Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/169

 Tlie Bowidary Lines of Old Groton. — ///.

��149

��Settle on lA. Lands should have ye Powers and Priviledges that other Precincts in s<i. Province have or Do Enjoy : as p^. a Coppy from Groton Town Book herewith Ex- hibited may Appear: For the Reasons mentioned we the Subscribers as afores^. Humbley Prayes' }our Excellency and Honours to Set oflf y^ s^ Lands bounded as aforesd. to be a Distinct and Sepperate Precinct and Invest ye Inhabitants thereon (Containing about y^ No. of Forty Fam- elies) and Such others as Shall hereafter Settle on sd. Lands with Such Powers & Priviledges as other Precincts in s^. Prov- ince have &c or Grant to your Petitioners Such other Releaf in y^. Premises as your Excellency and Honours in your Great Wisdom Shall think Fit: and your Peti- tioners as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray

&c.

Benj Swallow Wf" : Spalden Isaac Williams Ebenezer Gilson Elias Ellit

Samuel Shattuck iu James Shattuck David Shattuck David Blood Jonathan Woods John Blood iuner Josiah Parker Jacob Ames Jonas Varnum Moses Woods Zachery Lawrence Junf^ Jeremiah Lawrence John Mozier Josiah Tucher Wm Allen John Shadd Jams. Green John Kemp Nehemiah Jewett Eleazar Green Jonathan Shattuck Jonathan Shattuck Jun^

In the House of Rep^ives Novr. 26. 1742

In Answer to the within Petition ordered

that that Part of the Town of Groton

Lying on the Westerly Side of Lancaster

��River within the following bounds viz* bounding Easterly on said River Southerly on Townsend Road so called Wisterly on Townsend line aad Northerly on Dun- stable West Precinct with the Inhabitants thereon be and hereby are Set otf a dis- tinct and seperate precinct and Vested with the powers & priviledges which Other Precincts do or by Law ought to enjoy Always provided that the Inhabitants Dwelling on the Lands abovementioned be subject to pay their Just part and pro- portions of all ministeriall Rates and Taxes in the Town of Groton already Granted or Assessed. Sent up for Concurrence.

T Gushing Spk-. In Council Novr. 26 1742 Read and Concurr'd

J Willard Secry Consented to, W Shirley.

[Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 768, 769.]

When the new Provincial line was run between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in the spring of 1741, it left a gore of land, previously belonging to the west parish of Dunstable, lying north of the territory of Groton and contiguous to it. It formed a narrow strip, perhaps three hundred rods in width at the western end, running easterly for three miles and tapering off to a point at the Nashua River, by which stream it was entirely separated from Dunstable. Shaped like a thin wedge, it lay along the border of the province, and belonged geographically to the west precinct or parish of Gro- ton. Under these circumstances the second parish petitioned the General Court to have it annexed to their juris- diction, which request was granted. William Prescott, one of the committee appointed to take charge of the matter, nearly a quarter of a century later was the commander of the American forces at the battle of Bunker Hill. It has

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