USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Granville > History of Granville, Massachusetts > Part 3
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THE PROPRIETORS
prepared by some one accustomed to such work and the handwriting shows it was written by a practiced scrivener. Probably it was done by some lawyer or magistrate in Boston, as all the names affixed to the document were those of proprietors residing in Boston. The petition was as follows :
To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq., Captain General & Govern' in Chief, the Honourable the Council & House of Rep- resentatives in General Court Assembled November 29th 1738, The Petition of us the Subscribers for our Selves and Sundry others, Most Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioners about twenty Years Since Purchased by Distinct Deeds and at Different times, Sundry tracts of land at a Place called Bedford, of Mr. Atherton Mather; whose title We understood was Acknowledged and Confirmed by the General Court of the Province at the Settleing the Divisional line between the Province and the Colony of Connecticut Anno 1713; On which line the tract of land abutts all along on the South side; and as your Petitioners were at many Thousands of Pounds cost in purchasing, so they have also Expended much in Surveying said Land, in build- ing a Saw mill and Settling Several Families now actually on it; and in providing For sundry others, purposing to settle there in the year Ensuing, for Whose Encouragement they have also agreed to give Sundry Tracts of Land for publick uses, & Considerable towards an House for publick Divine Worship & Sixty pounds per annum For three Years towards The Support of an orthodox Minister.
Your Petitioners beg leave to Assure your Excellency and Hon- ours that they had never purchased these Lands, had They known of any Difficulty Concerning the title, and they would Also Humbly observe that this title was Declared good by the Govern" and Gentle- men Appointed to Settle the aforesaid Province Line, and to Deter- mine Concerning the lands bordering on it; and that Nothing has been done in this long tract of time by this Honourable Court to Discountenance your Petitioners proceedings, and our Purchase has been so universally Esteemed to be fair and equitable as that no particular person has laid any grant of this Court upon it, not- withstanding the great numbers that have been made,
Wherefore
Your Petitioners would Humbly Pray your Excellency and Hon- ours to Confirm the said Lands to the Respective purchasers as the sª lands are described and bounded in the Plan herewith Humbly Presented, on Such moderate Conditions as (all circumstances con-
22
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
sidered) to your great wisdom and Goodness shall Seem meet and your Petitioners ( as in duty bound) shall ever pray &c.
John Hunt Jonas Clarke
John Wendell Belcher Noyes*
This petition was duly presented to the Great and General Court and was acted upon without much delay. The notation is as follows : In the House of Repres. Dec" 19th, 1738. Read and Voted that Colº Saltonstal, Colº Chandler & Colº Alden be a Comtee to consider the petition & examine the plat of the Land within referred to & herewith exhibited & report their opinion of wt may be proper for the Court to do thereupon.
In about three weeks the above named Committee made its report to the House of Representatives, as follows :
The Committee appointed to Consider the Petition of John Hunt and Others, Proprietors of a Tract of Land known by the name of Bedford, Having met several times and duly Considered the Merits of that Affair Do Report:
That Twenty three Thousand and Forty Acres part of the Land described in the Plat referred to in & exhibited with said Petition were formerly the Estate of One Toto an Indian Captain and by him sold in the year Sixteen Hundred and Eighty Six to One James Cornish, who together with One William Fuller (Tuller) in the year Seventeen Hundred and Thirteen sold the same to Atherton Mather.
That the said Cornish's Interest in the Premises was Confirmed in the year Seventeen Hundred and Thirteen by His Excellency Governour Dudley and Elisha Hutchinson and Isaac Addington, Esquires, Impowered by this Province, and the Honourable Gov- ern" Saltonstal and William Pitkin and William Whiting, Esquires, Impowered by the Colony of Connecticut for the aforesaid purpose,
That said Mather sold the Premises together with other adja- cent Land to the Petitioners or those under whom they Claim, Who gave large Purchase Consideration therefor,
That altho the said Mather sold the whole of the said Land described in said Plat, yet it does not appear that the said Mather had any right so to do, of which nevertheless the Petitioners were at the Time of their respective Purchases altogether Ignorant,
That the Purchasers supposing the said Mather's Title to be
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 114, page 289.
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THE PROPRIETORS
good have already setled some Families on the Premises and do propose to settle more, Build a Meeting House &c,
The Committee are therefore Humbly of the Opinion that the Land mentioned and Described in the aforesaid Plat be Confirmed to the Persons therein mentioned and to their respective heirs for- ever according to the proportion therein set to each Person, Upon Condition the Persons mentioned in said Plat Do within the term of Three years from the End of the Present Session of this Court, Build so many Dwelling Houses thereon of Eighteen feet Square and Seven feet Stud at the least as shall with what are already built make Seventy in the whole and have Seventy Families settled therein and for each of the said Families have Six Acres of Land brought to, and Plowed or brought to English Grass and fitted for Mowing, And Do also within said Time Build a Meeting House for the Pub- lick Worship of God, and Settle a Learned Orthodox Minister.
All which is Humbly Submitted
In the Name and by Order of said Committee.
Richª Saltonstal
In the Ho. of Repves. Jan' 5, 1738. Read & Accepted .*
The House, having accepted the report of the Committee, voted the same day to confirm the title of the then owners of the entire tract from Westfield to the Farmington River upon the conditions set forth in the report of the Committee quoted above. Volume 115, page 759. The wording of the vote is identical with that of the report. The vote of the House was concurred in by the Council and approved by the governor. Volume 114, page 290.
The plat, or map, mentioned in the petition, report of the Com- mittee and the vote of the House has become separated from the petition, but it is carefully preserved in the Massachusetts Archives in Boston. It shows the entire area of Bedford, as it extended from what is now Southwick on the east to what is now Sandisfield on the west, which was divided into fifty-two parcels owned privately, of irregular size and shape, containing from 50 acres to 2534 acres, and one lot near the northwest corner of Bedford containing 2370 upon which the surveyor marked "For Publick uses." The reason for designating this particular lot in that way does not appear. The
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 114, page 296.
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
appearance of the lots on this map brings to mind the one time fashionable "crazy patchwork."
The surveyor's certificate which the map bears is interesting for various reasons. It is as follows :
This Plan Contains 42532 Acres of Land including three Ponds, Lying in the County of hampshire Commonly Called Bedford and Claimed by Sundry persons whose names together with their Sea- verall interest are Discribed by the plan and are the Assignes of Mr. Atherton Mather who by mean Convayences held the same under one Toto an Indian Sachem an owner of Sª Land it bounds Southerly upon the Colony Line or the dividing Line between this Government and the Colony of Connecticut & East- wardly upon westfield Northwardly partly by westfield partly by Suffield Equivalent, alias Glasgow, partly by Countery Land and Westwardly upon farmington river Great branch Dividing this tract of Land from a new township Called No 3 the Survey thereof was made by the assistance of Jonathan Worthington and Capt. Joseph Winchell, Chainmen, the Line was Run by the nedle of the Instrument and it is Laid down By a scale of 240 rd to one inch.
Nov. 12, 1738.
Natha Dwight, Surveyor.
And then apparently to make his plan carry more weight with. the legislators, he went to Boston and there made oath to it as being correct and accurate, as follows :
Suffolk, ss. Boston, December the 20, 1738.
then Natha Dwight, Surveyor of this tract of Land described in this plan personaly apeared and mad oath that it is also acording to the best of his knoledg and Judgment.
Sworn Before me
John Fisher, Jus. of Peac.
Furthermore, not only is this ancient map in existence and in proper custody, but also fortunately the Town of Granville has in its possession Nathaniel Dwight's description of the location and size of each individual ownership appearing on the map. These descriptions are in the form of a manuscript folio, which for many years was stored away with other Town papers and lost sight of. It came to light not many years ago due to the care and quick per- ception of the late Town Clerk, Silas B. Root. The outside leaf, or cover, of the old manuscript is inscribed as follows :
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THE PROPRIETORS
A Description and Survey of the Town of Granville formerly called Bedford November 12th 1738
The first page of the manuscript purports to be a copy of the certificate on the map, but it contains errors and not a few altera- tions which were made by the copyist who doubtless thought he could improve on the original. It was copied March 21, 1757, by Simon Parsons, Surveyor. Also to the descriptions set down by Nathaniel Dwight are added the descriptions of many other lots which by that time (1757) had come to be owned by other persons.
A survey like this could not be made in a few weeks. It is doubt- ful if it could be made in a year. However, it was made and sent to the Great and General Court to show how far the locality had been developed and what an injustice would be done if the title was not confirmed by the authorities. It had been a great expense for the proprietors and settlers to have so much time and labor used for the survey, but it had to be done or their title would fall flat. The result of it was to secure confirmation and that very quickly, as legislative action usually goes. By means of this survey the people of Bedford got what they went after. Another thing they secured, is a very valuable historical document which they would not have had except for the bold cupidity of Atherton Mather. If he had been content to sell only such land as he bought from Toto, there would have been no trouble about the title and if no trouble had arisen there would have been no survey. It is very likely that no other town in the Commonwealth now has a complete survey of its entire area which was made within fifteen years after its first settlement.
A copy of the original field book of Nathaniel Dwight containing his notes of the survey of 1738 came into the possession of Belcher Noyes, of Boston, the proprietors' clerk, and was delivered by him to Col. Timothy Robinson September 17, 1762, and when last heard of was in the possession of Chauncey B. Fowler, of Granville, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. This same Mr. Fowler also had a copy of the survey of a portion of Granville made by
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Ebenezer Curtiss November 12 and 13, 1785. It is not known what part of the town the Curtiss survey covered.
The following is a list of the owners of land in Granville, as shown on the map of 1738 :
John Ashley
Samuel Kent, two pieces
John Beacham
Cris. Jacob Laiston and Samuel Palmer
Thomas Belden
James Bowdoin
Cotton Mather's heirs
Thomas Boylston
Dr. Samuel Mather
Gershom Brigham
William Mather
Nathan Brigham, two pieces
Dr. Noyes, two pieces
John Burt
Samuel Palmer
James Church
Moses Parsons
Jonas Clark
Quincy, Wendell and Byles, three pieces
Nathaniel Clark
John Dolbear, two pieces
Josiah Sheldon
Henry Dwight's heirs
Jonathan Steal
Anthony Stoddard
Rubin Ely
Victory Sikes
Col. Fitch's heirs
E. Taylor
Thomas Foxcroft, two pieces
Dr. Ebenezer Terry
Samuel Gillit's heirs, two pieces
John Webb, two pieces
Jonas Hough
Samuel Webb
Rowland Houghton
John Hunt, three pieces
Robert Jenkins
Worthington and Hathaway, two pieces One lot for public uses
Being thrifty, forward-looking men, the proprietors of Bedford proceeded to kill two birds with one stone. Inasmuch as they had to have the legislature straighten out their title, they made the most of the opportunity, and petitioned for authority to set up a local government and pass such votes in an orderly manner as might be found necessary for carrying on the settlement. Roads and a minis- ter would be needed and that meant taxes. So, while their repre- sentatives were at it, they secured the passage of the following act.
In the House of Representatives January 19th, 1738.
Ordered that Anthony Stoddard Esquire, a Principal Proprietor of a New Township called Bedford in the County of Hampshire Be and hereby is fully Authorized and Impowered to Assemble and Convene the Proprietors of said New Township in some Conve- niet Time and Suitable Place To Chuse a Proprietors Clerk and to pass such Votes and Orders as They shall judge necessary for
John Eliot
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THE PROPRIETORS
carrying on the settlement of the sª New Township in the most Speedy Manner agreeable to the Conditions of the Grant And to agree how to call meetings for the future .*
The Council concurred January 23rd and the Governor gave his approval.
Now, having secured a conditional confirmation of their title and also authority to conduct a rather free and easy sort of civil govern- ment, the proprietors set about complying with the condition. For nearly twenty years they had wanted settlers. Now it had come to the point where they must have them-seventy families by the 9th of January, 1741. Truly a Herculean task, but what must be done is very likely to get done, especially if it hits hard on the pocketbook.
As soon as it was noised about that land could be had in Bedford for the taking, settlers began to come. It was the same impulse which caused most other hill towns in New England to be settled. Land. Good land, cheap. So, when Bedford was offering 100 acres to any one who would come there and live, make a clearing in the wilderness, build an abode and have six acres in grass at the end of three years, prospective settlers were anxious to look that proposition over. One fact in this connection is very interesting. In some way David Rose, who lived in Durham, in the Colony of Connecticut, heard about this Promised Land. He came to Bedford. Looked the place over. Liked it so well that he picked out his 100 acres, built a cabin, started his clearing and moved his family there. He also purchased 1500 acres more in 1741. Here is the interesting part. Either David Rose had great powers of persuasion, or else he was looked up to as a man of good judgment, for as a result of his settling in Bedford no less than twenty-six other families very soon came from Durham to the "new Township." The names of these Durham settlers are as follows:
Amos Baldwin
Jacob Bates John Bates
Ebenezer Baldwin
John Bates, Jr.
Ezra Baldwin Benjamin Barnes
Nathaniel Bates
Isaac Bartlett
Aaron Coe
David Bates
Enoch Coe
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 114, page 329.
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Samuel Coe
Timothy Robinson
Aaron Curtis David Curtis
John Seward John Tibbals
Ebenezer Curtis
and perhaps others.
Roswell Graves
Later came from Durham
Stephen Hitchcock
Thomas Spelman (1756)
Benjamin Parsons
Israel Bartlett (1758)
David Parsons
Ezra Baldwin, Jr. (1764)
Phinehas Robins
Dan Robinson
Noah Robinson
Jonathan Rose, after a few years' residence in Enfield, Connect- icut.
So far as can be learned no other group of this size came from any other single town, but they came in ones, twos and threes from towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the in-coming tide kept up till more than the required seventy families had arrived.
Abel Curtis, who purchased 240 acres in 1734, was the first black- smith. Jonathan Rose was granted as his "settling land" the lot laid out as the Saw Mill Lot. He had operated a saw mill in Enfield, Con- necticut, prior to coming to Bedford. Phineas Pratt, a strong man, of whom more hereinafter, by two removes, came from Hingham, Massachusetts, at the age of thirty, with his young wife and child, and received his 100 acres of "settling land" in 1741. His gravestone tells us much about him. The inscription is as follows :
In Memory of Capt. Phineas Pratt Who was born in Hi
ngham in the County of Suffolk Jan. 1, 1710 & removed to Worcester
in Dec. 1739. From thence to Bedford now Granville in
May 1741, And died Sept. 5, 1779.
Phineas Pratt had much to do with the important happenings in Bedford and Granville. There were others of his type, young courageous men and brave women. An industrious, God-fearing race.
So we see that the settlement of Bedford was progressing, although slowly.
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THE PROPRIETORS
However, all was not well in Bedford. The proprietors had been authorized to set up the rudiments of Town government by an act of the General Court dated January 23, 1738. They had been authorized to "pass such votes and orders as they shall judge neces- sary for carrying on the settlement of said new Township." At a convenient time and place a meeting was called by Anthony Stod- dard, named for that duty in the act, and it must be assumed that sundry votes relating to the settlement of Bedford were passed although no record of what was done at that meeting has been found. Very probably the votes passed were in regard to conditions which soon became much changed as more settlers arrived. With the coming of settlers, came, among other things, the need for roads. That meant the levying of taxes. More settlers meant more roads, more taxes. Also a learned and orthodox minister must be settled and a meeting house erected and maintained, all of which called for taxes.
A minister had been selected. The Rev. Moses Tuttle, of New Haven, Connecticut, had accepted a call to come to Bedford and locate among the small group of pioneers, and a meeting house had been erected prior to February 25, 1747/8. The proprietors promptly granted to the new minister his 100 acres of "settling land" by the following deed :
To all Persons to whom these Presents Shall Come, Josias Byles, Shopkeeper, John Wendell, Merchant, both of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Send Greeting : Know ye that Whereas the Proprietors of a Certain Tract of Land Commonly known by the name of Bedford lying and being within the County of Hampshire and Province aforesaid, for the Encouragement of the Settlement of a Learned and Orthodox Minister in said Place, did agree that the first Settled Minister Should have Given him as a Settlement the Lott of Land on which the Present Meeting House lately built by the Proprietors Stands, Together with the said House erected thereon for the Pub- lick Worship only Reserving Liberty for the Inhabitants to Meet in the Same for the Publick Worship of God untill the Other Meet- ing House Intended to be built Shall be Compleated,
And Whereas the Present Meeting House is built on a Lott of Land laid out as part of the Proportion of Settling Land of said Josias Byles and John Wendell to be Disposed of for the Encour- agement of said Settlement,
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Now Know ye that we the Said Josias Byles and John Wendell in pursuance of the above agreement of said Proprietors and for Promoting the Gospel Among the Inhabitants Do hereby Give grant Convey and Confirm unto Moses Tuttle, of said Bedford, Clerk, (lately Ordained a Pastor in Said Place) his Heirs and assigns forever a certain Lott of Land In the aforesaid Tract of Land Containing one Hundred acres and is bounded as follows vizt. beginning at the North East Corner of a Tract of Land Con- taining three Hundred Twenty Eight acres laid out to us Said Byles and Wendell, thence South Seventy Six perch to a Red Ash tree Marked on land of Anthony Stoddard Esqr. Thence west Two Hundred and Ten perch to a Chectnutt tree on land of Daniel Brown, Thence North Seventy Six perch to a Stake and Stones on Land of Said Byles and Wendell, from thence East Two Hundred and Ten perch to the aforesaid North East Corner, partly on Land of Daniel Brown & partly on Land of Jonathan Church; Together with the House built thereon for the Present Meeting House only Reserving Liberty for the Inhabitants to Meet in the Same untill the Other Meeting House Intended to be built Shall be Compleated, with the appurtenances, Remainders and Reversions thereof.
To Have and To Hold the said one Hundred Acres of Land and House built thereon (Reserving Liberty as above mentioned) with the appurtenances, Remainders & Reversions thereof to him the said Moses Tuttle his heirs and Assigns forever to his and their only benefit and behoof. And we the Said Josias Byles and John Wendell for themselves their Heirs Executors and administrators Do hereby Covenant and agree to and with the Said Moses Tuttle his Heirs and assigns to Warrant and Defend Said one Hundred acres of Land with the appurtenances Remainders and Reversions thereof against the Claim and Demand of all Persons whatsoever pretending any Right thereunto from by or under them or Either of them their Heirs Executors and administrators.
In Witness whereof the said Josias Byles and John Wendell have hereunto Set our hands and Seals this Twenty fifth Day of February anno Domini one Thousand Seven Hundred and forty Seven Eight In the Twenty first year of his Majesties Reign.
Signed Sealed and Delivered
In Presence of us
Daniel Brown
Josias Byles & Seal John Wendell & Seal
John Wendell, Jun".
Suffolk ss. Boston February 25th 1747/8
The above named Messrs Josias Byles and John Wendell per- sonally appearing acknowledged the above written Instrument to be their Voluntary act & Deed,
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THE PROPRIETORS
Before me Jonas Clarke, Just. Pacis. Recª April 13th, 1749 & Recorded from the Original .*
All went merrily along until it became necessary to pass more votes to meet the changing conditions due to the increasing number of settlers. Then it was discovered that the most important item in the enabling act of January 23, 1738, had been forgotten. At that first proprietors' meeting no provision had been made as to "how to call meetings for the future." Some one had blundered. There was now no authority by which a second meeting could be called. They struggled along from year to year in a sort of hand to mouth way until the pressure of a social and financial nature became so great that something must be done. These proprietors were a courageous and resourceful lot. They had overcome greater obstacles than the one now before them. They again went to the legislature with the following petition, and secured the follow- ing act :
To His Excellency William Shirley Esq" Governour in Chief The Honourable the Councill & House of Representatives in General Court Assembled February 3, 1747.
The Petition of the Committee of the Proprietors of a New Plantation called Bedford in the County of Hampshire Humbly Sheweth,
That the said Proprietors were called together in a Meeting according to an Order of this Court by the Honourable Anthony Stoddard Esq" when and where they were impowered among other things to agree on a Method of calling proprietors meetings for the future but so it is that at the said meeting no such provision was made & they are now unable to call a regular meeting notwith- standing the great necessity of it, wherefore your humble Peti- tioners pray your Excellency & Honours to impower some Proper person among said Proprietors to call a meeting when and where he shall Judge it most convenient & authorize said meeting to agree upon a Method for calling meetings hereafter & to do such other things as shall be found needfull and your Petitioners (as in duty bound) shall ever pray &c.
Samuel Welles Jonas Clarke Belcher Noyes
In the House of Repres Feby. 25, 1747.
* Hampshire Registry of Deeds, Volume R at page 497.
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HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Read and Ordered that the Prayer of the Pet's be granted and that Jonas Clarke Esq' be and He hereby is Impowered to Call a Proprs Meeting at time and Place as he shall judge convenient. And that the sd Proprs at said Meeting are hereby authorized to Agree on a Method for calling such Meetings in the future .*
In this order the Council concurred and it was approved by the Governor.
At last, in spite of every menacing difficulty, progress was being made. The only trouble about it was that it was made so slowly. It was now long after the time when the condition of the grant requir- ing seventy families to be in Bedford should have been complied with. Some of the proprietors appeared to have no interest in the matter and were just sitting back and letting those who were willing to do so carry the burden of getting settlers. Conferences were held and the dilatory were prodded, but not much was accomplished. The whole enterprise appeared to be on the verge of failure and unless something was done, all would be lost. But there was the source of all relief, the legislature, so to it again the proprietors turned, this time with a petition which sets forth their dilemma and asks for relief. The record is as follows :
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