USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Granville > History of Granville, Massachusetts > Part 4
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Province of the Massachusetts Bay In New England }
To His Excellency William Shirley, Esqr., Governour of said Province, To the Honourable His Majesteys Councill & House of Representatives in General Court Assembled, May 25, 1748.
The petition of the Committee of the Proprietors of a new Plan- tation called Bedford in the County of Hampshire, by their Desire, Humbly Sheweth,
That the said Proprietors pursuant to the Conditions of their Grant from the Great & General Court for the Encouragement of said Plantation did agree upon disposing about one fifth part of their respective Interests for setling the Number of Seventy Fam- ilies & accordingly laid out about one fifth part of each Proprietors share and most of said Proprietors have actually disposed of such proportion of their Land to about 50 Setlers; but there are certain Proprietors that have neglected to dispose of such of their said Proportion which greatly retarded said Settlement,
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 115, page 241.
33
THE PROPRIETORS
Wherefore your Petitioners humbly pray your Excellency & Hon- ours that they may be enabled & impowered to dispose of such delinquent proprietors proportion of Setling Land, that so the Conditions of said Grant may be complyed with & their interest thereby secured unto them. And that they may be also impowered to regulate & lay out such highways as are and may be necessary for the Inhabitants of said Place.
And your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c.
Samuel Wells Jonas Clarke Belcher Noyes
Att a meeting of the Proprietors of Bedford in the County of Hampshire pursuant to an Order of the General Court April 26, 1748,
Voted, That the Committee be desired & impowered to prefer a petition to the General Court at their next Session, that they would be pleased to impower the Committee of said Proprietors to dispose of the setling Lotts of those delinquent Proprietors who have not yet disposed of their Setling Lotts pursuant to the Conditions of Settlement.
Att a meeting of said Proprietors by Adjournment May 31, 1748,
The above Draught of a Petition to the General Court was read, & voted that the same be Accepted & presented on behalf of the Proprietors.
A true coppy from the Records, entered & examined.
Belcher Noyes, Proprs Clerk.
In the House of Repres June 7, 1748.
Read and Ordered that the Petitioners Notify the Delinquent Proprs of Bedford of this Pet" by Inserting the Substance therof in the Boston Gazette three weeks succesively that so they may show cause if any they have on the first fryday of the next Sitting of this Court, why the Prayer thereof should not be granted.
The Council concurred in this order and the Governor consented. In Council Novr 11, 1748.
Read again & no Objection being made against the Prayer of the Petition although public notice hath been given, agreeable to the Direction of the above Order, Voted that the Prayer of the sª Pet" be granted & that Samuel Welles & James Clarke Esqr & Doct" Belcher Noyes, the above sd Commtee be & they hereby are impow- ered to dispose of the above mentioned Delinquent Proprietors Share or Proportion of setling Lands to such Person or Persons as will perform the Conditions of Settlement required by the Gen1 Court in the Grant of the Lands in sd tract called Bedford & sd Commtee or any two of them are hereby impowered to execute good
34
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Deeds of every such Delinquent Proprietors proportion of settling Land, being about a fifth part of their whole Original Grant, which deed shall be good & valid to all Intents & Purposes in the Law to the respective Grantees their heirs & assigns forever, they perform- ing the Conditions of Settlement. And the sd Commtee or any two of them are hereby also impowered, by themselves or others appointed by them to regulate & lay out such High Ways & private Ways as are or may be necessary.
The House concurred in this order and the Governor consented.
Having set forth their difficulty and explained why there were not yet seventy families in Bedford, and having secured the relief they had asked for, we can realize that those of the proprietors who were anxious to save their enterprise from disaster could now draw a long breath. They at once set about their task of getting more settlers. They disposed of the required proportion of the land of the indifferent proprietors, giving the same by legal method to those who would come in and settle.
So the list of families slowly lengthened until at last the required number was reached and passed in 1750, when having been author- ized and directed to make a report upon the condition of Bedford, the proprietors caused the following report to be filed, which gives us practically a census of that date.
Bedford in the County of Hampshire.
In pursuance of an Order of the Great and General Court passed June 20, 1750, and published in the several publick Prints,
We the Subscribers a Committee appointed by the Inhabitants of said Bedford for making Enquiry into the State of the Settlement of said Place, at the Direction of the Committee of the Proprietors of said Tract of Land, do hereby certify that the following Persons have been admitted Settlers in said Bedford, vizt.
1. The Rev. Moses Tuttle
10. John Howard
2. Mr. David Brown
11. Gardner Gillett
3. Jonathan Church
12. Thomas Gillet
4. Jonathan Rose
13. Samuel Palmer (now dead)
5. Samuel Church
14. Ephraim Munson
6. Samuel Bancroft
15. Nathan Barlo
7. Ebenezer Holden
16. Edmund Barlo
8. Phineas Pratt
17. Sharon Rose
9. Thomas Bancroft
18. Nathaniel Bancroft
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 115, page 361, et seq.
35
1247310
THE PROPRIETORS
19. Ebenezer Holden, Jun".
48. Samuel Coe
20. Eleazer Hill (now dead)
49. Stephen Hickox
21. James Barlo
50. John Griswold
22. Samuel Church, Jun".
51. Timothy Robinson
23. David Rose
52. Moses Goffe
24. Thomas Brown
53. David Foster
25. Daniel Edwards
54. Constantine Pratt
26. Daniel Rose
55. Nathaniel Gillett
27. Joseph Frink
56. David Foster, Jun".
28. John Spelman
57. Barnard Pratt
58. Eleazer Hill, Jun".
59. Samuel Benjamin
31. Ezekiel Sweatman
32. Thomas Sweatman
61. John Seward
62. John Tibbals
35. David Clark
36. Charles Granger
37. Ebenezer Seward
38. Justus Rose
39. Samuel Meeker
40. Daniel Cooley
41. Thomas Cooley (now dead)
42. Samuel Hubbard
43. Rubin Ely
72. Noadiah Graves
73. Samuel Wheelen
74. Thoman Merryfield
75. Ebenezer Barns
76. James Barlo, Jun".
N. B. There are besides, Resident in said Place, Elijah Edwards, and Joseph Sweatman, and Benajah Edwards.
And that they have built Seventy three Dwelling Houses, and much more than the Quantity of Land brought under Tillage than required in the Tenour of said Grant and said Inhabitants are embodyed in a Church State, have regularly chose and ordained the Revª Moses Tuttle to be their Pastor now about three Years, and that there was built a Meeting House which was by the Provi- dence of God consumed by Fire, but there is now another commdius House a building for the Publick Worship of God which is enclosed so as the Inhabitants have mett in the same on Lords Days; all which has been effected at the Charge of the Owners of said Land
67. Josiah Meeker
68. John Howard, Jun".
69. David Hubbard
70. Elisha Rose
71. Zebediah Stiles
44. John Pebbles
45. Hugh Pebbles
46. Nathaniel Hubbard
47. Dan Robinson
60. William Jacob
33. John Rose
34. Benjamin Meeker
63. Ephraim How
64. Daniel Brown, Jun™.
65. Joel Seward
66. Jeremiah Griswold
29. Samuel Peirce
30. Jacob Brown
36
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
in compliance with the Conditions of said Grant. Bedford December 20, 1750.
Daniel Brown r Committee.
Ebenezer Seward &
Phinehas Pratt
Hampshire, ss. Westfield, February 26, 1750/1.
Then Personally appeared Daniel Brown, Ebenezer Seward and Phineas Prat, the above Committee of Bedford and made oath to the truth of the foregoing List according to their best information and knowledge,
Before me, David Mosely, Justice apeace.
The within List of the Settlement of Bedford herewith presented to this Honourable Court was taken by our Direction and said Commttee of the Inhabitants have been settled there for many Years and are well Knowing of the Truth thereof and they were desired to be very exact and particular in their Account and return to the same to us in complyance with the Orders of this Honourable Court .* Boston March 22, 1750/1.
Samuel Welles Jonas Clarke Belcher Noyes
Committee of the Proprietors
Thus, although the way had been long and beset with many diffi- culties, the goal had been reached, even if it was achieved nine years later than the original requirement. Their report had been accepted, apparently without criticism, and the infant settlement was in a fair way to grow.
So much for the proprietors.
Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 115, pages 756-758.
The Inhabitants
W HILE the proprietors had been having their difficulties, the inhabitants had been having their own troubles. County and Provincial taxes had to be assessed and collected from the owners of the land set aside as "Settling Lots" and officers to do that had to be chosen. In some way the authority granted to the settlers in 1745 had been allowed to lapse and now they were required to pay taxes and had no officers to perform the duty of assessment and collection.
As was quite natural, the inhabitants followed the example of the proprietors. They went to the legislature and quite as naturally the powers they asked for were granted. Their petition filed in the General Court November 1749 is particularly interesting from the fact that it bears the original signatures of twenty-nine of the origi- nal settlers of Bedford. This petition is as follows :
To the Honble Spencer Phips, Esq., Commander in Chief of his Majs Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, The Honble his Majs Council & house of Representatives in General Court assembled Nov™ 1749,
The petition of the Inhabitants of Bedford so-called in the County of Hampshire, Humbly Sheweth :
That the General Court in their great goodness was pleased to enable the Inhabitants of sª Township some years past, to Raise Taxes to Defray the Charges arising in sª Place, sª Taxes was to be raised on one fifth part of the Lands in sd Township and their power thereby was limited to three years which time is expired and your Petitioners find it absolutely necessary that sª Power be Continued.
We therefore humbly move Yr HonT & the Honble Court that the sª Power of Raising Taxes may be renewed & Continued for such term of Time as in yr Wisdom & Goodness you shall see meet and as in Duty Bound Shall ever Pray .*
Daniel Rose Jeremiah Griswold
Timothy Robinson
Thomas Brown
Samuel Coe
Jacob Brown
Abel Coe
Samuel Whealon
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 115, page 530.
38
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
Nathaniel Hubbard
Daniel Edwards
Thomas Bancroft
Stephen Hickox
Samuel Bancroft
James Barlo
Thomas Bancroft John Rose Samuel Church
Joseph Barber
Dan Robinson
Nathaniel Bancroft
John Seward
In the House of Reps Dec. 18, 1749.
Read and Inasmuch as the Power granted by this Court January 24th, 1745, to the said Inhabitants to raise Taxes, Choose officers &c for assessing and Collecting the necessary public Charges arising in said Township ended in January last, Therefore ordered that the same power with respect to the same lands be revived and from the time it ended be further continued for the space of three years.
And that Mr. Daniel Brown a principal Inhabitant there be impowered to call the first meeting .*
The Council concurred in the order and the Governor consented.
It will be recalled that mention was made above (page 24) of there coming to light a manuscript copy of the survey of Bedford dated November 12, 1738. Granville's good fortune in having this ancient survey is due to an act of the General Court and the excellent judgment of James Cooley, Esq., its Town Clerk when said act became effective.
This act was passed May 15, 1851, and it required all town clerks, and others having the custody of public records, to make copies of such of their records as were in a badly worn condition or were likely to become illegible or lost to posterity.
At that time, in 1851, Granville possessed part of its original first record book, wherein had been written the record of its meet- ings and votes from the date of its very first meeting, to and includ- ing that important one of October 26, 1753, when Phineas Pratt was directed to cause Bedford to be incorporated by the General Court. This book was then considerably more than one hundred years old, and as may easily be believed, it was getting worn and
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 115, page 531.
John Griswold Justus Rose Jonathan Rose
Daniel Brown
Ephraim Munson Ebenezer Seward Phinehas Prat David Rose
39
THE INHABITANTS
tender. In fact it was in bad condition and Mr. Cooley considered that it came within the terms of the act and that it ought to be copied, so he proceeded to copy it. This is what he says about it. "The following Records are taken from the most ancient Record Book now extant in Granville-Beginning at Page 11-all the preceding pages being gone." Then follow the minutes of the meet- ings of the inhabitants beginning with the vote No. 5 passed at the last meeting in 1750. The record shows that all the meetings were presided over by a Moderator, but the meetings held prior to June 21, 1751, seem to have been held without a clerk. Just who was responsible for writing up the minutes of these meetings does not appear because they are not signed by any one. It must be borne in mind that this is a record of meetings of the inhabitants of Bed- ford, and not meetings of the proprietors, very few, if any, of whom lived in Bedford. Meetings of the Proprietors were held when and where it was convenient for them, chiefly in Boston, and without any regard to the inhabitants, and vice versa. Belcher Noyes, of Boston, was the Clerk of the proprietors and Ephraim Munson, after August 5, 1751, seems to have been the "Clerk of the Society," as he subscribes himself.
So we are able to know definitely something of the life being lived on the Granville hills near two centuries ago. The principal subjects appearing in the minutes of those meetings have to do with taxes or the church, both of which were inextricably mixed with the political life of the times. For example: the remaining record of that last meeting in the year 1750 shows seven votes; four of which are concerned solely with the church affairs, two related to taxation and highways, and one created a committee to attend to a particu- lar matter. Of the votes affecting the church : one chose a committee to "state" the Rev. Mr. Tuttle's salary for the current year; one elected Nathan Barlow "to tune the Psalm" for the present year ; one chose a committee "to fence that half acre of land granted by the Rev. Mr. Tuttle to the Inhabitants of Bedford for the place for the meeting house"; and one chose a committee "to underpin the meeting house." As to the two votes relating to taxation and highways, one divided the settled area into three highway districts, each to be in charge of one person, and the other vote was "That
40
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
the inhabitants will be at cost of laying out the roads in said Bed- ford." In as much as part of the record of this meeting is lost, it is quite impossible to learn just how this "cost of laying out the roads" was to be met, whether by contributed labor or by cash. But, be that as it may, there was another meeting of the Inhabitants on April 15, 1751, at the home of Lieut. Daniel Brown, which gives us more information.
It will be borne in mind that up to this time no powers to conduct the public business of Bedford had been given to the group of pioneers settling in that area. To be sure, the proprietors had been authorized to do certain things, but not the inhabitants. From the minutes of this meeting of April 15, 1751, we find that these hardy settlers had a few ideas of their own as to how the public business should go on and had proceeded to put those ideas into execution. At that meeting Daniel Brown was chosen Moderator. It was then voted "That the account brought into sd meeting by Samuel Church, Collector for the years 1748 and 1749, be exseptord." This account showed a balance in the Collector's hands amounting to £13 s15. Here we see a patent manifestation of the inborn spirit of self government, self reliance and independence which was to wax stronger and stronger, and finally flare out in resentment at injustice, and pass into open rebellion for the maintenance of what the Ameri- can Colonists believed to be their rights.
There in the Granville hills was a little group of settlers, assembled from older settlements in widely scattered places, who had come there to live. When they needed money for public uses they called a meeting; levied a tax; chose a collector; he collected the tax and reported what he had done with the funds. It mattered not a bit to them that the Great and General Court had officially no knowledge of their existence. With the self reliance of hill dwellers, they were quite able to take care of themselves. The spirit of America was in the making.
Another interesting item from the record of that meeting con- cerns the compensation of that worthy tax collector, Samuel Church. This is the vote : "Voted that said collector for collecting two years Rates have £2, 0s, 0d." Surely, not a very paying job.
We get another glimpse of the early life from the last vote taken
41
THE INHABITANTS
at that meeting. The ever present subject of taxation had to be dealt with. A tax of one penny per acre was "assessed on all settling land in said Bedford for the supporting ministerial charges and necessary (expenses) ... in the present year" and "also a tax of one penny per acre be assessed on all settlement land in said Bed- ford for the mending highways ... in the present year."
From this vote it appears that one-half of the money raised by taxation was to be used for church purposes and the other half for the highways. In those days the church in a pioneer settlement was a real institution.
To get an idea as to how much money was available for such uses, the report of the committee chosen to audit the accounts of the Treasurers is enlightening. It is as follows :
Bedford, April 15, 1751.
The Committee chosen by the Inhabitants of said Bedford to make up accounts with the Treasurers, Mr. Daniel Brown and Mr. Phineas Pratt, and we find that Lieut. Daniel Brown hath paid £372, 1s, 5d, in money which sª Brown had of the Proprietors and £316, 8s, 9d, Society money, and of the said Pratt for the years 1749, £222, 13s, 2d, which the said Pratt had of School money.
Just how much all this money would amount to in the cash of today will depend on the fluctuations of the rate of exchange between pounds and dollars, and the depreciated state of the currency. The report of the Committee mentions sums aggregating £911, 3s, 4d, which shows that they were not poverty stricken.
Up to this time Bedford had no official existence. Its inhabitants could go their own way according to their own devices and desires. They had no legal authority to conduct any of the functions of a civilized political community. The inhabitants had increased in num- bers from the first pioneer cabins of a few families to a scattered settlement of over seventy families. Conditions were rapidly chang- ing. Roads were now a necessity and the early trails, serving two or three families, kept in more or less repair by those who chanced to go over them, were not now sufficient to accommodate the in- creased travel incident to seventy families. Where there had previ- ously been no public business, now there arose a demand for certain services of a public nature. The mutual agreement of a half dozen settlers that each one should do his share of keeping the roads in
42
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
passable condition was now no longer adequate. More taxes were needed for local purposes. The growth of the settlement rendered it necessary that some sort of legal status should be formed for the convenient and proper conduct of Bedford's political business. The settlement needed an official Treasurer, Assessors, Collector and Selectmen to see to the execution of the public duties. They had no authority to do all these things except in the intimate neighborly way heretofore prevailing.
This condition of things was annoying and some of the wiser men of the community decided that the cure for it was to get an act passed by the legislature incorporating them into a Town and giving them a regular Town government. There seems to have been no regular vote by the inhabitants to that end. At least no record of such a vote remains.
At any rate, vote or no vote, a certain Mr. Worthington (per- haps John, who then lived in Bedford) seems to have been engaged to present a petition to the General Court asking to have the locality known as Bedford incorporated as a Town. That something was officially and generally known about it appears from the signature at the end of the petition which was signed by Phineas Pratt "For himself and in Behalf of Daniel Brown and Eben" Seward, Com- mittee chosen by sª Inhabitants." No one can reasonably think that such a signature could have been submitted to the scrutiny of the General Court unless it meant what it says. The petition follows :
To the Honble Spencer Phips, Esqr. Leiut. Governour & Com- mander in Chief in & over his Majesties Province of the Massachu- setts Bay, in New England, The Honble His Majesties Council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled at Boston on the 29th Day of May 1751,
The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Plantation of Bedford in the County of Hampshire and province aforesaid, Humbly sheweth :-
That your petitioners are in Number about Seventy Families & have settled a Gospel Minister among them and are under the Necessity of raising Taxes for the Support of the Ministry and other necessary Charges properly arising on said Inhabitants and are under very great Difficulties for want of proper Power by law to raise the same, your Petitioners therefore pray that they may be incorporated into a Town by some proper Name & that they may
43
THE INHABITANTS
be vested with the Common Priviledges of Towns & with Power & Authority whereby they may manage the affairs of said Plantation with greater Ease & Safety agreeable to the Laws of this Province.
And as in Duty bound shall ever pray.
Phinehas Pratt
For himself and in Behalf of Daniel Brown & Eben" Seward Committee chosen by sª Inhabitants*
The petition was well received. A bill was duly drafted granting the prayer of the petitioners and incorporating Bedford as a town. This bill passed the House of Representatives and went to the Council for concurrence. The Council had the bill read in the usual routine twice and then refused to concur. The bill was dead. The time for Granville to be born had not yet arrived. This political disaster occurred on June 17, a day which a few years later was to become famous in American history.
But all was not lost. The legislature thought the inhabitants of Bedford were entitled to some sort of relief, but they could come in along with others, so a general law was passed affecting all Plan- tations alike. This law was passed three days after the Council refused to concur in making Bedford a town, see Volume III, Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, page 565, part of which is as follows :
Whereas there are sundry new plantations within this province by law enjoyned to pay province and county taxes, that are not impowered to choose the proper officers to assess, levy and collect the said taxes,
Be it enacted by the Lt. Governor, Council and House of Repre- sentatives :
Sec. 1. That the freeholders of every such new plantation be and are hereby impowered and required to assemble together on the first Monday of August next, at the usual places for holding their publick meetings, and, being so assembled, shall choose a moderator and clerk for said meeting which clerk shall be immediately sworn truly to enter and record all such votes as shall be passed at said meeting, by a justice of the peace, if any be present, otherwise by
* Massachusetts Archives, Town Series, Records of the Governor and Council, Volume 117, page 100.
44
HISTORY OF GRANVILLE
the moderator of said meeting, and shall proceed to choose three assessors to make a valuation of estates .. . as also a collec- tor
Sec. 2 of the act provided that the inhabitants of such plantations should thereafter meet annually at some convenient time in the month of March and choose a clerk, assessors and collector, and the assessors and collector were empowered to levy and collect taxes in the same manner as towns. The clerk was given authority to issue the warrant for the meeting to be held on the first Monday of August 1751, and also for the subsequent annual meetings.
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