Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/171

 The Boundary Lines of Old Groion. — ///.

��i^i

��the capacity of chaplain, only the year before he had received a call for his settlement, and his associations with the commander were fresh in his memory. It will be noticed that the Act for incorporating the district leaves the name blank, which was customary in this kind of legislation at that period ; and the governor, perhaps with the advice of his council, was in the habit subsequently of filling out the came.

Pepperell, for one " r " is dropped from the name, had now all the privileges of a town, except the right to choose a representative to the General Court, and this political connection with Groton was kept up until the beginning of the Revolution. In the- session of the General Court which met at Watertown, on July 19, 1775, Pepperell was repre- sented by a member, and in this way acquired the privileges of a town with- out any special act of incorporation. Other similar districts were likewise represented, in accordance with the precept calling that body together, and they thus obtained municipal rights without the usual formality. The pre- cedent seems to have been set by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, which was made up of delegates from the districts as well as from the towns. It was a revolutionary step taken out- side of the law. On March 23, 1786, this anomalous condition of affairs was settled by an act of the Legislature, which declared all districts, incor- porated before January i, 1777, to be towns for all intents and purposes.

The act for the incorporation of Pepperell is as follows : —

Anno Regni Regis Georgij Secundi vlcesimo Sexto

An Act for Erecting the second Precinct in the Town of Groton into a seperate District

��Be it enacted by the Leiu'. Govf Joun- cil and House of Representatives

That the second Precinct in Groton bounding Southerly on the old Country Road leading to Townshend, Westerly on Townshend Line Northerly on the Line last run by the Governm^ of New Hamp- shire as the Boundary betwixt that Prov- ince and this Easterly to the middle of the River, called Lancaster [Nashua] River, from where the said Boundary Line crosses said River, so up the middle of ye. said River to where the Bridge did stand, called Kemps Bridge, to the Road first men- tioned, be & hereby is erected into a sep- erate District by the Name of

and that the said District be and hereby is invested with all the Priviledges Powers and Immunities that Towns in this Prov- ince by Law do or may enjoy, that of sending a Representative to the generall Assembly only excepted, and that the In- habitants of said District shall have full power & Right from Time to time to joyn with the sd : Town of Groton in the choice of Representative or Representatives, in which Choice they shall enjoy all the Priv- iledges which by Law they would have been entitled to, if this Act had not been made. And that the said District shall from Time to time pay their proportionable part of the Expence of such Representative or Representatives According to their respective proportions of y=. Province Tax.

And that the s^. Town of Groton as often as they shall call a Meeting for the Choice of a Representative shall give sea- sonable Notice to the Clerk of said Dis- trict for the Time being, of the Time and place of holding such Meeting, to the End that said District may join them therein, and the Clerk of said District shall set up in some publick place in s^. District a Notification thereof accordingly or other- wise give Seasonable Notice, as the Dis- trict shall determine.

Provided Nevertheless and be it further enacted That the said District shall pay their proportion : of all Town County and Province Taxes already set on or granted

�� �