History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

46 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Bulkley, Whetcomb & Powers & to Cap'" Rob-
ert Mears as assignee of Maj' Hinchman, ac-
cording to their respective Proportions. Reserv-
ing to
y'^ inhabitants who have settled within those
bounds their settlements, with divisions of Land
in Proportion to y^ grantees & such as shall here-
after be admitted, y" s* Occupants or present in-
habitants Paying proportion as others shall pay
for their alotments. Provided y° s"* Plantation be
Settled with Thirty-five familys & an Orthodox
Minister in three years time.
" And y' five Hundred acres of Land be Reserved
and layd out for y° benefit of any of y° Desend-
ants of y" Lidian proprietors of y'' s** Plantation that
may be surviving, a Proportion whereof to be for
Sarah Dublet alias Sarah Indian, the Revrend M''
John Levret & Spencer Pliips esq' to be trustees
for y' s"" Lidians to take care of y'' s*" Reserved to
their use.
" And it is farther ordered y' Cap'" Hopestill
Browne M' Timothy Wiley and J\P Joseph Bur-
nap of Reading be a Committee to lay out y" s*"
five hundred acres of Land reserved for y" Lidians
& to runn ye line between Groaton & Nashoba at y''
Charge of both partyes & make Report to this Court
& however the line may divide y' land with re-
gard to y' Townships y" y" Proprietors on either
side may be continued in y'' possession of their im-
provements paying as afore s*", & no mans Legal
rite or Property in ye s* Lands is hereby infringed."
The grantees drew up a paper agreeing to throw
all the land in common and draw out their several
proportions, admitting as associates Paul Dudley,
Esq., Addington Davenport, Esq., and Mr. John
Wiiite, all of Boston. The paper is signed by
Addington Davenport, Jona. Prescott, Walter Powers,
Jno. White, John Hancock, Josiah Whetcomb,
Joseph Bulkley, Daniel Powers, William
Powers, Robert Robbins, Robert Mears, John
Bulkley, Increase Powers, Isaac Powers, Paul
Dudley, Thos. Powers, and Eleazer Laurance.
Of these original proprietors, a few lived in the
town, the majority in the adjoining towns. The
committee above mentioned made a report upon
the Groton bounds, which they decided were the
original ones, and though rather indefinitely stated,
were probably the same as laid down by Jonathan
Danforth and by a former committee of the Gen-
eral Court.
The five hundred acres for the Indians were laid
out in tlie soullicasl corner of the town as it was
then, taking in parts of Nagog and Fort Ponds.
The latter is so called from an Indian fort, which
once stood. near its shores, and part of it Speen's
End, from an Indian of that name. There are
many other things to indicate that quarter of the
town as a favorite one with the red men; it is
now called Newtown, a name probably given to it
about 1734, when, by sale from the last survivor,
it came into the possession of white men.
The name Littleton was given to the town by
act of the General Court, December 3, 1715 (a
date which has been erroneously given for the
incorporation), as a compliment, it is said, to the
Hon. George Lyltleton, M. P., one of the commis-
sioners of the treasury, in return for which the
noble gentleman presented the town with a church
bell ; but on account of an error in spelling, by
substituting "i" for "y," the present was with-
held, with the excuse that no such town as Lyttle-
ton could be found, and was sold by the person
having it in charge. The first recorded townmeeting,
for the choice of officers, was held March
13, 1715-16; the selectmen chosen were Samuel
Dudley, John Perrum, John Cobleigh, Moses Whitney,
and William Powers. On the 9th of May
following, the Rev. Benjamin Shattuck, A. M.,
was chosen minister for the town, at a salary of
£55 a year, to advance 'IQs a year until it
amounted to £70.
Mr. Shattuck was born in Watertown, July 30,
1678, graduated at Harvard College in 1709, and
for six years following was teacher of the grammar
and English school in Watertown, studying
for the ministry in the meantime. He was ordained
the first minister of Littleton, December
35, 1717, and continued this connection until
August 24, 1730, when it was agreed, by mutual
consent, that a council be called for his dismission.
He continued to reside in the town, in the house
now owned by Mrs. Eliza Hartwell, until his death
in 1763.
The first meeting-house — which we may imag-
ine a rough, barn-like structure, without bell or
steeple, with doors on the east, south, and west
sides — stood on the Old Common, in front of tlie
house of John B. Robinson, where it was located
to accommodate those Concord and Chelmsford
families who worshipped in it. Reference is made
to a meeting-house in 1717, and it is ])robable
iliat the building was in an unfinished condition at
the time of Mr. Shattuck's ordination, and re-
mained incomjilete until tlie year 17:13.
Xumcvous attempts were made to liave the