CT THE UNIVERSI OF CALIFORN JEFFERSON. 303 and deliver your Remonstrants from the Evils that threaten us and we as in duty bound Shall ever pray Jaffrey may ye 24th 1787 We the Sub being inhabitants of that part of Jaffrey which is prayed for in the petition of Peterborroughslip do hereby give our Consent to the within Address and Remonstrance and have hereunto Set our Names Benja Prescott JEFFERSON. The township was granted October 3, 1765, to Col. John Goffe of Derryfield and others, in 64 equal shares, by the name of Dartmouth. As in case of most of the Wentworth grants, one share was reserved for a glebe for the Episcopal church; one share for the first settled minister; one share for the benefit of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ;" and one share for the benefit of a school in said town. The proprietors not making settlements agreeably to said grant, it was regranted June 26, 1772, with new boundaries, to Hon. Theodore Atkinson and other influential men in different parts of the state, among whom were Col. Joseph Hammond, Col. Josiah Willard, and others from Cheshire county. Col. Joseph Whipple and Samuel Hart, of Portsmouth, made settlements in the town soon after the regrant, but the population increased slowly, and there were but twenty-four families in town in 1793. It was incorporated with town privileges December 8, 1796, and named in honor of Thomas Jefferson. By an act of the legislature, approved December 7, 1842, some territory was severed frem Kilkenny, and annexed to this town. [5-190] [John Goffe relative to Township Bounds, 1770.] Province of New Hampsh To His Excellency John Wentworth Esq' Captain General, Governor & Commander in Chief in and over his Majestys Province aforesaid in Council The Petition of John Goffe of Derryfield in said Province Esq, in behalf of Himself and the other Proprietors of the township of Dartmouth unto y Excellency & the Honourable Council most humbly shews That your Petitioners obtained a Grant of the said Township from Benning Wentworth Esq' late Governor of this Province in Behalf of his Majesty, with whom y' Petitioners entred into certain Stipulations on their part to be done and performed in Settlement of said Township, which they humbly beg leave to assure y' Excelly & Honours that they should have fulfilled, but the Want of Roads, the scarcity of Grain, the distance of its Situation from Settlements, and in a more especial manner, the Difficulty they have been at to ascertain the Locality of said Township by Reason of the Bounds of Lancaster being very loose & uncertain through the Geography of the River of Connecticut not being at the time of their said Grant particularly known, as it has since by actual Survey been found, whereby it made a material alteration in ye bounds of sd Lancaster, and consequently affected the Lines of Dartmouth, all which Difficulties have necessitated y' Petitioners to supplicate y Excellency & Honours to extend your favours, by granting them a further time to fulfill their Charter, as they are determined to pursue it having got clear of chief of those embarrassments and been at great expence in compleating their necessary Roads which are especially and materially conducive to their Designs -Wherefore they humbly pray y' Excelly & Honours to grant the Prayer of this Petition for the Reasons sett forth, and as in Duty bound, yr Petitioners will ever pray.— Portsm° Dec 12th 1770 John Goffe [This extension was not granted, but the township was regranted to other parties, June 26, 1772.-ED.] [5-188] [Order to survey a Tract of Land for David Page, 1773.] Province of New Hampshire To Mr Edwards Bucknam of Lancaster in said Province You are hereby required and directed to survey and admeasure and plainly and impartially to mark out for Mr David Page (who is to pay your Expence) a tract of Crown Land in said Province to contain one thousand acres & no more, and make return thereof into my office with all convenient speed for which this shall be your sufficient warrant. Dated at Portsm° the 26th day of January 1773 Is: Rindge [Isaac Rindge was surveyor-general of lands for the province. The following is Bucknam's return :-ED.] this Plan was Laid Down in the form that David Page Esq' Proposed to have it Laid out to him at ye South Easterly corner of Dartmouth as he had a warrant By order of Court from the Surveyor general for the survey of 1000 acres of Land where he should Please to Pitch it, in any ungranted Lands, which warrant was Directed to me Edwd Bucknam Surveyor of Land [The plan is a rude rectangular parallelogram, representing a tract 320 by 500 rods, bounded on the north by Dartmouth line.-ED.] [5-191] [Petition for an Act of Incorporation, 1793.] State of New Hampshire. To the honorable Senate, and house of representatives convened in general assembly. The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of a place called Dartmouth, in the County of Grafton, and State of New Hampshire, humbly sheweth, that said Dartmouth is inhabited by twenty four families, which labor under many inconveniences for want of legal authority to conduct town business, in consequence of which, they suffer much on account of highways being neglected, which not only injures the inhabitants, but has a tendency to retard further settlement: wherefore your petitioners pray this honorable court to consider their case, and incorporate them into a town, that they may be vested with such authority as other towns within said State by law exercise and enjoy. And your petitioners shall ever pray Dartmouth 29th May 1793. John Marden Samuel Hart Richard Stalbird John holmes Elijah Moulton [In H. of Rep., June 12, 1793, a hearing was ordered for the second Thursday of the next session. Notice was to be published in the N. H. Gazette, and posted in the town, which Samuel Marden, on the eighteenth of December, 1793, certifies was done. This petition was not granted, and another was presented by Col. Joseph Whipple, as agent for the town, dated May 20, 1796, which was granted.—ED.] KEENE. This was one of the Massachusetts grants, made in accordance with a vote of the general court of that province of July, 1733. On the 19th of October following, a committee, consisting of Joseph Kellog, Timothy Dwight, and William Chandler, was appointed to lay out the townships on Ashuelot river forthwith. They reported in February, 1734, and the township was lotted in May or June following. The first proprietors' meeting was held in Concord, Mass., June 26, 1734; and in September following Jeremiah Hall, Daniel Hoar, Josiah Fisher, Elisha Root, Nathaniel Rockwood, Seth Heaton, and William Puffer visited Upper Ashuelot, as the place was called, and held a proprietors' meeting. Some settlements were made, and a fort built soon after, but the town was abandoned in 1746, in consequence of the atrocities of Canadian Indians, and not again occupied until 1750. The settlement of the province line determined the township to be within the limits of New Hampshire; and a petition, dated February 2, 1753, was addressed to the governor, asking to have the grant confirmed, and the township chartered. Their request was granted, the town being incorporated April 11, 1753, and named by the governor in honor of Sir Benjamin Keene, an English baronet. The main street was originally laid out but four rods. wide, and the city owes a debt of gratitude to the proprietors, who, at a meeting held September 30, 1736, voted to widen it, giving the proprietors of the lots on the west side four rods wide on the rear of their lots, they surrendering four rods in front, thus making a beautiful street eight rods in width, which is admired by all visitors. The north-east corner of the town was set off September 27, 1787, united with portions of Gilsum, Stoddard, and Packersfield, and incorporated into the town of Sullivan. Another portion was set off from the east side December 9, 1812, united with portions of Packersfield and Marlborough, and incorporated into the town of Roxbury. An act passed the legislature in 1865, granting a city charter, but they refused to adopt the same. Another act was passed July 3, 1873, which was adopted. Col. Isaac Wyman was Lieut. Col. in the First Regiment under Stark in 1775, and until appointed colonel in July, 1776. Among other prominent Revolutionary men were Samuel Wetherbee, Davis Howlett, and William, Timothy, and Benjamin Ellis, all of whom held commissions, and did good service in the field. Keene owes much of its beauty to the good sense of the inhabitants in years past in keeping intact, in many instances, the original lots, thus giving ample grounds around their residences, and avoiding that crowded and irregular appearance that mars so many of our New England cities. [5-1941 and 195 are ancient plans of Keene and Swanzey.—ED.] [5-196] [Agent appointed to get the Town incorporated, 1750.] We whose Names are Hereunto Subscribed Inhabitants of the upper Ashuelot for a Long time Labour under many Great Difficulties for want of Town Priviledges we Do Therefore Hereby Constitute and Impower our Trusty friend Capt Jeremiah Hall to Represent our Difficulties to his Excellency the |