USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 14
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In order to facilitate the work of granting charters and insure regularity and uniformity in the several townships, the Governor directed Joseph Blanchard, of Dunstable, to make a survey of the Connecticut valley, from Charlestown, then known as No. 4, to the Lower Cohos. This survey was made in March, 1760. The party passed up the river on the ice, and at a distance of every six miles marked a tree on each side of the river as the corner of a town- ship. The survey was finished at the rocky island just above the railroad bridge at Woodsville, and opposite the mouth of the Am- monoosuc. The trees there marked constitute the lines between Haverhill and Bath on one side, and Newbury and Rygate on the other. A plan of this survey was lodged with the Secretary of the Province at Portsmouth, and from it a map constructed showing the course of the Connecticut, and three tiers of towns protracted back from each side of the river. This map was the basis from which the boundaries and courses described in the charters were taken.
During the ensuing three or four years nearly all the territory ungranted at the time of the surrender of Quebec was disposed of. One hundred and twenty-nine towns were chartered on the VOL. I .- 10
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History of Littleton.
west side of the Connecticut, and all available lands on the east side erected into townships with full municipal privileges. These grants were made to any person or association of persons willing to pay into the Provincial treasury the charter fee of sixty pounds sterling, a considerable sum in those days. The document was burdened with conditions intended to insure the settlement of the township. In it the Governor reserved five hundred acres, which was regarded as two shares, for his own benefit, and this reservation was usually located in the most desirable corner of the town. Reservations were also made of one share each "for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for a Glebe for the Church of England as by Law Established, for the first settled Minister of the Gospel, and for the Benefit of the School in said Town forever." While providing for himself, for the church and education, the Governor was not unmindful of the interests of his friends, and several of them appear as grantees in nearly all the charters. Among the beneficiaries of the bounty of one or the other of the Wentworths are usually found the names of Mark Hunking Wentworth, Theodore Atkinson, Jun., James Nevin, Richard Wibird, and other relatives. He sometimes honored his friends in a more enduring if less remunerative form, by bestow- ing their names upon some of the new towns. Instances of this character are found in Atkinson, named for Theodore Atkinson ; Warren, for Sir Peter Warren of the Royal navy; and Lloyd Hills, the ancient name of Bethlehem, for Byfield Lloyd. His own name was given by Governor Benning Wentworth to the towns of Bennington and Wentworth.
Under the stimulating influences of power and pelf the dis- posal of the ungranted lands in northern New Hampshire waxed apace. In 1761 there were chartered in our county the towns of Bath, Canaan, Campton, Groton, Enfield,1 Lebanon, Lyman, Lyme, Orford, and Rumney. Northumberland was granted, the same year ; Columbia, Colebrook, and Grafton in 1762; Haverhill, Lancaster, Lisbon, Woodstock, Thornton, Warren, and Plymouth in 1763; Benton, Lundaff, Piermont, and Littleton in 1764; Wentworth in 1766, and Orange in 1769.
The fact that a large percentage of the grants were secured for speculative purposes only, is shown by the large number permitted to revert to the Crown, for the reason that the proprietors were unable to fulfil the conditions imposed by Governor Benning Went- worth to insure their settlement. The names of a few prominent individuals appear in many of the charters, and their holdings
1 The present name is given. Several towns were chartered under other names.
147
Charters. - Chiswick.
were usually sufficiently large to enable them to control the prop- erty. Among these oft-recurring names are those of Alexander Phelps, of Hebron, Connecticut ; John Page, of Portsmouth, and, for a time, of Haverhill ; the Littles, of Newbury and Newburyport ; Nathaniel Tracy, of Newburyport; the Averys, of Connecticut, and John Hazen and the Baileys, of Newbury, Vermont. General Ethan Allen and his brothers acquired large tracts in the New Hampshire Grants, and when the controversy was waged between New Hamp- shire and New York for jurisdiction, they fortified their titles by purchasing of both provinces. Of the hundreds of persons whose names are inscribed on the back of these charters, few became actual settlers in the townships. The speculative proprietors soon ascertained that the law of supply and demand was against them ; charters were more numerous than settlers. The men returning from long and arduous military duty longed for a season of repose not to be found in conquering a home in the wilderness, and for a time did not take kindly to the importunities of the landed pro- prietors. Nor were the times as propitious as had been anticipated. The relations between the Colonies and the Crown were becoming strained. Already the distant mutterings of the storm of the Revolution were heard, and a condition of general discontent pre- vailed. For a while the proprietors waited hopefully, but as time passed without materially changing the situation, they were com- pelled at length to put forth their greatest energies to make good their title to the lands.
The valley of the Ammonoosuc, and that of the Connecticut above the junction of these rivers, was uninhabited by white men until near the close of the great charter period in 1763-4. A brief review of affairs in this region is necessary to enable the reader to obtain anything like a just view of the situation at that time.1
The first grant in our valley was that of Bath, issued to Rev. Andrew Gardner and others, September 10, 1761. It is related of him that he journeyed from his home in Massachusetts through the wilderness to view his new possession, and as he reached the site of the present village of Woodsville, he beheld towering beyond the waters of the Ammonoosuc a rugged mountain which was understood to form a considerable part of his township. The scene was not inviting, and he remained only long enough to
1 Governor Benning Wentworth, having resigned his office in 1766, was succeeded by his nephew, John Wentworth, whose commission was dated August 11, 1766, and published June 13, 1767. In respect to the forfeiture of charters, and regranting of territory which had been disposed of by his predecessor, it will be seen that the latter's interest was manifest and active.
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History of Littleton.
give the elevation his name. Gardner's Mountain extends through Bath, dividing Lyman and Monroe, and terminates near the Con- necticut River in Littleton. The first settlement was made in 1765, and two years later the proprietor's records are said to have shown twenty-two residents in the town. It is certain that there were not a sufficient number of families at that time to save the charter, for it was forfeited, and another issued March 9, 1769, to an entirely different set of grantees, among whom were Israel Morey and Nathan Caswell, of Orford, who were destined to play an important part in the first settlement of Littleton.
The next town, in geographical order, is Lisbon, first granted as Concord, August 6, 1763, and again as Chiswick, in January, 1764. The last-named grant was undoubtedly made through mis- take, as the territory was covered by the Concord charter, and the name, Chiswick, appropriated and petitioned for about the same time by the Averys for their township. The error was soon dis- covered, and the charter abandoned. The owners of the Concord charter failed to comply with its provisions in regard to settlement ; consequently it was declared forfeited, and in October, 1768, a new grant was made under the name of Gunthwait to Leonard Whiting and others. Whiting, and a majority of his associates, had en- gaged in the enterprise for the purpose of establishing homes within the territory of their purchase, and soon after acquiring the grant built a stockade, or fort, near the Cobleigh place. In the mean time settlers claiming to hold under the Concord charter came into the town and pitched lots, and as the question of title was deemed to have been determined in favor of the Concord claimants by the decision in the case of Dartmouth College against Landaff, the principle involved being the same in both cases, the settlers under the Gunthwait charter were compelled to purchase of the proprietors of Concord or abandon their improvements. The scars left by the contest were many, and it was years before all trace of them had disappeared.
Lyman, then including Monroe, was granted to Daniel Lyman and associates. The grantees were men of energy and ability, and seem to have grappled with the difficulties attending the planting of a settlement more successfully than most of the neighboring proprietors. They protected their charter when it was about to lapse, and the land titles there generally trace back to the original grantees.
Franconia is another town where conflicting grants brought trouble to the settlers. The original grant was made under the present name to Isaac Searle and others in 1764. A second grant
BERLAND formerly
Stonington
LANCASTER
Capt. Barker 3000 Aores
UPP M. F
₩-
Ils on Twenty Miles Rapids
Joh nie R
DART MOUTH
APTHORP
Lower Bar
5
formerly
Pesumpsack a.
CHESWICK.
BRETTON
StephEns R
WOODS
LLOYD HILLS
4
RIVER.
GUNTHWAIT
Stephens Fort
BATH
MORRISTOWN
LOWER AMMOR
formerly
LANDAFF
Franconia & Lincol
CONNECTICUT
Squire Porter
FROM Holland's Map of New Hampshire
Coll.Buyha oxbow Judge Tapha LES MILLS
Printez at London
Intervale of
BOOK
Oliverian's
HAVERHILL
AR Cutters 3796 Acres
Geo. Kings 3478Acres
6260 Acres Granteat. Mefs Gilman & Waldron
March 1 1784.
WHITE
VELDS
The Fifteen
John Hard way.
LYMAN
0191
Narrows
Israel R.
149
Charters. - Chiswick.
was made to Sir Francis Barnard and others, covering the present territory of Franconia and Lincoln in 1772 under the name of Morristown, in honor of Governor John Wentworth's friend, Cor- byn Morris. The controversy here was settled, as were others, by the court in its decision in regard to the title to Landaff.
The land on both sides of the Connecticut, bordering the fifteen-mile falls, was evidently not regarded as desirable, as it remained ungranted for some time after those above and below had been disposed of. The Chiswick charter to James Avery butted on Lyman, and extended to a point within two miles of the present boundary of Littleton and Dalton. On the Vermont side there was still an ungranted tract extending from Barnet to Lunenburg, embracing the territory at present within the limits of Waterford and Concord. When, by the decision of the Privy Council of Great Britain, in 1764, jurisdiction was given to the Province of New York over the tract lying between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, Lieutenant-Governor Colden of that Province granted a charter, dated August 8, 1770, to John Wood and thirty-eight others, and bestowed upon the tract the name of Dunmore. The township contained thirty-nine thousand acres, and comprised all of the town of Waterford, most of Concord, and the southeasterly portion of St. Johnsbury. A few weeks subsequently, October 13, Colden made a grant of twenty thousand acres adjoin- ing Dunmore, and " lying along the Connecticut River," to Archi- bald Hamilton and others, under the name of Kersborough. These grants were surveyed, as to their outlines, by a surveyor from New York, whose name has not been learned. Kersborough was after- wards regranted to Reuben Jones and others, and became the town of Concord.
Among the last, and possibly the very last, charter issued by Governor John Wentworth was that of Lloyd Hills, now Bethle- hem, granted to, and named in honor of, Byfield Lloyd, a friend of the Governor. In the confusion incident to the removal of the Governor to the Isles of Shoals, and subsequently to England, the Secretary of the Province neglected to record the charter, and it was consequently void. . An attempt was made to resurrect it for use in a pending suit; but the parties who obtained the evidence found it adverse to their claim, and let it slumber in forgetfulness.
After the first break in the wilderness which clothed these valleys was made at Bath, in 1765, no advance up the river was made until 1769, when a stockade was built at Gunthwait, and a cabin on the meadows in this town. These first encroachments
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History of Littleton.
of civilization were preparations for a permanent settlement the following year.
The town of Littleton has at different periods borne three names. It owes its chartered existence to James Avery, of Groton, Connecticut, who petitioned for a township in the summer of 1764. His prayer was answered on the 17th of November of that year, by the charter of Littleton under the name of Chiswick. The name comes from an ancient parish on the north bank of the Thames, near London. The expansion of the great city now in- cludes it within her borders. The original charter lies before me as I write. It is printed on a broad sheet of heavy paper, now yellow with age, and so worn in its foldings as to require pasted straps to keep its parts together. The type is large, heavy-faced, clean, and in the style of the period. The margins are wide, and in the upper left-hand corner, attached by an immense wafer, is impressed the broad seal of the Province of New Hampshire. The description of the tract is written in a clean and still legible hand, evidently by a clerk. The certificate of record and the assignment of shares to the honorary grantees, and verification, is in the handwriting of Theodore Atkinson, Provincial Secretary.
The document is as follows : -
Province of New Hampshire GEORGE The Third By the Grace of GOD, of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith &c.
To all persons to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting.
Know ye, that We of Our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and meer Motion, for the due Encouragement of settling a New Plantation within Our said Province, by and with the Advice of Our Truly and Well-beloved BENNING WENTWORTH, Esq; Our Governor and Commander in Chief of Our said Province of NEW HAMPSHIRE in New England, and of Our COUNCIL of the said Province ; HAVE upon the Conditions and Reservations herein after made, given and granted, and by these Presents, for us, Our Heirs and Successors, do give and grant in equal Shares, unto Our loving Subjects, Inhabitants of Our said Province of New Hampshire, and Our other Governments, and to their Heirs and Assigns for ever, whose names are entered on this Grant, to be divided to and amongst them into Fifty Three equal Shares, all that Tract or Parcel of Land situate, lying and being within our said Prov- ince of New Hampshire, containing by Admeasurement, 23,040 Acres, which tract is to contain Six Miles square, and no more ; out of which an Allowance is to be made for High Ways and unimproveable Lands by Rocks, Ponds, Mountains and Rivers One Thousand and Forty
151
Charters. - Chiswick.
Acres free, according to a Plan and Survey thereof, made by Our said Governor's Order, and returned into the Secretary's Office, and here- unto annexed, butted and bounded as follows, Viz. Begining at the Northwesterly corner of Lyman on Connecticut River & thence to Run back from said River on the line of Lyman to the North Easterly corner of Lyman aforesaid from thence to Turn of & run South 70ª East about 3 Miles and 92 Rods by the line of Concord then turning off & runing by Concord N 20d E about 6 Miles to the S. E. Corner of the Town of Lancaster & thence Turning off & runing by Lancaster North about 26De West about 7 Miles to Connecticut River & then Turning & runing Down the River as that Runs to the aforesaid North Westerly Corner aforesaid to the bounds begun at And that the same be, and hereby is, Incorporated into a Township by the Name of CHISWICK And the Inhabitants that do or shall hereafter inhabit the said Township, are hereby declared to be Enfranchised with, and Intitled to all and every the Priviledges and Imunities that other Towns within Our Province by Law Exercise and Enjoy : And further, that the said Town, as soon as there shall be Fifty Families resident and settled thereon, shall have the Liberty of holding Two Fairs, one of which shall be held on the
- - and the other on the - · annually, which Fairs are not to continue longer than the respective - following the said and as soon as the said Town shall consist of Fifty Families, a Market may be opened and kept one or more Days in each Week, as may be thought most advantagious to the Inhabitants. Also, that the first Meeting for the Choice of Town Officers, agreeable to the Laws of our said Province shall be held on the first Wednesday in July next which said Meeting shall be Notified by James Avery who is hereby also appointed the Moderator of the said first Meeting, which he is to Notify and Govern agreeable to the Laws and Customs of Our said Province ; and that the annual Meeting for ever hereafter for the Choice of such Officers for the said Town, shall be on the Second Tuesday of March Annually, To HAVE and to HOLD the said Tract of Land as above expressed, together with all Privileges and Appurte- nances, to them and their respective Heirs and Assigns forever, upon the following Conditions, VIZ.
I. That every Grantee, his Heirs or Assigns shall plant and culti- vate five Acres of Land with the Term of five Years for every fifty Acres contained in his or their Share or Proportion of Land in said Township, and continue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivations, on Penalty of Forfeiture of his Grant or Share in the said Township, and of its reverting to Us, our Heirs and Successors, to be by Us or Them Re-granted to such of Our Subjects as shall effectually settle and cultivate the same.
II. That all white and other Pine Trees within the said Township, fit for Masting Our Royal Navy, be carefully preserved for that Use, and none to be cut or felled without Our special Licence for so doing,
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History of Littleton.
first had and obtained, upon Penalty of the Forfeiture of the Right of such Grantee, his Heirs and Assigns, to Us, Our Heirs and Successors, as well as being subject to the Penalty of any Acts or Acts of Parlia- ment that now are, or hereafter shall be Enacted.
III. That before any Division of the Land be made to and among the Grantees, a Tract of Land as near the Centre of the said Township as the Land will admit of, shall be reserved and marked out for Town Lots, one of which shall be allotted to each Grantee of the Contents of one Acre.
IV. Yielding and paying therefor to Us, Our Heirs and Successors for the Space of ten Years, to be computed from the Date hereof, the Rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only, on the twenty-fifth Day of December annually, if lawfully demanded, the first Payment to be made on the twenty fifth Day of December, 1764.
V. Every Proprietor, Settler or Inhabitant, shall yield and pay unto Us, our Heirs and Successors yearly, and every Year forever, from and after the Expiration of ten Years from the abovesaid twenty- fifth Day of December, namely, on the twenty-fifth Day of December, which will be in the Year of our Lord 1774 one shilling Proclamation Money for every Hundred Acres he so ownes, settles or possesses, and so in Proportion for a greater or less Tract of the said Land ; which Money shall be paid by the respective persons abovesaid, their Heirs and Assigns, in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such Officer or Officers as shall be appointed to recieve the same ; and this to be in Lieu of all other Rents and Services whatsoever.
In Testimony whereof we have caused the Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness BENNING WENT- WORTH, Esq ; Our Governor and Commander in Chief of Our said Province, the 17 Day of November In the Year of Our Lord CHRIST, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty four.
And in the fifth Year of Our Reign,
By His EXCELLENCY'S Command
With Advice of Council B WENTWORTH
T ATKINSON Jun! Secry
Proc of New Hampshire Nov. 17- 1764 Recorded in the 3d Book of Charters Pa 126-127. T ATKINSON Jun Secy.
The back of the Charter bears the following record : -
NAMES OF THE GRANTEES OF CHISWICK. VIZ.
James Avery Thomas Powers
Jeremiah Clement Amos Mead
Benadam Gallop
Abraham Weed
Nathan Gallop Nathaniel Weed
William Gallop
Francis Smith
-
153
Charters. - Chiswick.
Humphrey Avery Jun!
Lemuel Smith
William Avery
Joseph Smith
Solomon Avery
Isaac Smith
Samuel Avery
Solomon Morgan
Latham Avery
John Baldwin
James Avery
John Fanchier
Palms Avery
John Fanchier Jun"
Christopher Avery
William Fanchier
Weightstill Avery
John Ambler
Isaac Avery
Theophilus Rogers
William Billings
Uriah Rogers
Bernard Ferrand
Joseph Williams
Reuben Lockwood
Thos Prentis Gallop
Joseph Lockwood
Ebenez" Gallop
Ebenezer Lockwood
Asa Jones
Benjamin Giles
Henry Gallop
Elijah Morgan
Humphrey Avery -
The Hobel Theod' Atkinson, Esqe
Mark H& Wentworth Esqe and James Nevin Esqe
For his Excellency Benning Wentworth Esqe a Tract of Land to five Hundred acres as marked B. W. in the plan which is to be accounted two of the within Shares one whole Share for the Society for the Gos- pel in foreign Parts one Share for a Glebe for Church of England as by Law Established one Share for the first Settled Minister of the Gospel, & one whole Share for the Benefit of a School in said Town forever
Proe of New Hamre 17 Novr 1764 on record in the 3d Book of Char- ters Page 128
T ATKINSON Jun Secry
This charter created a town out of the wilderness, and endowed its people, when in the course of time it might possess them, with all the rights and privileges of citizenship. The fourth and fifth conditions are significant, as indicating a purpose on the part of the government to establish and perpetuate a feudal tenure, an institution then in its decadence in Europe and which was soon to furnish one of the chief causes of the revolt against ancient usages and abuses that culminated in the French Revolution. Happily our Revolution preceded that event, and removed from the funda- mental law the last trace of that decaying system.
The presumed owners of this charter were all relatives or friends of the James Avery whose name heads the list of grantees. He was of a family long resident in New England, one member of which, Capt. James Avery of New London, was one of the most
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History of Littleton.
prominent men in Connecticut in both civic and military affairs. Between Captain James and the first grantee of Chiswick were born three generations bearing the same name, all men of activity and influence in their day. The reappearance of the same Christian names through many generations is characteristic of this family, and nearly all such names are represented in the Chiswick charter. Another tendency, too, of this family was to speculation in wild lands. Humphrey Junior was interested in a large tract of land on Long Island, and becoming " land poor," he had recourse to the Legislature of New York for relief. By the passage of an act authorizing him to dispose of his lands by lottery he was success- ful in acquiring a competency.
Samuel had a title, purchased of Lieutenant-Governor Colden, to twenty-eight thousand acres in what is now Vermont. This title was long in the courts, and was finally decided averse to him. Sub- , sequently the Legislature of Vermont authorized him to locate an equal number of acres in the ungranted lands of the State. . These grants were known as Avery's Gores, and were scattered over different parts of the State. Samuel Avery resided for a time at Westminster, Vermont, and then at Oswego, New York. He was a lawyer of ability and had a large practice. Christopher emi- grated to Pennsylvania. He was an Ensign in the Continental army, and was killed at the massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. Probably the most distinguished of the grantees was Weightstill Avery. He was born May 10, 1741 ; educated at Princeton, grad- uating in 1766. He was admitted to the bar three years later, and located in North Carolina. In 1772 he was a member of the Provincial Assembly, Attorney-General in 1773, and in 1774 was one of the signers of the Mechlenburg Declaration of Indepen- dence. During the Revolutionary War he commanded a regiment of militia, and was several times in active service. At the close of the war he was the first Attorney-General of the State. He was one of the principals in Andrew Jackson's first duel. He died at Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1821.
Of the other grantees little is known. The Morgans, Smiths, and Gallops were cousins of James Avery ; the Weeds and Fan- chiers were also related to him by marriage. John Fanchier was the first grantee on the Chiswick charter of January 31, 1764, covering the present town of Lisbon, and nearly all the Averys named in our charter were also associated with him in that enterprise.
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