[Illustration: Engraved by Geo. E. Perine, New York. Grover Cleveland]
THE
BAY STATE MONTHLY.
_A Massachusetts Magazine_.
VOL. II.
NOVEMBER, 1884.
No. 2.
* * * * *
GROVER CLEVELAND.
By HENRY H. METCALF.
Save only that of Ulysses S. Grant, no name in America has come from
comparative obscurity into national eminence in so short a time as that
of GROVER CLEVELAND.
The fame of Grant was wrought out through the exigencies of a great
civil war, in which the unity of the Republic was the issue involved.
The distinction which Cleveland has achieved comes of valiant service in
another field of conflict, wherein the issue involves the perpetuity and
dominance of the great principles which constitute the framework and
fibre of republican government itself. Under ordinary circumstances,
probably, neither Grant nor Cleveland would have risen above the plane
of every-day life. The same, too, might perhaps justly be said even of
Washington. In the history of human progress it will be seen that every
great crisis involving the triumph of the principles and tendencies
which make for the moral, social, or political advancement of mankind
has developed a leader endowed with the special qualities demanded by
the occasion.
The brilliant and self-assertive men who press forward to leadership in
ordinary times, whether impelled by mere love of notoriety, personal
ambition, or an honest desire to promote the welfare of their
fellow-men, seldom become masters of the situation when a supreme
emergency arises. They may set in motion great contending forces; they
may precipitate conflicts whose ultimate outcome brings inestimable
benefit to mankind; but other hands and other minds are required to
direct the issue and shape the result. The master spirit of the occasion
is born thereof. Ulysses S. Grant had absolutely no part in bringing
about that great conflict of ideas and systems which culminated in the
war of the rebellion; nor had he even figured prominently in the field
of military achievement until long after hostilities were commenced, and
the struggle had assumed proportions entirely unforeseen by, and
actually appalling to, not only the people themselves, but those In
control of active operations in the field. But the emergency developed
the man required to meet it, and Grant came to the front.
So, too, in this later and greater conflict, which is to test the virtue
and determine the durability of popular government--whose outcome is to
decide whether political parties are to be the mere instruments through
which the people express their will, and whose relations can be changed
as the public good may seem to require, or whether the government itself
shall be subordinated to party, and its functions prostituted for the
perpetuation of party ascendency and the aggrandizement of corrupt and
selfish individuals--the leader in whom the hopes of those who contend
for the supremacy of the popular will, the surbordination of party-power
to public welfare, and the administration of the government in the
interests of the whole people, are now thoroughly centred, is one who
has gained no distinction in shaping partisan contests, and won no
laurels in the halls of legislation or the forum of public debate. He
is, simply, the man who, in the last few years, first in one, and then
in another still more important position of official responsibility, has
demonstrated more emphatically than any other in recent times (possibly
because circumstances have more generally drawn attention in his
direction) his thorough devotion to the doctrine that public office is a
public trust; and has, therefore, been selected as the best
representative and exponent of the popular idea in the great political
conflict about to be brought to an issue.
The purpose and scope of this brief article permit no detailed account
of the private life or public career of Grover Cleveland. Those who have
cared to do so have already familiarized themselves with the same
through the ordinary channels; yet, as a matter of record, a few salient
facts may be presented.
Grover Cleveland was born in the village of Caldwell, near Newark, New
Jersey, March 18, 1837. His paternal ancestry was of the substantial
English stock.
I. Aaron Cleveland, an early settler in the valley of the Connecticut.
He was liberally educated, and, ardently devoted to the interests of the
Church, he determined to take holy orders, and returned to England for
confirmation therein. Coming back to America he settled in the ministry
at East Haddam, Conn. Some fifteen years later, in August, 1757, he
died, while on a visit to Philadelphia, at the residence of his friend,
Benjamin Franklin, then publisher of the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, who
spoke of him, in an obituary notice in his paper, as "a gentleman of a
humane and pious disposition, indefatigable in his ministry, easy and
affable in his conversation, open and sincere in his friendship, and
above every species of meanness and dissimulation."
II. Aaron Cleveland, born at East Haddam, Conn., February 9, 1744. He
was a hatter by trade and located in Norwich, which town he represented
in the Legislature, where he introduced a bill for the abolition of
slavery, of which institution he was a determined opponent. Subsequently
he became a Congregational clergyman, and a power in that denomination.
He died at New Haven in 1815.
III. William Cleveland, second son of the above, a silversmith by
occupation, also dwelt in Norwich. His wife was Margaret Falley. He was
prosperous in business, respected in the community, and deacon of the
church of which his father had been pastor for a quarter of a century
previous to his decease.
IV. Richard Falley Cleveland, second son of William, born in 1804,
graduated from Yale in 1824 with high honors. He, too, became a
clergyman, having adopted the Presbyterian faith, and pursued his
studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, after serving a year as a
tutor in Baltimore, where he made the acquaintance of Miss Anne Neale,
daughter of a prominent law publisher of Irish birth, with whom he
united in marriage after completing his studies, in 1829. He was located
in pastorates, successively, at Windham, Conn.; Portsmouth, Va.;
Caldwell, N.J., and Fayetteville, N.Y. Subsequently, moved by failing
health, he sought a change, and, as agent of the American Home
Missionary Society, located at Clinton. Two years later he returned to
pastoral service, though still In feeble health, establishing himself
and family at Holland Patent, a few miles north of the city of Utica.
Here he died suddenly, a few weeks after his removal, leaving to his
wife and nine children no other fortune than the legacy of an honorable
name, and the enduring influence of a true and devoted life.
V. Grover Cleveland, third son and fifth child of Richard Falley and
Anne (Neale) Ceveland, was sixteen years of age when his father died.
The sad event necessarily marked a turning-point in his career. He was
forced to look life and duty seriously in the face, and he proved
himself equal to the emergency. It had been a cherished hope of his
boyhood that he might secure the benefit of a classical education at
Hamilton College, from which his eldest brother, William (now a
Presbyterian clergyman at Forestport, N.Y.), had then recently
graduated. But this was now out of the question. He had not only to
provide for himself, but he felt bound to aid his mother in the support
of the younger members of the family. The idea of the college course,
for which he had partially fitted himself in the preparatory school at
Clinton, was relinquished, and the battle of life commenced in earnest.
He had already learned something of the lesson of self-reliance, having
served for a year or more as a clerk in a grocery at Fayetteville, and
he soon secured a situation as an assistant in the Institution for the
Blind in the city of New York, where his brother William was then
engaged as a teacher. Here he remained nearly two years, faithfully
discharging the duties assigned him, and promptly forwarding to his
mother such portion of his moderate wages as remained after providing
for his own personal necessities. The situation, however, grew irksome.
As the young man's capabilities developed his ambition was aroused.
There was no way of advancement open before him here, and he felt that
his duty to himself, as well as others, demanded that he make the best
practicable use of the powers with which he was endowed. Returning home
for a short visit, and taking counsel with his mother, he soon set out
for the "West," the field toward which ambitious young men have turned,
with hearts full of hope, for the last half century.
His proposed destination was Cleveland, Ohio; his cherished ambition the
study and practice of the law. He was accompanied on his journey by a
young friend of kindred aspirations. Arriving at Buffalo he called on an
uncle, Mr. Lewis F. Allen, who had a fine stock farm, just out of the
city, and who finally induced him to remain there, promising to secure
him admission to a law office in Buffalo. He remained with his uncle for
a time, assisting him in the preparation of the manuscript of the
"American Herd Book," a work upon which he was then engaged; but in the
course of a few months (in August, 1855) he secured admission as a
student in one of the best known law offices of the city--that of
Rogers, Bowen, & Rogers. Blessed with good health and industrious
habits, with an earnest determination to succeed, he entered upon the
work before him. For a time he boarded at his uncle's house, taking the
long walk to and from the office at morning and night; but after a few
months he was enabled to be of such assistance in the office in clerical
and other work, that, from the modest compensation allowed, he secured
lodgings in the city and provided for all his humble wants.
After four years of unremitting study and toil, he was admitted to the
Erie county bar, having laid the foundation for future professional
success in a thorough mastery of legal principles and all the details of
practice, and in those well-established habits of thought and
application by which his subsequent life has been so fully
characterized. He had gained, also, the confidence and esteem of his
preceptors and employers, and after his admission continued with them as
confidential clerk in charge of the office business, receiving a salary
which enabled him, then, to contribute materially to the assistance of
his mother in providing for the wants of the family and maintaining the
comforts of the humble home in Holland Patent, toward which his fondest
thoughts have turned in all the years of his busy life, and where such
periods of recreation as he has felt warranted in indulging have mainly
been spent.
In 1863 Mr. Cleveland received an appointment as assistant district
attorney for Erie county, a strong testimonial to the legal abilities of
so youthful a practitioner, considering the array of professional talent
in the county and the responsibilities of the position. The war was then
in progress; two brothers, one the next older, and the other younger
than himself, had enlisted in the Union army; and when, a few months
after his appointment, as he had fairly familiarized himself with the
details of important cases intrusted to his care, he was himself
drafted, he pursued the only practicable course, and provided a
substitute for the service. In the fall of 1865, while yet serving as
deputy, he was unanimously selected by the Democratic Nominating
Convention as candidate for district attorney. The county was strongly
Republican, but young Cleveland received a support beyond his party
strength and was beaten, by a few hundred majority only, by the
Republican nominee, Lyman K. Bass, then and since his warm personal
friend.
Upon the expiration of his term of service as deputy district attorney,
in January, 1866, he entered actively into practice, having formed a
partnership with the late Isaac K. Vanderpoel, a prominent lawyer and
ex-State treasurer. The burden of the labor fell to the share of the
junior partner, and through his close attention to the interests of
clients the business of the firm soon became extensive and the income
fairly remunerative. Three years later the partnership was dissolved,
through the election of Mr. Vanderpoel as police judge, and soon after
the new firm of Cleveland, Laning, & Folsom was formed. In 1870 Mr.
Cleveland was urged by leading Democrats of Erie county to accept the
party nomination for sheriff. The proposition was by no means in
accordance with his desires or inclinations. The office, although a most
important one in a large and populous county, and commanding liberal
compensation in fees, was a most thankless one in many respects: its
duties, always delicate and exacting, sometimes disagreeable in the
extreme, and its responsibilities great. It was felt, however, that the
acceptance of this nomination by one who so thoroughly commanded the
confidence of the people, and whose professional training and experience
gave him superior qualification for the office, would insure to the
county ticket of the party, with due care in the selection of other
candidates, the strength necessary to success in the election. As a
loyal member of the party to whose principles he had ever been devotedly
attached, and in the support of whose cause he had labored in every
consistent capacity since becoming a voter, he finally yielded, accepted
the nomination, and, as had been hoped, was duly elected along with the
entire ticket. He administered the office, upon which he entered in
January following, upon strict business principles, and to the eminent
satisfaction of the courts, the bar, and the public at large, during the
full term of three years. There were no duties, however irksome, from
which he shrank; no responsibilities which he failed to meet in a
becoming manner; and when, on the first of January, 1874, his term
expired and he returned to his legal practice, it was with a larger
measure of popular esteem than he had ever before enjoyed.
In resuming professional labor he formed a partnership with his friend
and former antagonist, Lyman K. Bass, Mr. Wilson S. Bissel also becoming
a member of the firm. Now thirty-seven years of age, with mental powers
thoroughly developed, and a capacity for labor far greater than that
with which most men are favored, he was eminently well equipped for
substantial achievement in his chosen field of effort; and it is not too
much to say that, in the next seven years, during which he gave
uninterrupted attention to the work, he accomplished as much in the way
of honest professional triumph as any lawyer in Western New York. He
sought no mere personal distinction, but put his heart into his work,
and practically made his clients' interests his own. His judgment was
sound, his industry indefatigable, his integrity unquestioned. He was
eminently well fitted for judicial service, but could never be induced
to put himself in the way of preferment in that direction. He was
always the "working member" of the firms with which he was connected. As
an advocate, he made no pretensions to brilliancy; but in the
preparation of cases, and in the cogent statement of principles
involved, as well as in the effective presentation of pertinent facts,
he found no superiors, and few equals, among his associates at the bar.
Caring nothing for the pecuniary rewards of labor, beyond the provision
for his own modest wants and the comfort of those, in a measure,
depending upon his assistance, Mr. Cleveland has accumulated no large
fortune; although, with the opportunities at hand, had he made wealth
his object, he might have secured it. On the other hand, he has
befriended many a poor client to his own cost; and, while failing in
many cases to collect the fees which were his due, he has contributed to
public and private charities with a liberal, but unostentatious hand.
Though he has never posed as a "working-men's candidate" for official
preferment, the laboring people of his city and section have long known
him as the true and sympathetic friend of every honest son and daughter
of toil.
When, in the autumn of 1881, the people of the great city of Buffalo,
the third in the Empire State in population, and the second in
commercial importance, tired of the corruption, the robbery, and
oppression of the ring rule, which had fastened its grip upon them under
long years of Republican ascendency, turned at last to the Democratic
party for relief, the Democracy of the city saw in Grover Cleveland the
one man of all others with whom as their candidate for mayor, they might
reasonably hope to win, not simply a partisan triumph, but a victory for
honest government in which all patriotic citizens might well rejoice.
Much against his own will, after repeated solicitation on the part of
leading Democrats, and many Republicans, who appreciated his character
and fitness, he again consented to become the candidate of his party for
responsible office; and, at the election which followed, so great was
the desire for a change in municipal matters, and so general the
confidence in Mr. Cleveland as the man under whose direction the needed
reform might be effected, that his majority for mayor was about three
thousand five hundred, or nearly the same figure with which the
Republican ticket had ordinarily triumphed.
Entering upon the duties of his office as mayor, January 1, 1882, he
soon gave practical assurance of the fact that the people of Buffalo had
made no mistake in the selection of their chief municipal servant. In
his first message to the Common Council, which was replete with sound,
practical suggestions, he said:--
It seems to me that a successful and faithful administration of the
government of our city may be accomplished by constantly bearing in
mind that we are the trustees and agents of our fellow-citizens,
holding their funds in sacred trust to be expended for their
benefit; that we should at all times be prepared to render an
honest account to them touching the matter of its expenditure; and
that the affairs of the city should be conducted as far as possible
upon the same principles as a good businessman manages his private
concerns.
It suffices to say that, so far as the mayor himself was concerned, and
so far as his power and influence extended, he lived up fully to the
letter and spirit of this suggestion. Although hampered by an adverse
political majority in the Common Council, still measurably under the
influence of the old rings, and more intent upon preventing the mayor
from winning public favor which might, perchance, inure to the benefit
of his party (though standing himself entirely beyond party in his
relations to the public welfare), than upon the faithful discharge of
their own duties, he succeeded, by the force of his own earnest
personality, by searching investigation into the workings of all the
departments of city affairs, by the ruthless exposure and denunciation
of various corrupt schemes of jobbery and plunder, and by the persistent
recommendation of measures and methods which commended themselves to his
judgment, in accomplishing much in the way of the reform for which his
election had been sought. He used the veto power with a vigor and a
significance which had characterized the action of no predecessor in the
office, and often regardless of the fact that its exercise might be
distorted by designing enemies, personal or political, to insure him at
least the temporary disapprobation of large classes of citizens; but he
used it only when fully satisfied, through patient research and careful
deliberation, that duty and obligation imperatively required it. It is
conceded that in his brief year's administration he saved a million of
dollars to the city treasury, stamped out numerous abuses, and
stimulated the spirit of faithful devotion in various branches of the
municipal service. Men of all parties unite in saying that the city of
Buffalo was never favored with the services of a more faithful,
conscientious, and thoroughly impartial executive head.
But he was not to continue the work of administrative reform in that
particular field of labor. The people had called him "up higher." His
reputation as a true Democrat, an honest reformer, and a faithful public
servant, had spread abroad through the State, and when the Democratic
State Convention assembled in the early autumn of that year it was
clearly apparent that the nomination of Grover Cleveland, the reform
mayor of Buffalo, as the candidate of the party for the supreme
magistracy of the Empire State, was the one certain guaranty of
overwhelming Democratic victory at the polls. That nomination was
promptly made, and the result which followed was without parallel in the
annals of American political history. He was elected governor by a
majority of nearly two hundred thousand, and, although internal
dissensions in the Republican party, then existing, contributed largely
to the general result, the most significant feature of the election is
found in the fact that the largest relative Democratic gain was made in
his own county of Erie, where he received upwards of seven thousand
majority against more than three thousand majority for Garfield in the
last presidential election, showing him strongest before the people
where his personal character and attributes, as well as his
qualifications for positions of high public trust, are most thoroughly
known.
As governor of New York, which position he has occupied for the last
twenty months, first with a Democratic and later with a Republican
legislature, Mr. Cleveland has followed the same rule of official
conduct adopted for his guidance in other positions. Mindful of all
proper obligations to his own political party, he has never permitted
party demands to stand in the way of his duty to the public and the
State. Believing, to quote his own language, "in an open and sturdy
partisanship which secures the legitimate advantages of party
supremacy," he also believes that parties were made for the people, and
declares himself "unwilling, knowingly, to give assent to measures
purely partisan which will sacrifice or endanger the people's
interests." In the office of governor, as well as in that of mayor, he
has made vigorous but discriminate use of the veto power, and in the one
case, as in the other, it has invariably been found, upon candid
investigation, that his action has been taken under a profound sense of
the binding authority of the fundamental law, and with an unflinching
regard for the rights and interests of the whole people,--however
violent, at times, may have been the denunciation of demagogic
opponents, or clamorous the protests of those who sought merely
temporary advantages in particular directions, regardless of ultimate
results upon the general welfare. In this, as in other positions, his
general line of action has been such as to command the hearty approval
of patriotic men of all parties; and if he has incurred the hostility of
any, it has been through his opposition to the schemes of corrupt rings
and the purposes of selfish individuals, which he regarded detrimental
to the public good; or through his support of wholesome measures,
calculated to protect the body politic, and thwart their illegitimate
designs in other directions.
And now, Grover Cleveland stands before the people of the whole country
the duly nominated candidate of the Democratic party for the highest
office in the gift of the Republic; while his candidacy is indorsed and
enthusiastically supported by tens of thousands of pure and unselfish
men of the opposite party, who see, through his election, the only hope
of a return to constitutional methods and honest practices in the
administration of the Federal Government, without which ere long the
complete and irremediable subversion and destruction of the government
itself will be accomplished. This candidacy comes not through his own
seeking. Grover Cleveland never sought an office in all his life. He has
consented to serve his fellow-citizens in public station only at their
solicitation and command. He has served them faithfully and well so far
as he has been called, and none need fear that, if called to still
higher responsibilities and a broader field of duty, he will not prove
equal to the emergency--equally true to himself and his trust.
Grover Cleveland is a man "cast in nature's noblest mould." Of
commanding presence, with a physical development commensurate with his
mental powers, thoroughly democratic in habit and manner, accessible to
all, meeting the humblest and highest upon equal terms, sympathizing
heartily with the honest laborer in every field of action, frank and
outspoken in his opinions, hating hypocrisy and sham with all his soul,
fighting corruption and dishonesty wherever he finds them, respecting
the opinions and listening to the suggestions of others, but acting
invariably in accordance with his own convictions of right, he fills the
perfect measure of honest manhood; and whether he be President of the
American Republic, or simple citizen, he will never, it is safe to
assume, forfeit either his own self-respect, or the confident regard of
his fellow-men.
* * * * *
BOUNDARY LINES OF OLD GROTON.--IV.
BY THE HON. SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN.
About this time it was proposed to form a new township from Groton,
Lancaster, and Harvard, including a small parcel of land, known as Stow
Leg, a strip of territory perhaps two hundred rods in width and a mile
in length, lying west of the Nashua river. This "Leg" had belonged
originally to Stow, but by the incorporation of Harvard had become
wholly detached from that town. The proposed township covered nearly the
same territory as that now occupied by Shirley. The attempt, however,
does not appear to have been successful. The following covenant, signed
by certain inhabitants of the towns interested in the movement, is on
file, and with it a rough plan of the neighborhood; but I find no other
allusion to the matter either in petitions or records.
We the Subscribers being Inhabitants of the Extream Parts of
Groton Lancaster and Harvard as allso the Proprietors of the Land
belonging to the Town of Stow (which Land is Scituate, Lying and
being Between the Towns above said Namely Groton Lancaster and
Harvard) Do Covenant and Promise to and with Each other And We Do
Hereby of our own Free Will and Motion In the Exercise of Love and
Charity Towards one another with Mutual Consent in the strongest
Manner Binding our Selves the Subscribers each and every of us
Conjointly one to another (for the Gosples Sake) Firmly Covenanting
and Promising to and with Each other that we will as Speedely as
may be with Conveniency Petition the Several Towns to which we
Respectively belong and Likewise the Great and General Court That
we may be Erected or Incorporated into a Destinct and separate
Township of our Selves with those Lands within the Bounds and
Limits Here after Described viz Beginning at the River called
Lancaster [Nashua] River at the turning of Sd River Below the Brige
called John Whits Brige & Runing Northerly to Hell Pond and on
Still to the Line Betwixt Harvard and Groton Including John Farwell
then to Coyecus Brook Leaveing the Mills and Down Said Brook to the
River and down Said River to the Rye ford way then Runing Westerly
to the Northerly End of Horse Pond & so on to Luningburg Line,
Including Robert Henry & Daniel Page and then Runing Southerly
Extendig Beyound Luningburg So far Into Lancaster as that Running
Easterly the Place on which Ralph Kindal formerly Lived Shall be
Included and so on Running Easterly to the Turn in the River first
mentioned
Moreover we Do Covenant Promise and Engage Truly and Faithfully
that will Consent to and Justifie any Petition that Shall be
Prefered in our names and behalf to our Respective Towns and to the
Great & General Court for the Ends and Purposes above Mentioned
Furthermore we Do Covenant Promise and Engage as above that we will
advance money for and Pay all Such Reasonable and necessary Charges
that may arise in the Prosecuting and Obtaining our Said Petitions
and that we will Each and Every of us Respectively Endever to
Promote and Maintain Peace Unity Concord and Good Agreement
amoungst our Selves as Becometh Christians
And now haveing thus Covenanted as above Said We Do Each and Every
one of us who have Hereunto Subscribed Protest and Declare that
Every Article and Parigraph and Thing Containd in the above Writen
Shall be Absolutely and Unacceptionably Binding in Manner and form
as above Declared and Shall So Continue upon and Against Each and
Every one of us untill we are Erected or Incorporated Into a
Township as above said or that Provedance Shall Remove us by Death
or Otherways any thing to the Contrary Notwithstanding
Witness our Hands the Eight Day of December one Thousand Seven
Hundred and Fourty Seven and in the Twentieth Year Of His Majesties
Reign Georg the Secund King &c
Harvard
Richard hall
Jon'n Bigelow
Joseph Hutchins
Simeon Farnsworth
Timothy hall
Phenihas Farnsworth
Amos Russll
Johnathan--Read (His mark)
Jonathan Read iu
Abijah Willard
Groton
Samuel Hazen
Joseph Preist
Samell flood
John pearce
Charles Richards
Daniel Page
John Longley jn'r
Abijah Willard
Manasser Divoll
John Osgood
Abijah Frost
John Peirce hous rite
Lancaster
Henry Haskell
John Nicholls
Thomas Wright
William Willard
Joshua Johnson
Daniel Willard
Joseph Priest
William Farmer
Joseph Bond
Henry Willard
Benjamin Willard
Jacob Houghton
Corp Elias Sawyer
Amos Am Atherton (his mark)
Stow
John Houghton Ju
John Sampson
Joseph Brown
Hannah Brown
Samuel Randal
Benjamin Samson
[Massachusetts Archives, CXV., 220-222.]
Hell Pond, mentioned in this covenant, is situated in the northwest part
of Harvard, and so called "from its amazing depth," says the Reverend
Peter Whitney, in the History of Worcester County (page 158).
Two years after this covenant was signed, another attempt was made to
divide the town, but it did not succeed. The lines of the proposed
township included nearly the same territory as the present ones of
Shirley. The following references to the scheme are found, under their
respective dates, in the printed Journal of the House of
Representatives:--
A Petition of sundry Inhabitants of _Groton_ and _Lunenburg_,
praying they may be erected into a distinct and seperate Township
or Precinct, agreable to the Plan therewith exhibited, for the
Reasons mentioned.
Read and _Ordered_, That the Petitioners serve the Town of
Lunenburg, and the first Parish in _Groton_, with Copies of this
Petition, that they shew Cause, if any they have, on the 29th of
_December_ next, if the Court be then Sitting, if not on the first
Friday of the next Sitting of this Court, why the Prayer thereof
should not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 100), November 30,
1749.]
_Samuel Watts_, Esq; brought down the Petition of sundry
Inhabitants of _Lunenburg_ and _Groton_, as entred the 30th of
_November_ last, and refer'd. Pass'd in Council, _viz_. In Council
_December_ 29th 1749. Read again, with the Answer of the Town of
_Lunenburg_, and _Ordered_, That the Consideration of this Petition
be refer'd to the second Wednesday of the next Sitting of this
Court. Sent down for Concurrence.
With a Petition from sundry Inhabitants of _Lunenburg_, praying to
be set off from said Town of _Leominster_. Pass'd in Council, _viz_
In Council _December_ 29th 1749. Read and _Ordered_, That the
Petitioners serve the Town of _Lunenburg_, with a Copy of this
petition, that they shew Cause, if any they have, on the second
Wednesday of the next Sitting of this Court, why the Prayer thereof
should not be granted.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 143), December 29,
1749.]
_John Chandler_, Esq; brought down the Petitions of _John Whitney_,
and others of the westerly Part of _Groton_, and the easterly Part
of the Town of _Lunenburgh_, and _Edward Hartwell_, Esq; and others
of said Town, Pass'd in Council, _-viz._ In Council _April_ 4th
1750. _Ordered_, That _Samuel Watts, James Minot_, and _John Otis_,
Esqrs; with such as the honourable House shall join, be a Committee
to consider the Petitions above-mentioned, and the several Answers
thereto, hear the Parties, and report what they judge proper for
the Court to do thereon.
Sent down for Concurrence.
Read and concur'd, and Mr. _Rice_, Capt. _Livermore_, Col.
_Richards_, and Mr. _Daniel Pierce_, are joined in the Affair.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 214), April 5,
1750.]
_Joseph Wilder_, Esq., brought down the Report of a Committee of
both Houses, on the Petition of _John Whitney_, and others, as
entred the 30th of _November_ last, and refer'd. Signed _James
Minott_, per Order.
Pass'd in Council, _viz._ In Council _June_ 21, 1750. Read and
_Voted_, That this Report be not accepted, and that the Petition of
_John Whitney_ and others therein refer'd to, be accordingly
dismiss'd, and that the Petitioners pay the Charge of the
Committee.
Send down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 41), June 22, 1750.]
A Petition of sundry Inhabitants of the westerly Part of _Groton_,
and the easterly Part of _Lunenburg_, praying that their Memorial
and Report thereon, which was dismiss'd the 22'd of _June_ last,
may be revived and reconsidered, for the Reasons mentioned.
Read and _Ordered_, That Mr. _Turner_, Mr. _Tyng_, and Major
_Jones_ with such as the honourable Board shall join, be a
Committee to take this Petition under Consideration, and report
what they judge proper to be done thereon. Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 76, 77), October 3,
1750.]
_John Greenleafe_, Esq.; brought down the Petition of sundry
Inhabitants of _Groton_ and _Lunenburg_, as entred the 3d Currant,
and referr'd. Pass'd in Council, _viz_. In Council _October_ 3d
1750. Read and nonconcur'd, and _Ordered_, That this Petition be
dismiss'd.
Sent down for Concurrence.
Read and nonconcur'd, and _Ordered_, That the Petitioner serve the
Town of _Lunenburg_ with a Copy of this Petition, that they shew
Cause, if any they have, on the second Wednesday of the next
Sitting of this Court, why the Prayer thereof should not be
granted.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 93), October 9,
1750.]
A Memorial of _John Whitney_ and others of the Southwesterly Part
of _Groton_, praying that their Petition exhibited in _November_
1749 may be revived, and the Papers prefer'd at that Time again
considered, for the Reasons mentioned.
Read and _Ordered_, That the Petition lie on the Table.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 64), October 9,
1751.]
_Ordered_, That the Petition of _John Whitney_ and others of the
Southwesterly Part of _Groton_, lie upon the Table.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 81), January 3,
1752.]
The Memorial of _John Whitney_ and others, as entred _October_ 9th
1751, Inhabitants of the Southwesterly Part of _Groton_ and the
Eastwardly Part of _Lunenberg_, setting forth that in _November_
1749, they preferred a Petition to this Court, praying to be set
off from the Towns to which they belong, and made into a distant
[distinct?] and seperate Town and Parish, for the Reasons therein
mentioned; praying that the aforesaid Memorial and Petition, with
the Report of the said Committee thereon, and all the Papers
thereto belonging, may be revived, and again taken into
consideration.
Read again, and the Question was put, _Whether the Prayer of the
Petition should be so far granted as that the petition and Papers
accompanying it should be revived_?
It pass'd in the Negative. And _Voted_, That the Memorial be
dismiss'd.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 92), January 9,
1753.]
The discussion in regard to the division of the town resulted in setting
off the district of Shirley, on January 5, 1753, three months before the
district of Pepperell was formed. In the Act of Incorporation the name
was left blank, as it was in the one incorporating Pepperell, and
"Shirley" was filled in at the time of its engrossment. It was so named
after William Shirley, the governor of the province at that period. It
never was incorporated specifically as a town, but became one by a
general Act of the Legislature, passed on March 23, 1786. It was
represented, while a district, in the session of the General Court which
met at Watertown, on July 19, 1775, as well as in the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts, and thus tacitly acquired the powers and
privileges of a town, which were afterward confirmed by the act just
mentioned.
The act for establishing the district of Shirley is as follows:--
Anno Regni Regis Georgii Secundi Vicesimo Sexto.
An Act for dividing the Town of Groton and making a District by the
Name of....
Whereas the Inhabitants of the Southwesterly part of the Town of
Groton by Reason of the Difficulties they labour under being remote
from the place of the publick worship of God have addressed this
Court to be Sett off a Separate District whereunto the Inhabitants
of Said Town have Manifested their Consent Be it therefore enacted
by the Lieutenant Governour Council and House of Representatives
that the Southwestwardly part of the Town of Groton Comprehended
within the following boundaries viz begining at the the [_sic_]
mouth of Squanacook River where it runs into Lancaster [Nashua]
River from thence up Said Lancaster River till it Comes to Land
belonging to the Township of Stow thence Westwardly bounding
Southwardly to said Stow Land tilll it comes to the Southwest
Corner of the Township of Groton thence Northwardly bounding
westwardly to Luningburgh and Townsend to Squanacook River
afores'd thence down said River and Joyning thereto to the mouth
thereof being the first bound--Be and hereby is Sett off from the
said Town of Groton and Erected into a Separate and Distinct
District by the name of ... and that the Inhabitants thereof be and
hereby are Vested with all the powers priviledges and Immunities
which the Inhabitants of any Town within this Province do or by law
ought to Enjoy Excepting only the Priviledge of choosing a
Representative to represent them in the Great & General Court, in
choosing of whom the Inhabitants of Said District Shall Joyn with
the Inhabitants of the Town of Groton, as heretofore has been
Usual, & also in paying said Representative
Provided nevertheless the Said District Shall pay their
proportionable part of all such Town County Parish and Province
Charges as are already Assessed upon the Town of Groton in like
manner as though this Act had never been made.
And Be it further Enacted that M'r Jn'o. Whitney be and hereby is
impowred to Issue his Warrant directed to Some principal Inhabitant
in s'd District requireing Him to Notifie & warn the Inhabitants of
S'd District qualified by law to vote in Town affairs to meet at
Such Time & place as shall be therein Set forth to Choose all such
officers as Shall be Necessary to manage the affairs of s'd
District
In the House of Rep'ives June 4, 1752
Read three several times and pass'd to be Engross'd
T. HUBBARD Spk'r.
Sent up for concurrence
In Council Nov'r. 28, 1752 Read a first Time 29 a second Time and
pass'd a Concurrence
THO's. CLARKE Dp'ty Secry.
[Massachusetts Archives, CXVI., 293, 294.]
This act did not take effect until January 5, 1753, when it was signed
by the governor.
On June 3, 1771, thirty years after Groton Gore had been lost by the
running of the provincial line, the proprietors of the town held a
meeting, and appointed Lieutenant Josiah Sawtell, Colonel John Bulkley,
and Lieutenant Nathaniel Parker, a committee to petition the General
Court for a grant of land to make up for this loss. They presented the
matter to that body on June 7, and the following entry in the records
gives the result:--
The Committee on the Petition of _Josiah Sartel_, and others,
reported.
Read and accepted, and _Whereas it appears to this Court, That the
Proprietors aforesaid, had a Grant made to them by the General
Court in_ April 1735, _of Ten Thousand, Eight Hundred Acres of
Land, in Consideration of Land taken from said_ Groton _by_
Littleton, _Major_ Willard _and_ Read's _Farms being prior Grants,
and for their extraordinary Suffering in the former Indian Wars and
in_ June 1736 _said Grant was confirmed to said Proprietors, since
which Time, the said Proprietors have been entirely dispossessed of
said Land by the running of the Line between this Province and_
New-Hampshire: _And whereas it appears there has been no
Compensation made to the said Proprietors of_ Groton, _for the
Lands lost as aforesaid, excepting Three Thousand Acres granted in_
November _last_, to James Prescot, William Prescot, _and_ Oliver
Prescot _for their Proportion thereof_. Therefore _Resolved_, That
in Lieu thereof, there be granted to the Proprietors of _Groton_,
their Heirs and Assigns forever, Seven Thousand and Eight Hundred
Acres of the unappropriated Lands belonging to this Province, in
the Western Part of the Province, to be layed out adjoining to some
former Grant, and that they return a Plan thereof, taken by a
Surveyor and Chainmen under Oath into the Secretary's Office,
within twelve Months for Confirmation.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 44), June 13, 1771.]
These conditions, as recommended by the report of the committee, appear
to have been fulfilled, and a grant was accordingly made. It lay on the
eastern border of Berkshire county, just south of the central part, and
was described as follows:--
The Committee on a Plan of a Tract of Land granted to the
Proprietors of _Groton_, reported.
Read and accepted, and _Resolved_, That the Plan hereunto annexed,
containing three Thousand nine Hundred and sixty Acres of Province
Land, laid out in Part to satisfy a Grant made by the Great and
General Court at their Sessions in _June_ 1771, to the Proprietors
of Groton, in Lieu of Land they lost by the late running of the
_New-Hampshire_ Line, as mention'd in their Petition, laid out in
the County of _Berkshire_, and is bounded as followeth, viz.
Beginning at a Burch Tree and Stones laid round it the Southwest
Corner of _Tyringham-Equivalent_ Lands standing on the East Branch
of _Farmington_ River; then North eighteen Degrees East in the West
Line of said _Equivalent_ five Hundred and sixty-one Rods to a
small Beach Tree and Stones laid round it, which Tree is the
Southeast Corner of a Grant of Land called _Woolcut's_ Grant; then
running West eighteen Degrees North in the South Line of said Grant
two Hundred and forty Rods to a Beach Tree marked I.W. and Stones
laid round it, which is the Southwest Corner of said Grant; then
running North eighteen Degrees East in the West Line of said Grant
four Hundred Rods to a Heap of Stones which is the Northwest Corner
of said Grant; then running East eighteen Degrees South two Hundred
and forty Rods in the North Line of said Grant to a large Hemlock
Tree and Stones laid round it, which is the Northeast Corner of
said Grant; it is also the Northwest Corner of said _Equivalent_,
and the Southwest Corner of a Grant called _Taylors_ Grant; then
running North eighteen Degrees East one Hundred and sixty Rods in
the West Line of said _Taylors_ Grant to the Northwest Corner of
the same; then running East nine Degrees South in the Line of said
_Taylors_ Grant eight Hundred Rods to a Stake and Stones standing
in the West Line of _Blanford_, marked W.T. then running North
eighteen Degrees East in said _Blanford_ West Line five Hundred and
thirty Rods to a Beach Tree and Stones laid round it which is the
Northwest Corner of said _Blanford_; then running East ten Degrees
South forty-two Rods in the North Line of said _Blanford_ to a
Stake and Stones which is the Southwest Corner of _Merryfield_;
then running North ten Degrees East in said _Merryfield_ West Line
three Hundred and three Rods to a Heap of Stones the Southeast
Corner of _Becket_; then running West two Degrees South in said
_Becket_ South Line four Hundred and twenty-six Rods to the
Northeast Corner of a Grant of Land called _Belcher's_ Grant; then
running South in the East Line of said _Belchers_ Grant two Hundred
and sixteen Rods to a small Maple Tree marked T.R. which is the
Northwest Corner of a Grant of Land called _Rand's_ Grant; then
running East in the North Line of said _Rand's_ Grant two Hundred
and fifty Rods to a Hemlock Pole and Stones laid round it, which is
the Northeast Corner of said _Rand's_ Grant; then running South in
the East Line of said _Rand's_ Grant three Hundred and thirty-one
Rods to a Hemlock Tree marked and Stones laid round it, which is
the Southeast Corner of said _Rand's_ Grant; then running West in
the South Line of said _Rand's_ Grant two Hundred and fifty Rods to
a Beach Pole marked T.R. the Southwest Corner of said _Rand's_
Grant; then running North in the West Line of said _Rand's_ Grant
eighty-three Rods to the Southeast Corner of said _Belcher's_
Grant; then running West bounding North three Hundred and
forty-eight on said _Belcher's_ Grant and four Hundred and
fifty-three Rods on a Grant called _Chandler's_ Grant, then running
North on the West Line of said _Chandler's_ Grant four Hundred and
sixty to said _Becket's_ South Line; then running West in said
_Becket_ South Line twenty Rods to a Stake and Stones the North
West Corner of additional Lands belonging to the Four _Housatonick_
Townships; then running South two Degrees West one Thousand four
Hundred and eighty-eight Rods in the East Line of said additional
Lands to the Place where the said East Line crosses said
_Farmington_ River; then Southerly or down Stream three Hundred and
thirty Rods to the first Bounds, bounding Westerly on said River,
be accepted, and is hereby accepted and confirmed unto the
Proprietors of _Groton_ aforesaid, their Heirs and Assigns forever.
_Provided_ the same doth not exceed the Quantity aforementioned,
nor interfere with any former Grant.
Sent up for Concurrence.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 182, 183). April
24, 1772.]
I am unable to say how or when this territory was disposed of by the
proprietors. Seven or eight years before this time, James, William, and
Oliver Prescott, acting for themselves, had petitioned the General Court
for a tract of land to make up their own losses. They were the sons of
the Honorable Benjamin Prescott, through whose influence and agency the
original Groton Gore was granted, and they were also the largest
proprietors of the town. The following extracts from the Journal of the
House relate to their application:--
A Petition of _James Prescot_, and others, Children and Heirs of
_Benjamin Prescot_, late of _Groton_, Esq; deceased, praying a
Grant of the unappropriated Lands of this Province, in
consideration of sundry Tracts which they have lost by the late
running of the Line between this Government and _New-Hampshire_.
Read and committed to Col. _Clap_, Col. _Nickols_, Col. _Williams_
of _Roxbury_, Col. _Buckminster_, and Mr. _Lancaster_, to consider
and Report.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 187), January 12,
1764.]
On February 3, 1764, this petition was put over to the May Session, but
I do not find that it came up for consideration at that time. It does
not appear again for some years.
A Petition of _James Prescot_, Esq; and others, praying that a
Grant of Land may be made them in Lieu of a former Grant, which
falls within the _New-Hampshire_ Line.
[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 129), November 2,
1770.]
This petition was referred to a committee consisting of Dr. Samuel
Holten, of Danvers, Colonel Joseph Gerrish, of Newbury, and Mr. Joshua
Bigelow, of Worcester.
The Committee on the Petition of _James Prescot_, Esq; and others,
reported.