USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Rindge > History of the town of Rindge, New Hampshire, from the date of the Rowley Canada or Massachusetts charter, to the present time, 1736-1874, with a genealogical register of the Rindge families > Part 3
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Sent up for Concurrence
J. QUINCY, Spkr.
In Council Jany 24 1738. Read & Concurr'd
SIMON FROST, Depty Secry. Consented to
J. BELCHER.
In the official papers which have been presented, it will be perceived that January following December, 1738, is also written January, 1738. This is in accordance with a former
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
system of dating. Previous to 1752 the commencement of the legal year was reckoned from the twenty-fifth of March ; and all dates between January first and that date were written without changing the ordinal number of the year. It was common, however, to write the dates, in January, February, and the first twenty-four days in March, in a double form. Thus January 20, 1738-9, or 1733, would indicate the twentieth of January following December, 1738; and as soon as the twenty-fifth of March was reached the figure 8 would be omitted, and the figure 9 would assume its place.
The connection with the history of this town of the persons introduced in these proceedings is so remote that the briefest notice only will be attempted. Hon. Thomas Berry, of Ipswich, was a physician. Graduate of Harvard University, 1712. He was a member of the Council of Mas- sachusetts from 1735 to 1750, with the exception of one year (1741) ; a Judge of Probate of Essex County from 1739 to 1756, and a Judge for several years of the County Court. Col. Berry was also employed by the province of Massa- chusetts in relation to the location of the province line. As a member of the Council he was frequently selected to direct the surveys of the new townships granted by the Legislature, and his name is associated with the first survey of Rindge, Winchendon, New Ipswich, and many other places. He died August 10, 1756.
John Hobson was a resident of Rowley, and represented that town in the General Court about twenty years. He was Speaker of the House, 1741.
Capt. Philip Nelson was from Rowley, a graduate of Harvard University, 1654. He died Aug. 19, 1691.
Capt. John March was from Newbury. July 15, 1690, he was appointed captain of one of the companies for the
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GRANT OF ROWLEY CANADA.
Canada expedition. Subsequently he won considerable distinction for his gallant defence of Casco Fort. He was an innholder and a man of wealth.
Capt. Stephen Greenleaf was from Newbury. With sev- eral others he was cast away and drowned near Cape Breton in the month of October, 1690.
Joseph Pike. one of the petitioners, resided in Newbury. He is supposed to have been a son of Joseph Pike who was killed by the Indians at Haverhill, 1694. He was born 1674, and died 1757.
Of John Tyler, the other petitioner, little is known.
The grant being located and confirmed upon the proprie- tors. the management of its affairs devolved entirely upon them. But no record of their proceedings has been found. It has been seen that Hon. Thomas Berry was authorized to call the first meeting at which an organization was undoubt- ยท edly effected. Other meetings must have been held, and it is certain that an organization was maintained for several years. Their meetings were probably held in Rowley, or some town in that vicinity which would best convene the parties interested.
The proprietors were sixty in number, each owning one right or share, which. with the public lots specified in the grant, would lead to the division of the township into sixty- three lots. When the survey was made and the lots marked out is unknown ; but that such a division was had and a lot assigned to each proprietor is evident from facts which will be hereafter presented; and how many settlements were made under these auspices is equally uncertain. But we are permitted to know that Abel Platts, from Rowley, was here, and had improved lands as early as 1742. These were partly upon the farm of Martin L. Goddard, and partly included in the lands which have been sold from the original
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
Platts farm. The following bond will show that Ezekiel Jewett had built a house previous to 1753, and had a nursery, which could not have sprung up in a day, growing upon his improved lands. In this bond the place is styled Rowley Canada, and no reference is made to the new name of the township under the second charter. Reference is also made to lot Number Fifty, which must have been defined by the first survey, since the numbers were arranged on a different system when the grantees of the second charter divided the township into lots. These facts are conclusive that Mr. Jewett occupied this lot under a title from the Massachusetts grantees, and probably made improvements previous to the date of the second charter.
Know all men by these Presents, that I Oliver Scales of Andover in the County of Essex in the Province of ye Massachu- setts Bay in New England, Labourer, am holden and Do Stand Bound and Obliged unto Ezekiel Jewett of a place called Rowley Canada in the province of New Hampshire, Husbandman, in the full and Just Sum of three Hundred pounds Lawfull money to be paid to him ye said Ezekiel his Heirs Executors administrators or assigns the which payment well and truly to Be made I Bind myself my Heirs Executors Administrators Firmly by these pres- ents Sealed with my Seal Dated this thirteenth Day of November anno Domini 1753.
The Condition of ye above Obligation is such that if the above Bounden Oliver Scales Shall forthwith Remove himself and family to a place called Rowley Canada in the province of New Hamp- shire and there take the Possession of a house and Lot of land No. 50 : Belonging to the aforesaid Ezekiel Jewett (which sd Jewet shall Give ye possession of ) and there Dwell and Improve sd Land and House During ye term of three years, Either by himself or by Some other Family who shall well and truly performe and Improve as ye sd Scales is obliged to do, and also pay or Cause to Be paid one half of the Taxes that shall arise on sd Lot During said term
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GRANT OF ROWLEY CANADA.
and also Clear or Cut Down what underbrush shall arise or Grow where the trees are Now Gurdled During sd term and Give sd Jewet liberty to set out an orchard on sd lot of ye Nursery which Now Groweth thereon, furthermore that the said Scales Shall not Dam- nifie [injure] sd lot by fireing of it or Cuting white ash trees also to Give sd Ezekiel Liberty to clear a pasture & field on sd lot where tis not yet improved and to Deliver up the possession of ye aforesd lot & house at ye end of ye terme aforesd to the said Ezekiel Jewet his heirs or assigns then ye above obligation to Be void but in ye Default thereof to Remain in full force and vertue
Signed Sealed & Delivered in presence of
JOSEPH MATTHEWS. WM. FOSTER. OLIVER SCALES (seal)
In addition to Abel Platts and Ezekiel Jewett, it is probable that other families settled under the first charter, and made a temporary abode in the township. Were their number few or many, events were hastening which must of necessity retard, if not entirely defeat, all attempts to proceed with the settlement. The province line, which had never been clearly defined. was located soon after the grant of Rowley Canada was made. and greatly to the disadvantage of the proposed settlement. In this affair the province of New Hampshire had sent John Rindge, a merchant of Ports mouth. to represent the interests of the Colony before the king. Dr. Belknap says: " The appointment of this gentle- man was fortunate for them, not only as he had large connections in England, but he was capable of advancing money to carry on the solicitation." On his return, he left the management of the affair to John Thomlinson, who ably fulfilled the trust. This controversy between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts had proceeded so far and had grown so warm, that the king appointed commis- sioners to hear the contending parties, and gave them power
1127780
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
to establish the dividing lines. This commission met at Hampton in 1737. During their sessions the Legislature of New Hampshire assembled at Hampton Falls, while the Legislature of Massachusetts was convened at Salisbury. Thus were assembled the Legislatures of the two provinces within a distance of five miles, to give aid and encourage- ment to the agents and attorneys representing their several interests. A large cavalcade was formed in Boston, which, with a troop of horse, escorted Governor Belcher to the scene of action. This display of pomp was the occasion of the following satirical verse in an assumed Hibernian style : -
" Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight, As yesterday morning was seen before night. You in all your born days saw, nor I didn't neither, So many fine horses and men ride together. At the head, the lower House trotted two in a row, Then all the higher House pranced after the low ; Then the Governor's coach gallop'd on like the wind, And the last that came foremost were the troopers behind; But I fear it means no good, to your neck or mine, For they say 'tis to fix a right place for the line."
At this time nothing concerning the southern boundary of New Hampshire was decided except that the point of beginning should be at the Atlantic Ocean, about three miles north of the Black Rocks in the channel of the Merrimac River. New Hampshire claimed that the southern boundary of the province should begin at the given point, "and extend in a straight line west until it meets with His Majesty's other governments." On the part of Massachu- setts it was contended that the line should extend at a distance of three miles to the north, and parallel to the Merrimac River until the bend in the river was reached, thence northerly, following the river to its source.
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GRANT OF ROWLEY CANADA.
The controverted question was at last determined in 1740. It was then decided that the dividing line between the provinces should be "a similar curve pursuing the course of Merrimac River at three miles' distance on the north thereof, beginning at the Atlantic Ocean and ending at a point due north of Pawtuxet Falls, and a straight line drawn from thence due west until it meets with His Majesty's other governments."
The bend in the Merrimac where the straight line com- menced is several miles south of the point of beginning at the ocean. By this decision New Hampshire secured a tract of land fourteen miles in width, and extending from the Merrimac to the Connecticut River, in addition to all the province had claimed or hoped to receive.
In accordance with this decision the province line extend- ing from the Merrimac to the Connecticut River was run by Richard Hazen in 1741, and thus the location of the boundary became known to the proprietors and the settlers of the townships in its vicinity. The grant of Rowley Canada was found to be upon the New Hampshire side of the line, and consequently its charter was void. The result of this contro- versy could have none but the most injurious effects upon the settlement. It prevented others from removing hither and improving land held by uncertain titles. It discouraged and crippled the energies of those who had already performed labor upon their lots, and until some decision was had, or a new charter secured, it was plain that little, if any, prosper- ity would attend the fortunes of the proposed settlement.
In addition to these adverse influences came the conster- nation and alarm occasioned by the French and Indian War of 1744. The prevailing feeling of insecurity was even more disastrous to the enterprise than the forfeiture of the charter. The township was temporarily abandoned. To forsake alto-
6
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
gether the improvements which had been made, or to give up the land without testing the validity of the title, was probably never contemplated. Abel Platts and his son Joseph retired to Lunenburg, and awaited the return of peace and greater security. A few years later they again took up their abode and became the first permanent settlers of this town. These first works, towards the settlement of Rindge, have faded entirely from the traditions of the people who inhabit the town ; but indisputable evidence of the same exists, and will be presented in the course of these pages.
The few fires thus lighted upon these primitive hearths were suffered to die out, soon to be rekindled under more favoring auspices; the rude home was deserted, but destined again to receive its former tenants. For a few years the small number of acres brought under cultivation were neither ploughed nor planted, but awaited the return of the husbandman, when their promise of harvest again was read in the growing blade.
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CHAPTER II.
THE SECOND, OR MASONIAN, CHARTER.
Conflict of Titles. - Grant of Land in New Hampshire to Capt. John Mason. - Confirmation of the Grant to John Tufton Mason. - Its Sale to Atkinson and others. - The Masonian Charter, or Grant, of Monadnock Number One. - Influence of the former Charter. - The Western Boundary of the Masonian Patent. - The Curved Line. - Gen. Joseph Blanchard. - The Charter, and Survey of the Town- ship. - Drawing of the Lots. - Settlements. - Conflict of Titles. - Lawsuit with Joseph Platts. - The Last French War. - Indians and Indian Relics.
No sooner had the province line been established than a new question of titles arose, which had a most potent influ- ence on the destiny of the township. The old Masonian grant was now revived and confirmed.
It had been mutually agreed between the two provinces that private property should in no wise be affected by the settlement of the controversy about the dividing lines. It is highly probable that the proprietors under the Massachusetts grant, and those who had purchased land of them, enter- tained the opinion that they would not be disturbed in their possessions, but would be permitted to traffic in land and proceed with the settlement of their township as they had previously proposed to do. They would be under the laws and government of the province of New Hampshire instead
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
of those of Massachusetts, and this was the only effect which they expected to experience from the establishment of the province line.
With the confirmation of the Masonian title, all was changed, and the officers and soldiers in the Canada expedi- tion experienced another disappointment concerning the compensation for their services almost as aggravated as the depreciation of the paper money with which they had been paid in the first instance. The loss was not wholly sustained by the grantees, since they had sold many parcels of land to those persons who proposed to settle in the new township. As would be presumed, a majority of these purchasers were deterred by the uncertainty of their titles from entering upon and improving their newly-acquired possessions.
During the reign of King James, he established a council which had the general control of a large territory including all of New England. From this council, of which he was an active member, Capt. John Mason obtained a grant of land which included a portion of New Hampshire. This grant was east of the Merrimac River, and has no connec- tion with the history of the towns in this vicinity.
In 1629, Capt. Mason secured a second patent for the land " from the middle of Pascataqua River, and up the same to the farthest head thereof, and from thence northwestward until sixty miles from the mouth of the harbor are finished ; also through Merrimack River to the farthest head thereof, and so forward up into the land westward until sixty miles are finished ; and from thence to cross overland to the end of sixty miles accounted from the mouth of Pascataqua River." This grant is intimately associated with the history of Rindge, since, for many years, it was supposed to cover the whole of the township, and did in fact include the greater part of it.
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THE MASONIAN CHARTER.
This grant, triangular in form, included a portion of the territory conveyed by the earlier patent. The exact bounds were determined by the establishment of the province lines, which permitted the southern boundary to take a western course from the bend in the Merrimac instead of following a course with the river, which would have been a more iteral construction of the language of the grant. In familiar terms, the patent was bounded on the south by the State line, and extended sixty miles westward from the ocean; the eastern boundary extended northerly on the line between Maine and New Hampshire to a point a few miles south of Conway. By the terms of the patent this line was to extend northwestward, which was liberally construed to mean, not northwest, but north a little west, and the line was run north two degrees west. The remaining side of the triangle was a line extending from the point on the State line sixty miles from the ocean to the point south of Conway.
After the death of Capt. John Mason the patent, for the land described, was neglected for many years. Subse- quently many vain attempts to revive the title were made by his heirs. . A full account of these proceedings is found in Belknap's "History of New Hampshire," and several histories of towns in this State contain extended accounts of the history of this patent.
It is sufficient for the present purpose to state that John Tufton Mason, a native of Boston, and a great-grandson of Capt. John Mason, successfully prosecuted his claim, and in 1746 sold his interest in it to twelve men, residents of Portsmouth and vicinity, who will be referred to as the " Masonian Proprietors." At first the purchase was divided into fifteen shares. The owners were: Theodore Atkinson, three-fifteenths; Mark Hunking Wentworth, two-fifteenths ; Richard Wibird, John Wentworth, John Moffat, Samuel
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
Moore, Jotham Odiorne, George Jaffrey, Joshua Peirce, Nathaniel Meserve, all of Portsmouth, Thomas Wallingford, of Somersworth, and Thomas Packer, of Greenland, to the last ten one-fifteenth each. Previous to the date of the charter of this town the number of shares was increased to eighteen, and nine more persons were admitted to a common partnership. The new members of the association were : John Rindge, Joseph Blanchard, Daniel Peirce, John Tufton Mason, John Thomlinson, Matthew Livermore, William Parker, Samuel Solley, and Clement March.
The Masonian proprietors early directed their attention to the western part of their possessions, and caused several townships to be surveyed and held in readiness to answer any proper request for a grant. It appears to have been their policy to defend their borders by occupation. Some- time previous to the date of their charters the outlines of three townships, similar in form, were marked out, and to them were assigned the names of South Monadnock, or Monadnock Number One, (Rindge) ; Middle Monadnock, or Monadnock Number Two (Jaffrey) ; North Monadnock, or Monadnock Number Three (Dublin); Fitzwilliam was Monadnock Number Four; Marlborough, Monadnock Num- ber Five; Nelson, Monadnock Number Six; Stoddard, Monadnock Number Seven; and Washington, Monadnock Number Eight. By this survey the boundaries of the town- ship, formerly known as Rowley Canada, were considerably changed. The old name was entirely discarded, and for twenty years the official and only name of the place was Monadnock Number One, or South Monadnock. Very rarely the term "formerly known as Rowley Canada " was employed; but in a general sense the old name became extinct with the invalidation of the Massachusetts charter. Keen-sighted gazetteers have frequently made the discovery
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THE MASONIAN CHARTER.
that the Masonian proprietors designated the township by the name of Rowley Canada, or Monadnock Number One. This is entirely wrong. Each charter gave the territory a specific name, and there was no repetition.
No sooner had the grantees, under the Massachusetts charter, heard of these proceedings, on the part of the Masonian proprietors, than they began to inquire if their former possessions were in reality included within the Maso- nian purchase. In 1750 they ordered the measurement of the distance from the Atlantic Ocean, as will appear from the return of the survey.
Andover, April 3rd 1750.
We ye Subscribers being appointed by a Committee chosen by ye Proprietors of Rowley Canada Township to go in ye Capacity of Surveyors and run a line from three miles North of Black Rocks in Salisbury Sixty miles Due West ; have so done and find that sixty Miles extends one mile & a half into Canada Township.
N. B. We have Neither of us / SAMUEL JOHNSON JR. any interest in said Township. MOODY BRIDGES.
Perhaps satisfied that they could not lay claim to the whole, and realizing that possession is nine points of the law, they appear to have given up all pretension to the ownership of any part of the township, for this is the last we hear of them as proprietors. This survey, however, gives evidence that to this date they had maintained an organization as common owners of Rowley Canada.
While the first works of settlement were suspended, and the grant was wholly abandoned by the Massachusetts grantees, those persons who had purchased settling-lots of the original proprietors never entertained the idea of forsak- ing their possessions. On the return of peace and greater
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HISTORY OF RINDGE.
security from Indian depredations, a large number of families from Rowley and vicinity emigrated to the township and made permanent settlements. A majority of these persons came armed with a deed of land which had been obtained from the former proprietors. Finding their titles worthless, a few, discouraged at their loss, returned; but most of them repurchased their lots of the Masonians, and avoided all occasion for future contention.
The influence of the Massachusetts charter is plainly seen. The same persons who had been interested in the grant, and whose attention had thereby been turned in this direction, were the earliest and most numerous of the settlers under the Masonian charter. It is true the attempt to settle the township under this grant was a failure; yet it is equally certain that these initial measures determined the character of future emigration, and even designated the persons who were to become permanent residents and the progenitors of the future inhabitants of the town.
For many years the location of the western boundary of the Masonian purchase was undetermined. From early measurements, however, it was discovered that only a part of Rindge and a very small part of Jaffrey were included within the patent, and that Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Marlborough, Nel- son, Stoddard, and Washington were entirely outside of it. Yet all these towns had been granted by the Masonian proprietors, and described as "lying within Mason's Grant." Finding they had exceeded the limits of their charter, the Masonian proprietors laid claim to this extraneous territory with a system of expansion which was equal to the emer- gency, and by which, during many years of controversy, they successfully maintained the control of the lands and town- ships in dispute. They contended that the original grant to Mason described an extent "of sixty miles from the sea on
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THE MASONIAN CHARTER.
each side of New Hampshire, and a line to cross over from the end of one line of sixty miles to the end of the other "; they therefore claimed that this cross line should be a curve, because no other line would preserve the distance of sixty miles from the sea. In other words, they claimed their western boundary should be the arc of a circle with a radius of sixty miles, and whose centre was at the sea. However ingenious this argument may appear, it was, without doubt, an after-thought, advanced for the occasion, to temporarily fortify their claim to the controverted townships. They also conveniently fixed upon the southwest corner of Fitzwilliam as the termination of sixty miles from the sea, by which, with an accommodating elasticity of the curved line, they success- fully embraced the eight Monadnock townships and others to the north of them.
Several of the northern townships had also been char- tered by the crown. and a most bitter conflict of grants ensued. The decision of the king alone could settle a dispute of this character, and the Masonians were nearest the throne. By the Revolution the State became the arbi- trator, and soon after the return of peace the Legislature took the subject under consideration, and after a hearing of the conflicting interests it was decided to run a line of sixty miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern and southern lines of the State, and a straight line from the end of one line of sixty miles to the end of the other. This survey was made in 1787 by Joseph Blanchard, a son of Col. Joseph Blanchard, and Charles Clapham. The termination of sixty miles from the sea, or the southwest corner of Mason's grant, was found to be at lot Number Eighteen in Rindge, about one-half of a mile west of the Aquilla Kimball farm, now occupied by John O'Niel, and one and one-fourth of a mile from the southwest corner of the town, and from thence
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