OUR HISTORY
Our House
The Job Lane Farm Museum has been a landmark for over three hundred years. Here is its story:
While it appears that Native Americans never settled on this land, in former days they journeyed the trails nearby, and they knew of the iron and Sulphur springs that bubble up into a shallow lake half a mile to the east.
Land ownership began in 1637, when the Massachusetts Great and General Court granted Governor John Winthrop about 1500 acres, from Billerica, in what is now Bedford. Winthrop did not clear any of the land or build upon it. In 1664 the Governor’s grandson, having inherited the land, transferred it to house wright Job Lane (c.1620-1697) in exchange for a house that Lane built him in Connecticut.
Lane did improve the land and moved his family here. His oldest grandson, also named Job Lane (1689-1762), inherited 280 acres of the land for a farm. Around the time of his marriage (to Martha) in 1713, he built this small house. It was just the east half of the house we see today: a saltbox consisting of a great hall, kitchen and storage room downstairs; a bedchamber and garret above; and a high attic under the roof. Job Lane was one of the founders of Bedford and a lieutenant in the militia. He was also a church deacon, and so we know him as Deacon Job Lane.
- 1620 Job is born in England
- 1638 Winthrop and Dudley claim their grants at the Brothers Rocks
- 1643? Job and his brothers sail to America
- 1647 Job and Sarah Boyce marry in England
- 1649 Job and Sarah settle in Malden
- 1650s Four children are born to Sarah and Job
- 1658 Sarah, Job’s wife, dies
- 1660 Job and Hannah (Anna) Reyner marry
- 1662 Job barters a mansion house for the Winthrop Grant
- 1664 The Lanes move to Billerica
- 1667 Job is hired to build a bridge over the Concord River
- 1670s Job serves as Billerica Selectman and Representative
- 1675 King Philip’s War – the Lane homestead is fortified
- 1678 Job constructs a building at Harvard College
- 1681 Job returns to Malden, leaving the homestead to his son John.
- 1680s Job serves as Malden selectman 3 times
- 1689 Job’s grandson (also named Job) is born
- 1697 Job dies at the age of 77, and is buried in Malden
- 1704 Hannah dies and is buried in Malden
- 1713 The Deacon Job Lane Museum House is built
- 1729 Bedford is incorporated and becomes a town
The house passed through the hands of several of Deacon Job’s descendants. Notable among them was the fourth Job Lane, 1747-1796, who was wounded in Concord on April 19, 1775. The last to own it was his step-great-grandson, Oliver Reed Abbott (1800-1842). Abbott doubled the size of the house and commissioned Rufus Porter to paint the murals on the new parlor’s walls. At his death, it was sold out of the family.
Hiram Lee Dutton, of Andover, MA, bought the farm in 1843. It stayed in the Dutton family for another hundred and thirty years. Many Bedford residents remember buying milk and eggs from Hiram’s grandson, Warren Dutton, and his wife, Lillian. For many years, Lillian – “the Herb Lady” – ran a highly successful mail order herb business. In her memory, the Bedford Garden Club maintains a period herb garden that includes descendants of some of these same plants.
In 1972, when the House went on the market, Bedford Town Historian Louise K. Brown had the foresight to buy it in hopes that the Town would someday acquire it as a museum. A year later, Bedford bought it from her and charged the Bedford Historic Preservation Commission to oversee it. In 1978, the Friends of the Job Lane House, Inc. were formed to assist in the day-to-day operation of the museum. The Bedford Minuteman Company, the Rotary Club of Bedford, the Bedford Historical Society, the Bedford Women’s Community Club and the Nathaniel Brown family each sponsored the restoration of a room. The museum opened to the public in 1983. Through the efforts of the Friends, a 1720s style timber-frame barn was added in 1993 with an old-fashioned barn raising. more…
Our Barn
The planning for the Job Lane Barn began in the late 1980’s. Why? There was a long-term plan for the Museum, and it included a barn, equipment and uses for the barn to make a more complete Farm Museum.
Jeannette Pothier was President and called a meeting of the Executive Board who met with the Board of Directors, among them John Filios and Lloyd Walker. It was decided that we should go forward and ask the Town to build a barn with caretaker quarters behind it.
It was at Town Meeting when the Town voted down to build the barn and caretaker quarters that people passed checks along to us, siting in the front row, so that we could raise our own money to build the barn.
We gathered as a Barn Committee and planned to raise the money to build the barn. But how? We held barn yard sales (actually big yard sales), bake sales, and then Jeannette Pothier and Carol Carlson spoke to the Bedford Rotary Club. The Rotary agreed to help us build the barn. We found through the Club, a builder, an architect, and a liaison person. That was Bill Waite Jr., Art Smith, and Nat Brown. Then, they further helped us plan how to raise more money by having each timber, board and nail be associated with someone’s name for the donation. We did a lot of advertising, a great many events, and we found through Bill Waite Jr., a timber framer, Tom Musco, of Royalston Oak Timber Frames. When we had enough money, to buy the hand-hewn timber frame, the planning to raise the barn was in full swing.
With the Rotary Club, volunteers, our members, for a total of over 80 people, the post and beam barn frame was raised on June 26, 1993. The next day the roof and sides were enclosed by nailing boards to them. The story is all on the framed display in the Barn. It took many years, many people, and working very long hours together. We did it, built the barn, made it beautiful, and gave it away. We signed a Deed giving the barn to the Town of Bedford, who had issued a license to allow us to build the barn on the property. Celebrating the 25th year on July 29, 2018. more…
Job Lane Timeline
- 1620 Job is born in England
- 1638 Winthrop and Dudley claim their grants at the Brothers Rocks
- 1643? Job and his brothers sail to America
- 1647 Job and Sarah Boyce marry in England
- 1649 Job and Sarah settle in Malden
- 1650s Four children are born to Sarah and Job
- 1658 Sarah, Job’s wife, dies
- 1660 Job and Hannah (Anna) Reyner marry
- 1662 Job barters a mansion house for the Winthrop Grant
- 1664 The Lanes move to Billerica
- 1667 Job is hired to build a bridge over the Concord River
- 1670s Job serves as Billerica Selectman and Representative
- 1675 King Philip’s War – the Lane homestead is fortified
- 1678 Job constructs a building at Harvard College
- 1681 Job returns to Malden, leaving the homestead to his son John.
- 1680s Job serves as Malden selectman 3 times
- 1689 Job’s grandson (also named Job) is born
- 1697 Job dies at the age of 77, and is buried in Malden
- 1704 Hannah dies and is buried in Malden
- 1713 The Deacon Job Lane Museum House is built
- 1729 Bedford is incorporated and becomes a town