Themes: Architectural, community development.

Thomas Martin sold property to Benjamin Boynton, wife Belinda, and Thomas Boynton on Feb. 7, 1822 and Boynton took a mortgage from a D. P. King. The Boyntons lived on Lowell St, nearly opposite the intersection with Bellevue Rd. Boynton sold to Ira W. Ladd on Dec. 5, 1836. and Ladd then sold three months later to Charles Abbot on Mar. 11, 1837 who owned for eight years.

Abbot then sold to Abel B. Walker on Apr. 7, 1845. The 1850 Andover Valuation schedule of assessment lists Walker; Dwelling house & barn $1050., 25 acres adjoining building $750, 16 acres Front of house $400, 18 acres Pasture and Wood $450 17 acres Plain Land $350 - total 76 acres and Farm Stock $260.

An 1852 map of Andover lists B. Boynton and A. B. Walker on the north side of Lowell St. west of the present day Route 93. On Bellevue Rd. only an H. Wood (Henry T. Wood) is listed near this location, but on the opposite side of the road. Moody Abbott then acquired this parcel.

Moody B. Abbott sold this 10 acre 94 sq. rods parcel that abutted the Osgood School lot on Aug. 3, 1864 to Ephraim N. Nickerson. Ephraim, a house-wright, paid $270.51 cents for the lot. The 1865 State census lists Ephraim b. Maine, age 41, Soldier, wife Abbie S. 40 b. NH, and four children; Alfred S. 17, Abbie A 14, George W. 6 and Frank E. age 3. Ephraim took a loan from Perry N. Jefferson for $625 on Nov. 21, 1866.

Nickerson sold the property to Benjamin F. Goldsmith for $1050 on Jan. 29, 1869. Benjamin then took a mortgage loan of $200 from Perry N. Jefferson which was later discharged. Benjamin was born Nov. 17, 1847 in Jamaica Plain, MA, son of Benj. and Rebecca (King) Goldsmith. In 1860 Benjamin age 14 and his mother Rebecca, widow, a Nurse, are boarding with the Frank & Sarah Hardy family in West Parish. Benjamin married on Feb. 10, 1869 in Lowell, MA to Marietta “Mary” A. Chase b. NH, dau. of Stephen & Marietta Chase. Ben’s occupation was a butcher.

The 1870 Andover Valuation lists Benjamin F. Goldsmith; West District, House $450, Barn $150, 10 ½ acres - $200 = $800. Goldsmith took another mortgage with George E. Herrick on Mar. 15, 1875. Sadly Goldsmith defaulted and the deed was sold at auction on July 1, 1882 to Paul F. Litchfield of Lowell for $691. Litchfield then sold to Calvin R. & Inez E. Long on Oct. 3, 1882. Long then sold a few months later to Joseph Hird and wife Emma. Hird held the property sixteen years sold for $1400 to Edward Henry Whitaker on Feb. 16, 1899.

When Edward Henry Whitaker bought the home it included a second lot of 7 acres 4 rods adjoining the 10 1/2 acres house lot. The two lots combined were 17.11 acres. Edward lived in Lawrence with his brother Frederick and their mother, widow Mrs. Albert Whitaker. Edward was an operative in the mills.
Whitaker’s name appears on the 1906 Atlas map of Andover the same year he sold to Joseph Carruthers, wife Alice on June 1, 1906.

Ida C. Blackwell followed on July 24, 1914 and then Murton H. & Bessie B. Spellman on Oct. 8, 1917. Spellman had been farming on Greenwood Rd. prior the purchasing this farm. Murton was born in Otis, MA in 1867, married Dec. 20, 1906 in Nashua, NH to Bessie Baldwin Brown b. 1877 in Athol, MA. They had four children: Murton Brown b. 1907, Bessie B. b. 1909, Hazel May b. 1911 and Myrtle b. 1915. Spellman sold in 1921 and the ownership changes hands several times until 1930 when Nicodemus Zock purchased the property on Apr. 10, 1930.

Nick Zock was born in Schwiebus, Germany on Sept. 14, 1889. His wife Clara H. b. May 22, 1885 also in Germany. They first settled in Lawrence, MA where Nick worked in a Provisions store at 53 Berkley St. When they purchased the farm he became a Poultry Farmer, one of 25 listed in the Andover Directory in 1932. Nick and Clara did not have any children. They owned and operated the farm for 29 years and would be the last to do so on this property. The Zocks sold the 11 acre farm to Ruth T. Stevens on Nov. 27, 1959. Stevens owned the Sherry Development Co., Inc., Carl H. Stevens, Treas. The deed was transferred over in June 17, 1960. With the opening of Route 93 in 1958 and 495 under construction the West Andover farms were slowly developed into house lots. Patricia Circle was built shortly thereafter.