style="font-size:15px;"> [Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 600.]
The inhabitants of Groton had now become alarmed at the situation of affairs, fearing that the new town would take away some of their land. Through neglect the plan of the original grant, drawn up in the year 1668, had never been returned to the General Court for confirmation, as was customary in such cases; and this fact also excited further apprehension. It was not confirmed finally until February 10, 1717, several years after the incorporation of Nashobah.
In the General Court Records (ix, 263) in the State Library, under the date of June 18, 1713, it is entered:—
Upon reading a Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of Groton, Praying that the Return & Plat of the Surveyor of their Township impowered by the General Court may be Accepted for the Settlement & Ascertaining the Bounds of their Township, Apprehending they are likely to be prejudiced by a Survey lately taken of the Grant of Nashoba;
Voted a Concurrence with the Order pass'd thereon in the House of Representves That the Petitioners serve the Proprietors of Nashoba Lands with a copy of this Petition, That they may Shew Cause, if any they have on the second Fryday of the Session of this Court in the Fall of the Year, Why the Prayer therof may not be granted, & the Bounds of Groton settled according to the ancient Plat of said Town herewith exhibited.
It is evident from the records that the Nashobah lands gave rise to much controversy. Many petitions were presented to the General Court, and many claims made, growing out of this territory. The following entry is found in the General Court Records (ix, 369) in the State Library, under the date of November 2, 1714:—
The following Order pass'd by the Representves. Read & Concur'd; viz,
Upon Consideration of the many Petitions & Claims relating to the Land called Nashoba Land; Ordered that the said Nashoba Land be made a Township, with the Addition of such adjoining Lands of the Neighbouring Towns, whose Owners shall petition for that End, & that this Court should think fit to grant, That the said Nashoba Lands having been long since purchased of the Indians by Mr Bulkley & Henchman one Half, the other Half by Whetcomb & Powers, That the said purchase be confirmed to the children of the said Bulkley, Whetcomb & Powers, & Cpt. Robert Meers as Assignee to Mr Henchman according to their respective Proportions; Reserving to the Inhabitants, who have settled within these Bounds, their Settlements with Divisions of Lands, in proportion to the Grantees, & such as shall be hereafter admitted; the said Occupants or present Inhabitants paying in Proportion as others shall pay for their Allotments;. Provided the said Plantation shall be settled with Thirty five Families & an orthodox Minister in three years time, And that Five hundred Acres of Land be reserved and laid out for the Benefit of any of the Descendants of the Indian Proprietors of the said Plantation, that may be surviving; A Proportion thereof to be for Sarah Doublet alias Sarah Indian;. The Rev. Mr. John Leveret & Spencer Phips Esqr. to be Trustees for the said Indians to take Care of the said Lands for their Use. And it is further Ordered that Cpt. Hopestill Brown, Mr. Timothy Wily & Mr. Joseph Burnap of Reading be a Committee to lay out the said Five hundred Acres of Land reserved for the Indians, & to run the Line between Groton & Nashoba, at the Charge of both Parties & make Report to this Court, And that however the Line may divide the Land with regard to the Township, yet the Proprietors on either side may be continued in the Possession of their Improvements, paying as aforesaid; And that no Persons legal Right or Property in the said Lands shall [be] hereby taken away or infringed,
Consented to J DUDLEY
The report of this committee is entered in the same volume of General Court Records (ix, 395, 396) as the order of their appointment, though the date as given by them does not agree with the one there mentioned.
The following Report of the Committee for Running the Line between Groton & Nashoba Accepted by Representves. Read & Concur'd; Viz.
We the Subscribers appointed a Committee by the General Court to run the Line between Groton & Nashoba & to lay out Five hundred Acres of Land in said Nashoba to the the [sic] Descendants of the Indians; Pursuant to said Order of Court, bearing Date Octobr 20th [November 2?] 1714, We the Subscribers return as follows;
That on the 30th. of November last, we met on the Premises, & heard the Information of the Inhabitants of Groton, Nashoba & others of the Neighbouring Towns, referring to the Line that has been between Groton & Nashoba & seen several Records, out of Groton Town Book, & considered other Writings, that belong to Groton & Nashoba, & We have considered all, & We have run the Line (Which we account is the old Line between Groton & Nashoba;) We began next Chelmsford Line, at a Heap of Stones, where, We were informed, that there had been a great Pine Tree, the Northeast Corner of Nashoba, and run Westerly by many old mark'd Trees, to a Pine Tree standing on the Southerly End of Brown Hill mark'd N and those marked Trees had been many times marked or renewed, thô they do not stand in a direct or strait Line to said Pine Tree on said Brown Hill; And then from said Brown Hill we turned a little to the East of the South, & run to a white Oak being an old Mark, & so from said Oak to a Pitch Pine by a Meadow, being an other old Mark; & the same Line extended to a white Oak near the North east Corner of Stow: And this is all, as we were informed, that Groton & Nashoba joins together: Notwithstanding the Committees Opinion is, that Groton Men be continued in their honest Rights, thô they fall within the Bounds of Nashoba; And We have laid out to the Descendants of the Indians Five hundred Acres at the South east Corner of the Plantation of Nashoba; East side, Three hundred Poles long, West side three hundred Poles, South & North ends, Two hundred & eighty Poles broad; A large white Oak marked at the North west Corner, & many Line Trees we marked at the West side & North End, & it takes in Part of two Ponds.
Dated Decemr 14. 1714.
HOPESTILL BROWN
TIMOTHY WILY
JOSEPH BURNAP
Consented to
J Dudley.
The incorporation of Nashobah on November 2, 1714, settled many of the disputes connected with the lands; but on December 3 of the next year, the name was changed from Nashobah to Littleton. As already stated, the plan of the original Groton grant had never been returned by the proprietors to the General Court for confirmation, and this neglect had acted to their prejudice. After Littleton had been set off, the town of Groton undertook to repair the injury and make up the loss. John Shepley and John Ames were appointed agents to bring about the necessary confirmation by the General Court. It is an interesting fact to know that in their petition (General Court Records, x, 216, February 11, 1717, in the office of the secretary of state) they speak of having in their possession at that time the original plan of the town, made by Danforth in the year 1668, though it was somewhat defaced. In the language of the Records, it was said to be "with the Petitioner," which expression in the singular number may have been intentional, referring to John Shepley, probably the older one, as certainly the more influential, of the two agents. This plan was also exhibited before the General Court on June 18, 1713, according to the Records (ix, 263) of that date.
The case, as presented by the agents, was as follows:—
A petition of John Sheply & John Ames Agents for the Town of Groton Shewing that the General Assembly of the Province did in the year 1655, Grant unto Mr Dean Winthrop & his Associates a Tract of Land of Eight miles quare for a Plantation to be called by the name of Groton, that Thoms & Jonathan Danforth did in the year 1668, lay out the said Grant, but the Plat thereof through Neglect was not returned to the Court for Confirmation that the said Plat thô something defaced is with the Petitioner, That in the Year 1713 Mr Samuel Danforth
