According to George Walter Chamberlain, in William Chamberlain and his Decendants page 94:

... the upland bounded with Lt. Wm French on the south, Ralph Hill Sr. west, Mr. Richard Champney north and the farme line east" This was the homestead of William Chamberlain. It was located a little north of Bare Hill just southeast of the present village of Billerica, near where the Woburn road and the Concord road diverge. There is an old cellar there, from which has been obtained an old brick and a pewter spoon...

While modern Billerica doesn't have a Woburn Road, it is difficult to find the exact location that GWC was referencing. However, Concord Road does still exist. It is quite possible that the current Boston Road in Billerica, which runs from Billerica through Burlington and into Woburn is the old Woburn Road. Even so, I do not believe that the homestead was located at the intersection of Woburn (Boston) and Concord Roads as previously stated.


Census Map
The map section at the left was generated from the tigers mapping system from the census bureau and shows a small section of modern Billerica. Arrow #1 points to the intersection of Route 3A (Boston Road) and Concord Road. (Concord Road is in orange.)


Hazen Map
The map to the left is the map provided in Hazen's History of Billerica, 1653-1883. The original map does not have North facing up, I have rotated the map for proper orientation. Arrow #12 is pointing to the location of lot 12 which is the one shown to be William Chamberlain's.


Overlay Map - 1

Although it is difficult to see here, after rotating and scaling the map provided by Hazen, the roads and bodies of water can be aligned, producing an overlay map of Ancient Billerica and Modern Billerica. In the Overlay Map the map provided by Hazen is shown in black, while the Census Map is in tan.

When doing so however, we discover that lot #12 is not where GWC originally thought (See Arrow #1 above), but instead at the junction of what is now Boston Road, Lexington Road and Glad Valley Drive (Arrow #2 above).


Dudley Farm
GWC also provided a map showing the location of William Chamberlain's homstead. The two main points of reference on his map are the two ponds. (Winnings Pond on the left and Nuttings Pond -- now Nuttings Lake -- to the right).


Overlay Map - 2

By scaling the map so these points appear in the correct location, we can have further indication of the location of William Chamberlain's homestead.

The map af the left contains all three maps. Again the location of William Chamberlain's homestead appears at Arrow #2.

email comments to: Dave Chamberlain or post them on the genforum messageboard.

copyright © 2000, D Chamberlain