USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Salisbury > The history of Salisbury, New Hampshire, from date of settlement to the present time > Part 3
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24
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
on the parsonage lot. Silver has also been discovered in small quantities.
Near the southern border of the town, a few rods from what is called "the New road," from Holmes's Mill to North Bos- cawen, in the woody pasture of William Holmes, is a huge bowlder, foreign to this section, which lies almost wholly above ground. It was probably brought there ages ago by some giant flood, in a floating iceberg. When the flood abated the mass of ice melted and joined its kindred waters, leaving the bowlder in a strange land. Its dimensions have been often taken. It is recorded as 57 feet in length and 26 feet in height, with a circumference of 150 feet. It has been cleft in two by some potent agency, leaving an open space sufficiently wide to allow two or more persons to walk through it side by side. In the chasm are now growing trees of differing varieties.
ANDOYER
THE BAY
RACCOON HILL
WILDER'S POND
THE MILLS
RIVER
1
ROAD
2
RAY'08
CENTRE
P
SHAWY CORNIP
SEARLE'S ·HILL
LOVERIN'S
HILL
WEERSTER
MACE
GREENOUGH'S
FOND
SMITH'S HILL
SOUTH
UNION
MEETINGHOUSE
YUCKER'S
PO.D
BEAN HIL
DUCK POND
BOSCAWEN
-
WEBSTER
MAP OF SALISBURY.
ROAD
RANGE
-
VILLAGE
TURNPIKE
o DEPOT
-
RIVER
WARNER
FOURTH NH
CENTRE
BLACK W
.........
NORTH
2
CHAPTER II.
DISCOVERIES AND TITLES.
"The deep, primeval wood -how still ! Lo, Silence here makes all his own; Veiled shapes, with hands upon their lips, Stand round about his darkened throne."
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
Modern history has reliable data. It is not based on myths or legends. Records may be incomplete or conflicting, but patient research will disclose the truth and relieve the investi- gator of doubt.
There is but little uncertainty connected with the history of our country. It is true that claims to priority of discovery have been made in behalf of navigators who sailed along our coast years before Columbus sought a New World. It is also true that adventurers of different nationalities shared the honors of visiting the new-found continent more than a century previous to the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, or the settlement of the Cavaliers at Jamestown.
DISCOVERIES BY THE CABOTS.
Our title to the country came through the enterprise of the Cabots, father and sons, who in 1497 were commissioned by Henry VII, "to sail to all parts of the east, west and north, under the royal banners and ensigns ; to discover countries of the heathen unknown to Christians ; to set up the king's banners there ; to occupy and possess as his subjects such places as they can subdue ; and to exercise rule and jurisdiction over them."
26
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
The discoveries made through this expedition gave England the conceded, if not the rightful, possession of all this vast American territory, with the exception of a small area, called Acadia, in the actual possession of the French.
ROYAL CHARTERS.
The king assumed authority to bestow grants of these lands, for friendship or favor, or any consideration that pleased him.
Early in the seventeenth century King James the First, desirous of extending his authority and exerting his influence, granted patents to certain "knights, gentlemen and merchants," and encouraged them to colonize his American possessions, then called Virginia, covering a breadth of "thirteen degrees of latitude" and "extending from sea to sea." The Plymouth Company, or Council of Plymouth, under the charter of 1620, had control of the northern portion of the territory, which embraced all that section now known as New England.
MASON AND GORGES.
In this Council were two adventurous spirits, Ferdinand Gorges, President, and John Mason, Secretary. They were men of energy and influence, and obtained especial grants from time to time, from the Council, including those of 1622 and 1629, until they had a large portion of what subsequently became New Hampshire, and no inconsiderable portion of the State of Maine. In the course of a few years a division was made between Mason and Gorges, by which the latter conveyed to the former all his right and interest in lands west of the Piscat- aqua and also a tract extending three miles beyond that river on the east. Mason now claimed to have a valid title to all the area which at that time was known as New Hampshire, except a limited section on which settlements had been made, a few years previously, by Edward Hilton and others.
TITLE DISPUTED.
But he was not permitted to possess the land in peace. There were conflicting or obscure provisions in the charters which
27
DISCOVERIES AND TITLES.
had from time to time been conferred. One grant was partially covered by subsequent ones to other parties. Special grants of unoccupied lands had been conferred on sundry parties, cover- ing the soil from the Merrimack to the Connecticut, and even encroaching on the limits of Vermont. New constructions were put upon patents, to favor selfish interests. Massachu- setts, by the terms of early charters, sought jurisdiction over a large portion of the territory claimed by Mason and his suc- cessors, and for a time, by consent of actual settlers, exercised control.
It was not strange that there should be conflicting claims. These arose partly from ignorance of the geography of the country, as appears from the terms of certain charters. In the grant of Massachusetts by the Plymouth Company, the territory was limited on the north by a line three English miles north of the River Merrimack, "or to the northward of any and every part thereof." The same words precisely were used in the original charter by King James, and in those relating to Massa- chusetts and New Hampshire. It was evidently supposed that the Merrimack maintained the same easterly course through its whole length as it does near its entrance to the ocean.
AN EXPLORING PARTY.
With the view to support their construction of the charter, in 1639 there was sent out by the Massachusetts Bay Company "a Committee to find out the most northerly part of Merrimack River." They reported that "some part of it, above Penacook, was more northerly than forty three and a half degrees." How far above Penacook this committee proceeded we have no knowledge. Possibly they went as far north as the union of the Pemigewasset and the Winnepesaukc. If so, they were doubtless the first white men whose feet trod the soil which afterwards was included in the limits of the town of Salisbury.
THE SECOND EXPLORING PARTY.
No satisfactory information having been obtained, in 1652 the General Court of Massachusetts chose Captain Edward Johnson
28
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
and Simon Willard Commissioners to ascertain the northern boundary of the territory granted the Company. Attending the commission were two surveyors and several Indian guides. They went up the river, exploring the country on both banks, and determined its source to be at that point "where it issues out of the Lake Winnapusseaket," in "latitude 43º-40'-12", besides those minutes which are to be allowed for the three miles north, which run into the Lake."
This is but a few rods south of Wiers Landing, near the iron bridge across the stream.
THE ENDICOTT ROCK.
On a large bowlder at this point is now legible an inscription which, it is supposed, was made by that party. The rock is known as the "Endicott Rock," and bears marks as follows :
EI WP
SW
IOHN
ENDICVT GOV
As this survey was made under the administration of Gov- ernor Endicott, the significance of the inscription is evident.
THE BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY.
It was to this point, and three miles beyond, that the claim of Massachusetts was limited. The contest was persistently waged. Courts were not competent to settle the matter. Arbi- tration was ineffectual. It was a triangular contest, the Mason- ian heirs striving for the possession of the lands they claimed ; New Hampshire, to maintain her authority and do justice to her people, and Massachusetts to enlarge her domain and extend her authority. The controversy was severe and prolonged, Massachusetts refusing to accept any fair adjustment of the difficulty. New Hampshire ordered the matter to be brought before the king. His majesty caused a commission to be con- stituted, consisting of four counsellors of the neighboring prov- inces, who should have power to determine the disputed bounds.
29
DISCOVERIES AND TITLES.
The commission met at Hampton, the Legislature of Massa- chusetts at the same time assembled at Salisbury, and that of New Hampshire at Hampton Falls, but five miles apart. On the part of Massachusetts the occasion was attended by much pomp and display. Governor Belcher, accompanied by members of both branches of the General Court, and escorted by an im- mense cavalcade, came to Hampton Falls, and addressed the members of the New Hampshire assembly. But fine speeches and parades did not change the determination of New Hamp- shire settlers. They could discover no indication of justice to themselves, and they treated the ostentatious spectacle with propriety but with no genuine respect. It was made a subject of ridicule and recorded in burlesque rhyme, in lines like these :
" 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 !"
This commission made a decision which was evasive and unsatisfactory to both provinces and was promptly rejected.
THE LORDS IN COUNCIL DECIDE.
But the authorities of New Hampshire would suffer no further delay. They caused the matter to be carried before the King's Council, and early in 1740 it was decided that "the northern boundary of Massachusetts be a curve pursuing the course of the Merrimack River, at three miles distance on the north side thercof, beginning at the Atlantic ocean, and ending at a point due north from Pawtucket Falls; and a straight line drawn from thence due west till it mects with his Majesty's other governments."
This gave New Hampshire an extent of territory fifty miles in length and fourteen miles wide, which she had never claimed,
30
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
including twenty-eight townships previously claimed by Massa- chusetts, many of which had been created by special grants from the Governor of Massachusetts.
A SEPARATE GOVERNMENT.
Now that the controversy had been settled, lines run and established, the next step was to make New Hampshire a sep- arate government. This was done with very little delay, and in 1741 Benning Wentworth was appointed Governor.
THE MASONIAN CLAIM REVIVED.
The Masonian claim again came up for determination, which, after several years' delay, was decided in favor of the legal suc- cessors of Captain John Mason. But the decision was accom- panied by conditions which would protect settlers in any of the grants from being disturbed in their possessions.
TIIE MASONIAN PROPRIETORS.
The entire right and interest of Mason, after it was confirmed to his heirs, was sold in 1746 to twelve men, residents of Portsmouth and vicinity. They were the leading men in the Council and Assembly, and had the greatest influence in the government.
Three-fifteenths of the purchase was assigned to Theodore Atkinson, two-fifteenths to Mark Hunking Wentworth, and one- fifteenth to each of the other ten, viz: Richard Wibard, John Wentworth, Jr., John Moffat, Samuel Moore, Jotham Odiorne, Jr., George Jeffery, Jr., Joshua Pierce, Nathaniel Meserve, Thomas Wallingford, and Thomas Packer.
They were known in the history of the State as the MASON- IAN PROPRIETORS.
CHAPTER III.
BAKERSTOWN.
"The patient pleading of the trees,- How deep it shames the soul's despair ! In supplication moveless, mute, They keep their attitude of prayer."
A WILD COUNTRY.
It was a hundred years after the first visits of the white man before any efforts were made to settle the section of country which was afterwards called Bakerstown, now Salisbury. It was a wilderness and remote from settlements. The Indian and the Indian scout alone traversed its hills and plains. If adventurous pioneers passed up and down the rivers, their his- tory is unwritten and unknown. We must therefore pass over the long period between 1652 and 1733, as furnishing no events immediately connected with the history of the town.
A SETTLEMENT ANTICIPATED.
At this latter date, Richard Hazen, who had been employed to survey Contoocook, "made an examination of the land to the northward." This was the first recorded step towards the coming settlement. The land had been seen and it was deemed worthy of occupation.
MASSACHUSETTS GRANTS CHARTERS.
It was the policy of Massachusetts, during the pendency of the boundary question, to confer grants in the disputed terri- tory on soldiers who had been engaged in the French and Indian
32
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
wars, and even on any parties who were friendly to the province. This was done with the view to strengthen her hold on New Hampshire soil, which she was determined not to relinquish. To soldiers in the expedition against Quebec, in 1690, eight grants of townships were made, including Bow, Todds-Town, (Henniker) Beverly-Canada, (Dunbarton ) and Bakerstown, (Salisbury ).
A GRANT SOLICITED.
There appears to be no accessible record of any petition to the General Court of Massachusetts for a grant, but the records of the Council indicate that John Tyler, Joseph Pike and oth- ers, presented a request for two townships to be granted to the officers and soldiers of the companies under command of the late Captain John March, Captain Stephen Greenleaf and Cap- tain Philip Nelson, deceased.
THE PETITION ANSWERED.
The answer of the General Court is copied from the records :
IN ANSWER TO THE PETITION OF JOHN TYLER, JOSEPH PIKE AND OTHERS. In the House of Representatives :-
December 9th, 1736. Read and ordered that this Petition be received, and voted that two Tracts of the unappropriated Land of this Province, of the Contents of Six miles Square each, be and hereby are granted to the Petitioners, the Officers and Soldiers of the Companys under the Late Capt. John March, Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, and Capt. Philip Nelson, Deceased, anno 1690, their Heirs and assigns respectively, and the Heirs Legal Representatives, Descendants of Such of them as are Deceased, and their Heirs and assigns forever, for two Townships, to lay in Some Suitable Place, that the Grantees be and are obliged to bring forward the Settlement of the Said Townships in as Regular a manner as the Situation and cir- cumstances of Said Townships will admit of, in the following manner, viz: That each Grantee, his Heirs and assigns, build an House on his Respective Lot and share, of the contents of eighteen feet square and Seven Stud, at the Least, and Plow or bring to Grass fit for mowing six acres of Land, and that they Settle in each Town a Learned and orthodox minister, and build a convenient meeting-House for the Pub- lick worship of God; and that a Sixty-third part of the Said Township be and here- by is Granted to the first Settled minister, the like quantity for the use of the minis- try, and the like quantity for the use of the School, in all the Divisions of the Said Township; that the Grantees be and hereby are obliged to Give Bond of twenty
33
BAKERSTOWN.
Found, for the fulfilment of the Conditions aforesaid, within five years after the Return and Confirmation of the Plan of Said Township, and that Capt. John Hob- son and Major Charles Pierce be a Committee, with Such as the Honorable Board shall Joyn, to lay out Said Township and Return Plots thereof, within one year, for Confirmation, and the Said Committee to observe Such Rules and Directions for the taking of Bond and admission of the Grantees, agreeable to the order of Court in March Last, and said Committee to receive thirty-three pounds, Six Shillings and Eight Pence of the new Projected Bills, viz. Sixteen pound, thirteen shillings and four pence for each of the said Townships, out of the Publick Treasurer, to enable them to Lay out Said Township.
IN COUNCIL, February 3d, 1736.
Read and Concurred, and Thomas Berry, Esq., is Joyned in the affair.
Consented to, J. BELCHER.
Copy Examined by
SIMON FROST, Deft. Secy.
A TOWNSHIP LAID OUT.
Under the direction of the commission named in the answer to the petition, a township of the contents of six miles square was laid out "westerly of the Merrimack River and northerly of and adjoining to Contoocook," by Richard Hazen, surveyor, October 23d, 1738, and approved by the commission on the 30th day of November following. The names of the grantees or proprietors are recorded as follows :
C'apt. Stephen Greenleaf,
Dea. Joshua Moody,
James Tappan, Daniel Bradley, David Bartlett,
Joseph Gould, Joseph Page, Jun'r. Elisha Sweat,
Peter Ayers,
Benjamin Hoag,
John Kent,
John Badger,
C'aleb Moody,
Sam'l Smith, Jr.,
Rev. William Johnson,
Jonathan March,
William Huse,
Joseph Isley,
Joseph Davis, Henry Dow,
Gideon Lowel,
Samuel Sargeant,
Joseph Short,
Samuel Silver,
Thomas Huse,
Robert Savory, Tristram Greenleaf,
Abraham Titcomb,
Hannah Bolton,
James Brown, Stephen Longfellow,
Capt. John Sargeant, Nathaniel Clark, 3
Stephen Chase,
John Lunt,
Eleazer Johnson,
34
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
John Thurlo,
Lazarus Goodwin,
Joseph Osgood,
James Anderson,
Samuel George,
John Littlehale,
Jeremiah Gutteridge,
Edward Emerson,
Capt. Thomas Wallingford,
Zachariah Beal,
John March,
Capt John Seargeant,
Nathaniel Bearnard,
Percival Clark,
Capt. Thomas Hale,
Ebenezer Stuart,
Eleazer Hudson,
Joseph Holland,
Dr. Joseph Hills,
Joseph Pike,
Thomas Challis,
Stephen Longfellow,
Jonathan Blaisdale,
Samuel Bartlett, 3d.
ORDER FOR A MEETING.
To enable the grantees to effect an organization, the accom- panying order was passed by the House of Representatives and Council of Massachusetts :
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Jan. 9, 1739. Ordered that Thomas Berry, Esq., be and hereby is empowered to assemble the Grantees of the Township Lying on Mearimack River, Granted to the Officers and Soldiers in the expedition to Canada, Anno 1690, under the com- mand of Captain John March, Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, and Capt. Philip Nelson, in Such Place and at Such time as he Shall think fit, then to chuse a Moderator and Proprietors' Clerk, to agree uppon Rules, method and orders, for the Division and Disposall of said Propriety in the most proper method for the Speedy fulfil- ment of the Conditions of these Grants, and to agree upon methods for the calling future meetings.
Sent up for Concurrence.
EBENEZER RUMROY, Spkr Protempore.
IN COUNCIL :
Jan. 20, 1739. Read and concurred.
Consented to.
SIMON FROST, Dept. Secy. JONATHAN BELCHER.
A true copy, Examined by
SIMON FROST, Dept. Secy.
MR. BERRY'S RETURN.
Essex, SS Ipswich, January 26, 1739-
In obedience to the foregoing order, I have caused notification to be Posted in the towns of Newbury, Almsbury and Haverhill, appointing the meeting to be
.
35
BAKERSTOWN.
Feb'y 12th, 1739, at the House of Mr. Tristram Greenleaf in Newbury, at ten of the clock, before noon.
( Signed )
THOMAS BERRY.
We have not been able to find any record of a meeting held by the grantees in accordance with the foregoing call. If one was held, the votes for choice of officers for its government, as well as the questions discussed and the measures adopted, were never recorded in history.
THE NAME BAKERSTOWN.
The township, by common consent if not by official action, received the name of Bakerstown, in honor of the brave Captain Thomas Baker, who, in 1720, killed the Sachem Waternumus, by the rapid stream which enters the Pemigewasset near Ply- mouth, and bears the name of Baker's river. So little was the geography of the country known that the location of the grant was supposed to be in the vicinity of that river.
The second township granted to the same parties was prob- ably "Emeristown " or "Emery's-town," afterwards New Bre- ton, now Andover.
We find these two towns were subsequently granted, at one time, by the Masonian Proprietors, and this fact confirms our belief that they were originally conveyed, at the same time, by Massachusetts authority.
CHARTER NOT ACCEPTED).
It does not appear that cither of these towns was settled under the grants conferred. In fact it is quite certain that the grantees of Bakerstown made no progress towards a settlement.
Thus, in the short space of a single decade, there came into official and formal existence, and died without a record, a town- ship bearing an honorable name, to be succeeded by another town with the same metes and bounds, granted by another authority, but known and called by the name of a hardy yeoman who was foremost in securing the grant, but who died before he could realize the importance of his work.
CHAPTER IV.
STEVENSTOWN.
" I love the past, those warlike days. When men possessed a purpose strong ; And, filled with faith, in thousand ways Pursued the life of noble song."
ACTION OF THE MASONIAN PROPRIETORS.
Whenever parties neglected to improve lands granted them, according to the conditions imposed by the grantors, they reverted to the former proprietorship, and, when occasion required, were conveyed to other parties who were interested in the settlement of the country and the improvement of their lands.
As we have seen, the grantees of Bakerstown failed to com- ply with the terms of the grant of 1738. The lands could not revert to Massachusetts, for it had been decided that the forty townships in New Hampshire which Massachusetts had granted were never hers to bestow. The Masonian Proprietors, under these circumstances, were the rightful possessors of the terri- tory in question.
It was in the month of December, 1748, that these Proprie- tors decided to grant the township to other parties than the original grantees, as appears by the-
PROPRIETORS' RECORDS.
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE :
At a meeting of the Proprietors of Lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq., in the Province of New Hampshire, held at the dwelling house of Sarah Priest, widow, in Portsmouth, in s'd Province .on Wednesday the seventh day of December, 1748, by adjournment,-
1
37
STEVENSTOWN.
Voted, "That Ebenezer Stevens, Esq., & associates have a Township equal to six miles square, beginning on the north of Contoocook, in the most convenient form, without interfering with the Township called No. One, [ Warner ] as the Grantors shall think proper, and that Mr. Edmond Brown and associates have a Township equal to six miles square, joining upon the north side of Stevens and associates' aboves'd tract, upon the west side of Pemigewasset River, upon Reser- vations and Limitations hereafter to be agreed upon."
Copy of record,-Attest,
GEO. JEFFERY, Proprietors' Clerk.
At this meeting it was voted to grant a township, as desig- nated in the records, and at a subsequent meeting, nearly a year later, the township was described, the boundaries and measures given, the "Reservations and Limitations" stipulated, and the grantees named.
GRANT OF STEVENSTOWN.
PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE:
At a meeting of the Proprietors of the lands purchased of John Tufton Mason, Esq., in the Province of New Hampshire, held in Portsmouth in s'd Province, on Wensday, the 26th day of October, 1749,-
Voted, That there be and hereby is granted unto -
Ebenezer Stevens,
Elisha Sweat,
Ebenezer Page,
Samuel Sanborn,
Samuel Bean,
John Darling, Jun'r,'
Benjamin Stevens,
Sam'l Webster,
Nathan Sweatt,
John Currier,
Elisha Winslow,
Samuel Winslow, Jun'r,
Moses Quimby,
Humphrey Hook,
Joshua Woodman,
Jacob Quimby,
John Hunton,
Jonathan Greeley,
Jedediah Philbrick,
Tristram Sanborn, Jun'r,
Thomas Newman,
Ebenezer Long,
Samuel Colcord,
Abraham Greene,
Jonathan Greely, Jun'r,
Joseph Bean, Jun'r,
Joseph Eastman, Jun'r,
Tristram Quinby,
John Fifield, Jun'r,
Benjamin Ladd,
Henry Morril, William Calfe,
The Kevd Joseph Secombe,
John IIunton, Jun'r,
James Tappan,
John Ladd, Jun'r,
Tristram Sanborn, tertius,
Benjamin Wadleigh,
l'eter Sanborn,
Nathaniel Ladd,
Capt. Joseph Greeley,
William Buswell, tertius,
Ebenezer Stevens, Jun'r,
Jeremiah l'hilbrick,
38
HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
Nath'l Hunton,
Jeremiah Webster,
Samuel Eastman, Jun'r,
Jonathan Sanborn,
Samuel Fifield,
Ephraim Collins,
Joseph Clifford,
Ebenezer Eastman,
Joshua Webster, Samuel Stevens,
of Kingston, in said Province; Peter Ayer of Haverhill, Jabez True and David Greeley, both of Salisbury; Benjamin Sanborn, of Kingston afores'd, Philip Call being in on part of the land hereinafter mentioned; and l'eter Derborn of Chester; in equal shares, on the Terms, Conditions and Limitations hereinafter expressed, all that tract of Land within the Province of New Hampshire, Containing the Extent & Quantity of six miles square,- Bounded as follows ;- viz: Beginning at a white oak tree standing on the brink of Merrimack River, six rods southerly from a deep gutter running into the River, said tree being marked on four sides; thence running west seventeen degrees south, nine miles; then beginning again at the River, at the said White Oak and Running upon the River northerly about a mile above the "Croch," upon l'emigewasset River, to a large Rock in the Bank of the River, at the head of Pemigewasset Great Falls; thence running west fifteen degrees south nine miles; thence on a straight line from the westerly end of this line to the westerly end of the line first mentioned on the other side. To have and to hold to them, their heirs, & assigns, in equal shares on the following terms, con- ditions & Limitations, that is to say, that the whole tract of land within the said boundaries, saving what is hereinafter mentioned to be otherwise Improved, be Divided into Eighty shares or Rights, & each share into four distinct lots, one of which to contain sixty acres, and the other three the rest of the land belonging to each respective share, of which the intervale to be one lot: that the lots which belong to our share be numbered with the same number, beginning with One and ending with Eighty; that the said land be so laid out within one year after the Pro- claiming of Peace with the Indians, and then the Lots drawn in the usual manner of drawing for lots of Land in such cases, and that this be done, under the care and direction of the Grantees, and that there be but one Draft for the Lots which belong to our share ; that one of the s'd shares be for the first Minister of the Gospel who shall be settled on said Lands, and continue there during his life, or untill he shall be Regularly Dismissed, to hold, to him, his heirs & assigns, and one other of the said shares to be for and toward the support of the Gospel ministry, there for- ever, and the sixty acres Lots belonging to these two shall be laid out as near the place where the Meeting House shall be built, as conveniently may be, and drawn for as the other lots; that there be ten acres of Land left in some convenient Place, as the major l'art of said Grantees shall Determine, within the said bound- aries, for building a meeting house and a school house upon, and to improve for a training field, a Burying Place, and other Publick uses, to which the Inhabitants there shall see cause to apply it; that one more of said shares be for the support of the aforesaid school there forever; that seventeen of said shares be and hereby are reserved for the use of the s'd Proprietors the Grantors, in these Presents, their heirs and assigns; that the owners of the other sixty make a regular settlement there, at their own expense and charge in the following manner, viz: that within two years after the said Peace, the said owners or Grantees shall clear and make a good cartway from the place called Contooke to the Place left for Publick uses, as afores'd within the said boundaries; that within three years after said Peace, the
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