Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/345

 EDUCATION IN HOPKINTON.

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��EDUCATION IN HOPKINTON

��BY C. C. LORD.

��"SCHOOL LOTT."

A fundamental principle entertained by the early residents of New England im- plied the necessity of general education. Public instruction of children and youth was deemed of sufficient importance to require a legal encouragement and sup- port. The first settlers of Hopkinton re- ceived their grant from the authorities of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, un- der a stipulation that one of sixty-three lots should be devoted to a school. This lot was designated on a plan of the new settlement, drawn as early as 1736. Four roads, diverging from a central point to the four cardinal points of the compass, were delineated on a chart, and proprie- tors' and other lots located in regular ar- rangement. By this plan, " School Lott" was declared to be the sixth in regular order " on the north range, beginning at the meeting-house on the west side." The complete north range of lots on the west side was as follows: 1, the minister's; 2, John Weston; 3, Nathaniel Smith; 4, David Burnap ; theu a triangular lot, marked 1, assigned to Benjamin Bowker ; 6, "School Lott"; afterwards lots 7 to 13 respectively, assigned to Ebenezer Giles, Daniel Mellen, James Morris, Jo- seph Haven, David Woodwell, Matthew Lackey, and Robert Claflin.

Owing to the Mason controversy, well known to persons familiar with the his- tory of our State, a second grant of the township was secured in recognition of the reputed rights of John Mason and his heirs. A record of this transaction is found under the date of November 30, 1750. Henry Mellen, yeoman; Thomas Walker, cooper; Thomas Mellen, cord- wainer; and their associates, were de- clared proprietors. The township was divided into seventy shares — one for each proprietor and one for a school.

��LOCATION OF SCHOOL LOT.

In the ancient Proprietor's Record of this town is found the following descrip- tion, verbatim et literatim:

"The Lot Number Six, in the first Di- vision, on the west Side of the north Range, Belongs to the School wright, and is Bounded as Followeth; viz., Be- ginning at a Stake or Tree no. Six; thence South one Hundred and Sixty Rods, to a Stake or Tree no. Six; thence north fourteen Degrees west, Forty Rods, to a Stake or Tree no. Six ; thence North, one Hundred and Sixty Rods, to a Stake or Tree no. Six; thence South fourteen Degrees East, Forty Rods, to the first menshioned Bound."

Also:

" The Land Laid out to make up for the Road through the Parshonage lott, School lot, and Through no. Seven, no. Eight, no. Nine, no ten and no. Eleven, in the Same Range, is layed at the west End of the above Said Lots, Seven Rod, the Same Course of the Lot Lines and the wedth of the above Said Lots."

Subsequently, in the event of actual settlement, another division and arrange- ment of lots was made. A more practi- cal knowledge of the territory, and the annoyances resulting from finding some of the settlers' lots located in swamps, ponds or other impracticable places, ne- cessitated a new distribution. Conse- quently new lines and boundaries were determined and described. Out of this condition and arrangement the following description no doubt resulted. We also give exact copy :

" The School Lot, Second Division, Contains about one hundred and forty- two acres, begins at a burch tree on the Southerly Side of Joseph Barnard's Land; thence South 74 degrees west, 77 Rods to a hemlock ; thence North 22 Degrees West, 144 Rods, to a Stake and Stones ; thence South 75 Degrees West, 44 Rods, to a maple tree ; thence South fifteen De- grees East, 39 Rods, to a Beach ; thence South 75 Degrees West, 23 Rods ; thence South Seventeen Degrees East, 137 Rods,

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