USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Hardwick > History of Hardwick, Massachusetts, with a genealogical register > Part 4
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ony was admissible ; but this new restric- tion effectually excluded all except the native-born population. Itis not improb- able that this exclusion was made at the suggestion of the petitioners, who had al- ready suffered so much annoyance and loss by the conduct of those who had set- tled at the Elbows.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
Perhaps one reason was this : the " Equivalent Land," granted by the General Court in 1713, was so near to Brookfield and the " Braintree six thousand acres," that a tract of twelve miles in length and eight miles in width, bordering on Nenemeseck or Ware River, could not be found between the Elbows and Rutland, which then included Barre. Moreover, in this case the proprie- tors did not adopt the expensive method which had formerly proved so successful. The order of the General Court, confirm- ing the title of Leicester to the nine persons who purchased the territory of the Indians, was passed February 25, 1713-4. " These proprietors had probably already associated others with them in the enterprise of settling the town and sharing in the speculation ; for we find them executing a deed on the 23d of the same February, which was acknowledged before Penn Townsend, Esq., to thirteen other associates, dividing the same into twenty equal and undivided shares, of which two were equally divided, each between two, so as to make twenty-two proprietors of the twenty shares. The names of the persons who thus became in- terested with the original purchasers were Jeremiah Dummer, Paul Dudley, John Clark, Addington Davenport, Thomas Hutch- inson, John White, William Hutchinson, Francis Wainwright, John Chandler and Thomas Howe as one, Daniel Allen and Sam- uel Sewall as one, and William Dudley. Every one of these were men of influence in the Province. . . . If it were proper, at this distance of time, to indulge in any conjectures in relation to the affairs of the proprietors, one would be led to remark upon the character and position of the men with whom the original pur- chasers shared the territory they had acquired. They embraced some of the most prominent and leading men of both political parties, some of them connected with the immediate government of the Province, and quite a proportion of them united by strong family ties ; and if it could be supposed that by lapse of time, or defect in the original deed, or any other cause, it had become nec- essary to exert a combined influence over the government in order to obtain a confirmation of the title, it is pretty obvious that these were precisely the class of men through whose aid such a measure might be hoped to be accomplished." 1 No such lavish expenditure was made to secure the grant of Hardwick. But six months afterwards, December 27, 1732, Joseph Haskell of Rochester, Samuel Willis, Esq., of Dartmouth, and Ebenezer Pierpont and Colonel William Dudley of Roxbury were admitted
1 Washburn's Hist. of Leicester, pp. 9, 10, 14.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
as joint proprietors, " each of them for a whole share," making the shares " twelve in number and no more." If these persons did not purchase their shares by payment of money, Haskell and Willis probably rendered efficient aid in bringing forward the set- tlement by inducing their townsmen to emigrate to the wilder- ness ; Pierpont was cousin to the Ruggles heirs, and was proprie- tors' clerk, and apparently legal adviser for several years ; Dudley only can reasonably be suspected of having used official influence in obtaining the grant, but even of him it is recorded that his share was received in right of his brother Thomas, deceased.
Several years later, the title to this territory was challenged by a Stockbridge Indian. This subject is introduced here, some- what out of the order of time, as a fit conclusion of this chapter. The original papers are still preserved : -
" To his Honor Spencer Phips, Esq., Lieut. Governor and Commander in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, and to the Hon. his Majesty's Council and House of Representatives in General Court convened at Boston, September the 26th, 1750.
" The Memorial of Hendrick ;Kequoquau, now resident at Stockbridge, a native and claimer of the northern part of Brook- field, alias the land called Lambstown, lying on the northwest of the said Brookfield, humbly sheweth, That your memorialist, being born and brought up at said Brookfield, and by right of inheritance from his ancestors the proper owner of said land, your memorialist, not having yet sold the said land, or ever in any way or manner received any thing in consideration therefor, although your memorialist has had encouragement from Col. Stoddard that he should be paid for the same. Your memorialist has been long endeavouring to obtain justice respecting the prem- ises, but has hitherto failed. Your memorialist being aged and necessitous, and standing in real need, having an honest and just right to the lands granted away by this Province, your memorial- ist prays that the honored Court would be pleased to consider the case, and agreeable to their invariable rule of justice and goodness be pleased to grant something by way of satisfaction for said lands. And your memorialist shall, as in duty bound, ever pray, &c.
" HENDRICK KEKQUOQUAU (mark). ADAM MAHTAUNKAUMUT (mark). MHTOCKAUMUNT (mark).
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
"N. B. - The reason of the two last signers is because they are partners by relation, and are agents for the memorialist." 1
Instead of determining whether the Province should " grant something by way of satisfaction," as prayed for by the petitioner, an indorsement on the petition shows that the House of Repre- sentatives, October 10, 1750, "ordered that the proprietors of Hardwick make the within named Hendrick proper satisfaction in consideration of his right to the lands belonging to said Township ; it appearing that he was one of the native owners of the same, and it not appearing that he has made sale thereof." The Coun- cil non-concurred ; and an order of notice to the proprietors was issued, returnable at the next session, at which time they pre- sented this answer : -
" To his Honor Spencer Phips, Esq., Lieut. Governor and Com- . mander in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, and to the honorable his Majesty's Council and House of Representatives in General Court convened, January 1750-1, the answer of the Proprietors of Hardwick to the memorial of Hendrick Kekquoquau, resident at Stockbridge, humbly sheweth :- That in order to set this affair in its proper light, we are obliged to recur to the year 1686, when our ancestors purchased a tract of land, twelve miles north and south, and eight miles east and west, of John Magus, Law- rance Nassawanno, James, Simon, and other Indian Sachems, to the northward of Brookfield, by the River Nenemeseck, now called Ware River ; that your respondents, the said purchasers, were at many hundred pounds charge to bring forward a settle- ment of a plantation on the southerly part of their said purchase, about twenty years ago, at Kingston,2 by the Elbows, which was quitted by the said purchasers without being reimbursed any of their expenses. And in the year 1732 your respondents, in consequence of their said purchase, obtained a grant of land, from the General Court, of the contents of six miles square, on the northward of Ware River and adjacent thereto for a township, subject to certain conditions of settling the same (being part of the premises purchased by our ancestors as aforesaid), which conditions of settling the said grantees many years since complied with, so as that in the year 1738 3 the General Court, in their wisdom saw cause to incorporate Lambstown into a Township by the name of Hardwick, wherein the bounds, in their act made for
1 Mass. Arch., xxxii. 68.
2 Now Palmer.
3 The Act of Incorporation was ap- proved January 10, 1738-9.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
that purpose, are expressed at large. So that they humbly ap- prehend, having in the first place obtained the native right, and afterward the General Court's grant, and complied with the conditions thereof, that they stand firm in their claim. More especially since they possess but little more than one third part of their purchase, having been obliged to surrender to the Secre- tary of this Province, for the public benefit, the remaining part of our said purchase,1 with this proviso, that the said grantees should have, hold and enjoy the said grant of the contents of six miles square, to them, their heirs and assigns forever. And your respondents now want about one thousand acres of land to com- plete the said grant, besides the nine hundred acres in dispute with the proprietors of Quabin, which affair now lies before the Honorable Court. So that, upon the whole, when we call to mind that the Great and General Court, in their wisdom and goodness, have at all times encouraged industry and fidelity, we find our fears very much alleviated on account of the challenges made of our claims and right, one after the other ; that we per- suade ourselves that the premises in dispute, or any part thereof, will never be taken from those persons who have paid a dutiful regard to the Great and General Court, in complying with the conditions of their grant, and thereby promoted the public good, and be given to them who have neglected their duty in this respect ; or that we shall be obliged to pay any sum or sums of money to a Native, upon his making any challenge without foundation. For though the memorialist, Hendrick Kekquoquau, was born and brought up at Brookfield, it does not necessarily follow that the lands to the northward thereof did belong to his ancestors, and so by right of inheritance descend to him ; nor can we perceive that he ever made out any just claim that they or he had to the same. And as to any encouragement that Col. Stod- dard might give the memorialist, we are wholly ignorant of it; but beg leave to represent that we have heard of, and some of us have seen, a large tract of land, lying northwest of Brookfield, at a place called Coyshill,2 which we were informed that Col.
1 Such surrender was required as a condition of the uncompleted grant, June 23, 1727; and though not expressly named in the valid grant of June, 1732, it was demanded by the government, and was actually made, at a meeting of the proprietors, February 21, 1732-3. This surrender was ratified and confirmed. Thus, under duress, the proprietors sur-
rendered " for the public benefit " nearly two thirds of the territory rightfully be- longing to them, in order to acquire peaceable possession of the remainder, rather than to give it to individuals as the price of their favorable influence.
2 Coy's Hill is in the northerly part of Warren.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
Stoddard claimed ; so that it's highly probable that the memo- rialist has made a mistake as to the spot of land which he suggests he has a right to ; for Col. Stoddard could not mean that the proprietors of Lambstown should pay him, the memorialist, for the lands which the General Court had granted to our propriety. Finally, we humbly leave the memorialist to the compassion and goodness of your Honor and Honorable Court, to relieve him, as to your wisdom shall seem meet, saving always our right to the lands purchased, granted, and settled by us, as aforesaid. And your respondents shall ever pray.
" January 29, 1750-1, being the 2d Tuesday of the set- ting of the General Court.
EBENEZER PIERPONT, in the name and at the desire of the Proprietors of Hardwick." 1
This answer having been read, the petition was referred to a joint committee, and its further consideration assigned to " the first Friday of the next sitting of the General Court ; " but no subsequent action thereon appears to have been had.
1 Mass. Arch., xxxii. 93, 94.
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CHAPTER III.
CIVIL HISTORY.
Names of Proprietors. - Executive Committee. - Gratuities. - Arrangement of Lots. - Settlers to share the Expense of Surveying, and to aid in erect- ing a Meeting-House and maintaining a Minister. - Additional Grant of Land. - First Settler. - Other Settlers admitted. - Mill Lots. - Access of Inhabitants in 1736. - Incorporation as a District. - First Officers. - Rev. Timothy Ruggles. - Incorporation as a Town. - First Town Officers. - Act of Incorporation.
HAVING obtained confirmation of their title, the proprietors procured from John Chandler, Jr., Esq., a warrant, by virtue of which Joseph Ruggles gave notice of a legal meeting to be held at Roxbury on the 27th of December, 1732, " then and there to choose a Proprietors' Clerk, and to manage, improve, grant, dis- pose, and divide the said lands, more especially to admit our associates in due form, and to choose a committee to lay out con- venient highways to accommodate a township, and to lot out so much of the said land to the proprietors and such as shall be hereafter admitted settlers in such ways as may most conduce to the promoting and settling thereof," etc.1
At this meeting, and the next succeeding which was held by adjournment, effective measures were adopted for the speedy fulfilment of the conditions imposed by the General Court. I shall quote freely : -
" Voted and chose Joshua Lamb, Esq. Moderator of said meet- ing ; and chose Joseph Ruggles Proprietors' Clerk.
" Voted, That Nathaniel Paige's heirs, Andrew Gardner's as-
1 To this notice is appended a certifi- cate, dated Dec. 13, 1732 : -
" The forewritten is a true copy of a notification which Abner Lee of Worces- ter this day made oath before me, the sub- scriber, that he set up on the house of William Thomas within the tract of land aforementioned, and which was done by eight o'clock in the forenoon of this day.
Attest : John Chandler, Jr., Justice Peace." Very probably other persons may have already erected houses on this territory, but no proof of their identity is known to exist; and this William Thomas may therefore be regarded as the first known English resident in what is now Hard- wick; though an ancient tradition gives the priority to Benjamin Smith.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
signs, Benjamin Gamblin's heirs, Benjamin Tucker's heirs, John Curtis's heirs, Richard Draper's heirs, Samuel Ruggles's heirs, of Roxbury lately deceased, Joshua Lamb's heirs, and Joseph Haskell, Ebenezer Pierpont, Samuel Willis Esq., and Col. Wil- liam Dudley Esq., are received as associates, according to said Court's grant, each of them for a whole share.1
" Voted, That five committee men are chosen to manage the affair of the settlement of the town according to the warrant, to wit: Col. William Dudley, Col. Joshua Lamb, Mr. Ebenezer Pierpont, Capt. Joseph Ruggles, and Mr. Samuel Davis ; but three of the five to go at a time. Three men are chose a com- mittee to audit all our accounts against the next meeting, to wit, Col. Dudley, Caleb Seaver, and Thomas Mayo. This meeting is adjourned or continued unto Wednesday the twenty-first of February next ensuing, at nine o'clock in the morning, at the Gray Hound Tavern in Roxbury.
" February 21, 1732-3, by continuation from Dec. 27th, at the Gray Hound, met and unanimously voted, in the first place, that two thousand acres of land in our new settlement or town- ship hereby is given and granted to the petitioners and Com- mittee, to be by them disposed of as a gratuity to such persons as have been serviceable to us in obtaining the grant of the same, as they shall think fit ; all necessary highways needful for the same to be included. Voted, that we are adjourned for the space of one hour to the same place.
" And then met and voted that whereas in the Court's grant of our new township at Ware River, the Rev. Mr. Timothy Ruggles and Capt. Joseph Ruggles are two of the grantees, they have quitted to the proprietors the grant of Court to them as petition- ers ; they shall have, and hereby have granted them five hundred acres of land between them in said town, by allotment, over and above one share to the heirs of Capt. Samuel Ruggles, late of Roxbury deceased.
" Voted, That Benjamin Smith, who married one of the heirs of John Curtis deceased, since he has carried on his part of the charge with us, it is ordered that the said Benjamin Smith shall have recorded to him the ninth part of the said John Curtis's share.
" Unanimously voted, That whereas Joshua Lamb, Timothy Ruggles, Joseph Ruggles, and Ebenezer Pierpont, have given a general quitclaim to the Province of a Deed, signed by John
1 At this date, it appears that all the original grantees had deceased.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
Magus, Lawrence Nassawano, and other Indian Sachems, to Joshua Lamb and others ; now we do declare we are contented and well satisfied, and do ratify and confirm said act, agreeable to said quitclaim. . . .
" Unanimously voted, That the whole township shall be lotted out as soon as may be by the committee as shall hereafter be determined by the Propriety ; three convenient places, if they may be obtained, to seat mills on, reserved for the benefit of the proprietors, and the committee to make report of the same to the proprietors.
" Voted, That ten acres 1 of land be reserved near the centre of said tract, to set a meeting-house on, and for a burial-place and a training-field.
" Voted, That this meeting is adjourned to to-morrow morning at the same place.
" Roxbury, February 22, 1732-3. Met by continuation from the 21st of February, 1732-3.
" Unanimously voted, That the committee shall as soon as may be lay out one hundred and eleven lots for the proprietors and settlers, in one hundred acre lots, having respect to the quality of the land, viz., four lots to each proprietor's share, sixty settlers, and the lots for the minister, ministry, and school ; the minister's lot to be laid out by the committee near the centre of the town, and the rest of the lots to be drawn for, both by the proprietors and settlers.
" Unanimously voted, That the remaining land belonging to the proprietors be all lotted out by the committee in such quan- tities as that each proprietor have three lots and so sorted as that in the draft each person may have a just and equal share.
" Unanimously voted, That each settler pay into the hands of the committee, upon his drawing his lot, the sum of five pounds towards the defraying the charges of surveying, &c .; and the further sum of ten pounds each, for the building a meeting-house and settling a minister, within the space of three years after his being admitted.
1 This "ten acres" was near the old burial-place and training-field, or com- mon ; but that it did not include either is manifest from the fact that a different disposition of the whole tract was subse- quently made : five acres, the easterly half, was sold to Rev. Timothy Ruggles, in February, 1758 ; half an acre, the
" Unanimously voted, That each proprietor have leave to offer northwesterly corner, was given to the " Separate Society," 10th March, 1761; and " four acres and an half remaining of the ten acres " was sold to Jonas Fay, 19th May, 1761. The ten acres was on the hill, northwesterly from the present common, which seems to have been sub- stituted for the original grant.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
for admission five settlers of such persons according to the Court's grant, and shall give bonds to the committee for the fulfilment of the order and conditions of Court within three years from their admission on forfeiture of their lots to be again disposed of ; al- ways provided that those who have paid their money and are al- ready admitted be deducted out of the whole in proportion ; and whereas the proprietors have each of them a draught of four lots, which makes nine lots including the settlers, five of any of the nine being settled by them shall be sufficient."
On a more careful survey, the proprietors found that they had interfered with other grants, and were curtailed in their territory. They petitioned the General Court for relief, June 15, 1733, rep- resenting that, " so it was, that the surveyor and chainmen, who were under oath, not knowing the bounds of a tract of land of six thousand acres granted heretofore by this Court to Braintree and . adjoining to Rutland, and not thinking the said Braintree land or any part was on the northwest of Ware River, have included within that plat four hundred acres of good land,1 fit for settle- ments ; as also have included the quantity of three hundred acres more at the west end of the grant, being land formerly granted by this Court to the Government of Connecticut, called Equiva- lent lands, and belonging, as your petitioners are informed, to John Read, Esq.,2 all which will appear by the plan herewith pre- sented. Wherefore your petitioners being thus lessened in their grant, and having three large ponds of some hundred acres in- cluded, obliges us humbly to pray your Excellency and Honors that a strip or parcel of land belonging to this Province, between Braintree grant, Brookfield town, and Ware River, so far as the bend of the River is, may be added to the grant made your peti- tioners. . .. Our humble prayer is that the said land may be added to and accounted a part of the township granted as afore- said, in full satisfaction of the land that is wanting of the con- tents of six miles square as aforesaid."
" In the House of Representatives, June 16th, 1733. Read, and ordered that the prayer of the petition be and hereby is granted, and the strip or parcel of land within mentioned is con- firmed to the petitioners, and their associates, and their assigns,
1 This tract of " four hundred acres " was at the northeasterly corner of the town, and included the Robinson Farm. It was annexed to Hardwick, by act of the General Court, June 10, 1814. Mass. Sp. Laws, v. 10.
2 The angles at the west end of the line between Hardwick and Ware, on the map, indicate the locality of these "three hun- dred acres."
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CIVIL HISTORY.
respectively, forever by the following bounds, viz., beginning at the east bank of Ware River, at the northwest [northeast ? ] corner of a tract of land laid out to James Hovey, and confirmed this present session ; from thence running southerly, as that line runs, to Brookfield bounds; and from thence easterly, as Brookfield bounds run, to the southwesterly corner 1 of Braintree six thou- sand acres ; and from thence extending northwesterly, bounding northeasterly on said six thousand acres, till the line comes to Ware River; and then bounding on Ware River to the first bounds : in lieu of the four hundred acres taken off by Braintree grant, and the three hundred acres taken off by land of John Read, Esq., and the ponds, etc., as aforesaid, provided it inter- feres with no former grant." The Council concurred three days afterwards, and the Governor gave his consent.
At the time of this grant, Lieutenant (afterwards captain) Eleazar Warner resided with his family on a farm, which was given to him and his wife by her father, Thomas Barns of Brook- field, in 1729, and included part of the Winnimisset swamp and upland. His house stood about a mile east of Ware River, at the corner of the old turnpike and the road leading to New Braintree meeting-house, and was afterwards long known as the Perez Cobb house. He was probably the first English settler on this territory.2 At this time also very few settlers had be- come resident on the original grant. By the Proprietors' Records it appears that on the 12th of June, 1733, seventy-four of the one hundred and eleven proposed lots had been laid out ; " and there is sixteen persons already settled and entered on them ; " and it was " proposed that twenty-four persons 3 more shall at this time be admitted as settlers thereon, who, together with the pro- prietors, shall draw for the lots already laid out. ... Then the
1 This "corner" was not far south- no settlement had been commenced in easterly from the point where the road what is now Hardwick. from New Braintree to West Brookfield passes the head of Ditch Meadow. The tract thus described became the westerly part of New Braintree when that town was incorporated.
2 It is a family tradition, and it is so stated in the Massachusetts Spy, Decem- ber 10, 1817, that his son Warham War- ner, who was born November 1, 1730, and died December 4, 1817, " was the first [English] child born in New Brain- tree." At the date of this birth, probably
3 These " twenty-four" were not yet resident, as they had not drawn their lots, and some of them never personally oc- cupied those lots. Several were delin- quent for a full year, and it was voted, June 12, 1734, " that the Committee write forthwith to each settler that has not yet been at work on their lots, to come into the meeting on the adjournment to give bond to fulfil their settlements according to agreement ; and provided they do not, others shall be admitted." Five such lots were declared forfeited July 21, 1736.
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HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
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