother or other relative?
If any readers can help with these questions, or if anyone knows more about the house at 48 Summer Street, we would love to hear from you. We would also be very interested in pictures of the house from any era, and maps or aerial photos of Maynard which show the house.
The primary source material for this history was original deeds, probates, and wills located at the Massachusetts Registry of Deeds in 2003.
See also:
Assabet Mills, Maynard Massachusetts, by Paul Boothroyd and Lewis Halprin, 1999.
1879 Bailey and Hazen map of Maynard