History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

]T~^l"-!>] COL. JOHN STODDARD. 171
and a fterwai'ds became Chief Justice of the Court. Gov.
Px'lclier, in 1729, added other legal duties, bestowing upon
liini the office of Judge of Probate for Hampsliire County.
Both of these offices he held through life. He was the
third Judge of the latter court, succeeding Col. Samuel
Partridge of Hatfield, who served twenty-six years. In
1736, Gov. Belcher appointed Col. Stoddard one of the Justices
of the Superior Court, and the council "advised and
consented ; " but he never acted in that capacity, probably
declining the position.
Land Graut at Pitts- The General Court in 1734, granted Col.
f"''"i- Stoddard one thousand acres of unappropriated
land in Hampshire County. This
was made
'•in consideration of services and snflferings in and for the public :
in divers journies to Canada, Albany and the western parts, upon pub-
lic affairs, his serving in the war with good success, his transactions
with the Canada Indians and his entertaining at his house without any
expense to the Province."
This tract, which was four hundred rods square, he selected
within what is now the township of Pittsfield, and
the grant was confirmed two years afterwards. The
same year he petitioned the County Court for permission
to lease from the Housatonnuck Indians a tract of land six
miles square, for nine hundred ninety years, proposing to
pay them £6 annually. He contended that one thousand
acres were not enough to induce people to settle upon and
establish a townshi]x The court granted the petition, and
the lease was consummated. At his death he owned land
at Pontoosuck,^ now Pittsfield, estimated to be worth
£6,000. Grants of land made to him by the town of Northampton,
in payment for services in settling boundary lines
and other gratuitous labors, have been heretofore noted.
Little to be found A bare Catalogue of the offices held by any
upon the Records active citizeu is but a meagre statement of
Conoerning the,. „, -, , -lii
Motives of Prom- his usctulness, and reveals mainly the popinent
Men. \\\av side of liis character. Yet it shows
the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen and
1 For further particulars of Col. Stoddard's transactions in real estate at Pon-
toosuck, see History of Pittsfield. vol. 1, pp. C2-68.