Confirmation of Township No's 1, 4, 5 and 6
East of Union River
[Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1784, pg 645-647]
Report on the Petition of Samuel Freeman, agent for the proprietors of four townships lying eastward of Union River.
The Committee on the subject of unappropriated lands in the county of Lincoln, to whom was committed the petition of Samuel Freeman, Esq; agent for the Proprietors of four Townships lying eastward of Union River, which with two other Townships, viz.: No. 2 and 3, were conditionally granted on the twenty-seventh day of January, A.D. 1764, to sundry persons named in the grant, viz.: No. 1, to Paul Thorndike and others; No. 4, to Edward Small and others; No. 5, to Josiah Sawyer and others; and No. 6, to Nathaniel Parker and others; - take leave to report, that in their opinion, it will be expedient to confirm the grant of said Townships, No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6, on the following conditions, viz.:
That the Proprietors of the same pay to Government for each of said Townships, the sum of Twelve hundred and fifty pounds, in the consolidated notes of this Commonwealth, within one year from this time, with interest.
That the Proprietors, within six years from this time, compleat in each Township, the settlement of sixty good Protestant families, and building sixty houses, none to be less than eighteen feet square, and seven feet stud, and clear and cultivate five acres of land on each share, fit for mowing or tillage.
That in each Township they build a suitable meeting house for the public worship of God, and settle a learned Protestant Minister, and make provision for his comfortable and honorable support, and that in each Township there be reserved and appropriated four whole rights, or sixty-fourth parts, for quantity and quality, in the division of the same, for the following purposes, viz: One for the first settled Minister, his heirs and assigns forever; - one for the use of the ministry; - one to and for the future appropriation of Government, and one for the use of a grammar school forever.
That fifty acres be allowed and assigned to each settler, who settled therein before the twentieth day of January, 1783, his heirs or assigns, in consideration of his performing the duties of a settler, provided he has performed, or shall contract to perform, within six years, the duties of a settler as prescribed in this report; and the said fifty acres to be assigned the settler, his heirs or assigns, shall be laid out so as to include the whole of his improvements, or so much thereof as may be, without doing great damage to the Proprietors; - and where the lot shall be laid out, so as not to include the whole improvements of the settler, he shall have liberty to purchase the remainder of such lands, estimating the same in a state of nature, or to receive of the Proprietors a reasonable allowance for such extra improvements, at the settlers election.
And in case of any disgreement about the said price or allowance, or any other matter relating to a settlement, that the same be decided by disinterested men, one of whom shall be chosen by the Proprietors, one by the settler, and in case they cannot agree, the third by the two chosen aforesaid.
That each settler shall have liberty, at any time within twelve months from this date, to purchase of the said Proprietors, fifty acres for quantity and quality of the unlotted lands in the township wherein he is settled, at a price not exceeding three shillings per acre.
Provided nevertheless, That where any agreement has been, or shall be made, between a Proprietor or Proprietors, and a settler or settlers, as to terms of settlement, such agreement shall not be violated.
Samuel Phillips, jun
Nathaniel Wells
Boston, June 20, 1785
Read and accepted, and thereupon Resolved, That the grant of four Townships aforesaid, be confirmed in manner following, viz.: No. 1, to Paul Thorndike and others; No. 4, to Edward Small and others; No, 5, to Josiah Sawyer and others; and No. 6, to Nathaniel Parker and others; their several and respective heirs and assigns, on the conditions in the said report.
June 21, 1785