NARRAGANSETT TOWNSHIPS-NARRAGANSETT No. 4--PLAN AND DESCRIPTION--GRANTEES RELEASE THEIR CLAIM--OTHER EARLY GRANTS--BENJAMIN WOODBRIDGE AND THOMAS ARNOLD--WILLIAM BRADLEY--WILLIAM LUND--TOWN OF UXBRIDGE--HEIRS OF ICHABOD WISWALL--TOWN OF MEDFORD
Brief mention is made on page 42 of Chapter IV of the granting of seven towns to the officers and soldiers or their heirs and descendants, who served in the Narragansett or King Phillip's War.
The committee who represented the Narragansett soldiers before the General Court or Assembly of Massachusetts set forth that there were eight hundred and forty persons who served as officers and soldiers in the Narragansett War and they entered a petition praying that each one hundred and twenty men be allowed a tract of six miles square.
The prayer of the petition was granted and "Major Chander, Edward Shove, Thomas Tileson, John Hobson and Samuel Chandler be a committee fully authorized and empowered to survey and lay out five more tracts of land for townships, of the contents of six miles square, each, in some of the unappropriated lands of this province; and that the said land together with the two towns before granted be granted and disposed of to the officers and soldiers or their lawful representatives, as they are or have been allowed by this court, eight hundred and forty in number, in the whole, and in full satisfaction of the grant formerly made them by the General Court as a reward for their public service."1
This was signed by Governor Belcher and certified to by Simon Frost, deputy secretary, and passed by order on the 17th day of April, 1734; the usual limitations, restrictions and provisions were inserted in the grant. Seven towns were immediately laid out, and they were designated as Narragansett townships 1, 2, 3, etc. One is now Buxton, Me.; 2, Westminster, Mass.; 3, Amherst or Sowhegan West; 4, included Goffstown; 5, Bedford or Sowhegan East; 6, Templeton, Mass.; 7, Gorham, Me.
Narragansett No. 4 was located on the west side of the Merrimack River at Amoskeag Falls. It was laid out to one hundred and twenty grantees residing in forty-one towns in Massachusetts, according to the following plan and description:
"This plan Describeth a Tract of Land Laid out for the Narragansett solders Being the Second Township for Said Solders Laid out on Maramack and Contains the Contents of Six miles square and fifty acres Allowance for Fishery at Amasceeg falls and Three Thousand and Twenty acres allowed for Poor Land and Pond. In the whole plan is 26,160 acres bounded as follows: Beginning at a pitch pine Standing on the westerly Side of Maramack River at the foot of Hannah Hookses falls Being in Suncook Line and Runing on Said Suncook Town Ship four miles West Seventeen Degrees South to a white pine tree being the Southwest Corner of Suncook then Runing West Four miles and 40 Rods (on a Town Ship on the west of Suncook and penycook Laid out for the Naraganaett Solders) to a heap of Stones) then Runing South Five riffles and one hundred and fourty Rods on province Land to a white pine Tree being the North west Corner of ye 1st Naragansett Town on Maramack River then Runing on Said Town Ship Six miles and one hundred and Ten Rods (East) to Maramack River then on Maramack as Sd River Runs Eignt miles and 145 Rods to the pitch pine Tree at the foot of Hannah Hookses falls before mentioned.
"Surveyed and Pland by order of the Great and General Courts Comittee In october A. D. 1733.
"STEPHEN HOSMER, Jun Surveyor."
"Reserving such quantity of land as the court think proper for fishery at Amoskeag falls."2
And at the same time the General Court of Massachusetts appoint John Blaisdell, Samuel Chandler and Mr. Hutchins a committee to view the lands and report what portion should be separated for the public and common benefit of His Majesty's subjects in smoking and packing n.h there, and the committee reported a reservation of fifty acres for fisheries at Amoskeag Falls. This grant covered the territory formerly embraced within the limits of Goffstown and also a portion of the town of Hooksett which was described in the first part of the description being the northeasterly corner of the grant.
The grantees evidently became sick of their bargain, as we find in December, 1735, John Foster and Edward Shove report in behalf of the grantees that upon viewing the land they found it so poor and barren as to be altogether incapable of making settlements, and they requested that they may have liberty to take up their grant in some other province land, and in 1737 they were granted in place thereof of their New Hampshire land at Amoskeag, a tract of land which is now embraced in the township of Greenwich, County of Hampden, Mass., and their New Hampshire grant reverted to the province.
The Massachusetts General Court was early petitioned, and requested to grant land at Amoskeag Falls, before the grant to the Narragansett soldiers during the existence of the grant and subsequent. Some of these grantees claimed and occupied lands in Goffstown at the time it was granted to Rev. Thomas Parker and others by the Masonian proprietors in 1748, and to a few of these old original grantees, the grantees in 1748 extended the courtesy of their owning their lots without drawing for them.
"May 27,1726, John Sargent and others pray for a grant or tract of land at Amaskeeg Falls on Maramack river."
In June, 1732, Benjamin Woodbridge and Thomas Arnold for themselves and associates ask for a grant of land at the same place, setting forth that they had petitioned before, and asking that the same be now revived.3
In February, 1733, Ezekiel Lewis petitions that the lands for the use of the fishery at Amoskeag Falls on the west side of the river should be one hundred acres additional to the fifty first mentioned.4
On January 9, 1735-36, Thomas Tilestone of Dorchester petitions for a grant of land on account of his public services and sufferings, and he was allowed 200 acres of unappropriated land lying on the west side of the Merrimack River at the head of Amoskeag Falls, beginning at a pine tree marked, then the line runs up the river 300 rods to a pine tree marked and the plat shall not exceed 220 acres provided he does within the space of three years enclose six acres and bring to the same fit for mowing and ploughing and build a house thereon eighteen feet square and seven feet stud and have a family dwelling therein.5 This tract of land included the Colonel Farmer place and the southerly line of the same was near the mouth of the Black Brook.
In December, 1735, the Massachusetts General Court was favored with another petition signed by William Bradley, Esq., and many others of Salisbury and Amesbury, praying for a grant of lands on the westerly side of Merrimack River upon Piscataquog River, so-called, and this petition was voted by the House of Representatives.
In December, 1736, the Massachusetts House of Representatives evidently became weary of the persistent individual requests for land on the Merrimack at Amoskeag Falls and concluded to hear the petitions collectively. At this time the House seemed to be flooded with petitions for grants in Number 4, and having gone through the consideration of the private petitions for lands, voted that the petition of John Checkley and twelve others be so far granted as that they may have leave to lay out by surveyor and chainman four thousand seven hundred and forty-five acres of the province land upon the westerly side of the Merrimack River and north of, and adjoining Narragansett No. 5.
PLAN OF MEDFORD FARM AS LAID OUT BY CALEB BROOKS, JUNE 16, 1736.
In December, 1734, William Lund sets forth in a petition that "In 1724 being in the service of the province he was taken by the Indians and carried into captivity where he suffered great hardships and was obliged to pay a great price for his ransom," "and his estate was much hurt and diminished in his absence, and he asks for an allowance on account of the same."6 And he was allowed to lay out four hundred acres upon the westerly side of the Merrimack River upon condition that he settle two families upon the grant.
This grant appears to have been consented to and signed by Governor Beicher, but whether he ever brought forward two families to settle upon the granted premises is a matter of doubt. His land was laid out and a plan drawn and description filed as land lying next to Narragansett No. 5, and about one and three-fourths miles west of the Merrimack River, one-half mile in width, and running across Piscataquog River; this location was near the Col. David Worthley farm.
On December 1, 1738, Robert Taft petitions in behalf of the town of Uxbridge7 on account of the great number of bridges in said town, and five hundred acres of land was laid out to the town of Uxbridge in Number 4, and the land selected for the town of Uxbridge was located in the southerly part of the town next to the town line of Narragansett No. 5 or Bedford, and westerly and adjoIning that laid out to William Lund.
This same year Mr. Peleg Wiswall of Boston prays for a grant of province land in consideration of the services and sufferings of his father Rev. Ichabod Wiswall, now deceased, in the cause of the province.8 And accordingly three hundred acres of land was laid out to the heirs of Mr. Ichabod Wiswall, deceased, in the southerly part of Number 4, and adjoining the town line of Narragansett No. 5.
In June, 1735, the inhabitants of the town of Medford petition for a grant of land in Number 4, stating that the town is the smallest geographically of any in the province, their charges are extremely high, and the maintenance of the ministry and school is very difficult.9 And upon this petition one thousand acres of land was granted to the town of Medford in the county of Middlesex in order that they may be better enabled to support the ministry and maintain a school. The Medford land was laid out as follows:
Beginning at a pitch pine tree on the bank of the Piscataquog River about two miles west of the Merrimack, thence running west by marked trees six hundred and ninety-three perch, thence north, fifteen degrees east to a maple tree on the bank of said river four hundred perch, thence by said river nine hundred and seventy-three perch to the place of beginning, and containing one thousand acres.
The Medford grant as above stated was bounded on the east by Piscataquog River and on the west to include a small part of Hillsborough County Farm, on the south by the north line of lots 13,14, 15, and 16, in the second range. There seems to be quite a marked difference in the Medford farm as originally surveyed, and as shown on the old town plan as surveyed by Matthew Patten. But this discrepancy might arise from lack of knowledge of the country in making the original estimate on account of the course of the river. The town of Medford soon sold their right to Ezekiel Walker, Seth Ditson, John Smith and Jotham Tuttle. The two last named made settlements upon their purchases, and Tuttle's original camp was near the intersection of the Mast and Richards roads.
The Medford grant was the only one of these early grants that Matthew Patten recognized when he laid the town into lots laying out six hundred and eighty acres in place of one thousand for the same. Whatever became of the remainder of these early grants I am unable to state. The Masonian proprietors may have thought that Massachusetts held no claim to territory and failed to recognize the same, or some of the early settlers who were allowed to take lots in 1748 may have purchased them, but whatever was the result no record can be found bearing further on the case.
Chapter 6