USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Ashburnham > History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts : from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time 1734-1886 with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families > Part 3
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
grant were confirmed September 13, 1734. This grant was the first tract of land severed from the wilderness within the township of Ashburnham and was described in the records :
A Plat Containing one thousand acres of the nnappropriated Land of the Province of the massachusetts Bay Laid out to sat- isfy a Grant made by the great and general court in their last sessions to the Town of Cambridge to enable them the better to keep in Repair their great Bridge over Charles River. Beginning at a certain Pillar of Stones erected for the North east Corner in the line of Lunenburg [ now Fitchburg ] about three or four score rods South from Northfield Road and running South 12 deg West on said line of Lunenburg one mile and a half and twenty pole with 17 pole allowance for swag of chain and uneven Land to a red oak tree marked. Then running West 12 deg North on unappropriated Land one mile with eleven pole allowance to a pillar of stones and a Little beech tree ; the other two lines being paralel with the same allowance and bounding on Common land.
Let it be remembered that in the survey of this grant, in the summer of 1734, Nathan Heywood of Lunenburg per- formed the first act within the township that is a part of the continuous history of this town. Previous events, more im- portant in their results, occurred remote from the theatre of action. There are records of exploring parties through this town, and Great Watatic, Little Watatic, the Naukeag lakes, Stoger meadow and Souhegan river were associated names at an earlier date. This grant was the first tract of land severed from the unbounded wilderness. There is no record of any previous aet performed on the soil that influenced succeeding events. The town of Cambridge owned this tract of one thousand acres about thirty years and during this time the records of that town contain frequent reference to "the Bridge farm in Dorchester Canada." In 1751 the bounds were
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
renewed by direction of the town, and in the succeeding years several committees were chosen with instruction to sell the land, provided reasonable terms could be secured. These measures for several years were void of any result. In November, 1764, "the town chose Deacon Samnel Whitte- more, Thomas Sparhawk, Esq., Joseph Lee, Esq., Captain Ebenezer Stedman and Captain Thomas Adams to effect a sale" and gave them more peremptory instructions in regard to the business. No record of a sale has been found. There is, however, ample evidence that the town of Cambridge sold the land in several lots previous to 1770. In 1768. Captain Thomas Adams owned a portion of the farm and sold to his son John Adams one hundred acres of land " being a part of Cambridge Grant," and later he sold to Joshua Billings eighty acres adjoining. In 1772, the town of Cam- bridge enter on record an inventory of notes and money "being the proceeds of the sale of Cambridge farm." This record includes a note given by Isaac Stearns of Billerica for two hundred pounds, dated June 3, 1765 ; a note given by Samnel Russell of Cambridge for ninety-four pounds, six shillings and eight pence, dated August 4, 1769 ; and a note given by Antil Gallop of Cambridge for one hundred and thirty-three pounds, six shillings and eight pence, dated August 5, 1771.
No conveyance from the town of Cambridge or its com- mittee is found on record, nor is it easy to discover in what manner Gallop and Russell disposed of their land. In regard to the land owned by Isaac Stearns the records in a more accommodating spirit announce that he sold seventy-tive acres to Samuel Adams in 1769, and one hundred and forty acres in 1772 to Simeon Proctor and the same year two hundred and fifty acres to Ebenezer Fletcher. In all of these deeds the premises are described "as a part of the Bridge farm or Cambridge grant." It has been frequently
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
asserted and quite generally believed that this land was once the cherished property of Harvard University. An exhaus- tive search of the records of that institution not only fails to discover any proof of the allegation but finds ample evidence that the favorite tradition is unsupported and erroneous. In the succeeding chapters the families bearing the name of Adams, Russell, Billings and Fletcher, which have been intro- duced in these proceedings, will be found in continued occu- pancy of the premises.
III. THE LEXINGTON GRANT. - It already appears that this grant was simultaneous with the Cambridge grant, and for the same consideration. The survey was returned under date of September 18, and the grant was confirmed November 21, 1734. Ebenezer Prescott was surveyor and Ephraim Wetherbee and Isaac Townsend were chainmen. The report of the survey is here given :
At the Request of- Capt. Boman and other Gentlemen of Lexington I have laid out pursuant unto a grant of 1000 acres for the support of Cambridge Bridge, at Stogers west of Little Wetatuck beginning 46 perches S 12 d. west from Lunenburg [now Fitchburg] Corner on South west side of Little Wetatuck to a heap of stones then running N. W. 29 d. N 320 perches as the shanmen [chainmen] say to a Hemlock with stones marked with L about 16 p * * off. then turning S. W. 29 W 500 perches to a Hemlock then turning S E 29 d S 320 perches to a rock with stones laid on it. Then Turning N. E. 293 d. E 175 perches to the line of Cambridge's 1000 acres. Then turning North 10 perches by the line of said Cambridge corner and then turning by Cambridge Line 40 perches and then to the bounds first mentioned N E 29ª E. One perch allowance in 50 for swag of chain.
It will be seen that the northwest corner of Cambridge farm enters one side of this grant, cutfing from it one and one-fourth acres. Accompanying the survey is a map detin- ing the location of the brooks and of two meadows. Within
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
the outlines of the larger of these is written "Stogers medow," which clothes this name with considerable antiquity. On this map, Ward pond is represented a short distance north of the grant, but no name is applied to it. The brook flow- ing from it is styled Souhegen in one place and Sougan in another. The town of Lexington received no benefit from the grant for more than twenty years, when the town voted " to sell the Bridge farm, so called, that lies in Dorchester Canada, and choose William Reed, Ebenezer Fiske and John Stone to conduct the sale." In a deed dated December 31, 1757, the whole tract was sold to seven German emigrants for two hundred and eighty pounds, who, with others of the same nationality, immediately settled upon their new posses- sions. The origin of the name of Dutch farms is here easily discovered.
IV. THE BLUEFIELD GRANT. - This grant of four hundred and fifty acres was made to secure the maintenance of a house of entertainment upon the line of the Northfield road, which was laid out through this town previous to the charter of Dorchester Canada. This grant was located in the northwest part of the town, and upon both sides of that ancient road. In what manner the name of Bluefield became associated with this grant, is uncertain. The earliest records - refer to the Bluefield farm and to the Bluefield road, but attentive research finds no explanation of this use of the word. Tradition, ever ready with suggestions, asserts, but without proof, that Mr. Bluefield lived here once upon a time, but the only indisputable thing that we can assert about Bluefield, is our complete ignorance concerning its origin. Happily, the history of the grant is less obscure than its name. To several prominent citizens of Lunenburg had been granted large tracts of land in the southwest part of New Hampshire, above Northfield. These gentlemen mani-
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
festod a lively interest in the construction and maintenance of the "great road from Lunenburg fo Northfield and the new towns at Ashuelot." In the autumn of 1734. Benjamin Bellows. Hilkiah Boynton and Moses Willard joined in a petition for a grant of land to be located at some convenient point on the line of the road. The petition sets forth that the entire length of the road is forty-two miles, and that about twenty-four miles from Lunenburg there is a " house of entertainment set up to the great ease and comfort of persons travelling that road," and continues : "and your Petitioners apprehending it would greatly accomodate Travel- lers more especially in Winter seasons to have another House of Entertainment between Lunenburg and that already set up Humbly petition your Excellency and this Honble Court to make them a Grant of Land, in some suitable place if it be found on said Road, of four hundred and fifty acres of land." In answer to this petition, the General Court, Novem- ber 28, 1734, granted four hundred and fifty acres on the line of the road and "near to Lexington Farm." It was stipulated in the grant that the survey should be made and returned within six months. The survey was not made until July 2, 1735, for the reasons set forth in another petition from the same gentlemen :
The Petition of Benjamin Bellows for himself Hilkiah Boyu- ton and Moses Willard : -
Humbly Sheweth,
That ou the 28th Day of November 1734 your Exelency and Honours were pleased to Grant your Petitioners four Hundred and fifty Acres of Land To be Layed out in a reguler form on the new Road from Lunenburg to Northfield within six months from ye grant aforest On the Conditions mentioned and Expressed in the Grant and order of Court.
That your Petitioners Soon after the making of said Grant were about to Lay out the Land granted Accordingly ; And upon the
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
said Road as then marked out viewed a Traet for that purpose but were told by Coll. Willard and others Concerned in Said Road That it would be necessary to alter the Same and if we Should Lay out the Land before the Road was Altered it might not answer the end proposed viz. the entertainment of Travaillers &c. which occassioned Your Petitioners to Delay Laying out and Building on said Land Till the Time Given your Petitioners was Elapsed. Since Which Your Petitioners by the Advice and the Desire of Col' Willard and Others Chiefly concerned in said Road have Layed Out the Said Tract as Discribed in the plat herewith pre- sented and built thereon a Good Dwelling House And furnished the Same for ye Entertainment of Travailers, Cleared a consider- able Quantity of Land and Got Hay Sufficient for the Accomoda- tion of all Travailers using Said Road and have Inhabited for more Than Six months Last past.
And Inasmuch as the only Reason of your Petitioners neglect- ing to Lay out and comply with the Conditions of said Grant was That the Good Ends proposed thereby might not be frustrated and Travaillers ye better accomodated.
Therefore Your Petitioners Most Humbly pray your Exeleney & Honours would be pleased to accept the said plat and Confirm the Land therein discribed To your petitioners their heirs & assigns forever. On Condition they perform upon the Same within Twelve months next coming All Things enjoyned them in the Conditions of ye Grant aforesd they have omitted ; The Time being Elapsed as aforesd notwithstanding.
And Your Petitioners as bound in Duty shall ever pray.
BENJAMIN BELLOWS.
Tis hereby certifyed that what is Above Suggested Respecting the Turning the Road and the Petitioners building and Improving upon the Land is true.
JOSIAH WILLARD.
The date of this petition does not appear but it was written between July 2, 1735, the date of the survey, and January 17, 1736-7, when the General Court confirmed the grant.
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
With the original papers in the State archives on this subject is the report of David Farrar, the surveyor, in which it is stated that the grant is located on the Northfield road, partly on the fifteenth and partly on the sixteenth miles from Lunen- burg, that it was laid out in the form of a rectangle two hun- dred and eighty-four by two hundred and seventy rods, with about one rod in thirty allowance for uneven ground ; that the direction of the southern boundary is north 70° east, two hundred and eighty-four rods ; and is bounded on all sides by unappropriated land. It is also stated that the southwest corner is forty or fifty rods south of a brook and meadow. On the plan is represented the Northfield road entering the grant ten rods north of the southeast corner and extending north 47º west, until it leaves it near the centre of the north- ern side. In the easterly part of this grant is the farm of the late Deacon Daniel Jones and in the western part is the No. 7 school-house. In 1737, the grantees sold the whole tract to William Jones and Ephraim Wetherbee, both of Lunenburg, for ninety pounds. The same year Mr. Wetherbee sold his interest to Ephraim Wheeler of Lancaster. In these ancient deeds it is called the Bellows farm and the name of Bluefield does not appear. William Jones died in 1761. In his will his interest in this land is devised to two of his sons, Enos and Isaac. The latter son died soon after the death of his honored father and the heirs, in 1773, joined in a deed con- veying their interest to Enos who was then residing on the premises.
V. THE CONVERSE GRANT. - Several grants of land were bestowed upon the heirs of Major James Converse of Woburn in recognition of distinguished service rendered the colony, among them was a grant of four hundred acres of land located in this town. In the House of Representatives, December 9, 1734, it was ordered that the petition of Robert
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
and Josiah Converse, sons of Major James Converse, be revived and that they be granted four hundred acres on the condition that " within five years the petitioners settle two families on the granted premises, each of which to have an house of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least and four acres each brought to and plowed or stocked with English grass and fitted for mowing." The land was surveyed by Joseph Wilder in May and the title confirmed by the Gen- eral Court JJune 10, 1735. The descriptive portion of these papers is as follows :
Said land lieth on the northerly side of one of the towns called Narragansett viz : No. 2 and hounds Southerly thereon. Easterly it bounds on a farm of four hundred acres laid out to the heirs of Thomas Starr, Northerly and Westerly by common or province lands. It began at stake and stones the South Corner of the aforesaid farm and from thence it ran with it North 18 degrees West three hundred and thirty Rods to a stake and stones ; from thence it ran west 18 degrees South Two hundred and Eight rods to a stake and stones ; and from thence it ran South Eighteen degrees East three hundred and thirty Rods to the aforesaid Nar- ragansett line to a stake and stones and then with said line East 18 degrees North two hundred and eight rods to where it began.
In other terms this grant was located on the Westminster line extending west from the Starr grant nearly to South Ashburnham village. Robert Converse immediately sold his interest to his brother Josiah, who sold it to Gershom Keyes of Boston, October 10, 1735, for one hundred and fifty pounds. It passes through several hands and is soon sold to Hezekiah Gates, who in 1746 sold it to Joseph Wilder, Jr., and as stated it then became a part of the Wilder farm.
VI. THE ROLFE GRANT. - Rev. Benjamin Rolfe, the second minister of Haverhill, was slain by the Indians in their attack upon that town August 29, 1708. His wife and
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
one child were also killed. "Two daughters were preserved by Hagar, the maid servant, who covered them with tubs in the cellar." A son also escaped as appears in the records of this grant. The surviving children are petitioners in 1735 for a tract of land on account of the service of their father and were granted six hundred acres which subsequently became and still remains an important part of this town. The records of the General Court recites the petition in these words :
A Petition of Benjamin Rolfe and the Rest of the heirs of the Revd M' Benjamin Rolfe, late of Haverhill deceased, show- ing that his said father was employed divers times as Chap- lin to the Forces in the late wars and once in an actual Engagement with the Indian Enemy and afterwards settled in the work of the Ministry at Haverhill where he with their mother was killed by the Indians and therefore praying that this Court would Grant to the Petr and his sisters some of the waste lands of the Province.
In response to their petition the General Court June 17, 1735, granted six hundred acres. The land was surveyed by Joseph Wilder, previous to November 7, when the chain- men, John Bennett and Joseph Wheelock, made oath that they had performed the service "without favor or affection and according to their best judgment." The grant was confirmed December 23, 1735.
This tract of land, known many years as the Rolfe farm, is located in the southeast corner of this town between the Starr and the Cambridge grants. It is bounded east 120 rods by Fitchburg, south 414 rods by Westminster, west 330 rods by the Starr grant, and northerly 320 rods by Cambridge grant and a line of 210 rods joining the corners of the two last named grants. Phillips' Brook and the Fitch- burg road divide this tract into two unequal portions, the
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
greater part lying east of them. Northerly it extends one mile from the Westminster line or to the farm of the late Dr. Merrick Wallace. The Rolfe heirs retained the grant until 1750 when it was sold to John Greenwood of Boston for two hundred and thirty pounds. Ile sold it out in the years immediately following in several lots, and in this way it came into the possession of the early settlers.
VII. THE DORCHESTER CANADA OR TOWNSHIP GRANT. -The immediate consideration leading to the grant of this township and others in the vicinity, is found in connection with the expedition to Canada in 1690. The story of this ill-fated exploit forms an interesting chapter in the early his- tory of New England. The hardships and misfortunes of the hazardous enterprise were shared by companies of sol- diers from Dorchester, Ipswich, Rowley and many other towns in the colony. In fitting out a force of two thousand soldiers and thirty-two ships the treasury of the colony was so greatly depleted that nothing was left for the payment of the soldiers on their return. In this emergency the colony resorted to the issue of treasury notes to the amount of one hundred and thirty-three thousand pounds which was the first paper money ever issued in New England. These notes, founded simply on the good intentions of an impoverished colony, so rapidly depreciated in value that the soldiers, to whom they had been paid, sought indemnity from the Gen- eral Court. For a long time their solicitations were persis- tently pressed and renewed without avail until an era of grants of land came to their relief. About 1735, after many of the petitioners were dead, the General Court, influenced, possibly, as much by a newly formed policy of encouraging settlements along the line of the disputed boundaries between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as by any other consid- eration, granted a township to each company of sixty soldiers
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THE EARLY GRANTS. 43
and the heirs of those deceased. On account of the service for which they were bestowed these grants were styled Canada townships and they generally received the additional name of the town in which a majority of the petitioners resided. To the soldiers from Dorchester were assigned this town which bore the name of Dorchester Canada many years. In the same manner and at the same time was granted Ipswich Canada, now Winchendon, and immediately after Rowley Canada, now Rindge. There were many other Canada townships but not in this immediate vicinity. The adjustment of the province line found several of these town- ships in New Hampshire and their charters were annulled.
In January, 1735, the General Court, premonitory to some action in the premises, ordered the appointment of a com- mittee to take into consideration these petitions of the soldiers and "report what may be proper for the Court to do." The day following, the committee cleared the deck for action in recommending that a township of six miles square be granted to every collection of sixty soldiers or the heirs of those deceased and that these grants be located between the Merri- maek and Connecticut rivers. The committee further recom- mended that these grants be given under certain restrictions, which need not be stated in this connection, as they are repeated in the charters that were subsequently enacted. Without great delay, four townships were granted under one charter which passed the House June 10, the Council June 18, and was approved by Governor Belcher, December 29, 1735. In the order named in the charter these towns are now known as Warwick, Ashburnham, Guilford, Vermont, and Winchendon, and all of them are of equal age. Should the neighboring towns, Ashburnham and Winchendon, con- tend for the honors of antiquity, we can enjoy the ample consolation that in the charter, the name of Tilestone precedes that of Tilton.
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
It would be easy to be led into the error of presuming that each of these towns was created under a specific grant, for the Deputy Secretary made copies for the grantees of each town. In some of them, at least, is omitted all reference to the three remaining towns. These copies have been mis- taken for independent charters. The quadripartite grant or charter is here given :
In the House of Representatives June 10, 1735.
In Answer to the four Petitions of Samuel Newel and others, Thomas Tilestone and others, Samuel Gallop and others, and Abraham Tilton and others :
Voted, That four Several Tracts of Land for Townships each of the Contents of Six Miles Square be Laid out in Suitable Places in the western Parts of this Province and that the whole of each Town be laid out into Sixty three equal Shares, one of which to be for the first Settled minister, one to be for the use of the Minis- try and one for the School ; and that on the other Sixty Shares in each Town there be Sixty Settlers admitted and in the admission thereof Preference to be given to the Petitioners and such as are Descendents of the officers and soulders who Served in the Expe- dition to Canada in the year 1690. Viz one Traet of Land for a Township to the said Samuel Newell & others, one other Tract of Land to the said Thomas Tilestone and others, one other Tract of Land to the said Samuel Gallop and others and the other Tract of Land to the said Abraham Tilton and others and in Case there be not a sufficient number of Persons named in each of the said four Petitions as ware either officers or Sonlders in the said Expedition or the Descendants of Such as were lost or are since Deceased So as to make Sixty Settlers for each Town. That then Such others as ware in the Expedition or their Descendants be admitted Set- tlers there untell Sixty Persons in each Town be admitted and inasmuch as the officers and Soulders in that Expedition ware very great Sufferers and underwent uncommon Hardships, Voted that this Province be at the Sole Charge of laying out the said four
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THE EARLY GRANTS.
Townships in a Regular manner and of admitting the Settlers. --- That the Settlers or Grantees be and hereby are obliged to bring forward the Settlement of the said four Townships in as Regular & defensible a manner as the Situation and the Circumstances of the Places will admit of, and that in the following manner, Viz. That they be on the Granted Premises Respectively and have each of them an House of cighiteen Feet square and seven Feet stud at the least. That each Right or Grant have six Acres of Land brought to and Plowed or brought to English Grass and fitted for mowing. That they respectively Settle in each Plantation or Township a Learned and Orthodox minister and Bild a Convenient Meeting House for the Publick Worship of God in cach Township. The whole of these Conditions to be duly complied with within five years from the Confirmation of the Plats.
And that John Bowles and John Metcalf Esq" with such as the Honourable Board shall appoint be the Committee for laying out the Township hereby Granted to Samuel Newell and others ; Thomas Tilestone Esq' and M' William Royall with such as the Honourable Board shall appoint shall be the Committee for laying out the Township hereby granted to Thomas Tilestone & others ; Charles Church and Joseph Mason Esqrs with such as the Honourable Board shall appoint be the Committee for laying cut the Township hereby granted to Samuel Gallop and others ; and Capt John Hobson and Capt John Choate with such as the Honourable Board shall appoint be the Committee for Laying out the Township hereby granted to Abraham Tilton & others, for laying out the Townships Respectively & admitting the Settlers as aforesaid who shall take Bond of each Grantee to the Value of Twenty Pounds to the Province Treasurer for the Respective Grantees Fullfillment of the Conditions of their Grants each lot as aforesaid to be entitled to and draw future Divisions in equal Proportions in the Townships or Plantations Respectively and that the Committee return the Plats of the said Townships to this Court within twelve months for Confirmation, as also a List of the Names of the Respective Grantees and their Place of Residence into the Secretarys Office that so the same may be examined and
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