USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > New Ipswich > The history of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, 1735-1914, with genealogical records of the principal families > Part 5
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The venerable Society of Mason Hall-
Gentlemen-
In pursuance of your desire I have proceeded to measure the Lands directed to make Setlement on, and find enough for five townships : have not time to transmitt you a plan but shall Send it next week I have Wrote to the Prop"" Clerk of Groton and the Prop's Clerk of townshend, Intimating ye Authority you gave me, Particularly that at
36
Colonel Blanchard's Changes
my Discretion I was to Admitt Inhabitants, and if they inclined to Setle I should Accommodate them as far as I Could in faithfullness to my trust provided I had their Answer in twenty days to the Same purpose I have Wrote Collo Berry one of ye Principal Prop™s. of New Ipswich & to Severall of the Prop's of Rowley Canada desireing them to Communicate it to their prop" Desireing a positive Answer-This has Sufficiently Allarm'd the vicinity, And Application has already been made for twice the Quantity of Land you left with me to Dispose of All the Inhabitants of New Ipswich And Rowley Canada (both of which fall within my Diocess) have Applyed to be Continued As Setlers under Your Conditions And many others of ye Props of each town, I ap- prehend I Shall Quietly Succeed, unless Coll Berry be Poutey & Sullen on Behalf of New Ipswich, Which Since I have entered upon it Desire under your directions my Liberty may be Continued to Setle with him, or Any Others that Shall be Obstinate: I can readily Compound that the Eighteen Shares proposed As Owners to Draw one third of Each town Clere, have proposed to Equalize the towns Quantity for Quality, And the Setlers to Draw lotts which towns to fall into, a Sufficient Sum of money Advanced on entrance to pay the Charge of Survey Roads a Meetinghouse and for preaching the first Six months to begin the Setlement next June at furthest if peace In Six months from Draw- ing their Lotts to have Housen built and Inhabit there, and so to make a progressive Improvement for four years Stating a Certain Quantity for each year & for them by Indenture to your Lordships on failure at any time of any part to Surrender the Whole under a Sufficient Penalty : by the Same Indenture to pay by the Setlers all town Charges, untill Your lotts are Improved and so fait them to become Chargable According to the Incombe; In Case a Lawsute Should Arise from Other Claimers you to be at that Charge, (which I had not your Speciall Authority for) excepting that your Quitclaim to be their title with Severall Other Contingent Articles of Duty on their part which all who have Applyed readily Concur with-if this be not Acceptable or anything further Occurrs to your minds for my Direction you may Write by Capt Goffe & may be Assured of my faithful Complyance I have Likewise proposed An Injunction that they Joyn with the non Setlers in Applying to the Gov' & Council for an Incorporation And as soon As I have Answer from the Massachusetts Claimers Shall fill up the lists of ye Severell Towns-
The Writings I am not Capable of forming, shall depend on them being done at Portsmouth .- The Prop's of Souheegun West, Since I was at Portsmouth have Divided their Com'ons & I hear bid Defiance to your Title, if no Notice be taken of them I apprehend it will have An ill effect p'haps create you a Squable with many other towns, and your Setting up your Bristles early might put an end to it. (but as to yt you know best what to do.) I have Nothing to add but Wish you Success in the Affairs before you And rest Y' Hum1 Sert at Com'and
Joseph Blanchard
Dunstable Nov1 30th 1748.
To the Hon1 Theodore Atkinson Esq" moderator &c please to Com'unicate the aforewritten
Yrs ut Supra J B-
37
History of New Ipswich
Portsmº Dec' 3ª 1748
S' We have both your letters before us as to that of ye 30th of the last month for which we are obliged we greatly approve of your Scheme & y° Progress you have made and hereby give you full Power of agreeing with any Person of note that can be Serviceable in Secureing ye Peace & Quiet of the Settlers either in new Ipswich of other Town as to Souhegan West if they should be troublesome they can expect no favour from this Society and we shall soon prosecute Some of the foremost in the Opposition which if you think proper please to inform them of and let us know the men as to our bearing the Charge of a lawsuit in contesting mason's Right we set out upon that footing at first & in Case any Suit is Commenced we expect to pay that cost, we are now finishing the Grant of the Town above souhegan & think that a vote of the Proprietors at a Regular meeting better than any other Con- veyance you will see our's to Capt Goffe & Associates with the particular Reservations & Articles-this is the Method prescribed by ye Gentlemen of ye law and is the most Customary & familiar way for such Proprieties to Act in-I am in behalfe & at ye Request of ye Society yt purchased mason's Right y' very Humb' Serve
Theodore Atkinson.
P. S. with respect to ye affairs of Cohas between Goffe & Dunkin & ye Proprietors it is referred entirely to your adjustment & Settlement as you think is just the Society desire to see you as Soon as possibly you can leave your private affairs and bring all ye Plans you can procure that will give any insight to their Concerns-Goffe has offered but one third but we think one halfe for ye Proprietors y's ut Supra
T Atkinson
To Joseph Blanchard Esqur at Dunstable Copy Examined & Geo: Jaffrey jur Prop™ª Cl
It may be believed that the process of adjustment and . agreement progressed rather slowly between the Masonian Proprietors and the would-be Proprietors of New Ipswich ; but a little more than two years later each party seems to have concluded that the probability of further concessions by the other would not justify further delay and the second birth of New Ipswich took form in
THE MASONIAN CHARTER.
Province of Pursuant to the Power & Authority Granted & Vested
New Hampshire in me by the Proprietors of Lands purchased of John Tufton Mason Esp" in the Province of New Hamp- shire aforesaid by their Vote the 16th of June 1749, passed at their Meeting held at Portsmouth in said Province-
I Do by these Presents give & grant unto Reuben Kidder, Archible White, Jonas Woolson, Abijah Foster, John Brown, Benj" Hoar jun" Timothy Heald, Joseph Kidder, Joseph Bullard, Ebenezer Bullard, Joseph Stevens, Henry Pudney, John Chandler all of a place called New Ipswich, Hannah Dinsmore, Peter Powers, Daniel Emerson, David Nevens, all of
38
The Masonian Charter
Holles, Zaccheus Lovewell, Joseph French, both of Dunstable, & all in the Province of New Hampshire, Jona Hubbard, John Stevens Esq' of Townshend, Isaac Appleton, Thomas Adams, Robert Choat, William Brown, Nathaniel Smith, Colº John Choat, Francis Choat, Thomas Dennis all of Ipswich, Andrew Spaulding of Westford, Isaac Patch of Groton, William Peters of Medfield, John Marsh of Mendon, & Benja Hoar of Littletown. To them, their Heirs & Assigns, on the Terms Conditions, Reservations & Limitations, & in the Respective Proportions, hereafter expressed, all the Right, Title, Interest & Property of the Grantors aforesaid, of, in & to that Tract of Land, or Township lying in the Province of New Hampshire aforesaid Extending Six Miles in length, & five Miles in Breadth bounded as followeth, beginning at the line between the Province of New Hampshire aforesaid and the Province of the Massachusetts Bay at the Southwest Corner of the Township call'd No. 1, from thence North Eighty Degrees West Six Miles to the South East Corner of the Township called South Manadnock or Manad- nock Number one, from thence North by the Needle five Miles to the North East Corner of said South Manadnock, from thence South Eighty Deg8 East by the Line of Peterborough Slip, Six Miles to the North West Corner of No one, & from thence South five Miles to the Bounds first Mentioned. To have and to hold to them, their Heirs & Assigns Excepting as aforesaid, & on the following Terms & Conditions with the Reservations aforesaid, the Lots already laid out, & the several Pro- portions of Common Land, yet to be divided out to each one as followeth, [The assignment of lots to the individual grantees here follows in the charter, but will be given later in a tabular form more convenient for reference.] That is to say that Eighteen full & Equal Shares in said Town in the following Manner viz' Thirty Six Lots of Eighty Acres each already Laid out & Eighteen Shares in the after Divisions to be drawn for in some Equitable Manner, that is to say two Lots of Seventy Acres each for each Share to be reserved for the Use of the Grantors, their Heirs & Assigns forever, & the Like Number of Lots & Quantity of Land for each Share of each Grantee holding in the after Division, & the Remainder besides what is before Granted to be to the Use of the Grantees-that the Division of the two Seventy acres Lots for each Share be laid out, & Equitably Coupled together & drawn for in some open Equitable Manner at or before the last day of August 1751, and that the aforesaid Eighteen Shares reserved as aforesaid for the Grantors be Exonerated, acquitted & fully Exempt from paying any Charge towards making a Settlement, & not held to the Conditions of the other Shares respecting a Settlement nor liable to any Tax or Assessment or Charge, until improved by the owners or some one holding under them Respec- tively, that the Grantees at their own Expence make Settlement, be at the Charge of dividing the whole of the Lands, Clearing & making feacible Roads & that all the Lots in said Town be Subject to have all necessary Roads lay'd through them as there shall be Occasion free from Charge, that the Grantees according to the Number of their Shares or Lots herein after named make Settlement in the following Manner viz that within two Years from this Date on each Settling Lot or Share there be three Acres of Land Cleared & fitted for Mowing or Ploughing & have a Comfortable Dwelling House, the Room to be at least Sixteen
39
History of New Ipswich
feet Square, & a Family or some Person dwelling in each House, & that within five Years from this Date there be nine Acres more cleared inclosed & fitted for Mowing or Tillage on some Lot to each Settling Right as aforesaid. that the Grantees to make Settlement, & the Number of each be as followeth vizt Reuben Kidder to make Settlement on three Shares or Rights, Archible White, Jonas Woolson, Abijah Foster, John Brown, on one Share each, Benjamin Hoar Jun' on two Shares, Timothy on one Share, Joseph Kidder on one Share, Joseph Bullard one, Ebenezer Bullard one, Joseph Stevens one, Henry Putney one, John Chandler one, Hannah Dinsmore two, Peter Powers one, David Nevens one, Jonathan Hubbard one, John Stevens one, Isaac Appleton Six, Thomas Adams five, Robert Choat one, William Brown one, Nathaniel Smith two, Francis Choat one, Thomas Dennis one, Andrew Spaulding one, Isaac Patch one, William Peters one, John Marsh one, & Benjamin Hoar two in manner as aforesaid .- That each of the Grantees at the Executing of this Instrument, pay fourteen Pounds Cash old tenor, to pay the Charges risen and Ariseing in said Township, to be Deposited in the hands of some Person chosen by them for that Purpose-
That a Convenient Meeting House be Built in said Township, within Seven Years from this Date as near the Center of said Town, and at such place as the Major part of the Interest of Grantors and Grantees shall Determine by a Major Vote in publick Proprietors Meeting called for that Purpose, Giving forty days Notice of such Meeting, and ten Acres of Land reserved there for publick Use-That the aforesaid Grantees or their Assigns assess such further Sum or Sums of Money in equal Proportion to each Grantees Interest, Exclusive of the publick Lots as shall be Necessary for Compleating any of the publick Articles aforesaid, & for such further Payment of any Sum or Sums that shall by the said Grantees or their Assigns be raised for hireing Preaching, or settling & Support of the Minister there and on Failure of Payment for the Space of three Months for the Space of three Months after such Tax is agreed upon & Posted up at such Place or Places as the Proprie- tors, the Grantees aforesaid, or their Assigns shall appoint for calling Proprietors Meetings, that so much of such Delinquents Right be Dis- posed of as will pay such Tax or Assessment & all Charges arising thereon.
That all White Pine Trees fit for his Majesties Use for Masting his Royal Navy Growing on said Land be and hereby are Granted to his Majesty his Heirs & Successors for ever, and in Case any of the sª Grantees or their Assigns, shall neglect or refuse to perform any of the Articles, Matters and Things aforementioned by him respectively to be done he shall forfeit his Share & whole Right in said Township & every part thereof to those of the said Grantees or their immediate Assigns that shall have Complyed with the Conditions on their parts herein Exprest. and it shall and may be lawfull for them or any Person or Persons in their Stead, & by their Authority, to enter into & upon the Right or part of such Delinquent Owner, & any and every part thereof, in the name of the whole of the Settlers that shall fulfill as aforesaid, and him utterly to amove, Oust & Expel for their Use, their Heirs & Assigns Provided they Settle or cause to be Settled each such Delingts Right or Share, within the Space of One Year at the furthest from the
40
The Masonian Charter
Period of such Condition, Articles, Matters & things that is by this Instrument Stipulated to be done as the Condition of this Grant, & fully discharge & Comply with all the Duty & Expence such Delinquents ought to have done, & every part of Duty enjoyn'd, such Right to be finished at the Several Periods thereof, & in Case the said Grantees or their Assigns that shall fullfill their parts as aforesaid, & shall omit & neglect for the Space of one Year as aforesaid, improveing, Building, & Settling and fullfilling every part as herein is Conditioned to be done that all such Share & Right as are thus delinquent in said Township, & every part & Parcel of such Delinquents shall be forfeited, revert & belong to the Grantors of the Premises their Heirs & Assigns with full Authority to enter into and upon all such Delinquents Rights & the Posseesor thereof utterly amove, oust & expel for the use of such Grantors, Provided there be no Indian Wars within any of the Terms & Limitation of time aforesaid for doing the Duty Condition'd in this Grant, and in Case that should happen the same time to be allowed for the Respective Matters aforesaid after such Impediment shall be removed -Lastly the said Grantors do hereby promise and engage to the said Grantees their Heirs & Assigns, to defend thro' the Law to King & Council, if need be One Action that shall & may be brought against them or any Number of them, by any Person or Persons whatsoever Claiming the said Land or any part thereof by any other Title than that of the said Grantors, or that by which they hold & derive their's from Provided the said Grantors are avouched in, to defend the same, and that in case on final Tryal the same shall be recovered against the Grantors, that such Person or Persons shall recover nothing over against the Grantors for the Lands, Improvments or Expence in bringing for- ward the Settlements, and further that the said Grantors will pay the Necessary Expence of time & Money that any other Person or Persons shall be put to by any other Suit or Suits that shall be brought against them or any of them the said Grantees for tryal of the Title before any one Suit shall be fully Determined in the Law-
To all which Premises Joseph Blanchard Esq" Agent, for & in Behalf of the Grantors hath hereunto set his Hand & Seal this seventeenth day of April 1750-
Joseph Blanchard-[L S]
It is evident that the Masonian Charter definitely located the boundaries of the township, but later survey showed a considerable difference between their location and that which was expected at the time of their adoption. As has been told upon a previous page, it was supposed that the Massa- chusetts survey had placed the block of lots assigned in charter midway between the northern and southern lines of the town- ship, and thus had left an undivided strip one mile in width between those lots and the southern boundary, and a like strip on the northern side, which latter strip Col. Blanchard had made a part of Peterborough Slip, leaving, as was sup-
41
History of New Ipswich
posed, the northern line of the northern tier of lots coinci- dent with the northern boundary of the township. Had that been the case, the township would have been represented on the diagram by the rhomboid LMNO, but unfortunately the assumption was not in accordance with facts. The block of lots had been laid a considerable distance farther toward the north than was intended, perhaps as much as fifty rods, al- though the inaccuracy of the survey in the early wilderness and the conflicting statements in different records make the estimate of the displacement subject to considerable uncer- tainty. There can be no doubt, however, that it was suffi- cient to make the northern slip less than a mile in width and to cause the northeastern corner of the Masonian grant to fall forty-eight rods farther south than the northern line of lot 24, in which said corner fell.
The problem of equitable boundaries was somewhat further complicated by the triangular slip cut from the south- eastern corner of New Ipswich by the establishment of the Province line. The width of that strip is uncertain, but prob- ably at the eastern extremity, where it was widest, it was not more than twenty rods, perhaps even less. But whatever that loss may have been it should have resulted in an equal removal toward the north of the northern boundary made by the Masonian Charter parallel to the Province line, and the strip of land cut from the northern ends of the lots should have narrowed toward its eastern end. Instead of that, for some inexplicable reason, exactly the opposite is true; each lot, proceeding toward the west, had one acre less cut away by the northern line than was lost by its eastern neighbor. The entire unwarranted removal from the twelve northern lots, remaining after the loss caused by the new eastern line, was about 220 acres. In view of those losses, whether due to haste and difficulties of accurate survey through the wilder- ness or to dishonest acts of interested parties, it may be well to recognize that in accordance with the frequent practice of early surveyors to be "sure to give full measure," the town, both in length and in breadth, very appreciably exceeds its charter dimensions of five by six miles, its area being between thirty-two and thirty-three square miles. Its Masonian figure, retained until the present time, is presented upon the diagram showing its successive changes of form by the figure LPNO.
42
The Incorporation
There remain to be mentioned, in this record of official transformations, only two further changes. The first of these is an evolution though an Act of Incorporation bearing the date September 9, 1762, and signed by Governor Benning Wentworth, a brother of John and Mark Hunking Wentworth before active as Masonian Proprietors, and countersigned by Theodore Atkinson, Provincial Secretary, also of the Mason- ian board and long its presiding officer. This document changed the mere proprietary organization with no officers except a temporary moderator chosen for each meeting, a clerk, a treasurer, and such committees as any business asso- ciation might appoint, into a complete town with all the politi- cal and governmental abilities of such a New England unit.
The new town, however, had no promise of an existence to be continued beyond January 1, 1766, and for some reason, perhaps a mere error of the penman, it bore only the name "Ipswich."
A second similar act, dated March 6, 1766, but for some unknown reason neither recorded nor transmitted to the town until the following year, restored the complete name borne by the early settlement; and no period having been assigned to its life, the New Ipswich of to-day derives thence its legal powers.
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CHAPTER III.
ON THE WAY TO MATURITY-PROPRIETORS AND LOTS
T HE Masonian Charter gave to the new Proprietors of the "place called New Ipswich" a right to the land upon which, if prospered, they might expect to found a New Hamp- shire town, and the word "town" appears twice in that char- ter. But more frequently, and more correctly, the new land thus transferred was designated by the word "township," since New Ipswich had really neither civic existence nor legal name, which, however, it attained at an earlier date than any of the surrounding New Hampshire settlements mentioned in the charter as "Number One," (Mason,) "South Monad- nock," (Rindge,) and "Peterborough Slip," (Temple and Sharon) ; the Province line separated it from "Dorchester Canada," now included in Ashburnham and Ashby.
As shown in the charter, only thirteen of the thirty mem- bers of the new body were resident within the limits of the township, the homes of the complemental seventeen being scattered in nine different places, but only four in Ipswich, Mass., and of the thirteen named as already resident in New Ipswich, only two, Abijah Foster and Henry Pudney, had come from that mother-town.
The silence of the records in relation to Henry Pudney shows that he was not a resident for a sufficient period to affect the town in any way; of the four proprietors resident in Ipswich, Robert Choate apparently never became a citizen of the new place, while if Thomas Dennis ever really had a home in New Ipswich, his residence was too brief to leave decisive evidence.
The history of the period of proprietorship and the pass- age of New Ipswich through youth to the attainment of its majority as a town was not wrought out by Ipswich men as largely as the name would suggest. Abijah Foster was the first settler within the township bounds. He built three houses as his three successive homes, and his blood has flowed in the veins of many sons and daughters of the later New Ipswich generations. Thomas Adams and Isaac Appleton however, were the two largest land-owners among the pro-
44
Origin of the Settlers
prietors, each being the possessor of between two and three square miles, and although probably neither of them ever relinquished his Massachusetts citizenship to forward in per- son the growth of the Granite State, they were each repre- sented by two sons resident for many years on the family possessions, and the two names were prominent in the town activities of several generations.
In default of Ipswich blood, the question arises, Whence in fact came the early vigor of the settlement and of the en- suing town? From what region came the men who gave New Ipswich a place among the most active and progressive New Hampshire towns? A few came from Ipswich in the years soon succeeding the Masonian grant and a few more from other parts of Essex County. But of the names ap- pearing on the records of the expected town during its twelve years of active development into fitness for that designation, three-fourths came not from Essex, but from Middlesex County, and especially from Concord, whither so many an- cestral lines converge from all sections, and from the line of towns between Concord and Boston. A brief quotation from Walcott's "Concord in the Colonial Period" seems to have a place here.
The Kentish infusion was very strong in the early population of Concord, and, indeed, of Middlesex County.
The proud distinction of the Kentishmen was the tenacity with which they held to their rights and customs, and the unhesitating courage, re- gardless of difficulties or consequences, shown in their defence. They formed the foremost rank at the battle of Hastings, and made terms with the Conqueror at Swanscombe.
It is by no accident that the people of Middlesex County have been equally quick to rise in the defence of their rights, and to put down the oppressor; for the people of Middlesex derive their origin, in a great part, from the freest and most independent of English counties. The patriots of Concord Bridge, Lexington, and Bunker Hill found their prototypes at Hastings and Swanscombe.
It is believed that New Ipswich, during its twelve years of life as a pure democracy managed directly by its Proprie- tors, somewhat more than trebled its population, and that, although the rate of increase in later years was less rapid, before the opening of the Revolutionary contest the number of inhabitants was nine hundred or more, which is about the same as at the present time. Naturally the incoming move- ment of residents was largely from the regions whence had
45
History of New Ipswich
come the earlier settlers, and the story of the town's part in the seven years of natal strife, presented in a later chapter, certainly accords with the belief that Kentish blood had lost naught of its power during its sojourn in Middlesex.
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