Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/92

62 After settlements had been made on the proprieters' land in sufficient numbers to justify the formation of a township, an act of incorporation was granted, by which the proprietary was erected into a town, all unsold lands remaining in the hands of and under the control of the proprietors.

As we have seen, Massassoit had already made a formal transfer of all his territorial possessions and allegiance to King James in 1621. In order to secure a more valid and personal title, the "old comers" sought and secured of the great Sachem, a deed of such land as they had been urged to take up by the Plymouth Court. Their selection included the territory of Barrington and parts of the present towns of East Providence, Seekonk, Swansea, Warren and Bristol, known to the proprietors and described in their records as "Sowams and Parts adjacent." This deed is supposed to have been the last which Massassoit signed, and in which he earnestly urged the proprietors to insert the clause, "never to draw away any of his people to the Christian religion," for he, with consistent faith, believed that the Great Spirit would preserve his race, only as they remained loyal to their heathen worship, while the Pilgrims, with a better knowledge and a purer faith, sought to establish Christianity as the basis of their civilization, with the feeling that the latter was dependent on the former for its perpetuity and progress.

The following is a copy of the deed from Massassoit and Alexander to Thomas Prince and others, dated March 20, 1653, and is the basis of all real estate titles in Barrington:

From Osamequin and Wamsetto, his son, dated 29th March, 1653.

to whome these presents shall come, Osamequin and Wamsetto his eldest Sone Sendeth greeting. , that wee the said Osamequin and Wamsetto, for & in Consideration of thirty-five pounds sterling to us the