14. Charles H. Walcott’s Title Examinations and Notes on Concord Mill Dam Company Properties, ca. 1880-1901

Charles Hosmer Walcott (1848-1901) was a conveyancing attorney and an accomplished amateur historian. A lifelong resident of Concord, he was an active citizen, holding many offices, including selectman and superintendent of schools. Walcott’s eleven volumes of title examinations of properties in Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk counties include many Concord properties, among them Mill Dam lots.

Walcott traced real estate transactions through extant deeds and other records. The result is a picture of selected properties on the Mill Dam during the nineteenth century, including the bank lots, Walcott & Holden, and the Middlesex Hotel lot. Though legal in nature, these transactions provide important details about both the built and natural landscape. Walcott did not trace the transactions associated with the Anderson Market building, but as it is adjacent to the Concord Bank lot, valuable information about it and the Mill Dam in general can be garnered from these title examinations.

Locations mentioned in the earliest transactions include the blacksmith shop, the grist mill, the mill pond, and the mill dam, all useful landmarks for fleshing out a picture of the Anderson Market building area. Tracing changes in ownership and the reconfiguration of properties over time creates a nuanced picture of the Concord Mill Dam Company’s impact on the local business community as well as on the evolving town center.