USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Palmer > History of the town of Palmer, Massachusetts, early known as the Elbow tract : including records of the plantation, district and town 1716-1889 > Part 11
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May 20, 1735. The Grantees " voted, that a humble petition be prepared and preferred to the General Court, showing our pressing difficulties and great Hardships; and Praying that the 500 pounds. enjoined by the Act of the Court as the condition of our Grant, to be paid into the Province Treasury next month, may be abated or taken off. "Voted, That in case our said petition should not be granted, that he [our agent] then prefer a petition, that the time of payment of the said sum may be protracted two years longer."
The next year they chose a committee, viz., Steward Southgate, Samuel Shaw, David Spear and John Thomson, "to apply to the Hon. John Stoddard and Eben" Pomeroy, Esq, and as many other members of the General Court belonging to this County as may conveniently be gott together, And lay before them ye State & Condition of this Settlement with respect to ye 500 Pounds Injoined on us by ye Gen" Court, And to take their Advice what steps or methods we shall proceed in for Reliefe in the case." As a result, two years' extension of time was granted for the assessment and col- lection of the tax.
The two years' extension expired, but the tax was not levied. And in December, 1739, the General Court ordered the appoint- ment of three disinterested men,* who should forthwith proceed to. assess and levy the sum of 500 pounds on the original Grantees or their assigns, and make out a warrant according to law and commit
* The men were Col. Joseph Dwight of Brookfield, Major Pomeroy of Northampton and Col. Wm. Pynchon of Springfield.
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
the same to collectors, also appointed by the Court, with power to issue warrants of distress on delinquents, the whole business to be closed up before the last Wednesday in May, 1741. The rest of the story is told in the following official documents :*
To His Excellency Wm Shirley Esq. etc.
The Humble Petition of the Proprietors and Inhabitants of the Elbow Plantation in the County of Hampshire
Most humbly sheweth
That the sum of 500 pounds, old tenor, Injoined as a condition in ye Grant of ye Lands in sd Plantation by this Honbl Court in the year 1733 ; And afterwards in the year 1739, the said sum, by a Committee appointed & impowered by the Court, was assessed, and the assessments committed to collectors with warrants to collect the same, and time pre- fixed for payment thereof into the Province Treasury : The which time through the clemency and forbearance of this Honbl Court has been ex- tended, and again for some time past expired : Until at length execution from ye Province Treasurer is issued upon the collectors who are now daily exposed to imprisonment for ye said sum, which is yet unsettled ; occa- sioned partly from a rumour that the said sum in that way would not be exacted, since this Honbl Court was pleased (Unexpectedly) ye last year to set ye sum of twenty pounds lawful money on this little poor Infant Plan- tation to ye Province Tax : And partly thro' the poverty of many of the Inhabitants who could not pay their proportions of said sum without being run into distressing circumstances : But chiefly thro' the great difficulty and (in some cases) wholly impracticableness of collecting the same ac- cording to ye directions of ye warrant, for instance, the then residents who were assessed and their names in the List, upon neglect or refusal of payment were to be distressed by their goods or chattells, but in the two or three times of forbearance which this Honbl Court in great clemency allowed, several who were then Residents have alienated their lands and gone off and have left nothing whereon to levy distress: And some who are yet Residents have conveyed away and alienated their chattels: And some others thro' extreme poverty have not wherewith that may be dis- tressed to satisfy ye sums set on them :- And several of the Non-residents who were assessed and by ye sd warrant were to have their lands seized and sold upon neglect, etc., have in the sd interim of forbearance sold ye whole of their lands to others whose names are not on the List, and their lands not liable to be seized by virtue of sd warrant. Nor no way left whereby ye sd collectors in ye sd cases can recover ye sums assessed for which they daily stand exposed to imprisonment.+
Wherefore yr Petitioners humbly pray yor Excellency & Honours to grant such relief in ye premises as in yor great wisdom & goodness shall
* Massachusetts State Archives, cxv, 166.
+ By law, collectors of taxes were then held responsible for the full amount of all tax bills com- mitted to them for collection ; and were liable to imprisonment in the County jail for neglect to pay to the treasurer the full sum assessed, at the time appointed, unless they could secure a vote of abate- ment from the town or state.
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
seem meet-Humbly suggesting that if it might please yor Excy & Honrs to extend yor charity & goodness to a poor small plantation, and wholly to Remitt ye sd sum : Or to abate or lessen it : Or divide it and annex part of it annually to or Province Tax : Or however other way. in submission to yr great wisdom & goodness .-
Furthermore, yor Petirs Humbly Sheweth That ye sums set by this Honbl Court on this poor Plantation for ye year past and the present year to ye Province Tax, will be very hard and grievous and wholly unsupportable, if ye aforesaid 500 pounds be exacted, being but a poor people and a small mean tract of land at first ; and near a third part thereof by order of this Court since taken off from us and annexed to Western : So that our pro- portion to the Province Tax seems double to what is laid on ye Towns about us, comparing numbers and estates : And moreover the assessing and col- lecting thereof by ye stated rules as in ye Treasurer's Warrant emitted seems wholly unpracticable under our present circumstances : for not being Invested with either Town or Precinct privileges, have therefore no such officers as those Warrants are directed and refer to.
Wherefore yor Petitirs Humbly Pray Yor Excely & Honrs to remitt those sums and grant Liberty to Bring in a Bill for creating the sd Plantation into a Township with powers and privileges to raise & assess the Province Tax, And other Rates and Taxes for ye future, as other Towns in this Province injoy.
And yor Petrs as in duty bound shall every pray etc.
SAMUEL SHAW
In the name & behalf of the Elbow Proprietors.
" In the House of Representatives, Sept. 15, 1743.
Read, and in ans' hereto Ordered, That the Warrant mentioned be so far stayed as that they be obliged to pay only one quarter part thereof forthwith, and the other three quarters in three equal pay- ments, viz. in the years 1744, 1745 and 1746. And that a Com- mittee, chosen by sª Plantation, or the major part thereof, shall proceed in the sale of any delinquent Proprietor's lands within the whole of that Tract which was granted by this Court to the Peti- tioners and yr associates for payment of his proportion of sd sum, after notifying the sale in the Boston Gazette, twenty days before the same be made. Also Voted, that the Petitioners be allowed to bring in a Bill for creating sª Plantation into a township.
Sent up for concurrence
In Council, Sept. 15, 1743.
T. CUSHING, Spkr.
Read and concurred Consented to
J. WILLARD, Sect. W. SHIRLEY."
A meeting of the Proprietors and Grantees was held Oct. 5, 1743, at which 7 pounds 15 shillings, old tenor, was granted to Samuel Shaw for his services at Boston ; and Samuel Shaw, Isaac Magoon
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
and Barnard McNitt were appointed a committee to sell delinquent proprietor's land, according to the order of the General Court. The proportional assessments were made in '44, '45 and '46, and paid in part. Then, from time to time, follow the record of the sale at vendue of 15 acres, and 10 acres, as the case may be, of the Home Lots for non-payment of the owners' just proportion of the 500 pounds tax. And thus, by voluntary payments or enforced collec- tion, the debt was eventually discharged.
PROPRIETORS OF COMMON AND UNDIVIDED LANDS. - The reader of our records has observed that the title under which all meetings for the transaction of regular Plantation business were warned and held was "The Proprietors and Grantees of the Elbow Tract." A careful study shows that the two terms are not equiva- lents, or parts of a single body, but represent a partnership, in which two distinct bodies, each with specified and well-defined rights and obligations, unite to act for a common purpose. And the two, thus united and acting as one, constituted the corporation or body politic.
The " Proprietors " were the forty-eight persons who had bought their Home Lots of the Messrs. Lamb and Company, and which lots were respectively "ratified and confirmed to them, their heirs and assigns " by the Act of the General Court. The "Grantees " were the thirty-one persons who had taken up lands and settled, without asking leave of anybody. And the grant of Home lots to this class was in the nature of a limited gratuity or consideration for "im- provements " made, and they had no rights of estate in the Elbow Tract outside of these granted lots, except by purchase.
As in all partnerships, there was diversity and mutuality of inter- ests, and possible antagonisms. The powers and duties and liabili- ties of each partner were defined in the Act of Incorporation, as were also the functions of the firm. The two were equally liable for past debts and for the necessary charge of building a meeting- house and the support of a minister, " each man to pay his equal part or proportion of said sums, according to ye quantity of his first Allotment." And his vote counted one in the choice of officers and in all orders and assessments for ordinary plantation charges. And the estates of each inhabitant and qualified voter on which taxes were to be levied were defined in the Act, viz., the Home Lots, as " confirmed," or "granted " by the General Court's Committee.
But here the equality ended. The "Grantees" could acquire additional land and rights in the Tract only by purchase. While the "Proprietors" (except John King, Jun., Benjamin Kilburn
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
and Peter Backus) their heirs and assigns were "Intitled to after Rights and Divisions "of lands, i. e. in what remained after the eighty Home lots had been surveyed and laid out. This important advantage was however in part offset by the condition that "all persons who are entitled to draw after Rights & Divisions shall pay a double proportion to all publick charges that shall arise in the future."
The special section in the Act of incorporation provided that the forty-eight (forty-six) settlers first named, " be impowered at a Meet- ing called according to Law, to act as Proprietors, and to make such necessary rules and'orders for the Regulating the Settlement : To chuse a committee to lay out necessary roads and highways, be- fore any further surveys are made, or any already made are recorded : To lay out a Hundred acre Lot for the first ordained Minister, a Hundred acre Lot for the Ministry, and another for a School; and to fill up the complement of any granted Lot that cant be laid out in the place and form originally assigned." This exclusive power and duty rendered necessary a distinct organization of "The Pro- prietors," practically coeval in time with the organization of the Plantation. Hence we find "A Meeting of the Inhabitants or Grantees, (in another place officially styled ' The Proprietors and Grantees') of the Elbow Tract," warned and held on the 7th day of August, 1733 ; and " A Meeting of The Proprietors of the Com- mon and Undivided Lands within the Elbow Tract," warned and held on the 24th day of September, 1733, each called by Wm. Pyn- chon, Esq., justice of the peace. Each organization had its own sworn clerk, and kept its own Records. These two sets of Records are extant. And they show signs, in their earlier pages, of some confusion of ideas as to the exact limits of their several and sepa- rate powers and duties, which gradually became adjusted by expe- rience. The Records also disclose the fact that the " Grantees of single lots only " felt "aggrieved " and made "complaints" of the unequal terms and restrictions under which they were placed, at the very outset ; and that a committee was appointed " to consider the case, and make Report what methods may be proper for the said Proprietors to take to Relieve their case." The report, if made, is not preserved, a thing to be much regretted, as it would throw light on one of the most intricate problems in our early history. See Introduction to Chapter IV.
At the first meeting of the " Proprietors," Sept. 24, 1733, Steward Southgate was chosen clerk (he was also clerk of the Plan- tation) and took the oath of office before Esq. Pynchon. It was Voted,
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
" That Ebenezer Mirick, Steward Southgate and Barnard McNitt be a com- mittee to inspect and take care of the wood, timber and Pine, standing, lying or growing on the Common Lands. And that they or any two of them be fully impowered in the name and behalf of the Proprietors to prosecute any Trespassers thereon. And that they be also impowered to take care of the Meadows in Common, to lease, order or regulate the Improvement thereof, untill they be Divided ; And to prosecute any actions of Trespass that has or may be made thereon."
For the next seven years, the Proprietors, through their com- mittees and agents, confined their action mainly to taking care of the wood, timber and Pine on the Commons, and preventing "strip and waste" of the same by "persons having no rights therein " [Grantees of single lots only] ; and to surveying, laying out and filling up the complement of the lots granted by the Gen- eral Court's committee. The work was difficult, and provoked numerous collisions, and engendered many heart-burnings.
There were, however, two votes passed, which deserve to be recorded in these annals.
1. Dec. 20, 1736, Voted, "That if any person or persons, having no right or Interest in the Commons, shall presume to cutt, fall or carry away from off ye same, any sort of trees or Timber, he or they shall be deemed and proceeded against as Trespassers by ye committee appointed to Inspect and take care of the timber of the Commons, or any two of them-Unless the sd person or persons being Inhabitants and Grantees of Single Lotts in sd Tract, shall previously obtain leave or lycence from ye sª committee, or ye major part of them, for cutting and improveing so much Timber as they shall really stand in need of for their own proper use upon their Home Lotts, and no more, And the sd comtee or any two of them are hereby im- powered to grant such leave or lycence under their hand accordingly."
2. May 13, 1738. Voted, " That all such Trespasses as have been here- tofore committed by cutting or carrying timber, &c., be forgiven ; and the Trespassers sett free and discharged from all such Prosecutions, suits, for- feitures and penalties as they have thereby exposed themselves to by such cutting or carrying, without leave first had and obtained per ye Proprie- tors."
In the spring of 1741, a movement was made for the Division of the Commons among the Proprietors.
Of such Common and Undivided Lands, there remained in the Right of the Proprietors, after all the committee's grants had been satisfied, 9934 acres, which by the terms of the Act, could be ap- portioned to said Proprietors, according to their first Allotments.
First Division of Commons. March 10, 1740-1. "A Scheme for the First Division of Land. 1st. That there be a Division of the Common Lands ; and that the owners or Proprietors of each
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
original Home Lott, entitled to Rights in Common, shall have for a first division, an equal quantity of acres as is expressed in ye Grant of ye Home Lot, viz. To an Hundred acre Grant Lott, an hundred acres of first division ; and to a Fifty acre grant, fifty acres of first division, and the rest in proportion.
2dly. That the said first division be taken up and laid out with free lyberty of choice in any of ye Common & Undivided Land in ye Elbow Tract, by lot, according to the number drawn, beginning with No. 1, and the rest successively.
3dly. That there be so many Draughts or Numbers, as there was original Grants that had Rights in Common appertaining to them, and no more. And that only the present proprietors or one of ye proprietors of each of ye sª Rights shall be allowed to Draw, beginning with first mentioned in the original grant, and so successively as they are there mentioned. And if any of ye sª Proprs are absent and none present impowered to act for them, the clerk shall draw for each Propr so absent.
4thly. That the whole Right of first Division Drawn upon or ap- pertaining to Fifty, Sixty or Seventy acre Home Lott Grants, shall each be taken up and laid out in one entire piece; in such form that no more than six new lines shall be run to lay out or encompass each piece, of which lines no one to be shorter than twenty rods, nor longer than eighty in a Fifty acre lot; and so in all others pro- portionably.
5thly. That the proprietor or proprietors of a whole Right of first Division Drawn upon or appertaining to an Hundred acre Home Lott grant, may have lyberty to take up and lay out their sd first Division in two pieces and no more, the first piece when their proper turn comes, according to the Number Drawn, to contain not less than fifty nor more than sixty acres ; and after the whole number of Draughts are laid out and recorded, then the remaining piece, beginning with lowest No. drawn, and so the rest success- ively, which may be taken up in any of the Common Lands: And the Hundred acre divisions to be under the same restrictions as to number and length of lines, proportionably as the Fifty acre Divis- ion.
6thly. That the purchaser of any piece of first Division Land, having a proper Right of his own to take up, may lay his purchased piece adjoining thereto, when his proper turn of survey comes, under the afore mentioned restrictions as to the number and length of lines.
7thly. That none of ye Proprietors who have not their Home Grant Lotts laid out and recorded, shall have Lyberty to Draw for
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
their Right of first Division, untill they shall each of them by themselves or some responsible person on their behalf, become bound to a committee in a sufficient Bond, to cause ye sª Lotts to be laid out and recorded within a certain time, not exceeding two months from this date.
8thly. That all surveys of first Division Lands shall be entered with the clerk within one week after the date of the survey, or else the survey shall be held for none, and the land so surveyed as lya- ble to be taken up as any of ye Common Lands.
9thly. That no man shall retain the surveyor above two days in his service about one Lot or piece of Division Land, after he has had notice that his proper turn is come, but ye next in order, after that time may claim his turn or right of survey.
10thly. That the Clerk enter upon ye Return of the survey, when he receives the same, which shall be accounted the date of record.
11thly. That road-ways, and brooks or rivers shall not be ac- counted sufficient to separate land into pieces when laid out across the same. But allowance shall be made as well where land is or- dered to be left for roads, as where they are actually laid out.
12thly. That in the surveying and laying out of ye aforesaid first Division of Lands, there be no more than one rod in an hundred allowed for swagg of chain ; and so in proportion for longer and shorter lines.
JAMES BREAKENRIDGE, Moderator.
STEWARD SOUTHGATE, Propor Clerk.
Nathaniel Dwight was appointed surveyor, and. Isaac Magoon, James Lamont, John Patrick, Duncan Quinton, Seth Shaw, James McMasters, William McClanathan, William Paterson, chainmen, to lay out the Division Draughts, all of whom were sworn by Wm. Pynchon, Esq. Later, it was voted to begin to lay out the Division lots, Oct. 26, 1741. The number of lots or Draughts in the First Division was forty-six, all in the name of the original Proprietors or their heirs. Where an assignment had been made, of course the assignee or his agent made the Draught and pitch.
Second Division of Commons. May 7, 1743. "At a meeting of the Proprietors, it was voted, 1. That after the said First Divi- sion be surveyed and recorded, there be a Second Division of Equal Quantity ; in which Second Division that Proprietor or Right shall be first in order of pitch and survey that was last in ye First Divi- sion, and so backward in order successively.
2. Voted, that the way and method of laying out the Second Division shall be, that every Proprietor shall have the Liberty of two pitches, the first inclosed intirely ; the second, where he may
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
make up his complement. And he that hath amind to take up his pitch in one intire piece, he may do it at first : if in two pieces, he shall take the fill of his complement in any Common Land going out from it."
The number of lots or Draughts, and the names of the Drawers, were the same as in the First Division.
Third Division of Commons. March 26, 1757. "The Scheme of the Third Division was as follows :
1. That each original Hundred acre Grant shall draw twenty-five acres, and a less Grant shall draw less proportionably.
2. That each original proprietor, his heirs or assigns, shall draw lots for his turn to lay out, beginning at No. 1, and so through the 46 numbers successively, the lots to be on separate pieces of paper ; and the clerk shall draw for non-residents, if no person appears to draw for them.
3. That all the Draughts in the former Schemes shall be laid out and recorded before any of the Third Division is laid out ; and the surveyor shall notify delinquents, and if they neglect for one week after such notice, the committee shall proceed to draw and lay out lots for them.
4. That each of the lots of Third Division shall be laid out in any of the Commons that are not before taken up, and alltogether or in separate pieces-if in one piece, not to exceed four new lines : if in separate pieces, he may leave any part of his draught till the rest are gone through with.
5. The surveyor shant be detained more than two days to each lot, after he has notified the proprietor that he is ready for his turn ; and if said proprietor neglect to draw and chuse, then at the end of two days the surveyor shall proceed to lay out the next draught. Non-residents shall be notified thro' the publick prints at Boston, and shall have ten days in which to appear & lay out their lots.
6. Each Return shall be recorded within six days after the lot is laid out.
7. A lot that runs across a road, brook or river shall have an al- lowance of land for as much as the road, brook or river measures.
8. If any proprietor shall purchase of any other proprietor a lot or part of a lot in this division, the said purchaser may lay the land so purchased in with his own draught, and at the same time, altho' its proper time to be laid out ant come."
The number of draughts, and the names of drawers were the same as in former divisions.
Fourth Division of Commons. Jan. 2, 1792. "Rule 1. Each
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THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
original Hundred acre grant shall draw fifteen acres ; and a less grant shall draw less proportionably.
2. Each of the lots shall be laid out in any of the Commons not before taken up and recorded : and a proprietor may lay out his draught in one intire piece, or in separate pieces, if there cant be found enough lying together."
The other rules were identical with those for the Third Division.
The number of draughts, and the names of drawers, were the same as in former divisions.
These last draughts were commonly laid out in small parcels of 23, 3, 5 or 8 acres each, as each proprietor could find them lying convenient to some other lot which he had purchased or drawn in his own Right.
The several draughts extended through a series of years-instead of months, as was the intention of each scheme. Both residents and non-residents were dilatory, and trusted to the good nature of the surveyor and committee to excuse tardiness and neglect. The last draught recorded is dated May 15, 1818, and the record affords a good sample of the later pitches : "Surveyed and laid out to Thomas Quinton, 17 acres and & of the Common and Undivided Land of the Proprietors of Palmer, on the following Rights, viz. 4 acres on Duncan Quinton's Right, 10 acres on Joseph Wright's Right, and 32 acres granted to Thomas Quinton for his services."
JOSEPH CUMMINGS, Surveyor. WM. MERRITT, Chainmen. ISAAC MERRITT, S
THOMAS QUINTON, Clerk.
No evidence has been found to show that there was at any time a formal dissolution or termination of the organization of "The Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands."
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