tioned And in collecting the same & any part thereof The said Collectors are hereby Authorized to use and exercise all ye Powers and Authoritys in the Law Given to Constables in this Province for their Collecting y Publick Taxes and if any of said Collectors meet with any opposition in y executing their office or if the persons rated or any of them shall secreet their Goods and chattels or use any means to prevent the Collecting of this Tax in manner aforesaid it shall be Lawfull for such Collectors respectively to sue the person or Persons so refusing before any Justice of the Peace in Said Province and any Justice of the Peace shall & may hear & Determine the same give Judgmt therein & award Execution thereon in which no essoin Protection or wager of Law shall be allowed & no other Evidence Necessary than the list of rates under the hands of said assessors or major part of them to Convict & ye oath of ye Collector that the same has been Demanded four days & not paid and which Demand may be made by asking the same of the Person or Leaving an acco't of the sum of each respective Persons rate in such list at the usual place of the Abode of y Person rated four Days before any Distress or Suit made for yo same in manner aforesaid And be it further enacted by the Authority afosesaid that if the said assessors shall neglect or refuse to Do their Duty in making said Rate or Tax and refusing their acc't of the same as aforesaid Thet Province Treasurer is hereby authorized required and Directed to issue his Warrant of Distress Directed to The Sheriff of said Province his under Sheriff or deputy to Levy said sum of Five hundred and eighty Pounds sixteen shillings upon the Goods, Chattels or Lands of said assessors & in want thereof on their bodies & y Sheriff under Sheriff or Deputy is hereby authorized Impowered and directed to execute the same accordingly and pay ye said sums into the Treasury And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any Person giving in to ye said Assessors a list or Inventory of their rateable Polls or Estates shall be guilty in the Judgement of the said Assessors or Major part of them of giving in a false list or Inventory of the Rateable Polls & Estate the said Assessors or Major part of them are hereby Impowered and Directed to add to the Rate of Such Person as a fine not exceeding twenty shillings to be collected with said Rate or Tax for and towards Defraying ye charges attending the same which fine shall be over and above what the said assessors shall think reasonable to Doom such persons as their Proportion to said Rates and for the service of the said assessors in Doing their Duty as in this act is required they & Each of them, shall be entitled to have and receive out of what they shall so assess the sum of seven Pounds & Ten shillings New Tenor each of them and each of the said Collectors to be allowed out of said assessment by them to be Collected the sum of fifteen Pounds New Tenor each of them for such their Service; and to prevent any Inconveniency by said Town of Bow their not choosing Town officers for several years past, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid that the said assessors or major part of them are hereby Impowered and Directed to Notifie the Free holders and Inhabitants of said Town of Bow Qualified according to Law to Vote in Town affairs to meet at such time and place in said Town of Bow as they shall order and direct some time in ye month of March next in the year 1756 to choose selectmen Constables & all other Town officers & to pass any vote or votes as they Lawfully might at any town meeting regularly warned and their votes acts & choice of officers Shall be as good & effectual in Law to all intents & purposes as if they had not neglected to choose officers in times past. Pursuant to an act of the Genal Court of the Province of New Hamp I the Subscriber Warned a meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Bow for the choice of Town Officers and attended the same as Moderator at the Place and time appointed for said meeting which was ye 22d of April last but there was but one Inhabitant of said Bow that attended the Place and time of meeting by which means no Town Officers are chosen for the present year to assess the said Inhabitants their proportion to the Province Tax agreeable to Law Portsmouth May ye 25th 1755. JON LOVEWELL Petition for a new survey of Lots. To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq' Gov' & Commander in Chiefe in & over his majes3 Prov. of New Hamp The Hon his Majestys Council & House of Representatives for sd Prov. in Gen' Assembly convened Jan. the first day 1757 The Humble Petition of Daniel Pierce Esq' Thos Wiggin & Daniel Marston Gent" Willi Pottle Blacksmith & Benj" Norris Yeoman as a Committee of the Prop" of ye Town of Bow in sa Province Shews That there are many Persons who claim a Right to Lands in Said Township by Titles not derived from s Proprietors & some who have made considerable Improvements there with whom the said Proprietors have had many expensive Suits at Law which has much impeded the settlement of said Township-That many of the said claimers & settlers particularly those who hold under the Proprietors of Suncook (so called) are desirous (as they say) of an accommodation & settlement of these Disputes & to become not only Inhabitants of said Bow but to hold their Title under that of sd Bow & no more to call it into Question which the Proprietors of Bow are as desirous to have effected & have taken many steps to that Purpose being sensible that these Disputes will finally prove more detrimental to themselves if ended by y Law tho' in their Favour than any reasonable Concessions That notwithstanding the amicable & peaceable Dispositions of ye Parties concern'd there are Impediments which prevent the good effects that might be expected to result from such a temper which however willing they are not able to remove which your Petitioners beg Leave shortly to represent. That the Home Lots or first Division in sd Township of Bow which were laid out for forty acres each by some mistake fall short as to some of them which contain not much more than half that Quantity and ye lots laid out by the Prop's of Suncook run across these oblikely so that one of those interferes with several of these in many Places That by this means one Person has to agree with several for his particular Lot & some of those are minors with whom no valid agreement can be made & the Proprietors of Bow are willing those who have made any considerable Improvements there (tho' they have done it in Judgment of Law in their own wrong) should enjoy the Fruit of their Labour That quieting the Possessors (who have improved as afores") on equitable Terms will tend much to promote the Settlement of said Township raise ye Value of of the Land & save the great Expense which inevitably attends Contention which desirable end cannot be obtained by any way that your Petitioners can discover unless the laying out of some of sd. Home Lots by the Prop's of Bow should be annulld & vacated which seems to be necessary to do Justice to some of the owners by reason of the mistake aforesaid as well as for the other Ends before proposed Wherefore your Petitioners Humbly pray that the laying out of the said Lots the Return & Record thereof as done by y said Proprietors of Bow (or so many of them as may be necessary for y ends aforesaid) may be entirely annulled, & vacated that your Petitioners or some others may be enabled to lay out other unimproved Lands in said Township sufficient to be a just equivalent to the owners of s' Home Lots under the said Proprietors That the Land so laid out for said Home Lots may be taken, deemed & adjudged as common Land so far as relates to them or those claiming under them that they may be authorized to dispose thereof as they might have done if it had not been by them laid out as aforesaid in order for the proposed accommodation & agreement or so far as is Necessary to answer ye desirable Ends proposed and that your Petitioners may have Liberty to bring in a Bill accordingly and they shall as in Duty bound ever pray &c In Council July 6, 1757 BENJA NORRIS D. PIERCE read & ordered to be sent down to the Honble Assembly Theodore Atkinson Secy. Province of In the House of Representatives Jan 7, 1757- Ordered that the Petitioners be heard thereon the second Day of the Sitting of the Genal Assembly next after the first Day of February Next & That the Petitioners at their own Cost & Charge cause the substance of this Petition with this order of court thereon to be published in the New Hamp' Gazette two weeks successively that any Person or Persons may appear at said Hearing & shew Cause if any they have why the prayer thereof should not be Granted In Council Eodem Die read & concurred Andrew Clarkson Clerk Theodore Atkinson Sec. Province of\ New HampsIn the House of Representatives Feb 3a 1757 This petition being read & its appearing that the order of Court had been Comply'd with, No person appearing against said Petition, & Bow Committee the petitioners being fully heard thereon therefore Voted That the prayer of the petition be granted & that the Petitioners have Liberty to bring in a Bill accordingly In Council Eodem Die R. Wibbird Secy. Andrew Clarkson Clerk Inventory of Bow and Canterbury 1761. An Invoice of the Polls, Stocks and improved Lands in the Township of Bow, (1) taken by us the Subscribers according to the best of our knowledge Selectmen 16 acres Do 3 years old 6 mills yearly income £125 EZEKIEL MORRILL 13 THOMAS CLOUGH for Canterbury (1) The township of Bow, at this time, included a large part of Rumford. See Hist. of Concord, pp. 219, 220.—ED. An Invoice of the Polls, Stocks and improved Lands in the Township of Canterbury taken by us the Subscribers according to the best of our knowledge. Polls 57 Pasture Land 146 Cattle 3 years old Do Do 3 years old One Negro 2 Mills yearly income £20 EZEKIEL MORRILL THOMAS CLOUGH Selectmen for Petition of Ed Russel & others. To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq. Captain General, Governor & Commander in Chief In and over his Majesty's Province of New Hampshire, To the Hone his Majesty's Council and House of Representatives for said Province, Convened in General Assembly June 12th 1764 The Petition of Edward Russell, Solomon Heath and Thomas Chandler all of Bow in said Province Humbly Sheweth That the Petitioners have lately Settled themselves on some of the Uncultivated Land in said Town of Bow where they still remain Hardly able to support themselves and Families That the Petitioners understand there is a Very Great Province Tax laid on the Inhabitants of Said Town of Bow the last year, this Present year & the next year for their Delinquency for the space of seven or Eight years last past a Proportion of which Tax if Laid on the Petitioners would almost Ruin them and oblige them to Quit their Said Settlements. Wherefore the said Petitioners Humbly pray your Excell'y & Hon's to take their Circumstances under Consideration and Relieve them from paying any Proportion of the said Tax In such manner as Your Excell'y & Hon" shall in your Great Wisdom & Clemency see fit. And your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c EDW RUSSELL for Himself and Behalf of yo Rest Province of In Council June 14th 1764 New Hamp Read & Ordered to be sent down to the Honble House Province of In the house of Representatives June 14th 1754 Voted that the petitioners be heard thereon the Second Day of the sitting of the Gen' Assembly after the first day of Aug. next & that the petitioners at their own Cost Serve the selectmen of Pembrook Ezra Carter Esq & Capt. Jno Chandler of said Bow who are by Act appointed to make the Assessments for the Tax Referred to in the within petition with a Copy of this petition & order of Court thereon that they may appear & Shew Cause if any they have why the prayer thereof should not be Granted and further it is Resolved that the Collectors appointed |