History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

145 HISTOnV OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
large enough to accommodate the whole town.
Ill 1757 and 1758 the town had two porches built,
one on the east end and another on the west end.
This house was used for public worship ninety- •
five years, and exclusively for town-meetings four I
years. It was taken down in 1810. This and the
two meeting-houses before it were situated about
a rod or two north of the present horse-trough
on Main Street.
In 16S1' measures were taken to perfect the title
of Marlborough to its lands, for as yet the proprie-
tors had simply the permission of the court to
settle on them. For about thirty years they had
cultivated the soil, apparently without thought of
purchasing the right of the natives. The Indians,
iiowever, were not unmindful of tlieir claim, and
by virtue of it " were continually making demands
upon the towiie." At length, after the cessation
of hostilities, the Indian plantation being broken
up and most of its possessors dispersed, the
tribe to which they belonged asserted their rigiit
in the whole township. A committee of tiiree per-
sons was appointed to confer with the claimants
and as the residt, April 17 and Is, Major IVlcr
liulkl.y and Captain Thoiiins JlnirkMrnin, Ki-cthrr
with tile (ounnittee, agreed to ])ay l-'ll for a, (Urd
in full. Tlie money was immediately raised, and
the deed was signed at Natick, June 12, 1684.
The town now endeavored to possess itself of the
Indian reservation. On the loth of July, a little
more than a month after securing all rights in
their own possessions, they obtained a deed for the
whok' of tlie Indian plantation, some 5,800 acres,
with the exception of the Indian planting-field,
which had been already conveyed to General Gookiii,
and was bought of his three sons for the town in
KISS. I!, It wilhin three months the ( U-wvA ( 'oiirl
on pcliliononhc Indians, dcrhuvdlh;, I the ,l,v,l of
sale was null and void, because illegal, " being made
and done expressly contrary to the law and order of
this court." Despite the invalidity of their title,
thus formally and authoritatively pronounced, the
proprietors, after a delay of about two years, proceeded
to divide and appropriate the land. The
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first division consisted of thirty acres to each, of In their records about this time there is one
the land best in quality and situation. The task
of surveying was assigned to Mr. John l^righam, —
noteworthy transact ioii. Among the jiroprietors
was Mr. John Parry, who owned two and a half
of whom it should be said, in ])assing, that he was acres back of the meeting-honse. The town natu-
one of the most popular and remarkable men of his rally desired to have their graveyard, as was the
ilay, having considerable capacity for public allaiis, ancient custcun, close to their meeting-house. Here-
nnusual ability us a surveyor, and some miibition
as a lan.l sprrulal..r ; lie was stvled "Doctor," and
,
was returned as representative from Marlborough
in 1688, and from Sudbury in 1706. The pro-
prietors engaged to board him while at work, and
to pay five shillings a day, one half in money, the
other half in rye and Indian corn, the one at four
shillings a bushel, the other at three. The land
w'as apportioned by lot. The proprietors now
took measures to make their tenure secure, in spite
of its illegality, by binding themselves togetlier in
such a way that each might possess his part undis-
turbed.
At their meeting in March, 1695, it -ivas agreed
and subscribed to, " that whatsoever has been done
and acted by the company or the major part of
them as to any grants or acts or orders about the
land purchased from the Indians as will further
appear by a deed of sale recorded in court rolls
shall stand good to all intents and purposes if it
be attested under the hand of John Brigham."
The agreement concludes by stating it was passed
by a full vote, and " that it should stand good
to all intents and purposes for ever."
At a meetiiiL;- of the proprietors held February 15,
nil.'), it was voted that "they would try to come
into a way for a confirmatioii of g" laiid." The
rccoi'd continues," Alt s" same meeting it was voted
y' till y would eliuse three men to atain a confoar-
malioii of s' land if may be." The committee
consisted of James Sawyer, Thomas How, and Nathaniel
Jonson. On the 15th they were empow-
ered " to take such sutable methods as they shall
think fitt, or shall by y' best advice and instruc-
tions as they find to be most sutable for y' Pro-
curing of a Conformation of this our Purchase
according to f General Courts grant."
February J, 1709, "It was acted that they
would make arttekles to bind ourselves in covenent
wlii'ivliy wliai we do may stand in force." These
articles provided that "all grants, acts, and records
now entered in our book of records .... shall
stand good for ever," and that all money granted
by the company "at an orderly meeting" for
mutual defence should be raised by "every par-
ticular parson paying his equcl projiotion."
tofore they iiad buried in wliat is now called Spring
Hill Cemetery ; tliercfore at a meeting of the pro-