The original grant of the township of Groton was made by the General
Court, on May 25, 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land
eight miles square; though during the next year this was modified so
that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of
what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, large
parts of Dunstable and Littleton, smaller parts of Harvard and Westford,
Massachusetts, and a portion of Nashua, New Hampshire. The grant was
taken out of the very wilderness, relatively far from any other town,
and standing like a sentinel on the frontiers. Lancaster, fourteen miles
away, was its nearest neighbor in the southwesterly direction on the one
side; and Andover and Haverhill, twenty and twenty-five miles distant,
more or less, in the northeasterly direction on the other. No settlement
on the north stood between it and the settlements in Canada. Chelmsford
and Billerica were each incorporated about the same time, though a few
days later.
When the grant was made, it was expressly stipulated that Mr. Jonathan
Danforth, of Cambridge, with such others as he might desire, should lay
it out with all convenient speed in order to encourage the prompt
settlement of a minister; and furthermore that the selectmen of the town
should pay a fair amount for his services. During the next year a
petition, signed by Deane Winthrop and seven others, was presented to
the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and
among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr.
Danforth, as he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to
a committee who reported favorably upon it, and the request was duly
granted. Formerly a surveyor was called an artist, and in old records
the word is often found with that meaning.
Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he
began the survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the
speedy accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some
trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the
question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it
was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted
surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often
mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying
out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved
among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at
first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he took charge of it,
and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat or plan
of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until
April, 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting
of the selectmen of the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded
that a rate should be levied in order to pay "the Artest and the men
that attended him and his diet for himself and his horse, and for two
sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, and for
Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and
to pay severall other town debts that appear to us to be due."
[Illustration: Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by
Jonathan Danforth]
A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made
'ffor two sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two
plans were made, perhaps one for the town and the other for the Colony;
but neither copy is now to be found. An allusion is made to one of them
in a petition, presented to the General Court on February 10, 1717, by
John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the said Plat
thô something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated
"That in the year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth Surveyor & Son of the
aforesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said Town of Groton
did run the Lines & make an Implatment of the said Township laid out as
before & found it agreeable to the former. W'h last Plat the Petitioners
do herewith exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble Court would allow &
confirm the same as the Township of Groton."
While the original plan has been lost or destroyed, it is fortunate that
many years ago a copy was made, which is still preserved. In June, 1825,
the Honorable James Prescott was in the possession of the original,
which Caleb Butler, Esq., at that time transcribed into one of the town
record-books, and thereby saved it for historical purposes. Even with
this clew a special search has been made for the missing document, but
without success. If it is ever found it will be by chance, where it is
the least looked for. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the
outlines or the faithfulness of the copy. The relative distances between
the streams emptying into the Nashua River, however, are not very exact;
and in the engraving for the sake of clearness I have added their names,
as well as the name of Forge Pond, formerly called Stony Brook Pond.
Accompanying the copy is a description of the survey, which in
connection with the drawing gives a good idea of the general shape of
the township. Perhaps in the original these two writings were on the
same sheet. In the transcript Mr. Butler has modernized the language and
made the punctuation conform to present usage. In the engraved cut I
have followed strictly the outlines of the plan, as well as the course
of the rivers, but I have omitted some details, such as the distances
and directions which are given along the margins. These facts appear in
the description, and perhaps were taken from it by the copyist. I have
also omitted the acreage of the grant, which is grossly inaccurate.
Whereas the Plantation of Groton, containing by grant the
proportion of eight miles Square, was begun to be laid out by
Ensign Noyes, and he dying before he had finished his work, it is
now finished, whose limits and bounds are as followeth,
It began on the east side of Nashua River a little below
Nissitisset hills at the short turning of the River bounded by a
pine tree marked with G. and so running two miles in a direct line
to buckmeadow which _p'rtains_ to Boston Farms, Billerica land and
Edward Cowells farm until you come to Massapoag Pond, which is full
of small islands; from thence it is bounded by the aforesaid Pond
until you come to Chelmsford line, after that it is bounded by
Chelmsford and Nashoboh lines until you come to the most southerly
corner of this Plantation, and from thence it runs West-North-West
five miles and a half and sixty four poles, which again reacheth to
Nashua River, then the former west-north-west line is continued one
mile on the west side of the river, and then it runs one third of a
point easterly of north & by east nine miles and a quarter, from
thence it runneth four miles due east, which closeth the work to
the river again to the first pine below Nissitisset hills, where we
began: it is bounded by the Farms and plantations as aforesaid and
by the wilderness elsewhere; all which lines are run and very
sufficiently bounded by marked trees & pillars of stones: the
figure or manner of the lying of it is more fully demonstrated by
this plot taken of the same.
By JONATHAN DANFORTH,
April 1668.
Surveyor.
The map of Old Dunstable, between pages 12 and 13 in Fox's History of
that town, is very incorrect, so far as it relates to the boundaries of
Groton. The Squannacook River is put down as the Nissitissett, and this
mistake may have tended to confuse the author's ideas. The southern
boundary of Dunstable was by no means a straight line, but was made to
conform in part to the northern boundary of Groton, which was somewhat
irregular. Groton was incorporated on May 25, 1655, and Dunstable on
October 15, 1673, and no part of it came within the limits of this town.
The eastern boundary of Groton originally ran northerly through
Massapoag Pond and continued into the present limits of Nashua, New
Hampshire.
On the southeast of Groton, and adjoining it, was a small township
granted, in the spring of 1654, by the General Court to the Nashobah
Indians, who had been converted to Christianity under the instruction of
the Apostle Eliot and others. They were few in numbers, comprising
perhaps ten families, or about fifty persons. During Philip's War this
settlement was entirely deserted by the Indians, thus affording a good
opportunity for the English to encroach on the reservation, which was
not lost. These intruders lived in the neighboring towns, and mostly in
Groton. Some of them took possession with no show of right, while others
went through the formality of buying the land from the Indians, though
such sales did not, as was supposed at the time, bring the territory
under the jurisdiction of the towns where the purchasers severally
lived. It is evident from the records that these encroachments gave rise
to controversy. The following entry, under date of June 20, 1682, is
found in the Middlesex County Court records at East Cambridge, and shows
at that time to re-establish the boundary lines of Nashobah:--
Cap't Thomas Hinchman, L't. Joseph Wheeler, & L't. Jn'o flynt
surveyo'r, or any two of them are nominated & impowred a Comittee
to run the ancient bounds of Nashobah Plantation, & remark the
lines, as it was returned to the geñall Court by said m'r flynt at
the charge of the Indians, giving notice to the select men of
Grotton of time & place of meeting, w'ch is referred to m'r flint,
to appoint, & to make return to next Coun Court at Cambridge in
order to a finall settem't
Again, under date of October 3, 1682 ("3. 8. 1682."), it is entered
that--
The return of the committee referring to the bounds of Nashobey
next to Grotton, was p'rsented to this Court and is on file.