USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Amherst > History of the town of Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire (first known as Narraganset township number three, and subsequently as Souhegan West) > Part 2
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
The war continued to rage fiercely for months after the destruction of the Narraganset stronghold ; but finally, 12 August, 1676, Philip, its instigator, was killed, and peace was soon after restored.
In this death struggle of the New England Indians, about six hundred of the English were killed, twelve or thirteen of their towns were wholly destroyed, and many others were greatly damaged. About six hundred buildings were burned, one eleventh of the families in the Colonies were burned out, and a large number of cattle were destroyed, with a vast amount of other property.
9
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
CHAPTER II.
1685-1733.
THE PROMISE REDEEMED .- GRANTS TO THE NARRAGANSET SOLDIERS .- GRANT OF A TOWNSHIP IN THE NIPMUG COUN- TRY .- ACTION OF THE HOUSE UPON A PETITION PRESENTED IN 1727 .- POSTPONED BY THE COUNCIL .- GRANT OF TWO TOWNSHIPS, EACH SIX MILES SQUARE, TO THE SOLDIERS .- REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ONE OF THE TOWNS LAID OUT .- THE REPORT ACCEPTED, AND THE TOWNSHIP, AFTER- WARD AMHERST, CONFIRMED TO THE SOLDIERS .- A LIST OF THE PROPRIETORS PRESENTED TO THE COURT, AND A MEETING CALLED .- A FURTHER GRANT PETITIONED FOR .- ACTION OF THE HOUSE .- NOT CONCURRED IN BY THE COUN- CIL .- EFFORTS MADE TO OBTAIN AN ADDITIONAL GRANT .- ADDRESS OF THE COUNCIL TO THE HOUSE, JANUARY, 1731-32. A FURTHER GRANT MADE, SUFFICIENT TO GIVE A TOWNSHIP SIX MILES SQUARE TO EACH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY OF THE PETITIONERS .- FAILS TO RECEIVE THE APPROVAL OF GOV. BELCHER. - ANOTHER GRANT MADE, WHICH IS FINALLY CONSENTED TO BY THE GOVERNOR.
The General Court of Massachusetts, at a session held 4 June, 1685, in answer to a petition of sundry inhabitants of Lynn, Beverly, Reading, and Hingham, granted a town- ship, eight miles square, in the " Nipmug country," in the south part of the Province, "to the petitioners and others who were serviceable to the country in the recent Indian war."
No measures appear to have been taken by the grantees to secure the township granted them. It seems never to have been located, and the land in that part of the Prov-
10
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
ince was afterward disposed of by the Court to other parties.
Another petition from the Narraganset soldiers was presented to the House of Representatives, 1 July, 1727, asking for the grant of another tract of land in place of the one formerly granted.
This petition met with a favorable reception, and an act was shortly afterward passed by the House of Representa- tives, by which a committee was appointed to lay out another township, eight miles square, for the petitioners.
The act was read in the Council, and its further consid- eration postponed until the next session of the Court.
At the next session, an act was passed by the House granting the petitioners two townships, each of the contents of six miles square. This action was concnrred in by the Council, but failed to receive the sanction of the Governor.
" At a session, held 15 June, 1728. In the House of Representatives. In answer to the Petition of the Soldiers that served in the Narra- ganset War :-
Resolved, that Major Chandler, Mr. Edward Shove, Major Tilestone, & Mr. John Hobson (or any three of them) be a committee fully authorized & empowered to survey & lay out two Townships of the contents of Six miles square each, in some of the unappropriated Lands of this Province, and that the said Lands be granted & dis- posed of to the Persons, whether Officers or Soldiers, belonging to this Province, who were in the Service of their Country in the said Narra- ganset War, or to their lawful Representatives, as a Reward for their public services and as a full Satisfaction of the Grant formerly made by the Great and General Court; and inasmuch as it is the full Intent and Purpose that every Officer & Soldier who served in the said war should have a Compensation made him over & above what Wages & Gratui- ties any of them have already received :- That publick Notice be given in the News Letter, & Advertisements be posted up in every Town in the Province, notifying all Persons that now survive & were in the Fight, & the legal Representatives of those deceased, that they give or send a List of their names & Descents to the Court in their next Fall Sessions; and when such List is compleated by a Commit- tee then to be appointed by this Court, the Grantees shall be obliged to assemble in as short a time as they can, conveniently, not exceeding
11
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
six months, & proceed to the Choice of a Committee, to regulate each Propriety, who shall pass such Orders & Rules as will effectually oblige them to settle 'sixty Families at least in each Township, with a learned Orthodox Minister, within the Space of seven years from the Date of the Grant: Provided, nevertheless, if the said Grantees shall not effectually settle the said number of Families in each Township, & also lay out a Lot for the said settled Minister, one for the Ministry & one for the School in each of the said Townships, they shall have no advantage but forfeit their said Grants : any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
In Council : Read & Concurred.
Consented to : WM. DUMMER."
The committee to lay out the townships attended to the duty assigned them, and presented plans of the same at the session of the Court held in the month of December fol- lowing. On one of the plans is the following statement :-
" The Plan hereto annexed Shows the bounds of a Tract of Land laid out for one of the Towns Granted by the Gen'l Court to the Nar- raganset Soldiers. It Lyes on the North Side Sowheagun River and adjoyning thereto on the South. The East part of it is about four or five miles Westward of Merrimack River; and is att or Near the East end of the Late proposed Line of Towns between Dunstable and Northfield. There is in it a Sufficient Quantity of Improvable Land Capable of making a good Town. The whole Plan contains 24,457 Acres, which is 1,417 acres more than is contained in Six miles square, which we are Humbly of opinion ought to be allowed for the Pond and Part of three Farms that were formerly laid out, & now Included in this Survey. It was surveyed in the month of October, 1728, with the assistance of Mr. Jonas Houghton, Surveyor, & John Goss & Stephen Mighill, Chainmen, who were sworn by Joseph Wilder, Esq.
JOHN CHANDLER, JUN'R, EDW'D SHOVE, JOHN HOBSON,
Committee."
In the House of Representatives, December 18, 1728. The report of the Committee was Read and Accepted, & roted, that the land pro- tracted and described in the within Plan be and hereby is confirmed to the Officers & Soldiers belonging to this Province who were in the Service of their Country in the late Narraganset War & to their Heirs & assigns or lawful Representatives, Provided it exceeds not the Quantity of Land within mentioned, nor interferes with any other or
12
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
former Grant: Provided, also, they comply with the conditions men- tioned in the said vote of the seventh (15th) of June for settling the said Town.
In Council : Read and Concur'd.
Consented to :
W. BURNET.
The township thus granted was afterward known as Narraganset, No. 3, and subsequently as Souhegan West, No. 3. It was incorporated as a town 18 January, 1760, at which time it received the name of AMHERST, from General Jeffrey Amherst, at that time Commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America.
11 May, 1729, Major Quiney and Mr. Thomas Tilestone, on the part of the House, and Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., of the Council, were appointed a committee to "take and examine a list of the claims to the Lands lately granted to the Narraganset soldiers, and compleat the same, and make report of their doings at the next May session of the Court."
17 December, 1729. The committee presented a list of the names of those who had established their elaims, and recommended that the two townships be granted to the persons whose names were given in said list, and that they be required " to meet at Boston on the first Wednesday of June next following, if the small-pox be not there; if it be, then at Cambridge, then & there to ehuse a Committee for Ordering their Affairs, and to do other things needful for settling said traets of land, pursuant to the Resolve of this Court at its Session in June, 1728, and that Publie Notifications be given by order of this Assembly, that they meet accordingly."
This report was accepted and adopted by the House and Couneil, and the grantees were notified to meet ; but, 30 May, 1730, the order for the meeting was super- seded by the Court, and the Representatives were desired to give publie notice of the change with all convenient speed.
13
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
Many of the grantees, failing to receive notice of the change, met at Cambridge, 3 June, 1730, where they learned that the order for meeting on that day had been countermanded, upon which they dissolved their meeting. Before doing this, they appointed Colonel Thomas Tilestone, Mr. Jonathan Williams, Mr. John Wadsworth, Mr. Nath'l Goodwin, and Mr. Thomas Hunt, to " Petition the General Court for a further Grant of land to ye Officers & Soldiers, that every Sixty Claimers may have a Township of Six Miles square."
28 October, 1730. The time for the meeting of the grantees was again changed, by order of the Court. and as the small-pox was removed from Boston they were required to meet at that place on the "second Wednesday of the next sitting of this Court after a recess."
A meeting of the grantees was accordingly held at Bos- ton, 23 December, 1730, at which it was " voted that Colonel William Dudley, Messrs. Samuel Chandler and John Long- ley, be a committee to wait upon the General Court to press the affair now in hand,"-a further grant of land.
In answer to the representations of this committee, the House and Council voted that the time for presenting claims to the Narraganset lands should be extended to the first Wednesday of April then next following, and that a further grant of land should be made, sufficient to give each one hundred and twenty persons, whose claims were admitted, a township six miles square. The same com- mittee that examined the claims previously presented, were authorized to examine and report upon the additional claims that might be made. But this action of the House and Council seems not to have received the approval of the Governor.
At a meeting of the grantees, held 13 January, 1730-31, it was voted to appoint a committee to wait upon the next General Court, "to forward the affair now in Hand,"-the grant of more land,-and Colonel William Dudley, Messrs.
14
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
Samuel Chandler, John Longley, Jona. Williams, and Nath'l Goodwin, were appointed as the committee.
17 February, 1730-31, the House voted to extend the time for receiving elaims until the first Wednesday of June following, and to allow each 120 persons, whose claims should be allowed, a township six miles square. The Council agreed to extend the time, as proposed by the House, but proposed to give the two townships,-already granted to the grantees,-without any restriction as to the manner and times of settlement in full for their claims.
To this the House would not consent, and adhered to their vote, in which the Council non-conenrred, and there, for a time, the matter rested.
At a meeting of the grantees, held 24 February, 1730-31, Colonel William Dudley, Colonel Thomas Tilestone, Captain Edward White, Messrs. Nathaniel Goodwin, Samuel Chand- ler, Jonathan Williams, Edward Shove, Jonas Houghton, and Jabez Hunt, were appointed a committee, any five of whom should be a quorum for the transaction of business, whose duty it should be to carry on the affairs of the grantees before the General Court; and they were empow- ered to petition the Court in order to obtain a further grant of land ; and, in case they were successful, they were authorized to send advertisements into other towns, noti- fying the grantees.
The meeting was then adjourned to the first Wednesday of the following September, at ten of ye clock, at which time they again met and appointed Colonel Thomas Tile- stone, Messrs. Jonas Houghton, Nathaniel Goodwin, Sam- uel Chandler, Jacob Wright, and Samuel Kneeland, a committee to regulate and settle the two townships granted to the soldiers whose names are on the list allowed by the Court.
It was voted that the committee be authorized to petition the General Court-if there be occasion-for more land ; and they were also authorized-if occasion required-to
15
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
send out printed advertisements into the neighboring towns to raise a proprietors' meeting.
In the meantime, 4 June, 1731, the House passed sub- stantially the same vote as that passed in February pre- vious, but their action was not concurred in by the Council.
The committee appointed by the grantees at their meeting in September, prepared a petition for a further grant of land, which was laid before the House of Representatives at its December session, in 1731, by Mr. Samuel Chandler, and Mr. Samuel Kneeland, their clerk, was directed to wait upon a committee of the House, which had been appointed to draw up some reasons to influence the Council to coneur with the House in an additional grant of land to the Narra- ganset soldiers, and "press the affair with the said com- mittee."
Finally, the House sent the following message to the Council, which sets forth the condition of the country at the time of the Narraganset War, the importance of the service rendered by the soldiers in that war, and the grounds on which the grants were proposed to be made :-
In the House of Representatives, 19 Jan., 1731-32.
"Ordered, that ye following message be sent up to the Hon'ble Board, viz .: Whereas there have been several endeavours to accom- modate the Narrhagansett Soldiers & their Descendants with a Suit- able Quantity of Land for the Settlement as an Acknowledgement & Reward for their great Service to this Country, which have failed hitherto of the desired Success. This House have thought it might tend to promote a good understanding & Harmony in this Court to lay before the Hon'ble Board wherefore it is that the Represent'ves have come into the Grant of a Tract of six miles square to each number of one hundred and twenty persons, which they have made this Session, in answer to the Petition of Thomas Tilestone & others, a Comm'tee in behalf of themselves and the rest of the Soldiers & their Descend- ants, who were in the Narraganset War. And one great Reason is, that there was a Proclamation made to the Army in the name of the Governm'nt,-as living evidences very fully testify,-when they were mustered on Dedham Plain, where they began their March, that if they played the Man, took the Fort, and Drove the Enemy out of the
16
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
Narraganset Country, which was their great Seat, that they should have a gratuity in Land beside their Wages; and it is well known that this was done: and, as the Conditions have been performed, certainly the Promise, in all Equity and Justice, ought to be fulfilled ; and if we consider the Difficulties these brave men went thro' in Storming the Fort in the Depth of Winter & the pinching wants they afterward underwent in pursuing the Indians that escaped, thro' a hideous wilderness, famously known throughout New England to this day by the name of the hungry March; and if we further consider that until this brave tho' small army thus played the Man. the whole Country was filled with Distress & fear & we trembled in this Capital, Boston, itself, and that to the Goodness of God to this Army we owe our Fathers and our own Safety & Estates. We cannot but think yt those Instrum'ts of our Deliverance & Safety ought to be not only justly but also gratefully & generously rewarded & even with much more than they prayed for. If we measure w't they receive from us by w't we enjoy & have received from them, we need not mention to ye Hon'ble Board the Wisdom, Justice, & Generosity of Our Mother Country & ye Ancient Romans on such occasions. Triumphs, Orations, Hereditary Honors & privileges : All the Riches, Lands, & Spoils of War & conquer'd Countries have not been thought too great for those to whom they have not owed more. if so much as We do to those our Deliverers, & we ought further to observe, what greatly adds to their merit, that they were not vagabonds & Beggars & Outcasts, of which Armies are sometimes considerably made up, who run the Hazards of War to avoid the Danger of Starving; so far from this, that these were some of ve best of Our Men. the Fathers & Sons of some of ye greatest & best of Our famil'es, and could have no other view but to serve ye Country, & whom God was pleased accordingly in a very remarkable manner to Honor & Succeed. Of these things the Hon'ble the General Court of the Late Colony of the Massachusetts in those days was not insensible & accordingly gave to ye Soldiers, being upward of Five Hundred, ab't Two thirds of the Army that went from ye Massachusetts & the late Colony of Plimouth, a tract of ab't forty thousand acres in the Nipmug Country, this, or the value of it, these Soldiers would be contented with, & take in their Brethren of Pli- month too, tho' that sh'd take away two thirds of w't was granted them, and would after that have more in valne than w't they now ask for them all. for every one must own that 40,000 acres in the Heart of the Country, as the Nipmug Country is, is of more value than five times that quantity in the Borders, & in Danger if there should be a French war, as is & would be the case with all the unap- propriated Lands of the Provinch w'ch they now ask for.
17
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
It is hoped that the neglect of these petition's so long, or the provinces having disposed of the Niping Country to others, & so defeated their ancient Grants, will not be thought to wear out any more than it rewards their merit. The Grant seems to be made in acknowledgem'nt both of yr promise & of yr fulfilling ye condition, & being well entitled to it. & there is great Reason to fear that public Guilt w'd ly upon the Country if we should neglect & continue in the Breach of this Promise, after it has been made & omitted for above fifty years.
As to the late Grant of two Townships to Seven or Eight hundred of these Soldiers, It is so far below the value of the Land they con- quered. & the Price the province had for it when it was sold. & the money divided to the Colonies that carried on the War. It is such a Pittance of wh't they obtained for us, so exceedingly beneath w't the Province has defeated them of, which was granted to about Two thirds of them in the Nipmug Country, that it is rather mocking and deriding them to offer it. Beyond w't has been offered. it sh'd be Considered that to grant the present petition & give such a quantity of Land as may be worth Settling, & upon Conditions of bringing forward Townships, is much more agreeable to Charter & for the publick Good than to Give away Tracts of Land & suffer & even tempt men to let them ly waste & unimproved, for in the way that has been proposed & in which some Progress has been made, the Lands will be divided into such scraps that they will not be worth receiving.
In Council; Read.
19 Jan., 1731-32. The House ordered that a further grant of land be made to the Narraganset soldiers, so that every one hundred and twenty persons, whose claims had been allowed by the Court, should have a township of the contents of six miles square under the same restrictions and limitations as those previously granted.
In this order the Council concurred.
Efforts were made to induce the Governor to sanction this order, but they seem to have failed, as we find that, 13 May, 1731, the committee of the proprietors :-
" Voted that Messrs. Nath'l Goodwin and Jona. Williams git a Petition writ to put into the Generial Court at their session in May next for a further Grant of land to the Narraganset Soldiers, the
2
18
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
Grant made by both Houses at the last session not having been sined by His Excellency the Governor."
1 June, 1732, they " Voted that Mr. Nath'l Goodwin pay for writting the Petition, and that Mr. Samuel Chandler forward the Petition as fast as Posable in the House of Representatives."
8 June, 1732, they " Voted that Messrs. Nath'l Goodwin & Jonathan Williams pay the Secra'y for putting the Petition into the Councle ;" also " Voted that as many of the Committee as have an Oportunity to forward the Petition withthe Hon'ble the members of the Generial Court, use their Intrist with them that the Prayer thereof be granted."
8 June, 1732. The House of Representatives voted that a further grant of land be made to the Narraganset sol- diers, so that every one hundred and twenty persons, whose claims had been or should be allowed within four months from that date by the committee appointed by the House and Council, should receive a tract of land six miles square, subject to the same limitations and conditions as the townships already granted, and appointed the same com- mittee that had previously served, to lay out the additional townships.
The Council concurred in the action of the House, 9 June, 1732.
30 June, 1732. The claims of eight hundred and forty persons having been allowed by the committee of the House and Council, a grant of five additional townships was made to the Narraganset soldiers by the House of Representa- tives, and the grantees were ordered " to meet together in as short a time as they could conveniently, not exceeding the space of two months, and proceed to the choice of com- mittees, respectively, to regulate cach propriety or town- ship which is to be held and enjoyed by one hundred and twenty of the grantees, cach in equal proportion, each being subject to similar conditions and limitations with the grants previously made."
In this action the Council concurred, 4 July, 1732.
For some reason, not now known, Gov. Belcher declined to sign the grant, and the committee of the grantees labored
19
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
II.]
with the zeal and persisteney of a "third house " of mod- ern times to bring him to terms.
6 July. 1732, they " Voted that Sam'l Chandler & Sam'l Kneeland go to Mr. Sam'l Welles to know wheather he has bin with the Gov- ernor and used his Intrist with him to Sine the Grant made to the Narraganset soldiers, and if he has not bin, to Desier him to go forthwith;" also, "Voted that Sam'l Chandler, Jonathan Williams, and Samuel Kneeland, wait upon the Sec'y for to know wheather he has laid the Grant before his Excellency the Governor for him to sine."
The committee continued to meet at Mr. Luke Verdy's through the summer, autumn, and winter, following, doing but little business until 26 April, 1733, when Gov. Belcher gave his approval to the new grant.
20
HISTORY OF AMHERST.
[Chap.
CHAPTER III. 1733. PROCEEDINGS OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE NARRAGANSET TOWNSHIPS.
ARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR A DIVISION OF THE PROPRIETORS INTO SEVEN SOCIETIES OF 120 EACH .- A GENERAL MEETING CALLED .- THE MEETING ON "YE COMMON OF YE TOWN OF BOSTON. - DIVISION OF THE PROPRIETORS INTO SEVEN SO- CIETIES, WITH THE TOWNS REPRESENTED IN EACH SOCIETY, AND THE NAMES OF THE COMMITTEES TO ACT FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE SOCIETIES .- SUNDRY VOTES OF THE GRANTEES. -MEETING OF THE COMMITTEES OF THE SEVERAL SOCIETIES, 17 OCTOBER, 1733, AND ASSIGNMENT OF THE TOWN " BACK OF SACO & SCARBORO'."-VOTE IN RELATION TO A GRANT TO GOV. BELCHER IN TOWNSHIP NO. 2, NOW WESTMINSTER, MASS .- ASSIGNMENT OF THE SIX REMAINING TOWNSHIPS BY LOT .- PRESENT NAMES OF THE NARRAGANSET TOWNSHIPS.
The committee of the grantees met 26 April, 1733, and
" Voted, that Sam'l Kneeland make Seven Divisions of the Narra- ganset Grantees, each Division to contain one hundred and twenty of the said Grantees, and to place the said one hundred and twenty of each Division as near as he can together."
" Voted, that he git all the Votes and Orders of the General Court relating to ye Seven Townships granted to the Narraganset Soldiers, for Direction to this Committee's calling a Proprietors' meeting."
Nathaniel Goodwin, Jonathan Williams, and Samuel Williams, were appointed to draw up an advertisement for a proprietors' meeting, and lay the same before the com- mittee at their next meeting.
21
THE NARRAGANSET TOWNSHIPS.
III.]
At a meeting, held 5 May, 1733, the advertisement was presented, and approved by the committee ; and Samuel Kneeland was directed to get it printed, and send copies to the several towns where the grantees lived. He was also directed to write a list of the grantees in each town, and send the same with the copies of the advertisement.
31 May, 1733, the committee
" Voted, that Samuel Kneeland wright a list for each Township, granted according to the Division now made by the Committee, in order to Divide the Grantees into seven societies at their approaching meeting, the said list to be laid before the Grantees for their Apriba- tion."
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.