USA > Maine > Oxford County > Paris > History of Paris, Maine, from its settlement to 1880, with a history of the grants of 1736 & 1771, together with personal sketches, a copious genealogical register and an appendix > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
"Voted, that Capt. Samuel Jackson be and hereby is fully author- ized and empowered to assemble and convene the grantees or pro- prietors of the township No. 4, lying in the line of towns between the rivers of Connecticut and Merrimac, to assemble in such place as they shall be notified and warned to convene and assemble at, in order to choose a moderator and clerk, and a committee to allot and divide their lands, and to dispose of the same, and to pass such votes and orders as by them may be thought conducive to the speedy fulfillment of the conditions of their grants, and also to agree upon methods for calling of meetings for the future. Provided none of their votes concerning the dividing or disposing of their lands that shall be passed while they are under the direction of the committee of this court, shall be offered before they are allowed of by said committee."
In pursuance of this order, Mr. Jackson in due time, proceeded' to notify the grantees of the time and place of meeting, by posting and publishing notices, of which the following is a copy :
"Pursuant to an order of the Great and General Court or Assembly of His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England : These are to notify the proprietors or grantees of the township No. 4, lying in the line of towns between the rivers of Connecticut and Merrimac, that they assemble and meet at the house of Mr. John Brown in Watertown, on Thursday the twenty-fourth day of February current, at ten of the clock in the forenoon of said day, to choose a moderator and a proprietor's clerk, and also to consider and conclude when and how the house lots shall be laid out, and to choose a committee to complete the same, and to agree and determine how the meetings of the proprietors shall be called for the future ; and to grant such sum or sums of money as shall be thought need- ful for laying out the house lots, and other necessary charges ; and to choose a collector and proprietors' treasurer, and to consider how the
24
HISTORY OF PARIS.
charges of the proprietors' meetings shall be defrayed; and to know whether the proprietors will renew the bounds of said township, and also to consider and conclude upon any other thing or things that may be thought proper to act upon at said meeting. Dated at Newton, February 8th, 1736-7."
The following is a list of the grantees, sixty in number, in the order in which they appear upon the petition :
Samuel Jackson.
Richard Park.
Nathaniel Stone.
John Spring.
William Park.
Josiah Mixer.
Thomas Greenwood.
David Whitney.
Daniel Robbins.
Ebenezar Stearns.
John Stowell.
Richard Coolidge.
Oaks Angier.
Benjamin Bond.
Joseph Coolidge.
Isaac Jackson.
James Dix.
Josiah Fuller.
William Trowbridge.
George Harrington.
Joseph Mason.
William Williams.
George Harrington, Jr. Daniel Bond.
Thomas Quiner.
Thomas Bisco ..
John Whitney.
Thomas Harris.
Samuel Stowell.
Thaddeus Coolidge.
David Sanger.
Ebenezar Brown.
David Learned.
John Burridge.
Jonas Coolidge.
Samuel Randall.
Joshua Fuller.
Nathaniel Spring.
Richard King.
Peter Durell.
Christopher Grant.
Joseph Allen.
Samuel Shattuck.
Isaac Fuller.
John Coolidge.
Nathaniel Smith.
Ebenezar Goddard.
Thomas Frost.
William Coolidge.
William Dana.
Mr. Caleb Trowbridge.
Oliver Livermore.
Jonathan Learned.
Mr. Edward JJackson.
William Brown.
Jonathan Bemis.
David Coolidge.
Josiah Goddard.
Moses Hastings.
David Livermore.
The proprietors held their first meeting pursuant to the call of Mr. Jackson, and proceeded to organize by the choice of Capt. Samuel Jackson as moderator, and Joseph Mason, Esq., clerk. It would seem that some of the grantees were minors, for it was voted that such of the proprietors as were under age, if present, should be allowed to act and vote in the proprietors' meetings. It was also declared as the sense of the meeting, that the legal repre- sentatives of any of the absent proprietors should be permitted to act and vote in their behalf. The proprietors voted that the sixty- three house lots required by the terms of the grant to be laid out in township No. 4, should be laid out by the first of June following ; that they should contain thirty acres at least, to the lot, and the committee was directed in laying out the lots, to have regard as to quantity and quality, and where the land is poorer, to make allow- ance in quantity so as to give to each lot, thirty acres of good land.
25
HISTORY OF PARIS.
William Brown, Oliver Livermore, Isaac Jackson, Joshua Fuller, John Burridge, Jonas Coolidge and Richard Park were chosen a committee to lay out the house lots, and were authorized to employ a surveyor and two chainmen to assist them. A standing committee to call future meetings was chosen, consisting of Capt. Samuel Jackson, William Williams and Joseph Mason. It was voted that future meetings should be called by posting notices in Watertown and Newton, fourteen days before the time- appointed therein for holding the same. It was also voted that a meeting of the proprie- tors should be called at any time, on application, in writing to the committee, of ten or more of the proprietors. It was voted to raise and assess the sum of forty shillings on each proprietor's lot or right, to defray the charge of laying out the lots as above, and other necessary expenses, and that twenty shillings on each lot or right of the above forty shillings, be collected and paid into the treasurer by the first of April following, and the balance by the first of June. Daniel Robbins, Ebenezer Brown, and Christopher Grant were chosen collectors, and Joseph Mason was chosen proprietors' treas- urer. By a vote of the proprietors, the committee chosen to lay out the house lots, were empowered to renew the boundaries of their township. The votes passed at this meeting were approved by the committee of the General Court at Boston, July 1, 1737.
The next meeting of the proprietors was holden at the house of John Brown of Watertown, on Monday, the fourth day of July, 1737, and Capt. Samuel Jackson was chosen moderator. Nathaniel Stone produced qualifications to act in behalf of Moses Hastings. It was voted to allow each member of the committee to lay out the house lots, ten pounds each for their services. At this meeting paper lots were prepared by a committee chosen for that purpose, and the proprietors proceeded to draw. No. 13 containing 40 acres, was reserved as the first minister's lot, No. 41, containing 31 acres, as the second, and number 42, of 40 acres, for the use of schools. It was voted that if any proprietor should be dissatisfied with the lot he should draw, he might at any time within two years, lay out another at his own expense, not exceeding thirty-one acres, and present a plan thereof to the committee for confirmation and approval. Fifty-five of the proprietors then drew their houselots, fifty-three of whom were original grantees. Samuel Hastings drew on the right of Ebenezer Stearns, and Rev. Seth Storer on the right of Jonathan Bemis. The proprietors not present to draw their lots,
.
26
HISTORY OF PARIS.
were permitted to draw at the clerk's office, on condition that they should first pay their dues.
The next meeting was holden at the dwelling house of Widow Mary Learned, in Watertown, on Tuesday, the eighth day of Feb- ruary, A. D., 1739. It was voted first that "the charge of the meeting be borne by the whole Society," and second, that "there shall be no lickers brought to the society that they shall be charged for, but what is ordered by the committee." It was voted "to choose a committee to find out a convenient way to our township, and work out the same." Isaac Jackson, Joshua Fuller and Samuel Randall were appointed suchi committee. The same committee were directed to find out the southwest corner of their township. It was voted to build a house on their township for the use of the proprie- tors in common, whose dimensions should be twenty-three feet in length, eighteen in width, and eight feet stud, and John Spring, Isaac Jackson and Joshua Fuller were constituted a committee to build the house. A motion to give encouragement to those proprie- tors who should first settle in the township, was negatived It was voted to raise and collect thirty shillings on each proprietor's lot, and assessors and a collector were chosen for this purpose.
The next meeting of the proprietors was held nearly thirty years after the one just mentioned. There is no evidence going to show that the house provided for at the last meeting, was ever built, or that any of the proprietors who drew houselots ever occupied, or ever saw them. There had long been a sharp contest between the Massachusetts Bay colony and the proprietors of the Province of New Hampshire, respecting the line between the two Provinces. For a period of forty years prior to 1741, Massachusetts and New Hampshire had the same governor, though each State had its own council, its own assembly and its own laws. Massachusetts, with characteristic greediness, laid claim to a large portion of New Hampshire, and a strip of what is now Vermont. Her General Court granted Pennacook, afterwards incorporated as Rumford, and now Concord, in 1725, and continued to grant townships of New Hampshire territory for years afterwards. In 1727, grants were made by Massachusetts to Massachusetts men, of Pembroke to Capt. John Lovewell and others, of Bow, Epsom, Canterbury and Chichester, of Amherst in 1728, of Hopkinton to Hopkinton, Mass., in 1735, and of Warner to Salisbury and Amesbury the same year. The two last were granted on petitions referred to in the proceedings
27
HISTORY OF PARIS.
of the General Court when a committee was appointed to locate and grant the lands between Connecticut and Merrimac rivers already spoken of. The "Great Falls" referred to in the Court proceedings just named, are now known as Bellows Falls on the Connecticut river, and are nearly in the same parallel with Concord, N. H. Massachusetts not only claimed the territory south of this line except a narrow strip on the east, but directed the committee to cross the Connecticut river and lay out one or two townships in what is now Vermont. But after a long and excited controversy covering a period of many years, on the fifth day of March, 1740, His Majesty, George the second, to whom the subject had been referred, fixed the boundary substantially as at present. The territory claimed by Massachusetts and which by this decision passed to the control and ownership of New Hampshire, was fourteen miles wide by fifty long, and included twenty-eight townships. Massachusetts grants of this territory became void, and those townships which were already settled were obliged to make terms with the Masonian proprietors of New Hampshire, or those acting under them. Town- ship No. 4, in this territory, granted to Capt. Samuel Jackson and others, had not been settled, and probably no effort was ever made on the part of the grantees to retain it.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CLAIM REVIVED.
Activity after Thirty years .- Close of the French and Indian Wars, and the Interior of Maine Opened up for Settlement .- Reorganiza- tion of the Proprietors .- Grant to Joshua Fuller and Associates .- Plan of the new "No. 4" made and Confirmed .- Mistake Dis- covered, and a new Plan Ordered .- Lotted out and the Rights Drawn .- Further Extracts from the Proprietors Records.
Thus matters stood for about thirty years, and in the meantime, great changes had taken place in the condition and affairs of the country. By the fall of Quebec, the power of the French was broken, and the Maritime Provinces as well as the Canadas became subject to the control of Great Britain. This put an end to the long struggle for empire in this country between France and England, in which the Indians had borne a conspicuous part, a struggle which
28
HISTORY OF PARIS.
had cost New England many valuable lives and a vast amount of money, and which had prevented colonization in the interior of Maine for more than a century. But now the struggle had closed, and there being no further danger from the late savage allies of the French, the attention of Massachusetts was turned anew to her eastern possessions. At this time the settlements in Maine were confined largely to the seacoast and the navigable rivers, the great interior being unsurveyed and unexplored save by the hunters, and by the soldiers who had gone to fight the Indians upon their own grounds. Between 1760 and the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, many grants of land had been made in Maine and several in Oxford county. Fryeburg was granted to Gen. Joseph Frye for services in the French and Indian wars, Bethel to the descendants of those of Sudbury and other towns who had served in the expedition against Canada in 1690, Livermore to those of Watertown, Waltham and the neighboring towns who, either by themselves or their ancestors, had taken a part in the reduction of Port Royal, Turner and Jay to the descendants of "Canada" soldiers, and Rumford to Concord, N. H., to compensate those of her grantees who had suffered loss by the settlement of the northern boundary of Massachusetts, which had left that town in New Hampshire. The grantees of Livermore had been petitioners for land in 1735, and had received a grant of township No. 2, on the east side of, and adjoining to the Connecticut river in the same tract where No. 4 granted to Capt. Samuel Jackson and others, was situated, and which proved on the settlement of the boundary to be within the limits of New Hampshire. The Livermore grantees based their claim for a renewal of their grant upon the fact that their "No. 2 had been thrown into New Hampshire by an adjustment of the boundary lines."
The changed condition of things, and the general movement for eastern land grants, stimulated the grantees of No. 4 on Con- necticut river to move for an adjustment of their claims, a prelimi- nary step to which was the reorganizatian of their company. These grantees were mostly from Watertown, Waltham and Newton, towns from which hailed most of the grantees of Livermore and Jay. The grantees of Bethel were also largely from Newton. These two towns, Watertown and Newton, formed the rallying points for several Massachusetts towns, Marlboro', Shrewesbury and Groton being notable among the number.
29
HISTORY OF PARIS.
The next meeting of the proprietors of township No. 4, "lying between the rivers Connecticut and Merrimac," after an interval of nearly thirty years, was held at the house of Mr. Nathaniel Coolidge, innkeeper in Watertown, on the 26th day of December, 1769. Several of the original proprietors had deceased, and their rights were represented by heirs or assigns, while others had disposed of their claims, so that only twenty-nine of the original claimants peti- tioned for a renewal of the grant. At this meeting, Joshua Fuller was elected moderator, and Nehemiah Mason, clerk. Capt. Joshua Fuller, Capt. William Coolidge and Ebenezer Brown were consti- tuted a committee to draft a petition to the General Court for a new grant of land in lieu of the one they had lost. The following is a copy of the petition prepared and presented :
PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
"To the Honorable Thomas Hutchinson, Governor and Commander in Chief of his Majesty's said Province, the Hon. Council and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled :
The petition of the subscribers humbly showeth that some of your peti- tioners and the predecessors of the others obtained a grant from the Great and General Court, of a township of land several years since, which was then laid out between the rivers of Connecticut and Merrimac with line of towns ; that the house lots in said town were allotted to the proprietors, and some further orders relative to the settlement of said township were by said proprietors performed to the satisfaction of . a committee from said Honorable Court, as may appear by the proprietors' book of records signed by the Honorable William Dudley, Esq., chairman of said committee, and that said proprietors were resolutely pursuing all other proper measures in order for the speedy settlement; but very soon after, to their great damage and disappointment, and after the payment of one hundred and eighty pounds to the committee aforesaid, and a further expense of more than double that sum, besides expense of time, they were deprived of said town- ship by its being set off to the Province of New Hampshire, by the deter- mination of his Majesty, King George the second, in the settlement of the boundaries of the Provinces aforesaid ; and your petitioners must remain remediless in the premises, without the interposition of this most Honor- able Court ; they therefore most humbly pray that your Honors would be pleased to take the same into consideration and according to your known justice and clemency to grant them another township in lieu of that which they were deprived of, as a retaliation for their great loss, and your most. humble suppliants as in duty bound shall ever pray."
JOSHUA FULLER and 59 others.
At a meeting holden at the place of the former one, on the 8th day of January, A. D., 1770, it was voted to accept the report of
30
HISTORY OF PARIS.
the committee. At an adjourned meeting at the same place, on the last Monday in February following the other, a committee consisting of Capt. Joshua Fuller, William Coolidge and Mr. Ebenezer Brown, were chosen to present the above petition to the General Court. An assessment of one shilling on each right, was made to defray the expenses of the committee. Several adjourned meetings were sub- sequently held without the transaction of any business.
At a meeting at Coolidge's tavern on the first day of July, 1771, the petition to the General Court having been favorably considered, a committee consisting of Capt. Joshua Fuller, Nathaniel Coolidge and Stephen Harris, was chosen to take a view and plan of the township granted, and it was also voted to assess two dollars on each right to defray the charges of the committee. At an adjourned meeting on the 12th day of August, Alexander Shepard, Jr., was elected clerk, and the committee appointed to view and take a plan of the township were authorized to hire money sufficient to defray their expenses in so doing, and to be allowed interest on the same until paid by the committee. It would be interesting to know the history of the journey of this committee into the interior of Maine, seeking land suitable for settling, and to answer the purposes of their grant, of the hardships they endured and the discouragements they encountered, but we are not aware that any journal of their daily doings was kept, or that any report was made by means of which this information can be gained. From the records of the proprietors' meetings, farther extracts from which will follow, it appears that this committee went in company, and acted in con- junction with a committee of the grantees of Phipps Canada, with the understanding that the two grants should be situated side by side, and that the expenses should be divided between the two com- mittees. But after the townships had been located and bounded, some disagreement arose the nature of which is not explained, and the committee on the part of the proprietors of No. 4, assumed the whole of the expense of the survey, and the committee of the Phipps Canada proprietors went to the great Androscoggin, and surveyed a township north of Livermore, territory which now comprises the towns of Jay and Canton.
The following appears in the proprietors' records :
"The following meeting called by the committee chosen to take a view and plan of a township, on a dispute arising between said com- mittee and the committee of Phipps Canada (so called) relative to
31
HISTORY OF PARIS.
the dividing the two townships by said committee jointly viewed and planned." At this meeting, a committee of nine was chosen to meet the proprietors of Phipps Canada or their committee, at the house of Capt. Brewer, in Waltham, on the 12th day of November, 1771, in order to make a division of the two townships of land the committees of the two sets of proprietors had viewed and taken plans of. The two committees met, and the action of the proprie- tors of No. 4, at its next meeting would indicate that a division of. the two townships could not be agreed upon.
At a meeting holden on the 19th day of November, 1771, it was voted that this Proprietary bear the whole expense of viewing and taking a plan of two townships of land on Little Amariscoggin river, except the time and expense which Messrs. Brown, Whitte- more and Kimball were at in said view and planning, provided the Canada proprietors give up all their claims to the interest of said view and planning. At an adjourned meeting on the 19th of December, among other proceedings of minor importance, it was voted that Alexander Shepard, Jr., be a committee to prepare a petition to the General Court for a confirmation of the grant of a township on Little Amariscoggin river, in lieu of No. 4, (so called) . An adjourned meeting was held on the 31st of March, 1772, when it was voted that the vote passed by the Canada Proprietors at the house of Capt. Ebenezer Steadman, innholder in Cambridge, on the 19th day of November last, relinquishing their interest in two town- ships on Little Amariscoggin river, be recorded in this Proprietary's book of records. This vote was as follows :
"At a meeting of the proprietors (or grantees) of a township of land granted by the Great and General Court, on the 11th day of June, 1771, to David Phipps, Esq., and others, at their meeting on Tuesday, the 19th day of November, 1771, at the house of Ebenezer Steadman in Cambridge, it was voted that this Proprietary relin- quish all their right in the two townships of land that were laid out by a committee of this Proprietary, in conjunction with a committee of the No. 4 Proprietary (so called), at Little Amariscoggin river, to the said No. 4 proprietors, provided they pay all the charges that have arisen in viewing and laying out said township, except the charges of Messrs. Abijah Brown and Israel Whittemore for their services and expenses in said service, and except six days and a half of Capt. Kimball."
The committee appointed to petition the court for a confirmation
-
32
ILISTORY OF PARIS.
of the grant on the Little Androscoggin, were successful in their efforts, and the following resolve of the General Court was issued thereon :
"In the House of Representatives, April 22, 1772.
Resolved that the plan of the township hereunto annexed, con- taining the contents of six miles and one-quarter square, exclusive of the allowance of one thousand and nine hundred acres for the rivers and ponds in said township, and eight hundred and forty acres for swag of chain, being one-third thereof, bounded as follows : 'Beginning at a heap of stones at the southwest corner, running north 73 degrees, east, fifty-one chains and thirty links, to Little Amariscoggin river ; thence by said river one hundred and fourteen chains to a white pine tree on the easterly side of the river ; thence north 43 degrees east, three hundred and forty chains to a spruce tree on Sylvester Canada line; thence north 4 degrees west, five hundred and forty-two chains to a stake and stones ; thence south 68} degrees and 30 minutes west, five hundred and twenty-seven chains ; thence south 14 degrees east, six hundred and eighty-eight. chains to the heap of stones first mentioned,' granted in June, 1771, to Joshua Fuller and others, be accepted and hereby is confirmed, to the said petitioners, their heirs and assigns forever, they comply- ing with the following conditions, viz : The grantees within seven years shall settle sixty families in said township, build a house for the public worship of God, and settle a learned protestant minister, and lay out one-sixty-fourth part for the first settled minister, one- sixty-fourth part for the use of the ministry, one-sixty-fourth part. for the use of schools, and one-sixty-fourth part for the use of Har- vard College forever. Provided it doth not exceed the quantity aforenamed, nor interfere with any former grant."
Sent up for concurrence.
T. CUSHING, Speaker. In Council, April 22d, 1772.
Read and concurred.
THOS. FLUCKER, Secretary.
Consented to,
T. HUTCHINSON.
A true copy, Attest : JNO. COLTON, D. Secretary.
33
HISTORY OF PARIS.
Upon a warrant issued by Samuel Danforth, Justice of the Peace, a meeting was called and held at the house of Nathaniel Coolidge, innholder, in Watertown, on the 21st day of July, 1772, and pro- vision was made for calling future meetings, and a committee con- sisting of Capt. Joshua Fuller, Capt. Nathaniel Coolidge and Alexander Shepard, Jr., was chosen and authorized and empowered to lot out the whole or a part of the township of the grantees. A committee consisting of Nathaniel Stone, Nehemiah Mason and William Coolidge, was chosen to prosecute or defend any action or actions wherein the interests of the Proprietary might be concerned, with full power of substitution. Josiah Bisco was one of the party who went to lot out the township, and his journal beginning August . 22. 1772, will be found in the appendix.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.