USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Chelsea > Documentary history of Chelsea : including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, vol 1 > Part 11
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Sarah daughter vnto the abouenamed Sagamore George Ap- peared before me and acknowledged that shee voluntarily signed sealed and delivered this aboue written Instrumt as her Aete and Deed; together with the other her Relations abouementioned Boston 21: Aprill 1685 before me Hum : Davie Assisttt
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The Second Indian Deed.
[It is an indenture dated June 4, 1685. The grantors men- tioned are " David Eldest Sone of Samuel Manatooquis only Son of Sagamore George decd," Waquaahqunt and James Rumny Marsh " Kinsmen to ye sd Sagamore George," and " Cisly and Sarah two Survivcing daughters of the sd Sagamore George, Jone wife of the sd George "; but only the first three and " Susanna, daughter of George Waquaaquunt," signed the conveyance. The grantees were Richard Wharton, as trustee for Samuel Bellingham 7 and in his own right, Deane Winthrop, James Bill Senr, John Tuttle, John ffloyd, William Ireland, Aron Way, and " Such other person and persons (thônot especially named) whose names shal by the sd Richard Wharton be endorsed on this present Dced in or within The Space of Six weekes after the date hereof, as doe either by themselves or Tennants possess or have propriety in any of the Lands and premisses afforesd commonly called Winnisimett Rum- ney Marsh or Pullen point Lands, or appertaining to any of ye Same, whether within the bounds of Charlestowne Boston, Maul- don or Lynn &'c (Except Such Lands and only Such as are by the Grantors or any of ym already Granted and Sold to Mr Symon Lynd, mr Nicholas Paige, and Anna his wife, and to Capt Penn Townsend, and Such as are in the actuall possession and Im- provemt of Job Laine and his Tennants &'c)."
In accord with this power, Wharton added the following : - " Lt William Hearsey 8 hath right in one ffarme of one hundred
" Samuel Bellingham then owned the greater part of the present city of Chelsea [Wharton owned in his own right the Eustace or Shurtleff farm, see infra, chap. vii.]; Deane Winthrop owned the large estate in the northeasterly part of Winthrop, on which the old Winthrop house now stands. James Bill's estate was mainly in the southiwesterly part of Winthrop. (See the plan of the Winthrop and Bill estates, infra, chap. vi.) John Tuttle's estate [lay on either side of] Beach Street, [extending] north into the marsh afterwards known as the "Dammed Marsh "; John Floyd's estate reached from Tuttle's northerly to the Pines River; and Way and Ireland's included the whole of modern Prattville.
8 The estates released from the Indian claim may be referred to their later owners. The Hearsey or Hasey estate was of the original Cole allotment, already described in the appendix to chap. iv., and included the land on which the Unitarian church stands and lands easterly to the beach. Belcher's estate probably was near Hasey. [It was a part of the original Cole farm, and was bounded southerly by a line a little south of Pleasant Street, and easterly by Beach Street.] Elias Maverick's estate was that now occupied by the United States Naval and Marine hospitals. Lieutenant John Smith was tenant of the Ferry Farm, and had land in
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and Sixty Acres more or Less; Jeremiah Beleher hath propriety in about fforty Aeres, mr Elias Maverick and Bro. hath propriety in a ffarme of One Hundred and Twenty Aeres more or less lyeing at Winnysimmett Lt John Smith of Winysimett hath propriety in Sundry Traets and Lotts lyeing in Charlestowne and Mauldin Bounds qt about Sixty Aeres, That Capt John ffloyd within named is concerned for himself (& Thomas and Joseph Robinson and Jacob Greene junior) in the ffarme he now possess att Rumney Marsh and he sd ffloyd in right of his Sonne Joseph is possessed of a Traet about thirty aeres pt in Boston & prt in Mauldin the Children Administrators or assignes of Captn Brattle deed have a ffarme of about three hundred Acres. and John and Elisha Bennett have a ffarme about three hundred Aeres, The whole and every part of what is here Endorsed being eompre- hended in the General Grant and release within."
The endorsement was dated July 10, 1685; the indenture was recorded at the Suffolk Registry, August 21, 1685.º]
The alternative to the proprietors was resistance to Andros, or taking new deeds from him at such quitrent as he deemed reasonable, though I cannot learn that he was extortionate. Some were ready to resist; others, among whom was Samuel Sewall, thought it prudent to submit, though opposed to the Andros government. Submission was to relinquish old titles, and petition the Governor for new. The first Indian deed given above was primarily in the interest of Nathaniel New- gate, owner of the great Newgate farm at Rumney Marsh; and he was among the first to perfect his title by petition.10
Charlestown and Malden not now easily determinable. Captain John Floyd's estate was part of Cogan's (see appendix to chiap. iv.). The Brattle and Bennett estates were in the "Pan Handle " in Revere and Saugus. [See infra, the appendices to chap. vi. for a detailed description of these farms.]
9 L. 13, f. 365. A third deed by some of the same parties for lands about Salem, October 11, 1686, is printed in 1 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vi. 278. See also 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., xvii. 52; Drake, Boston, 456; Memorial Hist. of Boston, i. 250, note; Shurtleff, Boston, 468. Dr. Bentley and some other writers seem not to have understood the true pur- pose of these deeds.
10 Mass. Archives, cxxix. 54. [autograph petition, endorsed " 16d July 1688 - Pet of Nathll Newgate."] He received a deed, or fine, as it was called, - the only original known to me, -which is in the Bostonian Society, No. 599, Catalogue of 1895. Its date is 1687, June 15, and it was recorded December 21, same year; but not with Suffolk Deeds, - possibly in a separate volume now lost. It is on parchment, in black
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To his Excellency Sr Edmond Andross Knt Capin Generall and Governour in Cheefe of the Terittory and Domnion of New England//
The humble Pettition of Nathaniell Newdigate als Newgate Merchant - Sheweth
That Your Excellencyes Petitioner was Commanded by the Sherrif of Suffolk to Answer an Information Exhibited in the Superior Court at Boston by the Atturney Generall for and Con- cernig A Certaine Messuadg and Farme Contayning five hundered acres or thereabouts Lying and Being Scittuate in Rumny Marsh adjoyning unto ye farme of Coll. Page and also of: about thirty acres of Marsh or Meado [w] upon hogg Island Now in Your Petitioners Possession To which he hath no Title Therefore humbly Submits the Same unto his Majestye being Unwilling to Stand Suit with the King So humbly Craves
Thatt Your Excelley would Be Pleased to Order him his Majestyes Graunt for the Same Under such Moderat Rents as Your Excelley Shall thinck fitt and Your Pettit- tioner Shall as in Duty Bound Ever Pray &c
Nathaniell Newgate.
letter, with a portrait of James II in scroll, and a border of animals. It has an impression of the Great Seal in wax. In the margin, "sold at Clifford's Inn Lane." [This document, the text of which is in Latin, and the script old style and very ornate, seems to have been incorrectly labelled and catalogued. The seal attached is neither the private seal of Andros, which he used for commissions in the army and the like, or the seal of New England. See the former seal in the Mass. Archives and the latter in 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., vi. 80, 81. All but the first page is missing; it appears to be the judgment or fine of the Court of Com- mon Pleas at Westminster, England, in a common recovery to bar the entail. It was recorded by John West, " Secry," in the " Secrys Office " in Boston. The records for the Andros period are missing. See infra, chap. vi. Appendix 6.] Newgate contributed £2 towards erecting a church for God's worship in Boston. H. W. Foote, Annals of King's Chapel, i. 89.
Y
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CHAPTER VI
ALLOTMENTS OF LAND
THE Indian title to the lands afterwards incorporated as the town of Chelsea was extinguished by deeds of release to individual proprietors.1 But the Indians were not regarded as sole owners of the soil, since, as has been said, the title to the central portion of North America was, agrecably to the public law of Europe at that time, vested in the Crown of England by right of discovery and occupation. This title in the Crown, I am now to trace to the town of Boston, and thence to those whose lands we now occupy.
John and Sebastian Cabot, sailing under a patent from Henry VIII., discovered the northern continent of America in 1497, a year earlier than either Columbus or Americus Ves- pucius saw it. The Cabots claimed to have sailed thrce hun- dred leagues along the coast, landed, and planted on the soil the banner of England. This was the foundation of the English claim. But occupancy, as well as discovery, was essential to title; and this was perfected by Sir Walter Ralegh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who took possession of it for the Crown a hundred years later.2
With this title, whatever its validity, King James, Novem- ber 3, 1620, granted to the Council at Plymouth in Devon, England, all that part of America between forty and forty- eight degrees of north latitude, from sea to sea, in fee, they paying to the King onc-fifth of all the gold and silver obtained
1 [No record has been found of an Indian deed of date antecedent to April, 1685; when, in 1651, Sagamore George contested the settlers' title none could be produced, and it was necessary to plead as evidence of title the grant from the town of Boston and long occupancy. Supra, chap. iv. ]
2 Lowell Institute Lectures on the Early Hist. of Mass. by members of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 129 et seq.
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from the country. In this way the Plymouth Company (not to be confounded with the Plymouth Pilgrims) became owners of land, which it sold in parcels to other companies or individ- uals, but with boundaries so vague and conflicting that con- troversies ensued.
Passing over earlier patents, there is that of March 19, 1627/8, by which Sir Henry Rosewell and his associates acquired all of New England from sea to sea, lying between the Charles and the Merrimack rivers, including three miles south of any and every part of the Charles, and three miles north of any and every part of the Merrimack. Literally, though probably not by intention, this included a large part of New Hampshire; and by express terms, all the lands, harbours, waters, fisheries, and mines (except the King's roy- alty in the latter), together with the islands and the adjoining seas. This patent did not create a government, or give the grantees the right to form one, but merely conveyed the property.3
The motive of the Crown in making this grant ( aside from the royalty of the precious ores) was to extend its dominions by planting a colony, which would add to the national prestige, and ineidentally to the national revenue, by opening new lands and channels of trade within exclusive English control. On the other hand, the land company expected gain from the sale or leasing of lands, as well as from hunting, fishing, mining, and the transportation of goods and passengers. Their grantees were those who, for bettering their fortunes or from a spirit of adventure, readily embarked in new enter- prises. To these should be added those influenced by religious or political considerations. Such were the Puritans, who, r'estive under restraints upon their civil and religious liberty,
3 [The patent from the Council for New England to Sir Henry Rosewell and his associates, of March, 1627/8, is known only as cited in the Charter from the King, of March, 1628/9. The Council granted to Sir Henry et al the lands with "all jurisdiccons, rights, royalties, liberties, freedomes, yimmunities, priviledges, franchises, preheminences, and comodities what- soever which they, the saide Councell ... then had or might vse, exer- cise, or enioy in and within the' saide landes." (Mass. Col. Rec., i. 5.) A corporation could not be formed without a Charter from the King; but the Council of New England assigned to Sir Henry and his associates, as individuals, its rights of jurisdiction and powers of government within the limits of Massachusetts.]
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sought, under more promising conditions, to establish a com- munity where they would be free to enjoy their opinions, and at the same time earry Christianity to the heathen.
For this it was essential to be incorporated as a body politic and, moreover, as a colony three thousand miles remote front the King's immediate government, be given the right of setting up one suited to their new eireumstances. Accordingly the Crown, March 4, 1628/9, granted to Sir Henry Rosewell and his associates, the patentees with some changes of the preeed- ing year, a charter which confirmed their patent and con- stituted them a corporation by the name of " The Governor and Company of the Mattachusetts Bay in Newe England," with the rights, powers, and duties of corporations in England, and the power to set up a local government in the colony.4
Thus empowered and having, as they believed, for sale or lease on favorable terms, a country, rich in fertile lands, covered with forests valuable for timber, full of fur-bearing animals, bordered by seas and interlaced by rivers abounding in fish, - to say nothing of precious metals in the interior hills, - they began their colony. Ships, stores, arms and ammunition, tools, animals, seeds, clothing, and medicines were purchased. Clergymen, physicians, engineers, miners, laborers, and servants were engaged. Nothing deemed essen- tial to the success of the enterprise was omitted. They set- tled what expenses should be borne by the general stock (or
* The history of the Charter is interesting, though not to be given here in detail. Probably the King intended to grant only such powers as would enable the Company in England to carry on its business in Massachusetts with a local government, as stated in the text. But the Charter was drawn so indefinitely, - so craftily, its enemies said, - that in the opinion of some good English lawyers, it could be legally trans- ferred to Massachusetts; and also so comprehensively that a great jurist, Joel Parker, claimed for it all the powers needed for setting up a complete civil and ecclesiastical government. (Lowell Institute Lectures on the Early Hist. of Mass. by members of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 355-439; 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., xi. 176-196.) And this latter seems to have been the opinion of Winthrop and his associates, for no sooner were they set down in Boston Bay than they acted on that view of their powers. This explains many things which seem very extraordinary to some in our day - and there are many - who are unable to accept their view. Also the right of a complete local government has by some been regarded as carrying with it the right to transfer the Charter. Doyle, Puritan Colonies, i. 120, 158, 352, citing R. C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop, ii. 443; G. E. Ellis, Puritan Age, 47; 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., viii. 108.
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the company) and what by the colonists. Each contributor to the stock was entitled to a certain number of acres; and for every immigrant not of the company an equitable provision of land was made, depending upon the number of his family and servants.5
The first party of colonists under the company came over with Endieott, who arrived at Salem, September 6, 1628; and these were reinforced, the next year, by Higginson's party. Endieott's company, with those he found here, were about one hundred, to whom Higginson added about two hun- dred.6 Late in the autumn of 1628, or in the following summer, a part of Endieott's eolony came from Salem through the woods to Charlestown, and there formed a settlement ante- dating the arrival of Winthrop by about a year.7
But the affairs of the company prospered financially neither in England nor at Salem. Outgoes were constant and large; returns few, and of small amount. Some subseribers to the stock were slow in paying their dues; others failed wholly or in part. The burden was heavy and even ruinous to not a few who had embarked their eapital in the enterprise. The land company was a failure from the start. Endieott, an able man, carried out the instructions of the company in Eng- land with zeal and fidelity; and when it beeame a corporation with the right to set up a local government, he was chosen its governor.8 But the affairs of a corporation so far away were not easily managed from England, and this led to its transfer with the charter to New England. Before this transfer, and upon condition of it, some new men, of whom John Winthrop was chief, eame into the company with new hopes and deter- mination. They were Puritans having eapital, for laek of which the undertaking had hitherto languished.9 When they joined their fortunes to the enterprise, it acquired vigor and went forward suecessfully.
5 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 363, 399, 405.
6 Young, Chronicles of Mass., 13, note 4.
Frothingham, Charlestown, 13, 14.
8 [The wording of the first letter of instructions to Endicott from the Massachusetts Bay Company as a corporation was, " Wee haue con- firmed yow Goûnor of or plantacon." Mass. Col. Rec., i. 387.]
9 It was estimated that nearly a million dollars were expended in the establishment of the Colony.
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It belongs to the history of the colony, rather than to that of any town, to mark the steps by which the company gradu- ally lost its character as the promoter of a land scheme, and acquired that of the founder of a state. On Massachusetts, no less than on English soil, in form at least it was a finan- cial venture from which profit was confidently expected; but religious and political considerations were paramount, as is manifest from their first legislation. This provided for the sessions of the General Court, for the maintenance of min- isters, the issue of process in civil actions, the regulation of wages, and, in general, the ordering of civil and ecclesiastical government. Nothing appears in the records about return cargoes of fish, beaver skins, lumber or ores, which would have gladdened the joint-stock company in England.
Still it remained a land company; and, as such, made grants of land to prominent men, and doubtless to those who, as contributors to the stock or as emigrants, were entitled thereto, though I find no record of these last. But we can trace the stages by which the company divested itself of land within loosely defined town limits, by its transfer to their inhabitants, even before they became corporations legally capable of taking or disposing of such lands. Massachusetts towns, as has been said, did not come from England, but sprang up on the soil as they were needed, and were recognized as quasi corporations [as early as] 1632, though their powers were not defined by the General Court until 1636.1º Names were first given : thus September 7, 1630, it was ordered that " Trimountaine shalbe called Boston; Mattapan, Dorchester ; & the towne vpon Charles Ryver, Waterton." 11
Among the early acts of the land company (for such it continued to be) recognizing unorganized communities as political bodies, was that of November 7, 1632, which " ordered, that the necke of land betwixte Powder Horne Hill & Pullen Poynte shall belonge to Boston, to be enioyed by the inhabitants thereof for euer "; 12 and at the same Court, " that
10 The New Historical School, by the writer in 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., v. 264; also the Genesis of New England Towns, ibid., vii. 214-242; Mass. Col. Rec., i. 172.
11 This naming of towns has been regarded as equivalent to their in- corporation. Joel Parker, Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., ix. 42, note.
12 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 101.
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the inhabitants of Boston shall haue liberty to fetch wood from Dorchester necke of land for 20 yeares, the ppriety of the land to remaine to Doreliester." July 2, 1633, " It is ordered that the ground lyeing betwixte the North Ryvr & the creeke 13 on the north side of M' Mauacks, & soe vpp into the country; shall belonge to the inhabitants of Charlton." 14 April 1, 1634, Long Island, Deer Island and Hogg Island were granted to Boston for a yearly rent. May 14, 1634, it was “ ordered that Winetseniet, & the howses there builte & to be builte, shall ioyne themselues eith" to Charlton or Boston, as members of that towne, before the nexte Genal Court, to be holden the first Wednesday in Septemb' nexte, or els to be layde then to one of those two townes by the Court," and September 3, it was deereed " that Wynetsemt shall belonge to Boston, & to be aecompted as pte of that towne." September 25, 1634 "It is ordered , that Boston shall haue inlargemt att Mount Woollis- ton & Rumney Marshe." 15 These orders imply corporate towns, and ownership of property; but the proceedings were anomalous, for the design and order of the company while in England, contemplated grants only by deed under seal, to in- dividuals, as they were entitled. Nor was the early formation of so many towns intended, but only one at first and others as needed. Their circumstances, however, led to a multiplication of towns, recognized as corporations capable of taking lands and dividing them among their inhabitants by allotment.16
The first entry on the Boston records, September 1, 1634, shows that the people condueted their local affairs much as now; and in December, they not only granted lands them- selves, but delegated this power; for on the eigtheenth, it was agreed " that Mr. Winthrop. Mr. Coddington, Mr. Bellingham, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Ollyver, Mr. Colborn and Willm Balstone shall have power to devide and dispose of all such lands be- longing to the towne (as are not yet in the lawfull possesion of any particular persons) to the inhabitants of the towne
13 Island End River, on the southerly side of which, and the westerly side of the Naval Hospital grounds, was the probable site of " Mr Mave- rick's house at Winnisimmet." [See chap. iii. Appendix 2 for the site of the house.]
14 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 106.
15 Ibid., i. 115, 119, 125, 130.
16 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., vii. 235, 236.
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according to the Orders of the Court, leaving such portions in Common for the use of newe Commers, and the further beni- fitt of the towne, as in theire discretions they shall thinke fitt ; the Ilands hyred by the towne to be also included in this Order." 17 The inhabitants within defined limits (virtually incorporated bodies politic, as they thought, capable of taking lands), naturally inferred that they were capable of disposing of them. As seen above, Boston acted on this assumption and divided her lands.
But before setting forth this division, several orders of the General Court should be noticed, designed to mark, and by record to preserve, evidence of the boundaries of estates. April 1, 1634, it was ordered " that the constable & foure or more of the cheife inhabitants of euy towne, (to be chosen by all the ffree men there, att some meeteing there,) with the ad- vise of some one or more of the nexte Assistants, shall make a surveyinge of the howses backeside, corne feildes, moweing ground, & other lands, impved, or inclosed, or graunted by spe- ciall order of ye Court, of euery ffree inhabitant there, & shall enter the same in a booke, (fairely written in words att length, & not in ffigures, ) with the seilall bounds & quantities, by the neerest estimacon, & shall deliuer a transcript thereof into the Court, within sixe monethes nowe nexte ensueing, & the same soe entered and recorded shalbe a sufficient assurance to cuy such ffree inhabitant, his & theire heires and assignes, of such estate of inheritance, or as they shall haue in any such howses, lands, or ffranke-tenem's
" The like course shalbe taken for assurance of all howses & towne-lotts of all such as shalbe hereaft" enfranchised, & ety sale or graunt of such howses or lotts as shalbe from time to time entered into ye said booke by the said constable & foure inhabitants or their successrs, ( whoe shalbe still supplyed vpon death or removeall,) for which entry the purchaser shall pay sixe pence, & the like sume for a coppy thereof, vnder the hands of the said surveyers, or three of them." 18 Lands con-
17 [The Boston Town Records in Rec. Com. Rep., ii. The votes of the town quoted later will be found in this or the succeeding volumes under their respective dates. See Savage, Winthrop, i. 151, 152, for an explana- tion of the circumstances under which this vote was passed; also infra, Appendix 1.]
18 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 116. These orders led to the setting up of a
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veyed to the towns by the Company or General Court, being regarded as corporate property, and authority to dispose of them assured, the towns made allotments to individuals, and determined and defined the bounds of estates already in actual possession of their owners.
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