What is origin of Howard St. in Waltham, Mass. (Part #2)?

August 17, 2011 8:32 AM

What is origin of Howard St. in Waltham, Mass. (Part #2)?

After some great suggestions in my original question, I was able to trace my property back to the original owner of the land that was parceled out into Howard St.

I did this by visiting the Registry of Deeds and digging through a lot of old deeds in the basement (very fun to do by the way). I was even able to print out an original plan by the city where they chopped up his land into lots to be sold.

Turns out, the land was owned by Daniel Carey b. 1804 (link goes to genealogy page) who died and passed the property on to his son George W. Carey. Somehow the son then was able to parcel out the land and sell it off (whats the process for doing this btw?)

Get this: his son was married to a Lucy Howard at around the time he sold the land off in parcels. Clue to the naming of the street perhaps??

My questions:

#1: I can't find any documentation as to how/when Daniel Carey acquired the property in Waltham. We're land purchases before 1850 recorded somewhere else or something? Any help here would be appreciated. I'm getting into some really really early land purchases in Waltham.

#2: Any thoughts on how I might confirm the street name with Lucy Howard (above)?

posted by joshuamcginnis to law & government (4 answers total)

When did he sell off the land? George's wife was Lucy Moore, accounting to your link, and her mom was Lucy Howard. Her dad was James Moore, who was a real estate agent in 1870 & 1880. 1890 is unknown since that census burnt.
posted by jwells at 10:09 AM on August 17, 2011

I would look to the origins of neighboring parallel streets for clues. I see Francis and Fiske Streets.

This page says Abigail Fiske and Josiah Howard registered an intention to marry in Waltham in Nov 1823.

The homes in the neighborbood could be early mill housing. I would look at the founding dates for the Moody Street mill and the Waltham Watch Factory as approximate dates for the streets, absent evidence otherwise.
posted by zippy at 11:44 AM on August 17, 2011

Every deed I'm finding on Howard St is ending with:

A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in said Waltham and being lots .... on a Plan of Lots in Waltham .. belonging to Daniel Carey Estate ... Jan 1893 and recorded in Plan Book 79, Plan 43.

I pulled that plan and while fascinating, doesn't mention when or where Daniel Carey purchased the land.

Any thoughts on how I can track down Daniel Carey's deed to Howard St. land?
posted by joshuamcginnis at 10:15 PM on August 19, 2011

According to this page, Daniel Carey was born c. 1804 in Maine, married Hariet Liermore Dix in Waltham on 6 Apr 1834, she died in 1885 in Waltham, and he died in 1892 in Waltham.

I'd look for records around the time of Carey's death and in the decade leading up to his marriage.
posted by zippy at 10:57 PM on August 25, 2011