45".58, longitude 73° 16′ 17′′.68. [See Revised Statutes of New York, 1875, page 122; also plat of survey of Boston Corner in 1853, a copy of which is on file in office of clerk of House of Representatives at Washington, D. C.; also, for latitudes and longitudes, see tables of Borden's Survey of Massachusetts, 1843.] Latitude and longitude of certain points on the boundary line of Massachusetts. (From Borden's Trigonometrical Survey, 1843.) Brandy Brow Hill, State line corners of Haver- Connecticut and Mas- Southwest corner of Massachusetts sachusetts. Connecticut line bound at Mount Washington Boundary stone in Connecticut line on road from These positions require a correction of from 15" to 20" in order to make them conform to modern determinations of position. "This corner was changed by the cession of Boston Corner by Massachusetts to New York in 1855. (520) RHODE ISLAND. The present State of Rhode Island was settled by Roger Williams and other immigrants, who left Massachusetts Bay and established themselves at Providence in 1636. In 1643 a patent was granted for the Providence Plantation, from which the following are extracts, viz: * And wheras there is a tract of land in the continent of America aforesaid, called by the name of the Narraganset Bay, bordering northward and northeast on the patent of the Massachusetts, east and southeast on Plymouth patent, south on the ocean, and on the west and northwest by the Indians called Narigganneucks, alias Narragansets, the whole tract extending about 25 English miles unto the Pequot River and country; and wheras divers English inhabitants of the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport, in the tract aforesaid, have represented their desire, do * * * # we give, grant, and confirm to the aforesaid inhabitants of the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport a firm and absolute charter of incorporation, to be known by the name of the incorporation of Providence Plantations, in the Narraganset Bay, in New England. In 1663 Charles II granted a charter to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, of which the following is an extract: "All that parte of our dominiones in New-England, in America, conteyneing the Nahantick and Narragansett Bay, and countryes and partes adjacent, bounded on the west, or westerly, to the middle or channel of a river there, commonly called and known by the name of Pawcatuck, alias Pawcawtuck river, and soe along the sayd river, as the greater or middle streame thereof reacheth or lyes upp into the north countrye, northward, unto the head thereof, and from thence, by a streight lyne drawn due north untill itt meets with the south lyne of the Massachusetts Collony; and on the north, or northerly, by the aforesayd south or southerly lyne of the Massachusetts Collony or Plantation, and extending towards the east, or eastwardly, three English miles to the east and north-east of the most eastern and north-eastern parts of the aforesayd Narragansett Bay, as the sayd bay lyeth or extendeth itself from the ocean on the south, or southwardly, unto the mouth of the river which runneth towards the towne of Providence, and from thence along the eastwardly side or banke of the sayd river (higher called by the name of Seacunck river), up to the ffålls called Patuckett ffalls, being the most westwardly lyne of Plymouth Collony, and soe from the sayd ffalls, in a streight lyne, due north, untill itt meet with the aforesayd line of the Massachusetts Collony; and bounded on the south by the ocean." And in particular, the lands belonging to the townes of Providence, Pawtuxet, Worwicke, Nusquammack, alias Pawcatuck, and the rest upon the main land in the tract aforesayd together with Rhode Island, Blocke Island, and all the rest of the islands and banks in the Narragansett Bay and bordering upon the coast of the tracts aforesaid (Ffishers Island only excepted). (For history of the northern and eastern boundaries see Massachusetts, p. 48.) In 1703 substantially the present western boundary was settled by an agreement made between the commissioners from the two colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut, viz: "A straight line from the mouth (521) of Ashawoga River to the southwest corner of the Warwick purchase, and thence a straight north line to Massachusetts. The line of 1703 was actually run by Rhode Island, and is still known as the Dexter and Hopkins line. The two colonies disagreeing, Rhode Island appealed to the King, and the agreement of 1703 was finally established in 1726. In September, 1728, commissioners from the two colonies met and ran the line. (For agreement of 1703 and 1728, decisions of English council, etc., see R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. III.) In 1839 commissioners were appointed by Rhode Island and Connecticut to survey and ascertain the line and erect monuments. The following line was established, viz: Beginning at a rock near the mouth of Ashawoga River, where it empties into Pawcatuck River, and from said rock a straight course northerly to an ancient stone heap at the southeast corner of the town of Voluntown, and from said rock southerly in the same course with the aforesaid line, until it strikes Pawcatuck River. From the southeast corner of Voluntown a straight line to a stone heap at the southwest corner of West Greenwich; from thence a straight line to the southwest corner of the ancient town of Warwick, and which is now a corner of the towns of Coventry and West Greenwich; from thence a straight line to the northwest corner of the town of Coventry; thence a straight line to the northeast corner of Sterling; thence a straight line to the southwest corner of Burrillville, and thence a straight line to a stone heap upon a hill in the present jurisdictional line between the States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and at all of said corners, excepting said Warwick corner, we have erected monuments of stone, marked R. I. and C., and have also placed similar monuments on all the principal roads crossing the line, and at other suitable places. And we have caused the ancient monument which was erected at the Warwick corner in November, 1742, to be reset and a large heap of stones to be made around it. Said monument is marked with the letter C. on one side, and on the other RHODE. ISLAND and the traces of other letters and figures. [Extract from Commissioner's Report. See R. I. Acts and Resolves, Jan. 1846, pages 12, 13, 14.] The above was ratified in 1846. CONNECTICUT. The title by which the people of Connecticut held the country was founded on the old patent granted by Robert, Earl of Warwick, in 1631, to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, Sir Richard Saltonstall, aud others, associated under the name of the Plymouth Company. In 1630 the Plymouth Council made a grant of Connecticut to the Earl of Warwick, their president. This was confirmed by King Charles in 1631, and on the 19th of March, in the same year, the Earl conveyed his title to the Plymouth Company, as before stated. (Dwight's Conn., 19, et seq.) A charter was granted by Charles II to Connecticut in 1662, of which the following is an extract, viz : We do give, grant and confirm unto the said Governor and Company, and their successors, all that part of our Dominions in New England in America bounded on the east by Narraganset River, commonly called Narraganset Bay, where the said river falleth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachusetts plantation; and on the south by the sea; and longitude as the line of the Massachusetts Colony, running from cast to west, that is to say, from the said Narragansett Bay on the east, to the south sea on the west part, with the islands thereunto adjoining. # * [C. and C., p. 256-7.] Previous to this time the two colonies of Connecticut and New Haven had continued separate, but under this charter they were united and the charter was accepted April 20, 1665. (C. and C., p. 252.) The Duke of York having been granted a charter in 1664, by which the lands west of the Connecticut River were embraced in his jurisdiction, the question of boundary immediately arose. About this time Col. Richard Nichols, George Cartwright, esq., Sir Robert Carr, and Samuel Maverick, esq., had been appointed commissioners by the King, and clothed with extraordinary powers, to determine all controversies in the colonies. The matter was referred to them, who, after a full hearing, determined that the southern boundary of Connecticut was the sea (Long Island Sound), and its western, Mamaroneck River, and a line drawn north-northwest from the head of salt water in it to Massachusetts. The territory south and west of these lines was declared to belong to the Duke of York. (Vide Dwight's Connecticut, pp. 159 et seq.) This decision, in effect, decided upon a line 20 miles east of the Hudson River as the boundary, having for a starting point a place on Mamaroneck River. In 1674 the Duke of York received a new charter in substantially the same terms as that of 1664. New controversies concerning jurisdiction led to a new agreement, by which it was stipulated that a tract of land on Long Island Sound, the bounds of which were described as containing 61,440 acres, should be permanently set off to Connecticut by New York on condition that the former, in exchange, should set off to New York a territory of like extent and of uniform width from the tract on the Sound to the south line of Massachusetts. This agreement was sanctioned by a royal ordinance of the King, and in 1684 the tract on the Sound was surveyed and set off to Connecticut. The western boundary of Connecticut was run in 1685 by Major Gould, Mr. Barr, and Mr. Selleck, and ratified by both parties. (Vide Dwight's Connecticut, p. 199.) For various reasons the survey of the equivalent lands was not made at that time. In 1725 commissioners were appointed on both sides to fix the line, this being the fifth set appointed for the same purpose, none of which had been able to come to an agreement. The commissioners of 1725, however, entered into articles of agreement settling the manner of the survey. They, however, ran only the line bounding the tract on Long Island Sound. For some cause action was then suspended until 1731, when the commissioners of 1725 surveyed and set off the oblong or equivalent territory to New York, defining and marking its boundary, which was to remain forever the dividing line between the respective States (then colonies). The line was substantially as at present, and is as follows, viz: Beginning at Lyon's Point, in the mouth of a brook or river called Byram's River, where it falls into Long Island Sound, and running thence up along said river to a rock at the ancient road or wading-place in said river, which rock bears north twelve degrees and forty-five minutes east, five hundred and fifty rods from said point; then north twenty-three degrees and forty-five minutes west, two thousand two hundred and ninety-two rods; then east-northeast, thirteen miles and sixtyfour rods, which lines were established in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-five, by Francis Harrison, Cadwaller Colden, and Isaac Hicks, commissioners on the part of the then province of New York, and Jonathan Law, Samuel Eells, Roger Walcott, John Copp, and Edmund Lewis, commissioners on the part of the then colony of Connecticut, and were run as the magnetic needle then pointed; then along an east-northeast continuation of the last-mentioned course, one mile, threequarters of a mile, and twenty-one rods, to a monument erected in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one by Cadwaller Colden, Gilbert Willett, Vincent Matthews, and Jacobus Bruyn, jr., commissioners on the part of said province, and Samuel Eells, Roger Walcott, and Edmund Lewis, commissioners on the part of said colony, which said monument is at the southeast corner of a tract known and distinguished as the oblong or equivalent lands; then north twenty-four degrees and thirty minutes west, until intersected by a line run by said last-mentioned commissioners, on a course south twelve degrees and thirty minutes west, from a monument erected by them in the south bounds of Massachusetts, which monument stands in a valley in the Taghkanick Mountains, one hundred and twenty-one rods eastward from a heap of stones in said bounds, on the top or ridge of the most westerly of said mountains; then north twelve degrees and thirty minutes east from a monument erected by said last-mentioned commissioners at said place of intersection, and standing on the north side of a hill, southeasterly from the easternmost end of the long pond, along the aforesaid line to the aforesaid monument erected in the south bounds of Massachusetts-being the northeast corner of the oblong. (See Revised Statutes of N. Y., 1881, Vol. I, pages 128-9.) For more than a century no controversy arose, but subsequent to 1850 questions of jurisdiction were raised, and in 1855 Connecticut made a proposition for a new survey. Several sets of commissioners were appointed, but no agreement being reached, finally, in 1860, pursuant to an act of the legislature of New York, the line was run by the New York commissioners, Connecticut not being represented. The first section of the act of the New York legislature is as follows, viz: 1. The commissioners appointed by the governor to ascertain the boundary line between the States of New York and Connecticut are hereby empowered and directed |