was lately Monson, & our being annexed to said Amherst was contrary to our desire & Interest; that we are so remote from the Center of Amherst, that it is (& ever will be) with great Expence inconvenience & difficulty to us and our Families, to attend publick worship, by reason of the distance. That many of our Estates are not so valuable by reason of our being annexed to Amherst, for before that, our Situation was nigh the Centre of Monson, & on that account purchased our Land, at a dear rate, & Monson being Annihilated, our Situation (many of them) is now more inconvenient than before, unless we can obtain your Excellency's, & Honors Interposition. Wherefore we humbly Pray, that your Excellency and Honors would set us off from said Amherst, and Invest us with Town Priviledges, by the following Bounds & lines, viz, beginning at the Southwest Corner of what was formerly Amherst, thence Northwardly by the west line of Amherst one mile and an half, Thence East untill it comes to the East line of the Town of Amherst. Thence Southwardly by said East line of Amherst untill it comes to the North line of the Town of Holles, Thence Westwardly by the North line of the Town of Holles, until it comes to the North west corner thereof. Thence Northwardly, by the West line of said Amherst untill it comes to the Bound first mentioned, or Grant us any other Relief, that your Excellency & Honors, in your Wisdom & Goodness shall Judge most convenient, & your Petitioners as in Duty Bound shall ever pray. Amherst Jan'y 26th 1771. Benjamin Hopkins jun' John Burns junr Ebenezer Hopkins George Burns Richard Gould Robert Parker Jonathan Button Isaac Powers James Hopkins Jonathan Grimes Petition of Amherst against the division of the town. Filed Feb 4th 1771 1771 To His Excellency John Wentworth Esq' Captain General Governor &c. of the Province of New Hampshire And to the Honorable His Majesty's Council of said Province The Subscribers Inhabitants of Amherst in said Province. Humbly Shew that for more than twenty years last past a Number of persons living on those Lands lately known by the Name of Monson, but more lately Joined to said Amherst not having a Minister settled among them, nor accommodations sufficient for that purpose (as they said) very constantly attended the worship of God with us in said Amherst not Doing anything with us towards our Meeting House nor towards the Support of our minister except some Small private Donations made to our minister. However they Repeatedly Requested our Town to Consent to Receive them. Promising to meet at any place that the maj' part of the People should fix to Build a House on, whereupon our Town after Repeated Sollicitashons to Receive them gave their Consent-And your Exellency & Honors some time in July last saw fit to Aggregate about one half of said Monson To said Amherst, soon after our Town Saw it necessary to Build a Meeting House and voted to Do it (our Present Meeting House being Small and insufficient for the old Town & said new Addition) the most of the People of the New Addition were present some voted in the Affermative some in the Negative, but they began to think that the Charter Subjected them to the same Duties with us of the old Town, that they must Defrey some part of the Charge in Building and so forth and not only so but must Do something towards supporting our minister, these Reflections affected some of them very Sensibly; they had not been acquainted with anything of the kind, they were Ready to Construe it as a Degree of Persecution & the like, And to Remedy this evil they are about Petitioning to have our Town as it now lyes Divided into two Parishes which we think cannot be Done without a manifest Injury to more than three Quarters of the Town, a very considerable Quantity of Land in our Town is barron and Poor and will not admit of two Parishes; besides it lyes in Such a Situation by reason of a River & Hills that the whole of the People may more conveniently meet at one Place, the place Pitched upon than at any two Places in the Town (of which the Gentlemen that Exhibit this will inform,) we would only add that if the Town is made into two Parishes it will tend very much to the Ruin of our minis' Therefore pray that if such their Petition should be prefered the prayer thereof may not be granted And y' Petitioners as in Duty bound will Pray. Benja Taylor Daniel Wilkins y 3d David Hildreth Nathan Fuller Amos Green David Truel John Shepard Hezekiah Duncklee Joseph Duncklee Moses Nichols Jonathan Wilkins Timothy Mackintire James Woodbury Sam Lamson Asa Farnum Eben Ellinwood Jr W Small Josiah Kidder Kendal Boutwell Samuel Lamson Junr. Benja Wilkins Francis Eliot Josiah (?) Petingill Eben Ellinwood 3d Thomson Maxwell Timothy Nichols David Hartshorn William Hogg John Hartshorn 127 Signers 19 Vote of Amherst Relative to Monson April 10 1766. At a Legal Meeting of the Town of Amherst in the Province of New Hampshire Held on the Tenth day of April A. D. 1766, Voted that the following part of the Town of Monson, with the People thereon, may be annexed or joined to this Town, and enjoy all Priviledges and imunities in comon with the same viz Begining at the Northeast Corner of said Monson from thence South by the Town of Merrymack two Miles from thence due West to the West Line of said Monson, then North to Souhegan River so called, then Down said River to the bounds first mentioned. Upon the following Condition and not otherwise, that is to say they the People of said Monson to be at the Expence of Geting the Thing Done JOHN SHEPARD jun. Town Clerk. Copy Attest John Shepard jun Town Clerk Petition of Jon. Shepard junr in behalf of Amherst Jan 26, 1771. To His Excellency John Wentworth Esq. Capt. Gen' Governor &c of the Province of New Hampshire To the Honourable his Majestys Council of said Province. The Selectmen of Amherst in the same Province, Beg leave to inform your Excellency and Hon" that a Number of those persons that Inhabit those Lands formerly Called Monson but lately joined to said Amherst have lately signified their intention of Prefering a Petition to your Excellency & Honors, in which they should pray to have said Amherst Laid into two parrishes And some of them are so Sanguine about it as to suppose the thing may be Done at first asking without Notifying the Town of it, if so it must be submitted to, but the Petitioners are Humbly of Opinion that such a proceedure must be very Detrimental to by far the greater part, even more than two thirds of the People, and being bound to think that your Excellency & Hon" cannot be prevailed with to do any thing Tending to hurt the Civil and Religious Polity of any Incorporation Therefore in behalf of said Town Pray that if such their petition should be prefered as aforesaid that previous to granting the Prayer thereof The people of said Amherst may be Notified and heard thereon And your Petitioners will Pray By Desire of said Selectmen. Dated 26th January 1771. JOHN SHEPARD Jun Town Clerk. Petition for a Road from Charlestown to Amherst 1773. To His Excellency John Wentworth Esq' Governor and Commander in chief in and over His Majestys Province of New Hampshire and Vice Admiral of the same To the Honble His Majesties Council, and to the Honble His Majesties House of Representatives In General Assembly Convened The Petition of Jotham Blanchard In Behalf of Himself Reuben Kidder Esq' and Others Humbly Sheweth that your Petitioners are at great Inconvenience as to roads from Charlestown (in said Province) to this Metropolis, that Your Petitioners Humbly Conceive a Road may be made from Charlestown Through the Towns of Acworth, Lemster Campden Monadnock number seven to that Tract of Land known by the name of Masons Proprietors Reservation, or Society Land, that the same road may be Continued to Petersborough, & Lyndsborough to Amherst where there is sufficient roads to any Part of this or the neighboring Governments, and your Petitioners Pray Your Excellency and Honours to Cause an act of said Province to be made and Passed, for the said road to be surveyed and made Passable Through said Town in the most direct manner Possible and that Your Excellency and Honours would appoint a Committee of Two or more Men Capable of surveying and making said Road at the Cost and Charge of the Proprietors that owns and Holds the Land in the said Towns, and that, shoud those Proprietors Refuse to pay said Cost and Charge that the Lands within said Towns may be subject to be sold in such Proportion as may pay the same or in some other way which may appear to Your Excellency and Honours to be most Conducive to the facilitating the Settlement of those New Towns which are in their Infancy as to their settlements, and Pray that Your Excellency and Honours To Take the forgoing Petition into Your Wise Consideration and Grant such Relief as Your Excellency and Honours in Your Great Wisdom shall think Best and Your Petitioners shall ever Pray. JOTHAM BLANCHARD. May 13th 1773 Petition of the County of Hillsborough 1774. New Hampshire Hillsborough ss Province of To the Honble The Justices of His Majestys Court of General Sessions of the Peace Holden at Amherst within and for said County on the 17th Day of August A D 1773 by adjournment from the first Thursday next following the first Tuesday of July 1773 The Petition of us the Subscribers Freeholders of the Respective Towns of Amherst, Hollis, New Ipswich, Nottingham |