Featured Artifact of the Week

Col John Robinson Home (oil on canvas)

Painting

Olive Ballou Day O’Reilly (1904-1994) ‘s oil on canvas “Typical Farmhouse Year 1775” depicts the home of Colonel John Robinson. Olive was from Belmont, Massachusetts, married to Francis “Frank” O’Reilly (1897-1980).

Col. John Robinson (1735-1805) and his family lived in the house once located at 17 Robinson Rd. On July 11, 1937, a fire in the barn destroyed the barn and the Robinson House. A stone monu­ment was placed on the road in front of the present house by West­ford’s Col. John Robinson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The quartz boulder, supposed to be the horse block from his daughter’s home, is inscribed:

HERE LIVED COL. JOHN ROBINSON
A BRAVE AND DISTINGUISHED OFFICER
IN THE BATTLES OF CONCORD AND BUNKER HILL
BORN 1735       DIED 1805

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