History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

unless able to read in the Bible readily without
spelling."
The act of incorporation was ])asspd Septem-
ber 28, 1793. It recites that over £1,000 had
been given by various parties for the establishment
of the academy, but the records of the early meet-
ings of the subscribers specify only the gifts above
mentioned. In May, 1797, a committee of the
trustees was appointed to attend to and investigate
the interest of the corporation in a late grant of
land in the district of Maine. This grant con-
sisted of half a townsliip of hind, wiiich was sold
not long after for S.5,81U, as appears by the report
of the committee. It contained, as stated in their
report, 11,.5;10 acres, and was sold for fifty cents
per acre.
The first meeting of the trustees under the act
of incorporation was held on the 3d of April, 1794,
at the house of ilr. Joel Abbot. At this meeting
the arrangements appeared to liave been completed,
or nearly so, for the orderly working of the insti-
tution. James Prescott, .Ir., was chosen secretary
of the board, and was re-eleeted fm- several succes-
sive years. Tiie Rev. Closes Adams of Acton was
chosen president pro lein, and the Rev. Edmund
Foster of Littleton and the Rev. Hezekiali Packard
of Chelmsford Avere cliosen tnisti