USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 11
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This petition was received in the general court Feb. 14, 1743-4, and a committee was chosen from the two branches "to take under consideration the subject matter" of it and "report as soon as may be what they judge proper for the
77
SLOW GROWTH OF THE SETTLEMENT.
Court to do thereon." On the 25th of the same month they reported, advising "that a Committee be appointed and ordered to repair to the lands mentioned in sd Petition and view the same and How far the conditions of the Grant are Complyed with as also to send for the Clerk of the Props to lay before them such Records Papers and accounts as they may judge necessary and report as soon as may be." The report was accepted and its recommendation adopted, a committee of three persons being named for the duty set forth. But neither the records of the court, nor other documents in the office of the secretary of the state, at Boston, contain any further information concerning this endeavor of the inhabitants of Narragansett No. 2 to obtain relief from their many troubles.
For several years subsequent to this date the infant settle- ment increased but slowly, if at all. Few new families came in, while several previously located here moved away. This state of things was produced, in part no doubt, by the existing inharmony between the resident and non-resident proprietors, just adverted to, and the attendant unwillingness of the latter to make needed improvements, and to offer inducements suffi- cient to attract new comers to the place; partly by reason of the breaking out of the war between England and France, known as King George's war, whereby the frontier plantations were put in fear and jeopardy, as will be more fully set forth in a forthcoming chapter; and partly from other causes, not needful to state in this connection.
Nevertheless, the forms of organic life were kept up by the propriety, and important items of business were transacted from time to time, though meetings were infrequent and little enterprise or persistency of effort seemed to characterize the prevailing policy.
Some doubt seems to have existed in regard to the strict legality of the manner in which the meetings of the proprietors had been usually called, and, in order to prevent any trouble on that score in the future, the notice for one to be held at Mr. Ebenezer Stedman's, in Cambridge, Sept. 19, 1744, was issued "in His Majesty's Name" under the authority of the "Province of the Massachusetts Bay " by "Samuel Danforth, Esq. Justice of Peace thro'out the Province Aforesaid." At this meeting, all the old officers were re-elected, and the standing committee was instructed "to Post those Lotts which are or shall be delinquent in Paying their Taxes and to Proceed with them as the Law Directs." Also "to inspect the Treasurer's accompts and to Lay them before the Proprietors once at Least in the year."
Previous to this time, a committee had been appointed to audit and settle the accounts of the proprietors of the town- ship from the beginning, as they were represented in the books of the several successive treasurers. Having attended to the
78
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
duty assigned them, they made a detailed report at the meet- ing under notice. It comprised the financial transactions extending through a period of more than ten years, and included a similar report, submitted and approved Sept. 3, 1734. It was copied into the clerk's book of records, in full, but is presented here in a much condensed form, to wit :
Recd by Mr. Willis on Tax of July 9, 1734 . Tax of £5 levied on each lot, Jany. 4, 1737 .
£ 472. 12. 8. 595. 357.
£3
66
Mar 5, 1739 .
66 £2. 5. 6.
66 £1. 4. 66
£IO. 10. 60
66
Recd by sale of Lot No. SI
66
66
66 66
66 66
66 Sept 1, 1742 . 476. 64. 15. 6. 47. 15. 6.
Total Receipts £3676. 4. 2.
Paid out by Wm. Willis, Treasr
£447. 3. 3.
66 Sam1 Burr,
859. I. 3.
" 66 Saml Jackson, “ 813. 13. 66 66 Daniel Cook. 66
Due from estate of Wm. Willis
66
" Sam1 Burr
173. 2. 3.
66
66
" Saml Jackson 48. 4.
Whole amount 246. 15. 6.
Total Disbursements £3316. 10. 4.
Balance due on Taxes 359. 13. 10.
Whole Amount £3676. 4. 2.
There was due Daniel Cook what he overpaid . £76. 15. 10.
Making the actual assets of the Propriety. £282. 18
The proprietors did not come together again till April 16, 1746, when they met at the house of John Bradshaw, innholder, Charlestown. Officers of the propriety were chosen, certain appropriations were made, and a vote was passed that plans of the second division and meadow lots be furnished by the res- pective surveyors to the clerk, to be copied by him into the record book. This was subsequently done and the plans may be found, finely executed and well preserved, in the proprietors' first book, pp. 136-215.
The next regular meeting was held June 22 1748, at the house of Mrs. Mary Learned, Watertown, when the form of re- electing the standing committee, clerk, and treasurer, was gone through with, and a new board of assessors chosen.
At a meeting held at Cambridge May 4, 1749, the number of the standing committee was increased from three to five persons, two new members being elected, in addition to the old
949. 17. 4.
£ 25. 9. 3.
66 66 IOI .6 66 Sep. 10, 1740 . 270. 14. 6.
Dec 2, 1741 . 142. 16.
66 June 2, 1741 . 1249. 10. 66
79
RESIDENT PROPRIETORS SEEK RELIEF.
ones. The fact that this enlarged board did not have a single resident proprietor upon it, had no tendency to lessen the existing breach between the two parties already spoken of, and make the actual settlers contented with their lot, but rather the opposite. The dissatisfaction at the general management of affairs not only continued, but grew as the years went by, and at length ripened into a movement which was destined to secure the relief so long desired and sought, but thus far desired and sought in vain.
Meanwhile one consideration was shown the weaker, but the most deeply interested party, by the majority of the proprietors, which, whatever motive caused it, did not come soon enough to foreclose or prevent the redress-seeking action referred to. At a meeting, held Oct. 26, 1749, at John Bradshaw's, Charles- town, Joseph Miller, Daniel Cook, and Jonathan Watson were appointed a committee "to Lay out such highways in the pro- priety as they shall Judge necessary making report of their doings for acceptance." In discharge of the duty assigned them, this committee reported, the following year, certain roads, which were approved and constructed, as will appear hereafter. (See Chap. XII.)
A second appeal to the general court had been determined upon by the resident proprietors, and was made through a peti- tion signed by Philip Bemis and others, presented at the ses- sion opening Jan. 5, 1749-50, the purport of which may be learned by the following extract from the court records, to wit :
" A Petition of the Inhabitants of the Township called Narraganset No. 2 complaining of the non-resident Proprietors for their not settling upon their lots nor sending others to settle them, nor paying their part of the charge of the support of the Ministry and the necessary expenses of the town; com- plaining also of the Committee of said Township for not levying their charges on the Delinquents lots of land and Praying that the Court would order that their Proprietors meetings may be held within the Town and that the delinquent Proprietors may be obliged forthwith to settle their lots and pay their dues or that the l'etitioners may be otherwise relieved as this Court shall order."
Taking the usual course of proceeding in such cases, the petitioners were required to notify the non-resident propretors, through the columns of "the Post Boy," to appear at a given date and show cause, if they have any, why the prayer of the petition should not be granted.
As the non-resident proprietors did not appear at the time designated, it was ordered, when the matter came up again, on the 15th of April, that a committee be chosen "to consider of this Petition and report what they judge proper for this Court to do thereon." The committee was accordingly named, at- tended to the duty assigned it, and reported the following day
" That a Committee be chosen by this Court in their present Session and that said Committee on the first Wednesday in January next or as soon after
80
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
as may be repair to Narraganset No. 2, and view the settlement there made and the said Committee are fully authorized and are required to commence and prosecute to effect a Suit or Suits in behalf of the Province against any and every Person or Persons whom it concerns for recovering the Possession of all such Lots or Shares as shall not be settled agreeable to the terms or Conditions of the Grant of said Township. And the said Committee are em- powered to agree with such Person or Persons as shall appear to purchase the same and will engage in a reasonable time to bring forward a Settlement thereof for all such Lots or Shares possession of which shall be recovered as aforesaid. And as soon as such Person or Persons shall have complied with the terms of their agreement respectively the said Committee are here- by authorized and required to give a good and sufficient Deed or Deeds of conveyance of all or any such Lots or Shares and the Produce thereof they are required to pay into the Province Treasury. The Committee are also of the opinion That the Proprietors of Narraganset No. 2, be obliged to hold all their future meetings within the bounds of said Township. The Committee are further of the opinion that it is necessary an Act should pass this Court enabling Courts of the General Sessions of the Peace to give Relief to ministers in new Townships where the Inhabitants fail of their contracts in such manner as may be directed or prescribed in such Act. All which is humbly submitted."
This report was accepted and its recommendations adopted. A committee for visiting the township, etc., was appointed, with John Chandler, Esq., chairman, also one "to prepare and draft a Bill agreeably to the last Paragraph in the Report."
From what can be learned, it seems that the non-resident proprietors did not get the notice "to appear and show cause why the Petition of Philip Bemis and others should not be granted " until after the action of the court just named. When they found out what had been done, they immediately went to work to obtain a stay of proceedings and a reversal of judgment in the case. They held a meeting and chose a committee, with John Hunt chairman, to draw up a protest and present it to the legislature. This was done in a most vigorous and persua- sive way, as is shown by the still preserved document itself, which is omitted here for want of space.
But the court had no idea of going back on its record and the protest of the non-residents was "ordered to be dismissed." The residents must have rejoiced exceedingly at the summary action of the court in this particular, and awaited the visit of the committee to the township and its subsequent report, with fond anticipation. One important point had been gained be- yond all peradventure. The meetings of the proprietors were henceforth to be held in the township to the obvious advantage of the residents here. This is clearly indicated in the results of the very first one after the decree of the legislative authority upon that point. It was held in the meetinghouse of Narra- gansett No. 2, Sept. 12, 1750, when new officers of the town- ship were chosen, every one of whom was an actual member of the settlement, as follows : Standing Committee, Joseph Holden, Daniel Hoar, Jonathan White, Richard Graves, and Thomas Stearns; Clerk, Andrew Darby ; Treasurer, Joseph Holden;
81
COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION CHOSEN.
Assessors, Joseph Miller, Daniel Hoar, Andrew Darby ; Collectors, Daniel Walker, Isaac Jackson. Philip Bemis, Daniel Hoar, and Joseph Miller were made a committee to lay out roads in the township.
A vote was passed offering five pounds bounty to each of those persons who should first settle, until the originally required sixty families should be made up, not including the nineteen to whom a much larger gratuity had already been paid under a previous vote.
Oct. 24, 1750. At a proprietors' meeting held at this date, upon taking up for consideration the article of the call relating to the further finishing of the meetinghouse, it was
"Voted that they will proced in finishing so far of the meeting-house as to build the cannope over the pulpit and the Communion table and to build Stayers and the Gallerys."
Other items of business having been transacted, without completing all that were to receive attention, it was voted to "Journ the meeting till to morrow sun half an hour high."
At the re-assembling in the morning, the standing committee was instructed "to provide for the Court's Committee when they shall come to view the Settlers who have Complied with the Court's Act at the proprietors' Charge."
Up to this date, all the taxes had been levied upon the first division or "Home " lots. This was equitable and just, so long as the proprietors of these lots were owners of rights in the other lands of the township growing out of their original pro- prietorship. But when the subsequently divided lots passed by sale to other hands, it became necessary to establish a rule whereby they should be made to contribute their share to the revenues of the propriety. Hence it was voted that "one third part of the taxes that shall be hereafter raised should be laid on the First Division lots, one third on the Second Division lots and the remaining one third on the after drafts and meadow lots of the town."
During the spring of the following year, 1751, the committee of the general court chosen the previous April "to visit and examine into the condition and prospects of Narraganset No. 2," attended to the duty for which they were appointed, and on the 13th of June made their report to the council. On account of its general importance and of the detailed information it gives of the state of affairs in the township at that period, it is pre- sented entire, as preserved in the original in the Massachusetts Archives, vol. cxvi, p. 113.
"The Committee Appointed by ye Great and General Court in April 1750 to view the Settlement at the new Township called Narraganset No. 2, having repaired to sd place and carefully attended that service, beg leave to report that the following persons have fulfilled the Conditions of the Grant, Viz: -
G
82
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
" Names of Persons Settled there and for What Lots Duty is done.
Names.
No.
Orig1 Props.
I. Daniel Hoar,
10.
Robert Fosket.
and for
·11.
Saml Chandler.
2.
John Hoar,
13.
Thos Nichols.
and for
17.
Ebenezer Breed.
3.
Richd Graves,
58.
Wm. Willis.
4. Dea. Jos. Holden, and for
18.
Zechh Davis.
5. Joseph Miller, and for
61.
George Grinds.
6.
Joseph Hosley,
37.
Nath! Norcross.
and for
38.
John Hall.
7.
Samuel Whitney,
51.
Ebenr Boynton.
S.
David Dunster, and for
76.
John Whittemore.
9.
Jos. Holden, Jr., and for
26.
Samuel Fosket.
10.
Reuben Miles,
14.
Downing Champney.
II.
Thos Stearns,
42.
Edd Jackson.
12.
John Stearns,
41.
Ebenr Graves.
13.
Stephn Holden
40.
Joseph Rutter.
14.
Philip Bemis, and for
116.
Joseph Ball.
15.
Wm. Bemis,
65.
Abram Skinner.
16.
Danl Walker,
82.
Benjn Wellington.
and for
SS.
Isaac Williams.
17.
Samt Gibbs,
20.
John Mosley.
IS.
Thos Bemis,
104.
Joseph Bemis.
19.
Eleazer Bigelow,
12.
Josha Bigelow.
and for
6.
Saml Kneeland.
20. Seth Harrington,
23.
Geo. IIerrington.
and for
IIO.
Samuel Cook.
21. Jacob Warren,
59.
George Parmeter.
23.
James Taylor,
98.
John More.
26.
John Miles,
57.
William Willis.
and for
105.
Joseph Lynde.
27.
Obadh Kendall,
39.
Joseph Center.
2S.
Henry Stevens,
II2.
Wm. Brattle.
29.
Timo Mosman,
16.
Capt. Jos. Bowman.
30.
Abner Holden,
53.
Wm. Shattuck.
31.
Rev. Mr. Marsh,
54.
John Winslow.
32.
John Brooks,
43.
Nath1 Smith.
" The following persons are new Settlers mostly since ye ist of last January.
Names.
No.
Orig1 Propr.
Condition of Lot, etc.
1. David Bemis,
2. Elijah Gibbs,
21. 2.|
Samuel Smith, Samuel Damon,
has raised a house & is there. has fenced & cleared some land.
2.4.
Andw Darby, Noah Miles,
22.
Zechh Smith.
25.
and for
97.
22. John Rand,
50.
Nath] Holsey.
and for
94.
Nath1 Parker.
36.
Peter Hay.
and for
77.
Gershom Cutter.
By building a mill and 12 acres for mowing.
and for
55.
Capt. Jos. Bowman.
and for
72.
Joseph Grout.
66.
John Griffin.
and for
52.
Jona Remington Esqr.
117.
Thomas Jeners.
19.
John Sherman.
1.
John Smith.
James Clarke.
32.
Matthew Gibbs.
83
REPORT OF GENERAL COURT COMMITTEE.
Names.
No.
Orig1 Propr.
Condition of Lot, etc.
3. Benjn Gould,
106.
Humphry Miller,
for James Hay, built a good house-cleared & fenced 3 acres. B. G. lives there.
4. Ebenezer Taylor,
89. 49.
John Hawkins, Joseph Smith,
is there by his Son, has built a house, cleared and fenced four acres.
5. Joseph Lynd,
119. 9.
John Sprague, Alexander Phillips,
has Built a good house, fenced 20 acres. Ruff cleared 3 acres of it. Robt Seaver lives in ye house, but has a place of his own.
6. Thomas Conant,
79. 4.
Jacob Call, Eleazer Johnson,
has a good house upland cleared & in a good way.
7. Ebenezer Conant,
113.
John Trumble,
Cleared, broke up and Sewed 4 acres with Rye. Raised house & has family there.
and for S. Ephraim Dutton,
114. 3.
Thomas Taylor, Stephen Cook,
9. Elisha Biglo,
IS. Richard Beers,
Several acres cleared, cellar dug, house framed, boards & Shin- gles ready & is in a good way. Several acres well cleared & fenced in parcells & broke up, a house & in a good way. a house almost done, a good field broke up & fenced-his fam- ily is there.
10. James Walker,
24.
Thomas Hodgman,
II. Nathan Merriam,
SI.
Onesiphorus Pike,
has well cleared & fenced a suffi- cient Quantity of Land & has a small house or shed.
and for 13. Nath1 Sever,
Nathl Goodwin, Timothy Cutler,
a frame of a house, 3 acres cleared & fenced, is there with his family.
and for
115. IOI.
A frame & Land Cleared. is at work on ye Spott, a good man.
14. Ephm Stevens, 15. Nathan Whitney, 16. Thos Merriam, and for 17. James Cohee,
90. 83. 84. 96.
John Barnard, Ephm Cutler, James Kettle, George Mudge, John Adams, Daniel Cheever,
is at work on ye Spott, a good man. A good Cellar House, land cleared & orchard, & in a good way.
18. John Sangar, 19. Josiah Cutting, 20. John Woodard, and for
48. 45. 7. 29.
John Herrington, John Cuting, John Mudge, John Marston,
is building & has Cleared 4 acres. is building & has Cleared 4 acres. 3 acres cleared on one Lott, 2 acres & a frame on ye other Lott-both belong to Nathan Parks [Parker].
21. Robert Sever,
70.
Dennis Headley,
a frame of a house 2 acres cleared one Broke & 3 fenced-He lives in Joseph Lynds House & says he has a Son coming. Cleared & fenced 4 acres & has got Timber for a house.
22. Wm. Edgehill, and for
28.
Thos Herrington,
67.
Richd Taylor,
"The above Twenty two Settlements are mostly brot forward since the order of Court appointing this Comittee.
12. Jona Lawrence, 27. 60. 30.
Major Swain,
a house, land cleared & fenced, in a good way.
84
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
Names.
No.
Orig! Propr.
Condition of Lot, etc.
I. John Gill,
S7.
Thomas Brown,
a little land cleared, a small frame of a house.
2. Samuel Hager,
25.
Samuel Hager,
a little house.
3. Micall Brigden,
70.
James Smith,
a good house, very good Im- provements.
and for
4. Isaac Jackson,
71. 92.
Samuel Thompson, Samuel Lamon,
a frame of a little house no cellar nor chimney a little land Cleared had two men at work.
and for 5. Samuel Read,
93. 62.
Isaac Beach, Mamwell Long,
Is giting Timber for a house, has cleared Several acres & Some abt .two To grass.
and for 6. Israel Beal,
107. 91. 31.
Joseph Priest,
7. Samuel Damon,
Benjn Pameter
(Davis),
and for
15.
Benjn Priest
(Pameter), A little house, Some land cleared.
" It is said the above seven persons are coming speedily or some others in their room.
" The following have done work on their lots, but are not here.
J. Josiah Heywood,
and for
5. 44.
Thomas Corey.
2. Joseph Gibbs,
102.
Micall Flagg.
3. Joshua Church,
74
Jonas Cutting.
4. Benjn Bellows,
78.
Jona Willard.
"We beg leave to inform the Honble Court that we are Really apprehen- sive that the Twenty two persons following those who have done their duty are in earnest and will fully comply with ye conditions of Settlement as soon as tis possable, they appearing to be Industrious men and but new pur- chasers, [and ] are therefore of opinion that further time be allowed them for performing the conditions of their Grants and that they dont obtain a Con- firmation of their lands till it is made to Appear they have So done.
" The following Grantees have not done any labor on their lotts, Vizt :-
" Jonathan Butterick, 56.
William Gleason, 63.
Henry Sumers, 99.
James Lowden, 64.
Thomas Wellington, 100.
John Sawin, 65.
Joseph Smith, 103.
William Burt, 69
Joseph Pratts heirs,
III.
Dr. Wellington, 73.
Capt. Prentice's heirs, IOS.
John Parkhurst, 75.
John Knight, 109.
Thomas Skiner, So.
John Gates,
I20.
Margery Dowse, 85.
Zechh Cutting, 86.
"We humbly submitt it to the Wisdom of the Honble Court to give further directions concerning the above Seventeen lots whether they shall be de- clared forfeit, or the owners Mulcted in proper sums towards the support of the Ministry and finishing the Meetinghouse there and for payment of this view &c. Per order of the Comtee J. CHANDLER."
This report was received and read in the council on the date named, when the further consideration of it was deferred to the next session of the court. What was finally done with its suggestions does not appear from the records.
William Russell,
Cleared a little.
Thomas Welch.
85
TRANSACTIONS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
At a meeting of the proprietors, on the 19th of July, 1751, it was voted "to proceed to lay out the undivided lands of sd Township in Two Equal Divisions to each Right and the two Divisions to be Cuppled together and have but one Draught." Measures were adopted for the purpose of having this vote properly executed.
It was decided to let the meetinghouse lot lie common for the present, also the lot in front of Joseph Holden's, bordering on the pond at its northeastern extremity, which was not included in either division of the lands. The lot adjoining the last and similarly conditioned (the one now lying between Hobart Ray- mond's and the pond) was voted to Joseph Holden, Jr., " in con- sideration of his giving a deed of the burying ground to the Proprietors and the right to lay a road across his land to lot No. 22," -essentially where it now runs.
At a meeting held Dec. 1Ith the same year, it was ordered that all bills, accounts, and charges against the propriety, which had hitherto been submitted to the whole body for approval, should be left to the discretion of the standing committee. That committee was also instructed "to post all lots whose owners were delinquent in the payment of taxes and to prose- cute them with effect in the law."
From this time forward for several years, considerable atten- tion was paid by the growing population to public improve- ments of various kinds and to the maintenance of the estab- lished institutions of the settlement, the important particulars of which will be noticed under appropriate heads hereafter, and so need not be mentioned in this connection. Only a few occa- sional items of interest will therefore receive attention in the present hasty sketch of what transpired.
The meetings of the propriety had always been called by notices, posted for an indefinite length of time in each and every one of the nine towns where there were proprietors residing. But at the last date given, it was voted "to Notifie the proprietors of the narraganset No. 2 for the meetings for the future by Written Advertisements in Narraganset No. 2, Lunenburg, Watertown, Cambridge, and Charlestown, fourteen Days Before the time for the meeting." The custom of hold- ing regular annual meetings for the choice of officers and the transaction of important public business was inaugurated March 28, 1753, and has continued to this day.
On the 25th of July of that year, the vote in reference to the division of the remaining lands of the township, passed June 19, 1751, which had not been executed, was rescinded, and one substituted for it providing for the laying out of "one series of lots-the size of the lots being Sixty acres with an allow- ance of two acres for highways in each lot." Mr. Benjamin Houghton of Lancaster was appointed "for to quallifie the lots to be laid out," while Capt. Daniel Hoar and Dea. Joseph Mil-
86
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
ler were "added to Mr. Houghton to agree with a Surveyor" to do the work. They employed Mr. Hezekiah Gates of Lancaster and Mr. John Miles of the township, who were assisted in their labors by John Gates and Ezra Houghton of Lancaster, and Nathan Heywood of Lunenburg.
On the 17th of April, 1754, after the choice of a new list of officers, a condensed statement of the transactions of the treas- urer, Dea. Joseph Holden, was made by a committee previously appointed to examine and report upon them, and a salary of £ 1 6s. Sd. ($4.44) was voted that public servant for the year to come, and £5 6s. Sd. (about $18.00) for past services. Up to this date no settlement of the accounts of the preceding treas- urer, Mr. Daniel Cook, deceased, from September, 1744 to Sep- tember, 1750, had been made, but at a meeting held July 31, 1754, a committee chosen June 19, 1751, presented a report relating thereto. According to the statements it contained, Mr. Cook had received during his six years of service succeeding the settlement heretofore noted, the sum of £4,153 3s. 9d., and had paid out £3,927 IId., leaving a balance due the propriety from his estate of £226 2s. IOd., and a committee was chosen to settle with the heirs of the estate on that basis.
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