The Bay State Monthly. Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1884
TekstA Memorial of Benja Prescott Esq: Representa of the Town of Groton in behalf of the Proprietors there, praying that the Votes of the House on his Memorial & a plat of Ten Thousand Eight hundred Acres of Land, lately Granted to the said Proprietors, as Entred in the House the 25 of March last, may be Revived and Granted, The bounds of which Tract of Land as Mentioned on the said Plat are as follows vizt.: begining at the North West Corner of Dunstable at Dram Cup hill by Sohegan River and Runing South in Dunstable line last Perambulated and Run by a Comtee of the General Court, two Thousand one hundred & fifty two poles to Townshend line, there making an angle, and Runing West 31 1-2 Deg. North on Townshend line & province Land Two Thousand and Fifty Six poles to a Pillar of Stones then turning and Ruñing by Province Land 31 1-2 deg North two Thousand & forty Eight poles to Dunstable Corner first mentioned
In the House of Representa. Read & Ordered that the prayer of the Memorial be Granted, and further that the within Plat as Reformed and Altered by Jonas Houghton Surveyr, be and hereby is accepted and the Lands therein Delineated and Described (Excepting the said One Thousand Acres belonging to Cambridge School Farm and therein included) be and hereby are Confirmed to the Proprietors of the Town of Groton their heirs and Assignes Respectivly forever, According to their Several Interests; Provided the same do not interfere with any former Grant of this Court nor Exceeds the Quantity of Eleven thousand and Eight hundred Acres and the Committee for the Town of Ipswich are Allowed and Impowred to lay out such quantity of Land on their West line as is Equivalent to what is taken off their East line as aforesaid, and Return a plat thereof to this Court within twelve Months for confirmation.
In Council Read & Concurr'd.
Consented to J Belcher
And in Answer to the said Memorial of Benja Prescott Esqr
In the House of Representa. Ordered that the prayer of the Memorial be Granted and the Comtee. for the new Township Granted to some of the Inhabitants of Ipswich are hereby Allowed to lay out an Equivalent on the West line of the said New Township Accordingly.
In Council Read & Concurr'd
Consented to J Belcher
[General Court Records (xvi, 334), June 15, 1736, in the office of the secretary of state.]
This grant, now made to the proprietors of Groton, interfered with the territory previously given on April, 1735, to certain inhabitants of Ipswich, but the mistake was soon rectified, as appears by the following:—
Voted, That one thousand seven hundred Acres of the unappropriated Lands of the Province be and hereby is given and granted to the Proprietors or Grantees of the Township lately granted to sixty Inhabitants of the Town of Ipswich, as an Equivalent for about that quantity being taken off their Plat by the Proprietors of the Common Lands of Groton, and that the Ipswich Grantees be allowed to lay out the same on the Northern or Westerly Line of the said new Township or on both sides.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 108), January 12, 1736.]
Groton Gore in 1884
The record of the grant clearly marks the boundaries of Groton Gore, and by it they can easily be identified. Dram Cup Hill, near Souhegan River, the old northwest corner of Dunstable, is in the present territory of Milford, New Hampshire. From that point the line ran south for six or seven miles, following the western boundary of Dunstable, until it came to the old Townsend line; then it turned and ran northwesterly six miles or more, when turning again it made for the original starting-place at Dunstable northwest corner. These lines enclosed a triangular district which became known as Groton Gore; in fact, the word gore means a lot of land of triangular shape. This territory is now entirely within the State of New Hampshire, lying mostly in Mason, but partly in Brookline, Wilton, Milford, and Greenville. It touches in no place the tract, hitherto erroneously supposed to comprise the Gore. It was destined, however, to remain only a few years in the possession of the proprietors; but during this short period it was used by them for pasturing cattle. Mr. John B. Hill, in his History of the Town of Mason, New Hampshire, says:—
Under this grant, the inhabitants of Groton took possession of, and occupied the territory. It was their custom to cut the hay upon the meadows, and stack it, and early in the spring to send up their young cattle to be fed upon the hay, under the care of Boad, the negro slave. They would cause the woods to be fired, as it was called, that is, burnt over in the spring; after which fresh and succulent herbage springing up, furnished good store of the finest feed, upon which the cattle would thrive and fatten through the season. Boad's camp was upon the east side of the meadow, near the residence of the late Joel Ames. (Page 26.)
In connection with the loss of the Gore, a brief statement of the boundary question between Massachusetts and New Hampshire is here given.
During many years the dividing-line between these two provinces was the subject of controversy. The cause of dispute dated back to the time when the original grant was made to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, The charter was drawn up in England at a period when little was known in regard to the interior of this country; and the boundary lines, necessarily, were very indefinite. The Merrimack River was an important factor in fixing the limits of the grant, as the northern boundary of Massachusetts was to be a line three miles north of any and every part of it. At the date of the charter, the general direction of the river was not known, but it was incorrectly assumed to be easterly and westerly. As a matter of fact, the course of the Merrimack is southerly, for a long distance from where it is formed by the union of the Winnepeseogee and the Pemigewasset Rivers, and then it turns and runs twenty-five or thirty miles in a northeasterly direction to its mouth; and this deflexion in the current caused the dispute. The difference between the actual and the supposed direction was a matter of little practical importance so long as the neighboring territory remained unsettled, or so long as the two provinces were essentially under one government; but as the population increased it became an exciting and vexatious question. Towns were chartered by Massachusetts in territory claimed by New Hampshire, and this action led to bitter feeling and provoking legislation. Massachusetts contended for the land "nominated in the bond," which would carry the line fifty miles northward into the very heart of New Hampshire; and on the other hand that province strenuously opposed this view of the case, and claimed that the line should run, east and west, three miles north of the mouth of the river. At one time, a royal commission was appointed to consider the subject, but their labors produced no satisfactory result. At last the matter was carried to England for a decision, which was rendered by the king on March 5, 1739-40. His judgment was final, and in favor of New Hampshire. It gave that province not only all the territory in dispute, but a strip of land fourteen miles in width, lying along her southern border, mostly west of the Merrimack, which she had never claimed. This strip was the tract of land between the line running east and west, three miles north of the southernmost trend of the river, and a similar line three miles north of its mouth. By the decision twenty-eight townships were taken from Massachusetts and transferred to New Hampshire. The settlement of this disputed question was undoubtedly a public benefit, although it caused, at the time, a great deal of hard feeling. In establishing the new boundary Pawtucket Falls, situated now in the city of Lowell, and near the most southern portion of the river's course, was taken as the starting-place; and the line which now separates the two States was run west, three miles north of this point. It was surveyed officially in the spring of 1741.
The new boundary passed through the original Groton grant, and cut off a triangular portion of its territory, now within the limits of Nashua, and went to the southward of Groton Gore, leaving that tract of land wholly in New Hampshire.
A few years previously to this time the original grant had undergone other dismemberment, when a slice of its territory was given to Westford. It was a long and narrow tract of land, triangular in shape, with its base resting on Stony Brook Pond, now known as Forge Pond, and coming to a point near Millstone Hill, where the boundary lines of Groton, Westford, and Tyngsborough intersect. The Reverend Edwin R. Hodgman, in his History of Westford, says:—
Probably there was no computation of the area of this triangle at any time. Only four men are named as the owners of it, but they, it is supposed, held titles to only a portion, and the remainder was wild, or "common," land, (Page 25.)
In the Journal of the House of Representatives (page 9), September 10, 1730, there is recorded:—
A petition of Jonas Prescot, Ebenezer Prescot, Abner Kent, and Ebenezer Townsend, Inhabitants of the Town of Groton, praying, That they and their Estates, contained in the following Boundaries, viz. beginning at the Northwesterly Corner of Stony Brook Pond, from thence extending to the Northwesterly Corner of Westford, commonly called Tyng's Corner, and so bound Southerly by said Pond, may be set off to the Town of Westford, for Reasons mentioned. Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners within named, with their Estates, according to the Bounds before recited, be and hereby are to all Intents and Purposes set off from the Town of Groton, and annexed to the said Town of Westford.
Sent up for Concurrence.
This order received the concurrence of the council, and was signed by the governor, on the same day that it passed the House.
During this period the town of Harvard was incorporated. It was made up from portions of Groton, Lancaster, and Stow, and the engrossed act signed by the governor, on June 29, 1732. The petition for the township was presented to the General Court nearly two years before the date of incorporation. In the Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 84, 85), October 9, 1730, it is recorded:—
A Petition of Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone, Jonathan Whitney, and Thomas Wheeler, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf and at the desire of sundry of the Inhabitants on the extream parts of the Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow, named in the Schedule thereunto annexed; praying, That a Tract of Land (with the Inhabitants thereon, particularly described and bounded in said Petition) belonging to the Towns above-mentioned, may be incorporated and erected into a distinct Township, agreeable to said Bounds, for Reasons mentioned. Read, together with the Schedule, and Ordered, That the Petitioners serve the Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow with Copies of the Petition, that they may shew Cause (if any they have) on the first Thursday of the next Session, why the Prayer thereof may not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence.
Further on, in the same Journal (page 136), December 29, 1730, it is also recorded:—
The Petition of Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone, and others, praying as entred the 9th. of October last. Read again, together with the Answers of the Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow, and Ordered, That Maj. Brattle and Mr. Samuel Chandler, with such as the Honourable Board shall appoint, be a Committee, (at the Charge of the Petitioners) to repair to the Land Petitioned for to be a Township, that they carefully view and consider the Situation and Circumstances of the Petitioners, and Report their Opinion what may be proper for this Court to do in Answer thereto, at their next Session.
Sent up for Concurrence.
Ebenezer Burrel Esq; brought from the Honourable Board, the Report of the Committee appointed by this Court the 30th of December last, to take under Consideration the Petition of Jonas Houghton and others, in behalf of themselves and sundry of the Inhabitants of the Eastern part of the Towns of Lancaster, Groton and Stow, praying that they may be erected into a separate Township. Likewise a Petition of Jacob Houghton and others, of the North-easterly part of the Town of Lancaster, praying the like. As also a Petition of sundry of the Inhabitants of the South-west part of the North-east Quarter of the Township of Lancaster, praying they may be continued as they are. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council, June 21, 1731. Read, and Ordered, That this Report be accepted.
Sent down for Concurrence. Read and Concurred.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 52), June 22, 1731.]
The original copy of the petition for Harvard is now probably lost; but in the first volume (page 53) of "Ancient Plans Grants &c." among the Massachusetts Archives, is a rough plan of the town, with a list of the petitioners, which may be the "Schedule" referred to in the extract from the printed Journal. It appears from this document that, in forming the new town, forty-eight hundred and thirty acres of land were taken from the territory of Groton; and with the tract were nine families, including six by the name of Farnsworth. This section comprised the district known, even now, as "the old mill," where Jonas Prescott had, as early as the year 1667, a gristmill. The heads of these families were Jonathan Farnsworth, Eleazer Robbins, Simon Stone, Jr., Jonathan Farnsworth, Jr., Jeremiah Farnsworth, Eleazer Davis, Ephram Farnsworth, Reuben Farnsworth, and [torn] Fransworth, who had petitioned the General Court to be set off from Groton. On this plan of Harvard the names of John Burk, John Burk, Jr., and John Davis, appear in opposition to Houghton's petition.
The town of Harvard took its name from the founder of Harvard College, probably at the suggestion of Jonathan Belcher, who was governor of the province at the time and a graduate of the college.
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esqr. Capt General and Governour in Chief The Honble. The Council and the Honourable House of Representatives of His Majestys Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in General Court Assembled by Adjournment Decembr 16 1730
The Memorial of Jonas Houghton Simon Stone Jonathan Whitney and Thomas Wheeler Humbly Sheweth
That upon their Petition to this Great and Honourable Court in October last [the 9th] praying that a Certain Tract of Land belonging to Lancaster Stow and Groton with the Inhabitants thereon may be Erected into a Distinct and Seperate Township (and for Reasons therein Assigned) your Excellency and Honours were pleased to Order that the petitioners Serve The Towns of Lancaster Groton and Stow with a Copy of their said Petition that they may shew Cause if any they have on the first Thursday of the next Sessions why the prayers thereof may not be granted.
And for as much as this great and Honble. Court now Sitts by Adjournment and the next Session may be very Remote And your Memorialists have attended the Order of this Honble: Court in serving the said Several Towns with Copys of the said Petition And the partys are attending and Desirous the hearing thereon may be brought forward ye former order of this Honl Court notwithstanding.
They therefore most humbly pray your Excellency & Honours would be pleased to Cause the hearing to be had this present Session and that a Certain day may be assigned for the same as your Excellency & Honours in your great wisdom & Justice shall see meet.
And your Memorialists as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray.
JONAS HOUGHTON
SIMON STOON JUNER
JONATHAN WHITNEY
THOMAS WHELER
In the House of Reptives Decr 17, 1730 Read and in Answer to this Petition Ordered That the Petrs give Notice to the Towns of Lancaster Groton and Stow or their Agents that they give in their Answer on the twenty ninth Instt. why the Prayer of the Petition within referred to may not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence
J QUINCY Spkr:
In Council Dec. 18, 1730; Read and Concur'd.
J WILLARD Secry
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 6-8.]
The next dismemberment of the Groton grant took place in the winter of 1738-39, when a parcel of land was set off to Littleton. I do not find a copy of the petition for this change, but from Mr. Sartell's communication it seems to have received the qualified assent of the town.
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esqr Captain General & Governour in Chief &c the Honorable Council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled at Boston January 1, 1738.
May it please your Excellency and the Honorable Court.
Whereas there is Petition offered to your Excellency and the Honorable Court by several of the Inhabitants of the Town of Groton praying to be annexed to the Town of Littleton &c.
The Subscriber as Representative of said Town of Groton and in Behalf of said Town doth hereby manifest the Willingness of the Inhabitants of Groton in general that the Petitioners should be annexed to the said Town of Littleton with the Lands that belong to them Lying within the Line Petitioned for, but there being a Considerable Quantity of Proprietors Lands and other particular persons Lying within the Line that is Petitioned for by the said Petitioners. The Subscriber in Behalf of said Town of Groton & the Proprietors and others would humbly pray your Excellency and the Honorable Court that that part of their Petition may be rejected if in your Wisdom you shall think it proper and that they be sett off with the lands only that belong to them Lying within the Line Petitioned for as aforesaid, and the Subscriber in Behalf of the Town of Groton &c will as in Duty Bound ever pray &c.
NATHANIEL SARTELL
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 300.]
John Jeffries, Esq; brought down the Petition of Peter Lawrence and others of Groton, praying to be annexed to Littleton, as entred the 12th ult. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council January 4th, 1738. Read again, together with the Answer of Nathanael Sartell, Esq; Representative for the Town of Groton, which being considered, Ordered, That the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted as that the Petitioners with their Families & Estates within the Bounds mentioned in the Petition be and hereby are set off from the Town of Groton, and are annexed to and accounted as part of the Town of Littleton, there to do Duty and receive Priviledge accordingly.
Sent down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 86), January 4, 1738.]
In the autumn of 1738, many of the settlers living in the northerly part of Groton, now within the limits of Pepperell, and in the westerly part of Dunstable, now Hollis, New Hampshire, were desirous to be set off in a new township. Their petition for this object was also signed by a considerable number of non-resident proprietors, and duly presented to the General Court. The reasons given by them for the change are found in the following documents:—
To His Excellency Jona. Belcher Esqr. Captain General and Governour in Chief &c The Honble. the Council and House of Reptives in General Court Assembled at Boston November the 29th 1738
The Petition of the Subscribers Inhabitants and Proprietors of the Towns of Dunstable and Groton.
Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioners are Situated on the Westerly side Dunstable Township and the Northerly side Groton Township those in the Township of Dunstable in General their houses are nine or ten miles from Dunstable Meeting house and those in the Township of Groton none but what lives at least on or near Six miles from Groton Meeting house by which means your petitioners are deprived of the benefit of preaching, the greatest part of the year, nor is it possible at any season of the year for their familys in General to get to Meeting under which Disadvantages your petrs has this Several years Laboured, excepting the Winter Seasons for this two winters past, which they have at their Own Cost and Charge hired preaching amongst themselves which Disadvantages has very much prevented peoples Settling land there.
That there is a Tract of good land well Situated for a Township of the Contents of about Six miles and an half Square bounded thus, beginning at Dunstable Line by Nashaway River So running by the Westerly side said River Southerly One mile in Groton Land, then running Westerly a Paralel Line with Groton North Line, till it comes to Townsend Line and then turning and running north to Grotton Northwest Corner, and from Grotton Northwest Comer by Townsend line and by the Line of Groton New Grant till it comes to be five miles and an half to the Northward of Groton North Line from thence due east, Seven miles, from thence South to Nashua River and So by Nashua River Southwesterly to Grotton line the first mentioned bounds, which described Lands can by no means be prejudicial either to the Town of Dunstable or Groton (if not coming within Six miles or thereabouts of either of their Meeting houses at the nearest place) to be taken off from them and Erected into a Seperate Township.
That there is already Settled in the bounds of the aforedescribed Tract near forty familys and many more ready to come on were it not for the difficulties and hardships aforesd of getting to meeting. These with many other disadvantages We find very troublesome to Us, Our living so remote from the Towns We respectively belong to.
Wherefore your Petitioners most humbly pray Your Excellency and Honours would take the premises into your Consideration and make an Act for the Erecting the aforesaid Lands into a Seperate and distinct Township with the powers priviledges and Immunities of a distinct and Seperate Township under such restrictions and Limitations, as you in your Great Wisdom shall see meet.
And Whereas it will be a great benefit and Advantage to the Non resident proprietors owning Lands there by Increasing the Value of their Lands or rendering easy Settleing the same, Your Petrs also pray that they may be at their proportionable part according to their respective Interest in Lands there, for the building a Meeting-house and Settling a Minister, and so much towards Constant preaching as in your wisdom shall be thought proper.
Settlers on the aforesd Lands
Obadiah Parker
Willm Colburn
Josiah Blood
Stephen Harris
Jerahmal Cumings
Thos Dinsmoor
Ebenr Pearce
Peter Pawer
Abrm Taylor Junr
Benja Farley
Henry Barton
Peter Wheeler
Robert Colburn
David Vering
Philip Woolerick
Nathl Blood
William Adams
Joseph Taylor
Moses Procter
Willm Shattuck
Thos Navins
Non Resident Proprietors
Samuel Browne
W Browne
Joseph Blanchard
John Fowle Junr
Nath Saltonstall
Joseph Eaton
Joseph Lemmon
Jeremiah Baldwin
Saml Baldwin
Daniel Remant
John Malven
Jona Malven
James Cumings
Isaac Farwell
Ebenr Procter
In the House of Representatives Decr 12th. 1738. Read and Ordered that the Petitioners Serve the Towns of Grotton and Dunstable with Coppys of the petition.
In Council January 4th. 1738.
Read again and Ordered that the further Consideration of this Petition be referred to the first tuesday of the next May Session and that James Minot and John Hobson Esqrs with Such as the Honourable Board shall joine be a Committee at the Charge of the Petitioners to repair to the Lands petitioned for to be Erected into a Township first giving Seasonable notice as well to the petitioners as to the Inhabitants and Non Resident Proprietors of Lands within the sd Towns of Dunstable and Groton of the time of their going by Causing the same to be publish'd in the Boston Gazette, that they carefully View the sd Lands as well as the other parts of the sd Towns, so farr as may be desired by the Partys or thought proper, that the Petitioners and all others Concerned be fully heard in their pleas and Allegations for, as well as against the prayer of the Petition; and that upon Mature Consideration on the whole the Committee then report what in their Opinion may be proper for the Court to do in Answer there to Sent up for Concurrence.
J QUINCY Spkr.
In Council Janry 9th. 1738
Read and Concurred and Thomas Berry Esqr is joined in the Affair
SIMON FROST Depty. Secry.
Consented to
J. BELCHER
A true Copy Examd per Simon Frost, Depy Secry.
In the House of Reptives June 7th: 1739
Read and Concurred
J QUINCY Spkr;
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 268-271.]
The Committee Appointed on the Petition of the Inhabitants and Proprietors situated on the Westerly side of Dunstable and Northerly side of Groton, Having after Notifying all parties, Repaired to the Lands, Petitioned to be Erected into a Township, Carefully Viewed the same, Find a very Good Tract of Land in Dunstable Westward of Nashuway River between sd River and Souhegan River Extending from Groton New Grant and Townsend Line Six Miles East, lying in a very Commodious Form for a Township, and on said Lands there now is about Twenty Families, and many more settling, that none of the Inhabitants live nearer to a Meeting House then Seven miles and if they go to their own Town have to pass over a ferry the greatest part of the Year. We also Find in Groton a sufficient Quantity of Land accommodable for settlement, and a considerable Number of Inhabitants thereon, that in Some Short Time when they are well Agreed may be Erected into a Distinct Parish; And that it will be very Form prayed for or to Break in upon Either Town. The Committee are of Opinion that the Petitioners in Dunstable are under such Circumstances as necessitates them to Ask Relief which will be fully Obtained by their being made Township, which if this Honble. Court should Judge necessary to be done; The Committee are Further of Opinion that it Will be greatly for the Good and Interest of the Township that the Non Resident Proprietors, have Liberty of Voting with the Inhabitants as to the Building and Placing a Meeting House and that the Lands be Equally Taxed, towards said House And that for the Support of the Gosple Ministry among them the Lands of the Non Resident Proprietors be Taxed at Two pence per Acre for the Space of Five Years.
All which is Humbly Submitted in the Name & by Order of the Committee
THOMAS BERRY
In Council July 7 1739
Read and ordered that the further Consideration of this Report be referred to the next Sitting, and that the Petitioners be in the meantime freed from paying any thing toward the support of the ministry in the Towns to which they respectively belong
Sent down for Concurrence
J WlLLARD Secry
In the House of Reptives June 7: 1739 Read and Concurred
J QUINCY Spkr:
Consented to
J BELCHER
In Council Decemr 27, 1739.
Read again and Ordered that this Report be so far accepted as that the Lands mentioned and described therein, with the Inhabitants there be erected into a Separate & distinct precinct, and the Said Inhabitants are hereby vested with all Such Powers and Priviledges that any other Precinct in this Province have or by Law ought to enjoy and they are also impowered to assess & levy a Tax of Two pence per Acre per Annum for the Space of Five years on all the unimproved Lands belonging to the non residents Proprietors to be applied for the Support of the Ministry according to the Said Report.
Sent down for Concurrence
SIMON FROST Depy Secry
In the House of Reptives Dec 28. 1739 Read and Concur'd.
J QUINCY Spkr:
Janury. 1: Consented to,
J BELCHER
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 272, 273.]
While this petition was before the General Court, another one was presented praying for a new township to be made up from the same towns, but including a larger portion of Groton than was asked for in the first petition. This application met with bitter opposition on the part of both places, but it may have hastened the final action on the first petition. It resulted in setting off a precinct from Dunstable, under the name of the West Parish, which is now known as Hollis, New Hampshire. The papers relating to the second petition are as follows:—
To His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esquire Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, the Honourable the Council and House of Representatives of said Province, in General Court Assembled Dec. 12th, 1739.
The Petition of Richard Warner and Others, Inhabitants of the Towns of Groton and Dunstable.
Most Humbly Sheweth
That Your Petitioners dwell very far from the place of Public Worship in either of the said Towns, Many of them Eight Miles distant, some more, and none less than four miles, Whereby Your Petitioners are put to great difficulties in Travelling on the Lord's Days, with our Families.
Your Petitioners therefore Humbly Pray Your Excellency and Honours to take their circumstances into your Wise and Compassionate Consideration, And that a part of the Town of Groton, Beginning at the line between Groton and Dunstable where inconvenient to Erect a Township in the it crosses Lancaster [Nashua] River, and so up the said River until it comes to a Place called and Known by the name of Joseph Blood's Ford Way on said River, thence a West Point 'till it comes to Townshend line &c. With such a part and so much of the Town of Dunstable as this Honourable Court in their great Wisdom shall think proper, with the Inhabitants Thereon, may be Erected into a separate and distinct Township, that so they may attend the Public Worship of God with more ease than at present they can, by reason of the great distance they live from the Places thereof as aforesaid.
And Your Petitioners, as in Duty bound, shall ever Pray &c.
Richard Warner
Benjamin Swallow
William Allin
Isaac Williams
Ebenezer Gilson
Ebenezer Peirce
Samuel Fisk
John Green
Josiah Tucker
Zachariah Lawrence Junr
William Blood
Jeremiah Lawrence
Stephen Eames
"[Inhabitants of Groton]"
Enoch Hunt
Eleazer Flegg
Samuel Cumings
William Blanchard
Gideon Howe
Josiah Blood
Samuel Parke
Samuel Farle
William Adams
Philip Wolrich
"[Inhabitants of Dunstable]"
[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 274, 273.]
Province of the Massachusetts Bay
To His Excellency The Governour The Honble Council & House of Reptives in Generall Court Assembled Decr 1739
The Answer of ye Subscribers agents for the Town of Groton to ye Petition of Richard Warner & others praying that part of Said Town with part of Dunstable may be Erected into a Distinct & Seperate Township.
May it please your Excellency & Honrs
The Town of Groton Duely Assembled and Taking into Consideration ye Reasonableness of said Petition have Voted their Willingness, That the prayer of ye Petition be Granted as per their Vote herewith humbly presented appears, with this alteration namely That they Include the River (vizt Nashua River) over wch is a Bridge, built Intirely to accommodate said Petitioners heretofore, & your Respondents therefore apprehend it is but Just & Reasonable the same should for the future be by them maintain'd if they are Set of from us.
Your Respondents Pursuant to ye Vote Aforesaid, humbly move to your Excellency & Honrs That no more of Dunstable be Laid to Groton Then Groton have voted of, for one Great Reason that Induced Sundry of ye Inhabitants of Groton to come into Said Vote was This Namely They owning a very Considerable part of the Lands Voted to be set of as aforesd were willing to Condesent to ye Desires of their Neighbours apprehending that a meeting House being Erected on or near ye Groton Lands & a minister settled it would Raise their Lands in Vallue but should considerable part of Dunstable be set of more then of Groton it must of course draw the Meeting House farther from ye Groton Inhabitants which would be very hurtfull both to the people petitioners & those that will be Non Resident proprietors if the Township is made.
Wherefore they pray That Said New Township may be Incorporated Agreeable to Groton Vote vizt Made Equally out of both Towns & as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray
Natell Sartell