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 5
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And the said John Magus, Lawrence Nasowanno Attorneys afore- said, James & Simon Heirs of black James as aforesaid Doe cove- nant promise and grant for themselves Heirs executors & adminis-
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
trators to & with the said Lamb, Paige, Gardiner, Gamblin, Tucker, Draper, Curtis and Ruggles their Heirs and Assigns that they will the above granted and bargained land & every Part and parcell thereof with their and every of their appurtenances, warrant & de- fend from all & every person & persons whatsoever claiming any right or title thereto or interest therein from by or under us.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands & seales this 27th day of Decr Anno Domini 1686."
John Magus, and seal his Lawrence Nasowanna and seal mark James his mark and seal Simon his mark and seal Anogemag his mark and seal
John Magus, James and Simon Indians acknowledged the same
June 25, 1687 before me Wm. Stoughton.
On the 7th day of May : 1723 : This deed was received : and was then here Registered from the original :
Pr John Pynchon Regt.
The Province claimed, under its charter, the sole right of fee simple in the land covered by the charter. But in making acqui- sition of particular territory from the Indians, " It was usual to obtain from the head men or chiefs of a tribe dwelling upon the same, a formal deed of release, for which some satisfactory, though often inconsiderable, compensation was paid. Upon application to the General Court, the title thus acquired was generally confirmed. but upon such conditions as the Court saw fit to prescribe. Com- panies of private speculators early engaged in the business of thus buying up Indian titles to lands, which they secured to themselves by confirmatory act of the General Court." JUDGE E. WASH- BURN. So far as appears from the records, Messrs. Lamb and Company obtained from the Province authorities beforehand no liberty to purchase the land in question, nor did they afterwards secure a confirmation of the granted title, nor did they put the deed on record. Indeed the wording of their petition of June, 1727, is evidence that the successors of the purchasers did not then claim a right of fee in the land. "A petition of Joshua Lamb and others, praying that this Court would confirm unto them and those they represent and their associates the said Tract of land
47
THE ELBOW TRACT-SETTLEMENT, 1716-1728.
described in the deed herewith exhibited." The General Court refused its sanction to their claimed rights under the deed ; conse- quently the said deed was in law null and void ; and the records show that it was so regarded and treated by the Legislature in all its subsequent doings. This important fact will clearly appear from the General Court Records, to be quoted in these pages.
The bounds of the tract named in the deed to Lamb and Com- pany are not easily traced by the description, except the line on the westerly side, which is definitely stated, viz : "Westerly by the River Menamesick untill it come against Quabaug bounds and joynes unto their bounds." This is explicit, and was easily followed then, and remains unchanged by the lapse of time. This places the southwest corner of the tract at a point on Ware river, about three miles above where Ware Village now stands, and effectually dis- poses of the question of the company's right to the Elbow Tract. Not a foot of the Elbow Tract was covered by the deed. And as the entire piece specified in the deed lay easterly of Ware river, and was eight miles wide, its southeast corner would be near the Spen- cer line ; and "twelve miles long North and South " would carry the north bounds to the extreme northerly line of Rutland.
To go somewhat into details: Messrs. Lamb and Company suffered their Indian deed to remain a dead letter for 37 years, till all but one (Richard Draper) of the Grantees had deceased, at which date it was put on record in the Hampshire county registry. Four years later, the heirs and assigns of the grantees organized, and made their first move to take possession of their property, as appears from the following Agreement :
WHEREAS, we the subscribers or our ancestors have fairly purchased of the native and original owners thereof a certain Tract of land lying near Quabaug or Brookfield, commonly then called by the name of Wombe- mesisecock for a valuable consideration, as per the deed thereof duly ex- ecuted, acknowledged and recorded, bearing date 1686 will be more plainly manifested : and
WHEREAS the bounds of said Tract be not so certainly known, or the contents thereof :
WE THEREFORE, the persons concerned, viz. Joshua Lamb for himself, Nathaniel Paige and Christopher Paige as heirs to Nathaniel Paige, Samuel Green and Edward Sumner as assigns to Andrew Gardner's heirs, Caleb Seaver one of the heirs of Benj. Gamblin, Benj. Tucker and Samuel Davis as heirs to Benjamin Tucker, Benj. Smith on behalf of John Curtis' heirs, Richard Draper for himself, and Joseph Ruggles for the heirs of Samuel Ruggles : Do HEREBY AUTHORIZE and empower the above named Samuel Green to employ and improve a surveyor and two other persons suitable for that purpose, to view and consider and mark out the said lands,
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
as butted and bounded in said deed : to take an account of the waste land, ponds, as well as other land therein fit for settlement : and make report of their doings to ourselves the last Tuesday in April next : that so we may proceed therein for the mutual advantage of the purchasers :- the said meeting to be at the house of Simon Rogers in Boston on the Tuesday. Witness our hands this 20th of February 1726-7.
At a legal Proprietors' meeting at Simon Rogers in Boston April 25, 1727. In the first place by a major vote of the proprietors we chose Deacon Richard Draper moderator of the said meeting: In the next place by a major vote of the Proprietors we chose Joseph Ruggles Proprietors' clerk : In the next place voted that Capt. Samuel Green should be allowed the charges in his account expended upon finding out the said land, to be paid at the next meeting : and in the last place voted that this meeting be ad- journed to the same place the last Tuesday of May next at one of the clock in the afternoon.
May 30, 1727, at adjourned meeting voted by the Proprietors of a certain Tract of land contained in a deed signed John Magus, Lawrence Nassa- wanno, &c., that Col. Joshua Lamb, Deacon Richard Draper and Capt. Samuel Green be a committee to represent the whole Proprietors, and to prefer such a petition to the Honourable General Court as they in their prudence may think fit, the prayer of which to contain what may be most needful for the safe proceeding of said Proprietors in settling the said property.
The doings of the above named committee are indicated in the following extract from the General Court Records:
A petition of Joshua Lamb, Richard Draper and Samuel Green as they are a Committee for a number of Purchasers of a certain Tract of Land lying near the Town of Brookfield, Shewing that the said Richard Draper and sundry others formerly purchased of the Indian Proprietors a large Tract of Land called Wambemisiscook, bounded and described by the deed herewith exhibited, which has been acknowledged and recorded, And pray- ing that this Court would confirm unto them and those they represent and their associates the said Tract of Land, that so they may bring forward a Settlement on the said Land.
In the House of Representatives, Read, and Voted that the contents of six miles square be allowed to the purchasers of the Tract of Land within mentioned between the Town of Brookfield and the Equivalent Land in the County of Hampshire,* to be laid out by a surveyor and chain men on oath-Provided, that within five years after such survey and confirma- tion thereof, the grantees their heirs and assigns shall settle fifty families that are now Inhabitants of this Province, and have a Meeting House erected, a minister settled, a Lot for the Ministry and one for the School laid out ; The house lots to be laid out as near as may be, and as regularly
* This would take in the south part of Hardwick, the easterly half of Ware, and a small section of the northerly end of Palmer and Warren, but was wholly outside of the limits specified in the Indian deed. Probably the Bill was drawn up by the Company's attorney.
49
THE ELBOW TRACT-SETTLEMENT, 1716-1728.
and defensibly as the land will allow of-Provided the Petitioners make no further claim to the Land within mentioned.
In Council, June 28, 1727, Read and non concur'd.
The Proprietors' Records of Lamb and Company show that on the next day, viz., June 29, 1727, the Company met at Boston, and "' voted that Capt. Green should go upon the proprietors' land and warn them off from making any further improvement thereon." Again "voted that Capt. Green should agree with those persons that have made a pitch upon the said land for the present year, as he and they shall agree, as our tenants."
At a meeting held a year later, viz. July 25, 1728, after reciting the purchase, and the failure to obtain a confirmation of the same, and the privileges of a township, the Proprietors elected Joseph Ruggles clerk, to be sworn : " And we do also hereby appoint Capt. Samuel Green, Mr. Nathaniel Paige and Rev. Mr. Timothy Ruggles to be a Committee to procure a good and well approved of surveyor and two chain men who shall be under oath to the faithful discharge of their office and trust, and shall survey six miles square within our claim and draw a fair platt thereof and the same put on record; and any two of the Committee to have full power to act: And also their power is to extend to make an agreement with such persons as have settled upon the same, as to the bounds of their farms, and what to give for their interests there; and to improve the money they shall gain thereby towards defraying the charge that the Com- mittee shall be at in the work they are empowered to do. Then to proceed to make an allotment of forty or fifty lots, one for a Minis- ter, one for a Ministry and one for a School; and the other to be disposed of as the proprietors shall hereafter order and agree."
.
Under the authority thus conferred, the above named Committee proceeded to act, and previous to the last of December, 1728, they had laid out, sold and given deeds of farms, mostly of one hundred acres each, to forty-eight of the inhabitants then living upon the tract of land which was afterwards known as The Elbows.
By the Journal of the House of Representatives it appears that Sept. 24, 1729, "A petition of Joshua Lamb Esq, and Mr. Timothy Ruggles a Committee of a number of Proprietors and purchasers of a certain tract of land lying near Brookfield, praying for a confirma- tion of all or part thereof for a Township, for reasons mentioned- Read, and the question was put whether the prayer of the petition should be granted, and it passed in the Negative."
"Nov. 27, 1729. A petition of Isaac Burr, John King and sundry others, shewing that they are settled upon a certain tract of Land bounded easterly by Brookfield, southerly and westerly by Brimfield,
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
and northerly by Coldspring, by admission of Rev. Timothy Rug- gles of Rochester and others, a Committee of the Proprietors of said tract of land (as they call themselves), Praying that they may have the grant and authority of this Court for settling on said Land, and exempted from the conditions they have entered into with the said Committee. Read. Also a Petition of Robert Auchmuty Esq, for and in behalf of Joshua Lamb Esq. and Timothy Ruggles Clerk, as they are a Committee of the Proprietors of a certain Tract or parcel of land containing by estimation 12 miles long North & South, and 8 miles wide East & West, lying near Quabaug, known by the name of Wombemsicunck, in which is included the land petitioned for by Isaac Burr, John King &c. as well as sundry other petitions for land within their propriety ;- Praying that they may be heard by their counsel to make out their right to the land contained in their purchase from the Indian Sachems, before any grant on the said petition be made, or that if any grant should pass, that a saving of their right and claim may be inserted, for the reasons mentioned. Decr 2, 1729, all the parties were heard, and the petitions were rejected."
In the House of Representatives, June 15, 1731. " A petition of Joshua Lamb Esq. and others, a Committee of the purchasers of a Tract of Land called Wombisiscook (heretofore purchased of Indian Sachems), Praying that they may be formed into a Township and invested with the usual privileges, and give such further and neces- sary sanction to their said purchase as shall be deemed expedient, for reasons mentioned. Read, and the parties concerned being heard, after a long debate, the question was put, whether the petition should be granted. And it passed in the Negative."
House of Representatives, June 17, 1731. " A petition of Tim- othy Ruggles and others, a committee of the descendants & legal representatives of Joshua Lamb and others, Praying that the Court would make them a grant of Land of the contents of eight miles square adjacent to the river called Nenemeseck alias Ware River (in such form as the lands will admit of) for a Township, under such regulations as the Court shall think fit, for Reasons mentioned. Read."
Dec. 31, 1731. The above petition was brought up. read, and negatived.
The next day, Jan. 1, 1731-2, In the House of Representatives, was presented "A petition of Joshua Lamb, Timothy Ruggles, Joseph Ruggles and Ebenezer Pierpont, in behalf of themselves and associates, Praying that a Tract of land of the contents of six miles square, adjacent to the River called Nenemeseck, now Ware River,
51
THE ELBOW TRACT-SETTLEMENT, 1716-1728.
may be granted them for a Township, in such form as the land will admit of, and under such regulations as to the time and manner of settling the same, as the Court shall think fit, for Reasons men- tioned. Read, and Ordered, that Mr. Shove, Mr. Cushing and Mr. Samuel Chandler be a committee to consider of such Regulations as may be thought proper, and Report as soon as may be."
" Jan. 13, 1731-2, Mr. Shove for the committee reported-Read, and accepted, and Ordered, that there be and hereby is granted to the petitioners & their associates, a tract of land of six miles square for a Township, at the place petitioned for, to be laid out in a regu- lar form by a surveyor & chairmen under oath, a Plan thereof to be presented to this Court at their session in May next for confirma- tion, the said land by them to be settled on the conditions follow- ing, viz. That within the space of five years they settle and have on the spot 60 families (the settlers to be such as are the natives of New England); each settler to build a good and convenient dwell- ing house of one story high, 18 ft. square at the least, and clear and bring to four acres fit for improvement, and three acres more well stocked with English grass, and also lay out three shares throughout the town each share to be one sixty-third part of the sd tract-one share for the first settled Minister, one for the Ministry, and the other for the School: and also to build a convenient meeting-house, and settle a learned and Orthodox Minister within the time aforesaid."
.
"Jan. 20, 1731-2. Read in Council, and concurred."
The governor refused his consent.
June 17, 1732. " A petition of Joshua Lamb, Joseph Ruggles, Timothy Ruggles and Eben". Pierpont, Praying for the grant of a tract of land lying on the northward of and adjacent to Ware River, for a Township, upon such conditions as the Court shall judge proper. In the House of Representatives, Read, and Ordered [See Bill above quoted ]. In Council June 20, 1732, Read, and concurred.
Consented to, J. BELCHER.
Nov. 24, 1732. "A Plan of the lands six miles square lying north of Ware River, granted to Joshua Lamb and others, was pre- sented. In the House of Representatives, accepted & confirmed. In Council, concurred.
Consented to,
J. BELCHER."
Thus was ended a persistent contest of six years. So long as Messrs. Lamb and Company made it a condition that their title and claim under the Indian deed should be confirmed, or in any way, directly or indirectly recognized, their petitions were rejected. But when they asked for a grant of land outside of the limits of
52
HISTORY OF PALMER.
territory claimed to be covered by said deed, i. e., on the westerly side of Ware river, and named no conditions, their petition was readily granted. The township was named Lambstown, afterwards changed to Hardwick.
This narrative-somewhat extended-of the claims and opera- tions of Messrs. Lamb and Company, will explain the peculiar phraseology of documents, and enable the reader to understand the numerous references in the petitions of John King, Joseph Wright, James Dorchester and others, to be copied in the next chapter, and also help him to get a right idea of the causes of delay, and un- looked for difficulties which the first settlers of The Elbows encoun- tered, before they secured valid titles to their farms, and precinct privileges.
CHAPTER III.
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
BOUNDARIES-FIRST MOVE FOR A PRECINCT-PETITION OF JOHN KILBURN- MOVE FOR A PLANTATION - PETITION OF JOHN KING -PETITION OF JAMES DORCHESTER -PETITION OF DAVID INGERSOLE -ORDERS OF COURT - WRITS OF EJECTMENT -PETITION OF JOSEPH WRIGHT -PETI- TION OF JOHN KING - MEMORIAL OF HENRY DWIGHT, ESQ. - PETITION OF JAMES DORCHESTER-THE NEW BASE OF OPERATIONS-PETITION OF JOHN NEVINS -THE PRAYER THAT PREVAILED - MODUS OPERANDI- ACTION OF THE GENERAL COURT-THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE AND ALLOTMENT OF HOME LOTS -FIRST MEETING OF THE NEW PLAN- TATION - EXTRACTS FROM THE PLANTATION RECORDS -SAW MILL- GRIST MILL -PUBLIC WORSHIP AND PREACHERS, REV. ROBERT KIL- PATRICK, REV. MR. WELD), REV. BENJAMIN DICKINSON, MR. COLLINS, REV. JOHN HARVEY-MINISTRY LO'T-THE TWO-PENNY TAX-CHURCH- MEETING-HOUSE-SINGING-LAND GRANTS TO PUBLIC MEN. THE HOBART FARM, HOLLINGSWORTH GRANT, CAPT. JOHN SHELDON'S FARM, ALIAS DWIGHT'S FARM, CAPT. PARTRIDGE'S GRANT, MARSH'S GRANT, BURBILL'S AND BRADFORD'S 100 ACRES-THE 500 POUNDS DEBT-PROPRIETORS AND GRANTEES, A PARTNERSHIP - DIVISION OF COMMONS, FIRST DIVISION, SECOND DIVISION, THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH DIVISION -BURYING GROUND -PHYSICIAN -TOWN OF WESTERN -WARE RIVER PARISH -- CONTROVERSY BETWEEN MINISTER AND PEOPLE-DARK DAYS -MR. HARVEY'S RESIGNATION -PREACHERS, REV. DR. LORD, REV. JAMES MORTON, REV. - MITCHELL, REV. ALEXANDER BOYD AND HIS CALL, REV. JOHN M'KINSTRY -OLD FRENCH WAR-LIST OF EARLY INHAB- ITANTS AND LANDHOLDERS.
B OUNDARIES .- According to Dwight's survey of 1723, the northeast corner of the tract proposed for a plantation, or township, was at the northwest corner of Brookfield. Thence the line ran south on Brookfield to the Quabaug river ; thence following the river to its junction with Swift river, and up this stream to the southwest corner of Read's Ten Thousand Acres ; thence easterly, on the south line of Read's land, to the southeast corner of the same; thence northerly, on the east line of Read's Manor, to a point nearly west from Brookfield northwest corner, and thence to said corner. This embraced an area of 23,619 acres. As laid out by the Committee and confirmed by the General Court in 1733, all the Common Lands nearly as far north as Hardwick line were included in the grant.
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
FIRST MOVE FOR A PRECINCT .- Of the first ten years of their life here the settlers have left no account, except the record of the birth of Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Deliverance Frost, born February, 1725 ; Margaret, daughter of Captain John and Elizabeth Thomson, born Jan. 26, 1726 ; Joseph, b. 1716, Thomas, b. 1718, William, b. 1720, Benjamin, b. 1722, Sarah, b. 1723, Aaron, b. 1725, children of John and Sarah King.
In December, 1726, those men who had located on King's Row and vicinity sent a petition to the General Court asking for pre- cinct privileges. The petition cannot be found, but the substance of it is given in the General Court Records, as follows : " A peti- tion of John Kilburn, Joseph Wright, and sundry other persons, inhabiting within the County of Hampshire, praying that this Court would grant or sell to them a Tract of Land belonging to this Province, lying westerly on Ware River or the Equivalent Lands, southerly upon Chickaby River, easterly upon Brimfield, the grantees not exceed seventeen families, Proposing to go imme- diately upon the place, and to continue as a village till it may be thought proper to annex them to Brimfield or some other Town."
" December 26, 1726. In the House of Representatives Read and Ordered, that the petition be referred to the next May session for further consideration, and that in the meantime Maj. Chandler, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Gun be a committee to repair to the lands petitioned for, view the situation, quality, and circumstances thereof, and that they report their opinion of ye value of the same at the sª next May session.
In Council Read & Concurred.
Consented to."
It will be seen that this movement of the "settlers" was made six months before Joshua Lamb and Company asserted a claim to the territory ; that the petitioners call it "Province Land," and ask for a grant of the same, or the privilege of purchasing it. The petition has further historical value, as showing that seventeen families had already located or were ready to locate on this southern part of the Elbow Tract, and that their plans did not contemplate the organization of a township. It also appears that the petition was favorably received by the General Court-a thing in striking contrast with the reception of the petitions of the several claimers to the territory.
The movements of Messrs. Lamb and Company at the next May session, to get possession of these lands, put an end to the prospects of Kilburn and Wright, and we hear no more of the efforts for
55
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
precinct or town privileges (except as instigated and controlled by Lamb and Company) for the next four years. It should however, be borne in mind, that the said Company persistently pressed their claims, and went so far as to survey the Tract, and lot it out into farms of one hundred acres each, and sell and give deeds of the same to the settlers. [See ante, pp. 49, 50.]
These proceedings account for the non-action of the people; and also afford explanation of some expressions and qualifying clauses, both in petitions and in orders of Court. The strange spectacle presents itself of a colony of honest, industrious, loyal men, occupying homes of their choice, and striving to plant social and religious institutions, and to obey magistrates; and at the same time bound hand and foot by their own acts; viz, first by pitching on land to which they had no right or title; and second, by purchas- ing their farms of " claimers " who were equally without right and title to the same. For an account of their subsequent efforts to extricate themselves from their dilemma, we are indebted to the Journals of the House of Representatives in loc., from which copious extracts will now be given.
FIRST MOVE FOR A PLANTATION .- " July 3, 1730. A petition · of David Ingersole, John Miller, John Stearns, and to the number of fifty-three others, praying for a Tract of land between Brook- field, Brimfield and Springfield, of the contents of six or eight miles square (on part of which they are settled) in order to erect the same into and settle a township there, for reasons mentioned
Read."
Sept. 24, 1730. A petition of John King, Samuel Nevins and others, Inhabitants of some lands lying between the towns of Brookfield and Springfield, and northward of Brimfield, and adjoin- ing on the north upon some lands called Equivalent Lands in the county of Hampshire, praying for a Tract of the sd lands, of the contents of six miles square for settlement thereof.
. Read, and at the motion and desire of Mr. Pynchon, the same was withdrawn." But the House took action, and "ordered, that Mr. Welles, Mr. Samuel Chandler, Mr. Hall and Mr. Johnson be a committee to inquire into and consider the circumstances of the Land, and make Report what may be proper for the Court to do thereon.
"Sept. 30, 1730. The House being informed that there are sundry persons making settlements upon some unappropriated Lands of this Province lying between Brookfield and the Equiva-
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HISTORY OF PALMER.
lent Land: Ordered, that the consideration of said affair be com- mitted to the committee appointed the 24th instant, to make inquiry. &c. and Report."
" Mr. Welles, for the above named committee reported. [Report not recorded. ] Read and Voted not to accept sª Report."
" After debate relating to those lands, Ordered that Mr. Shove be, and hereby is fully authorized and impowered. for and in behalf of this Province, to bring forward a writ or writs of Ejectment against any and all persons in possession of the above mentioned Lands, that derive their title any otherways than from the General Court of this Province.
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