Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/369

 NEW LONDON CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.

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��whom the grant of .New Hampshire was made in 1629, as we have seen, died in 1635, and his heirs held and tried to enforce his claims to the land till about 1692, when they sold and conveyed the same to one Samuel Allen, of the same London, who came to this coun- try to enforce his claims. But Allen died in 1705, and the lands descended to his heirs, wht prosecuted his claims vigorously for a time, until the heirs of Mason found some defect, either real or pretended, in Allen's title to the lands, and set up a claim to them for themselves.

One John Tufton Mason, a descend- ant of Capt. John, the first grantee, came to this country, claiming to own the Masonian Patent, and sold his rights to certain parties in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and conveyed to them by deed in 1746. The names of these purchasers were as follows : Theodore Atkinson, Mark H. Wentworth, Rich- ard Wibird, John Wentworth (son of the governor), George Jaffrey, Nathaniel Meserve, Thomas Packer, Thomas Wal- lingford, Jotham Odiorne, Joshua Pierce, Samuel Moore, and John Mof- fat. Atkinson had three-fifteenths, M. H. Wentworth had two-fifteenths, and all the rest one-fifteenth each. These men were afterwards known as the Ma- sonian proprietors.

The persons to whom they granted the town of Alexandria and also the Addition were as follows : Jonas Minot, of Concord, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman ; Jonathan Bagley, Esq., and William Bailey, gentleman, both of Amesbury, in the county of Essex, and all in the Province of Massachusetts Bay ; Matthew Thornton, Esq., and Rob- ert McMurphy, gentleman, both of Lon- donderry ; John Talford, Esq., and Wil- liam Talford, gentleman, both of Ches- ter ; and Daniel Rindge, of Portsmouth, all in the county of Rockingham and Province of New Hampshire ; and Joshua Talford, of New Chester, in the county of Grafton, and Province last mentioned, husbandman.

In the deed of the Addition of Alex- andria the original grantors, the Mason- ian proprietors, reserved one third part 4

��of said land to themselves, their heirs, and assigns forever ; one half of the balance, or one third of the whole, was conveyed to said Minot ; and the other half of the balance, or third of the whole, was conveyed to the remaining grantees in the following proportions, viz. : to Matthew Thornton, twelve forty-ninths ; to said J. Bagley, five forty-ninths ; to the said W. Bailey, five forty-ninths ; to the said John Tal- ford, seven forty-ninths and one third ; to the said William Talford, eight forty- ninths and one third ; to said Robert McMurphy, eight forty-ninths and one third ; to the said Daniel Rindge, two forty-ninths, and to the said Joshua Tal- ford, one forty- ninth. The grant to said William Bailey was conditional upon his accepting the rights granted him in the new charter of the town of Alexandria in full for his claims under the old charter, which he refused to accept, and there- fore he drew no lots in the Addition, which was afterwards New London.

The Addition was surveyed and laid out in 137 lots of 150 acres each. Certain lots were reserved for schools, for the first settled minister, etc. There were reserved for the Masonian pro- prietors 45 lots and two fractions ; and drawn to Capt. Jonas Minot 44 lots and two fractions : to Col. Matthew Thornton, ten lots and a fraction ; to Robert McMurphy, seven lots and two fractions ; to Deacon William Talford, seven lots and a fraction ; to Maj. John Talford, six lots and a fraction ; to Jon- athan Bagley, Esq., five lots and a frac- tion ; to Hon. Daniel Rindge two lots ; and to Joshua Talford, Esq., one lot.

These lots were drawn Sept. 7, 1773. I have a plan of the drawing, with the numbers of the lots drawn to each owner.

Having gone along in the order of time for the first twenty-one vears of the town's history up to the year 1 800, let us now go forward for a similar period of twenty- one years to the year 182 r, and there make a stand, and from that stand-point look back over that space of time, that second period of twenty-one years of the town's history. Let us select our time now with some particularity — well, sup-

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