with ye Purchasers of mason's claim, (so called) offer the Deed (which has been read once and again in this house) to Said Purchasers in order to be Executed-we did not transact anything about the Affair of the Claim or Receive any further proposal from ye Govt about it being yet undermin'd, Still expecting Some Application from y° Govt about our Conveying to them-in August The last mentioned Committee Requested a meeting of y Claimers and we met them, when they produced a Deed which they Said the Assembly had directed them to offer us in order to be Executed, wch form of a Deed was Debated in ye Assembly yet No Alter" would be admitted which. Instrum' is a true Emblem of ye Authors, we read it and pointed out several obstacles wch it contained to our excuting ye same, And desired a time to Consider upon it and would give y Assembly an Answer the Substance of ye Deed was viz for us to Convey to two Gent G J & E. S. Esqrs Feofees in Trust in behalfe of ye Inhabitts of y Prov: of New Hampshire "all the Right Title Interest Claim Property Estate Possession & Demand whatsoever of them ye said Grantors by virtue of any purchase or purchases by them made or any Deed or Deeds by them had of Cap Jn° Tufton Mason of Portsm° afores Esqu' of in and unto all that Tract of land Situate in ye Prov: aforesaid containing 200000 Acres more or less bounded as follow's vizt" bounded with y bounds of Masons Deed to us-with appurtenances-To have & to hold granted & Premises unto them ye Said G J. & ES their Heirs & Assigns as Feofees in Trust for ye Use of ye Inhabitants of ye s Prov. of N. H. and for no other use & whatever-y Deed was dated May 15 1747 being then drawn--in Considering of ye Deed two material Objections with many others were insurmountable-first ye Conveya to G J. & E S Feoffees in Trust for yR use of ye Inhabitants of ye Province without directing what Use to be made of ye Premises nor any time propos'd when any thing should be transacted about them but only for ye Use of ye Inhabitants aforesaid, so that an Inhabitant but of day before Executing ye Deed who never paid a Rate to Pro: would have been as fully entituled to ye Premises as any ye oldest Inhabit' who had paid ever so much Taxes &-And under that Conveya in Case of any Controversy every Inhabitant must join in any Transaction abt ye Premises wch would be impracticable with many other Inconveniencies of ye like nature relating to ye Conveyance to Feofees in Trust, in y form of yt Instrument-& ye next objection If we executed that Instrument we Conveyed to ye Said Feoffees in Trust for ye Use of ye Inhabitants of y Province of New Hampsh' all our Lands houses & comprehended within ye Bounds of Mason's Deed to us all of which we purchased of Mason, tho' perhaps some might have a Right to

part of their houses or Lands possessed for a long time Still they were included in mason's Deed to us & would be conveyed away by that Deed, prepared and offered us to Execute by ye Committee of ye Assembly when Executed by us & which would at one Stroke deprive all of us of any Right, at least, within ye new Towns Granted by this Government in all of which Some or other of Us have valuable Estates & all our Respective Rights to Such Estates being excepted & Reserved in yo Deed of Quit Claim we gave to Several Townships, wh you may see by that Deed-So We must for the Preservation of our own Estates recoverable by mason's Right refuse to Execute that Deed-as Men's Actions are the best Intrepreters of their Principles a Review of ye Conduct of ye Assembly I think will demonstrate that they had no Desigu to purchase for the Province Capt Mason's Right to his Claim either of him or of us after we purchased of Capt Mason-Considering that From October 30th 1744 ye affair lay before ye Assembly then recommended by ye Gov' and frequently afterwards & Sundry times Capt mason applyed to yo Assembly by mem° or personaly and offered to make a Convey of Right & Claim to ye Govt in Comply with ye Terms of s Agreement on his part even so late as in ye year 1746 which Complyance was propos'd by some few of ye members within Doors to be Complyed with on ye part of ye assembly and Sollicited by many without and all to no Effect till Cap' Mason sold to us-and then it was proposd & Voted by ye Gen" assembly but that Vote was prosecuted in such a manner yt we were obliged also to put a memorial into ye Court to let them know our Inclination to sell to ye Goymt upon their own Terms & in ye manner agreable to ye minds of two Branches of ye Legislaturewhich method for us to sell upon many Acco's too tedious to enumerate I beleive would be thought convenient & best for ye Interest of ye Province in general this produced after a long time, a Deed by which the assembly would have us Execute y sale-tho' not in the method we propos'd to Convey our Claim of Mason's Right to ye Govt but least we should depart from that proposal in our memorial of Conveys our Rights to be disposed of by Gov' & Council as ye waste lands are granted, ye Instrument by which we were to Convey our Rights was so formed, as to create great Difficulties in ye Government and also that by our own hands, we should destroy ye Estate any of us had in any Lands within ye Bounds of Mason's Pattent in New Hampsh' that ye Right of a Long possession could not Save-and in all the Votes that pass'd, not one farthing of money was raised or proposed to be raised to pay us the Sum we gave Cap Mason for his Right and our Expences about it-their own Terms wch they proposed, and for wh a Blank was left in y Deed they offered us to Ex

ecute nor had ye Committee any Money to pay us, when they presented it, and as they had treated us with so much Malignity in our names-and laid a Snare to entrap our Estates, there was no honour to be presum'd, to Credit those persons for our money if we had been So blind as to go into ye net they had prepared & laid for us

The Prospect of so great Loss, and ye little probability there Seem'd to be of saving y Consideration money without ye other political Considerations Were a Sufficient Bar against Executing ye Deed to ye Feoffees in trust-and those Obstacles to our Conveying our Remaining Right to mason's Claim to ye Government, being laid by the Assembly we inferred they neither desired or intended to purchase of us, unless they made our incurring Such Damages as threatned, a Condition of their purchasing from us ye Remains part we claimed of Mason's Right to ye Governt wherefore we concluded to make no more Overtures to them And give them an Answer that we could not Execute the Deed they offered & presented to us for that purpose and that we ourselves would dispose of ye Waste Lands as we should think proper as ye Govt did not intend to buy it of us— and there ended our Conferrences with y gen" Assembly-about y 10th of may 1748 ye Gov' and Council were about granting three Townships on ye head of Rochester (part of Kingswood, before mention'd) and had proceeded so far as to give orders for a Plan to be made, which alarmed us the late Purchasers of Capt Mason-We imediately resolved to form ourselves into a Propriety in ord' to take care of our Interest

[Here, unfortunately, this interesting document comes to a sudden end. It is the editor's opinion that the handwriting is that of George Jaffrey, and that it was to be addressed to John Thomlinson. This original is apparently a rough draft, and it is possible that a copy may have been completed and forwarded.—ED.]

[State of Mason's Title.]

[Masonian Papers, Vol. 2, p. 81.]

A STATE of the Title of the Proprietors Purchasers of the Right to the Land in New Hampshire Called Masons Right of Capt John Tufton Mason Esq' the

of

KING JAMES the First by his Letters Patent Granted all that Land & Territory in America, lying between the

Dated 3rd

This Patent is Lat. 40 and 48 Deg. North with the Seas & Islands within Novr 1620 one hundred Miles of any Part of the Sea Coast of that Country, & also all the Soil, Ground Havens, Ports, Rivers within those limits to the Council Establish'd at Plymouth Commonly Call'd the Council of Plymouth which is a Patent well known

This Patent is
Dated 9th

but we cant

BY VIRTUE of which the Said Council made Grants of March 1620 many Particular Tracts of Land, to Companies, & to Parfind it in ticular Persons, Among which is a Grant To Capt John New Hamp- Mason Esq under their Common Seal, for Divers good Considerations, beginning at the River Naumkege (now Salem) thence to proceed Eastward Round Cape Ann to the River Merrimac & up the Same to the head thereof with a Great Island called Isle Mason-&c

No 1

No 2 Dated 7 Novr 1629

See these

Especially

And afterwards the said Council by indenture under their Common Seal Granted to the Said Cap' Mason, all Charters for that Tract of Land beginning at Merrimack runing along the bounds the Sea Coast to Piscataqua River, & up the said River, the next to the furthest Head thereof and from thence North Westward till Sixty Miles are Compleat from the Mouth of Piscataqua River, & in the Same manner thro' Merrimac & then to Cross over Land &c And in the Same Manner the Said Council Granted to the s Cap Masou (a third No 3 time) all the Land from the Middle of Naumkege to the Dated 224 Middle of Piscataqua Harbour, & up the River, to the furthest head thereof, & thence Northwestward till Sixty Miles are finish'd from the Mouth of Said Harbour, & from Naumkege up thro' the River into the Lands Westall to hold to wards, till Sixty Miles are finish'd, and then to Cross over Said Land from the End of this Last Line, to the other at the head of Piscataqua River, with the South half of the Iles Assigns of Shoals &c-Now it is Conceived that with Regard to

this 3rd Grant

April 1635

the

John Mason

other Lands

Mr Mason of

en here be

cause within the

There were the Extent of these Grants, the Inland line must be Granted to understood & Construed to Run Parallel with the Sea weh no No. Coast, between the two Side Lines; because it appears to tice is tak- be the Intent of the Grants, (the two Latter) to give a not Tract of Land the breadth of wch or (with respect to the Claim of Second Grant) the Length of which shou'd be Sixty Miles these Pro- But if it shou'd be a Strait Line, the Tract would not, in Some places be (perhaps) thirty Miles into the Country from the Sea, which wou'd be Contrary to the known rule of Construing the Grant most for the Benefit of the Grantee, as well as against the Apparent Intent-and tho'

prietors

the Literal Description Seems to be a Strait Line Yet the Intent Ought to Govern the Construction—

cause of the

ed here betime & we to take Nowith Regard

have Occasi

tice of it

AFTER the first, and before the Second Grant, made to this is observMr Mason as aforesaid, the Said Council Granted to Sir Henry Roswell & others, that Territory called the Col° of the Massachusets Bay, Extending from three Miles Northward of Merrimack & Every part thereof, to Charles River & three Miles to the Southward of any & Every part thereof, and from the Atlantic Ocean Westward to the South Sea, Which it is necessary to take Notice of as this Grant Interferes with, & cuts off part of Mason's & as there is a Relation of One to the Other

THESE Grants made by the Council of Plymouth to Mr Mason as afores were Soon after the Grant of the last, Confirmed by K. Charles the first, to the Said Mr Mason then Call'd Pay Master & Treasurer of His Army by the Name of New Hampshire, and in the Patents made by the Council of Plymouth it is Said that he the Said Mason Designed to Call the Said Tracts of Land by the General Name of the Province of New Hampshire

to Mr Masons Title

No 4

This Charter

of ConfirmDated 19th Augt 1635 & ample Powernment

ation was

Containd

ers of Gov&

Jurisdiction tho' we cant

find it here

ventory of

Cap Mason between the Years 1629, and 1635 Sent over about Seventy Servants, Besides Trades Men with necessary Provisions, utensils, arms, amunition Artillery for Forts, Clothing for his Servants. Enterd upon the Lands at Piscataqua made Considerable Improvem's Sent over Cattel & other Supplies So that his Expence, Exclu- see the Insive of his Improvements was Computed at about twenty two thousand pounds Sterling. And that the Improvements were very Considerable for the time, appears by Several Testimonies made use of in Some Actions brôt by his Grand Son, afterwards against Some of those very Persons who had been Tenants, or Agents to His Grandfather for parcel of those Lands they So held an Extract of which is herein after Inserted

No 5

Dated Novr

No 6

In the Year 1635 Cap' Mason made his Will, wherein This Will is he Devis'd (among other things) Two thousand Acres of 26 1635 Land in his County of New Hampshire or Mannor of Mason Hall in New England, which his Execut & Over Seers Should think fit, To the Mayor & Commonalty of Kingslyn.-ITEM to his Brother in Law John Wallaston three thousand Acres of Land in his County of New Hampshire or Mannor of Mason Hall where his Said Brother and Execut Should think fit, to hold to him & his Heirs