History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 125

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 125

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finally the United States, composed of several States." But this remarkable genesis of town, county, State and nation is wholly imaginary, resting on no basis of fact. In any consideration of this subject an es- sential fact to be remembered is that both the Plym- outh and Massachusetts Colonies were settled under charters, which incorporated the grantees and em- powered them "to make, ordain and establish all manner of orders and laws for and concerning the. government of the colonies and plantations which should be necessary and not contrary to the laws of England." So that in both colonies, before the or- ganization of any towns, a government in fact, though not in name-equivalent to the State government- existed, with ample powers of legislation and admin- istration in all matters, both civil and criminal. And the right to establish towns and the title to all lands within the territorial limits of the colony were to be derived from and through the colonial government. It is therefore manifest that so far from its being true that the State, by some imaginary process of evolu- tion, is derived from the town, towns are in every in- stance dependent on the State government for their very existence. And the origin, organization and functions of towns can be shown in no better way than by the following statement which has been condensed from judicial decisions and legislative acts : The towns of Massachusetts have been established by the Legislature for public purposes and the administration of local af- fairs, and they emhrace all persons living within their territorial limits. At the first settlement of the colony, towns consisted of clusters of inhabitants dwelling near each other, and by means of legislative acts designating them by name, and conferring upon them powers of managing their own prudential affairs, electing representatives and town officers, making by- laws and disposing-subject to the paramount con- trol of the Legislature-of unoccupied land within their territory ; they became, in effect, municipal or quasi corporations, without any formal act of incor- poration. Indeed, it is not known that any formal act, similar to modern acts of incorporation of towns, was passed until near the close of the colonial government and the establishment of a new gov- ernment under the Province charter. And not until after the adoption of the Constitution of this Common- wealth was it for the first time expressly enacted that " the inhabitants of every town within the govern- ment were declared to be a body politic and corporate."

In some cases the General Court granted land to proprietors, who maintained an organization separate from that of the town, having the same territorial limits, and divided the land among the settlers who participated in the grant, or sold them to others for the common profit of all the original grantees. The records of the proprietors were kept in books commonly called "proprietors' books," many of which are still in existence, and are often referred to for evidence in controversies in the courts respecting land-titles.

1 Vol. v, Freeman's " Norman Conquest."

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In other cases of the settlement of towns, there was no grant of land to a separate body of propri- etors, but the town itself hecame the owner of all the land within its assigned limits. Sometimes the land granted was called a district or outlying portion of an existing town; again, in other cases, the grant was called a plantation, which in process of time became a town as population and wealth increased.

Grants were sometimes made to a considerable number of settlers, who were afterwards recognized as a plantation, settlement or town by a proper name, vested by general laws with certain powers, and had their bounds declared ; or at a much later period, grants of a tract of land were made to a company of individuals named, with a view of constituting a town afterwards. In either case, their rights and pow- ers, both of soil and jurisdiction, were derived from the existing government. And in all cases, and from the earliest period, the Legislature of the colony exercised the unquestioned authority of deciding what rights should he possessed by towns and what public duties they should perform.

The town of Groton, which dates its origin hack to 1665, furnishes a good illustration of the manner in which many towns came into existence. A number of individuals who seemed to be in want of " fresh woods and pastures new," petitioned the General Court for a grant of land, and the answer to them was, " The Court judgeth it meet to grant the peti- tioners eight miles square in the place desired to make a comfortable plantation, which henceforth shall be called Groton." A certain number of per- sons named in the act were at the same time ap- pointed by the court to act as selectmen for two years, at the end of which time other selectmen were chosen by the inhabitants of the town. It appears from the earliest records of the Massachusetts Colony that, before the arrival of Winthrop and a majority of the assistants with the charter of 1630, a great num- ber of private grants of land had been made by Governor Endicott and his special council, and as these grantees would naturally desire to take their grants in proximity to each other for mutual defence, convenience and comfort, they formned themselves into settlements or villages ; and the first step towards forming these settlements into corporations was to give them a name. But as they had no fixed limits or boundaries, and it became necessary to fix such limits, in order to ascertain what proprietors should be rated in any assessment, and who should be sub- ject to the duties and entitled to the immunities of each village or settlement, these settlements, first named and then bounded, must have assessors to apportion and collect their taxes. They were also, by general acts of the Legislature, vested with authority to choose other necessary officers and to manage their own prudential affairs and thus they grew to be " quasi corporations; " and afterwards, either with or with- out formal acts of incorporation, these settlements

or villages became towns. It is true that many of the powers now possessed by towns in this State are the product of comparatively recent legislative grants ; but in all its essential features as a corporation vested with the right of local self-government, the town has undergone no material change from the first set- tlement of the colony to the present time. These towns, as has been said, grew out of the wants, the dangers and necessities pressing upon the carly set- tlers of the Pilgrim and Puritan Colonies, and they were from time to time clothed with such powers and privileges, as were best adapted to meet those wants and ward off those dangers. And as advancing civi- lization has created new local wants, the Legislature has granted corresponding municipal powers and privileges to provide for them.

The Pilgrim aud the Puritan came to these shores for certain definite purposes-purposes which could never have been accomplished except through and by means of just such institutions as they founded. They were not living among the ruins of ancient empires, nore were they surrounded by hostile feudal barons, by whom they might at any unguarded moment be plundered. They were confronted only by the un- broken forest and the untamed savage, and they built their houses, organized their towns, adopted means of self-defense and common safety against the actual dangers by which they were surrounded ; they culti- vated their fields either in common or severalty as they chose; they erected churches and school-houses, enacted laws and provided for the administration of justice, and in all things else acted with reference to the exact situation in which they found themselves. They built according to no archaic or mediaval pat- terns, but established institutions as original in their character, as their own situation was novel.

¿ 2. Having presented these general considera- tions respecting the origin and organizations of towns, the remaining portion of this chapter will be occupied with the narration of some of the principal facts re- lating to the settlement of Worcester and an outline of its history for the first century of its existence.

May 6, 1657, a grant of three thousand two hundred acres of land was made to Mr. Increase Nowell, of Charlestown. May 6, 1662, one thousand acres were conveyed to the church in Malden, to be forever ap- propriated to the use of the ministry. October 19, 1664, two hundred and fifty acres were given to En- sign Thomas Noyes, of Sudbury, who had served under Capt. Hugh Mason in the military service of the Colony. The above statement of a grant of land to Mr. Nowell, and which will be found in existing sketches of the "History of Worcester," is not en- tirely accurate, as will appear from the following entry in the Colony Records under date of October 14, 1656 : " The court, being sensible of the true con- dition of the late honored Mr. Nowell's family, and remembering his long service to this Commonwealth in the place not only of a magistrate, but also secre-

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tary, for which he had but little and slender recom- pense, and the county's debts being such as out of the-country rate they cannot comfortably make such an honorable recompense to his family as otherwise they would judge meet, therefore do give and grant to Mrs. Nowell and his son Samuel two thousand acres of land, to be laid out by Mr. Thomas Danforth and Robert Hale." Under date of May 6, 1657, there is this additional entry :

" Mr. Thomas Danforth, of Cambridge, and Mr. Robert Hale, of Charlestown, are appointed as com- missioners to lay out the land, being three thousand two hundred acres of land granted by the General Court, 22d 3d mo., 1650, to the executors of the last will of Mr. Isaac Johnson, to Mr. Increase Nowell's executors, according to the grant, provided the ten pounds due to the county from the executors of the said Mr. Nowell be first paid to the county's treasurer or security given for the same."

These extracts from the record are interesting as showing who Mr. Nowell was and why lands were granted, not to him, but to his family ; and also as showing the extreme poverty of the country in every- thing but land, and that this grant of land was only made upon the express provision that the last pound of the indebtedness of Mr. Nowell's estate to the Colony should be paid into the public treasury.1

The grant of 1,000 acres to the church in Malden was made upon the petition of that church, and was made to be forever appropriated to the use and benefit of the ministry of the place, and not to be aliened or otherwise disposed of, "and all this on condition that they cause it to be bounded out and put on improve- ment for the ends professed within three years next ensuing." The grant of the land to Ensign Noyes was accompanied with this recital : " Whereas, En- sign Thomas Noyes, of Sudbury, was chosen to be a lieutenant under Capt. Hugh Mason, for his Ma- jesty's service, and he liaving expended some time and money about that design, there being a consider- able sum due him upou that account, the court judgeth it meet to grant the said Lieut. Noyes two hundred and fifty acres of land, for and in consideration of the premises, and in answer to a former petition, he being willing to take it as full consideration for what is justly due to him." As these were the first grants of land within the present limits of Worcester, it has been deemed proper to show upon what considera- tions and conditions they were made.

John and Josiah Haynes, of Sudbury, Nathaniel Treadaway, of Watertown, and Thomas Noyes having purchased the Nowell grant, they became proprietors of a large tract of land, extending along the west shore of Quinsigamond, including two of its islands near the "outgoing of Nipnapp" (now Blackstone) "River;" they petitioned the Great and General Court for the appointment of a committee to view the

country. Upon this petition Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Edward Johnson, Lieut. Joshua Fisher and Lieut. Thomas Noyes were appointed a committee, Oct. 11, 1665, to make survey to determine if there be a "meet place for a plantation, that it may be im- proved for that end, and not spoiled by granting of farms," and directed to report to the next Court of Elections. The death of Lieut. Noyes and the un- settled state of the country prevented the execution of the order to this committee.

The attention of the Legislature was again called to the subject of effecting a settlement in this local- ity, and May 15, 1667, Captain Daniel Gookin, Cap- tain Edward Johnson, Mr. Samuel Andrews and An- drew Belcher were appointed a committee and di- rected "to take an exact view as soon as conveniently they can, to make true report whether the place be capable to make a village, and what number of fam- ilies, they conceive, may be there accommodated. And if they find it fit for a plantation, then to offer some meet expedient how the same may be settled and improved for the public good." The first two and the last-named members of that committee per- formed the duty assigned them and made their report to the Legislature October 20, 1668, which is a docu- ment of sufficient importance and interest to be copied in full in this place. The committee in their report say : "We have, according to the Court's order, bearing date 15th May, 1667, viewed the place therein mentioned, and find it to be about twelve miles westward from Marlborough, near the road to Springfield, and that it contains a tract of very good chestnut tree land-a large quantity ; but the meadow we find not so much, because a very considerable quantity of meadow and upland, about five thousand acres, is laid out unto particular persons, and con- firmed by this Court, as we are informed, which falls within this tract of land; viz., to Ensign Noyes, de- ceased and his brethren three thousand two hundred acres; unto the Church of Malden one thousand acres ; unto others, five hundred acres, bought of En- sign Noyes; but all this, notwithstanding, we con- ceive, there may be enough meadow for a small plantation or town of about thirty families; and if those farms be annexed to it, it may supply about sixty families

"Therefore, we conceive it expedient that the honored Court will be pleased to reserve it for a town, being conveniently situated, and well watered with ponds and brooks, and lying near midway be- tween Boston and Springfield, about one day's jour- ney from either; and for the settling thereof we do offer unto the court that which follows: viz., That there be a meet proportion of land granted and laid out for a town, in the best form the place will bear about the contents of eight miles square. That a prudent and able committee be appointed and em- powered to lay it out ; to admit inhabitants, and order the affairs of the place, in forming the town,

1 Colony Records, vol. 4, pp. 7, 8, 295.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

granting lots, and directing and ordering all matters of a prudential nature, until the place be settled with a sufficient number of inhabitants and persons of discretion, able to order the affairs thereof, in the judgment of the Court.

" That due care be taken by said committee that a good minister of God's word be placed there as soon as may be; that such people as may be there planted may not live like lambs in a large place ; that there be two or three hundred acres of land, with a proportion of meadow, in some convenient place, at the discretion of the committee, reserved and laid out for the commonwealth; and the com- mittee to have power and liberty to settle inhabitants thereupon for lives or times, upon a small rent to be paid after the first seven years."

This report was accepted by the Legislature and its recommendations adopted, and Captain Daniel Gookin, Captain Thomas Prentice, Mr. Daniel Hinch- man and Lientenant Richard Beers were appointed a committee to carry them into execution.

The suggestion in this report that the eight miles square of territory, on which a thriving population of from 80,000 to 100,000 inhabitants now dwell, in the enjoyment of all the necessaries and many of the luxuries and elegancies of civilized life, might possibly support thirty or sixty families,-that is, from 150, to 300 persons,-was made without any an- ticipation or thought of that magnificent develop- ment of mechanical and manufacturing industries so characteristic of the present age.

The committee, in making their report, were only thinking of the capability of the territory for agri- cultural purposes. And when we contrast the toil- some journey of a whole day between Worcester and Boston with the fact that that journey can now be made in little more than an hour, and with a degree of comfort which our ancestors in their forest homes never dreamed of, we gain some just conception of the great changes in the conditions of human life that have been wrought here during the lapse of two centuries.

Notwithstanding the Legislature had, by its order of May 15, 1667, prohibited the laying out of lands within the new plantation, yet the committee, in the execution of their powers, were embarrassed by the selection of lots made by claimants under the earlier grants hereinbefore mentioned. And to relieve themselves from these difficulties they asked for the intervention of the Legislature in the following pe- tition, May 27, 1669 :

We, the committee of the General Court, being empowered to lay ont, settle and manage a plantation, at or abont Quinsigamond Pond, twelve miles heyond Marlborough, in the roadway to Springfield and Hadley, which place is very commodious for the situation of a town, tbe better to unite and strengthen the inland plantations, and in all probability will be advantageons for travelers, it falling near midway between Boston and Springfield, and about a day's journey from either ; we having lately been upoo the place to make an exact discov- ery and survey thereof, accompanied with sundry, honest and able per- sons that are willing forthwith to settle themselves there ; but finding

some obstruction in the work, which, unless this Court please to re- move, and, we conceive, they may justly do it, the proceeding will be utterly hindered ; and, therefore, we shall humbly offer them unto tho honored Court, desiring their help,

1. Wo Bod that, though the place contains a tract of good land, yet it is much straitened for meadow. Wo cannot find above three hundred acres of meadow belonging to it within several miles ; but there ure swamps and other moist lands that, in time, with labor and industry, may make meadow.

2. We find there is a grant of one thousand acres to the ministry of Malden, May 7, 1662, which grant is laid out in this place. This farm contains a choice tract of land, and swallows up about one hundred acres of the aforesaid meadow ; but the condition of the grant, as the record will declare, is that it be improved, within three years after the grant, for the end wherefore it was granted; but that being nut done, for it is now about six years since, and no improvement made, we apprehend the grant is void ; but yet, if the Court pleases to renew it in any other place, we speak not to oppose it, but if it be continned and confirined in this place, it will utterly binder tbe settling a plantation here.

3. There is another graut of land, nuto Ensign Noyes, deceased, laid out in this place, containing two hundred and fifty acres of choice land, with a considerable quantity of meadow, lying in the heart of this place, and by him was sold to one Ephraim Carter, a young man living in Sudbury We desire that the Court will please to make void this grant ; being not laid out regularly for quantity or quality, as we conceive, and it will very much prejudice this town. The person concerned may have his land in another place, bordering upon this town, where there is suth- cient to accommodate it, and also may have a lot in this town, if he desire it.

4. Whereas, the Court, in their grant of this town, hath reserved two or three hundred acres of land, with a proportion of meadow, to be laid out for the Commonwealth, if it please the Court, because of the strait- Dess for meadow, to abate that reservation, so far as concerns meadow, it will greatly encourage the work. If the honored Court please to remove these obstructions, we hope it will not be long before this place be settled in a good way, for the honor of God and the public good.

The Committee, in their journey, having discovered two other places beyond this to the westward, that will make two or three towns, the one called Pamaquesset, lying upon the head of Chaquabee River, the place called Swquakeag,1 upon Connecticut River, nearer to Boston than Hadley, we desire the Court will please to order that these places be reserved to make towns, the better to strengthen these inland ports, and the laying out of particular grants prohibited in the said places.

In response to this petition, the reservation to the public in the meadow was released ; but the General Court did not undertake to recall or declare void the grants to Malden and to Noyes. At the first meeting of the committee, held July 6, 1669, in Cambridge, it was proposed "that the territory, including Worcester and which is now Holden, and a large part of Ward (now Auburn), should be first divided into ninety twenty-five-acre house-lots, and in the apportionment of these to the settlers, respect should be had to the quality, estate, usefulness and other considerations of the person and family to whom they were granted ; that the most convenient place, nearest the middle of the town, should be set apart and improved for plac- ing the meeting-house for the worship of God ; a convenient lot of fifty acres for the first minister should be laid out as near to it as might be; another lot, in the next convenient place, not far from them, for the ministry that should succeed in all future times; that twenty acres should be reserved, near the centre, for a training-field, and to build a school- house upon ; that a lot of twenty-five acres should be appropriated for the maintenance of a school

1 Northfield.

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WORCESTER.

and schoolmaster, to remain for that use forever, and that two hundred and fifty acres should be for the nse of the country."

Provision was made for the equal apportionment of common charges upon the proprietors of lots, for erecting mills, opening and repairing ways, and for the equitable division of the remaining lands.

¿ 3. The efforts of the committee to effect a permanent settlement proved unavailing for several years, but finally, in the year 1673, a company of thirty fami- lies were induced to commence the plantation, and in the spring of 1674 thirty house-lots were laid out and the settlers began to build houses and cultivate their lands. But the adverse claims of Mr. Curtis, who, it is believed, had taken possession of a tract of land'near the centre of the town, continned to em- barrass the committee to such an extent that the fol- lowing petition for relief was presented to the Legis- lature by those who proposed to become inhabitants of the new town :

The humble petition of Daniel Gookin, Senior, Thomas Printice, Richard Beers and Daniel Henchman, a committee, appointed and an- thorized by the General Court to order and manage a new plantation granted by this Court, lying and being on the road to Springfield, about twelve miles westward of Marlborough. together with divers other per- sons berenato subscribed, who have lots granted and laid out there, humbly sheweth :

That, whereas, your petitioners have been at very considerable ex- pense, both of time and estate, in order to settle a plantation there, which they conceive, when it is effected, will more conduce to the pub- lic good of the country than their particular advantage, and have so far advanced in that work as to lay out about thirty house-lots and en- gage the people to settle them speedily ; also have begun to build, plant and cut hay there ; but now, meeting with an obstruction and hindrance, by a young man called Ephraim Curtis, of Sudbury, who does lay claim unto two tracts of land, containing about five hundred acres, lying in the centre of this plantation, especially one of the parcels, being about 250 acres, in which place the committee have laid out a minister's lot, a place for a meeting-house, a mill and ten other partic- ular men's house-lots, so that if this place be taken from ns, this town is not like to proceed, to the damage of the public aod your petitioners ; now, although we cannot grant that the said Curtis hath any legal right to debar our proceeding, yet, for peace sake, we have offered him a double share in the plantation, viz .: two house-lots and accommoda . tiens to them, which will, in the end, amount to much more land than he pretends unto ; but all offers he declines :

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 125

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464