Provincial and State Papers

tion of the Said Town We Do hereby Will & ordain that the Annual Meeting for the Choice of Town officers Shall be Constantly held on the Said first Tuesday in March forever hereafter In Testimony Whereof We have Caused the Seal of our Said Province to be hereunto affixed Wittness Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Com'ander in Chieff of our Said Province the 26th Day of September in the year of our Lord Christ 1753 And in the 27th year of our reign

By His Excellency's Com'and with Advice of Council

Theodore Atkinson Ser

B Wentworth

Entred & recorded According to the Original Charter under the Province Seal this 26 of September 1753

Theodore Atkinson Sect

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Taken from the Plan on the Back of the originel Charter of Incorporation for Hindsdale & Winchester 26 of September 1753 Attest Theodore Atkinson Secry

Part of Richmond

HOLDERNESS.

[Granted Nov. 10, 1751, to John Shepard and others. Regranted as New Holderness Oct. 24, 1761, to Maj. John Wentworth and others. The town was named in honor of the Earl of Holderness. The name was changed to Holderness June 12, 1816. The town was taken from Strafford County and annexed to Grafton, Sept. 14, 1782. Ashland was set off and incorporated July 1, 1868.

See IX, Bouton Town Papers, 394; XII, Hammond Town Papers, 226; Index to Laws, 244, 402; Batchelder's History of the Eastern Diocese, P. E. Church, 1876, p. 262; Stewart's History of the Free Baptists, 1862, p. 375; Lawrence's N. H. Churches, 1856, p. 580; sketch, Child's Gazetteer of Grafton County, 1886, p. 391; Note on New Holderness, 13, Collections of Mass. Historical Society, 113; Holderness and the Livermores, by F. M. Colby, 4, Granite Monthly, 175; Biography of Samuel Livermore, by C. R. Corning, I, Proceedings of Grafton and Coos Bar Association, 365; Biography of Arthur Livermore, by E. S. Stearns, 2, id., 429.]

*1-81 Holderness

P-S

[HOLDERNESS CHARTER, 1751.]

*Prove of New Hamp

George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Brittain France & Ireland King Defender of the Faith &ca

To All to whom these Presents Shall come Greeting

Know Ye that we of our Special Grace Certain Knowledge & mere Motion for the due Encouragement of Settling A New Plantation within our Said Province by & with the Advice of our Trusty & well beloved Benning Wentworth Esq our Govornour & Com'ander in Chieff of our Said Province of New Hampshire in America & of our Council of Said Province Have upon the Conditions & Reservations hereafter made Given & Granted And by these Presents for us our heirs & Successors Do give & Grant in Equal

Shears unto our Loving Subjects Inhabitants of our Said *1-82 *Province of New Hampshire And his Majesties Other Governments and to their heirs And Assignes for ever whose names Are Entred on this Grant to be Divided to and Amoungst them into Sixty Seven Equal All That Tract or Parcel of Land Scituate Lying & being within our Province of New Hampshire Containing by Admeasurement Twenty three thousand & forty Acres which Tract is to Contain Six miles Square & no more out of which an

Allowence is to be made for high ways & unimproveable Lands by Rocks Mountains Ponds & Rivers One thousend & forty Acres free, According to A Plan thereof made & Presented by our Said Governours orders And hereunto Annexed Butted & bounded as follows (Viz) Begining at A Red Oak Tree at the foot of the great falls Runing South Six Miles by Pemidgwasset river to A White Pine Tree from Thence Running East Six Miles to A White Pine Tree thence runing North Six Miles thence running West Six Miles to the Tree first mentioned and that the Same be & is Incorporated into A Township by the Name of HOLDERNESS and that the Inhabitants that Do or Shall hereafter Inhabit the said Township Are hereby Declared to be Enfranchized with & Entituled to all & Every the Previledges & Immunities that Other Towns within our Said Province by Law Exercize & Enjoy: & further that the Said Town as Soon as there Shall be fifty families Resident & Settled thereon Shall have the Liberty of holding two fairs one of which Shall be held on the first Wednesday in June & the Other on the first Wednesday in October following Annually which fairs Are not to Continue & be held Longer then the respective Frydays following the sd Respective Days And as Soon as the Said Town Shall Consist of fifty families A Market Shall be Opened & kept one or more Days in Each week as may be thot most advantagious to the Inhabitants also that the first meeting for the Choice of Town officers Agreable to the Laws of our sd Province Shall be held on the Twentyeth Day of November Instant which meeting Shall be Notifyed by Thomas Sheapard who is hereby Also Appointed the Moderator of the Said first Meeting which he is to Notify & Govern Agreable to the Laws & Customs of our Said Province And that the Annual Meeting for ever hereafter for the Choice of Such Officers of Said Town Shall be on the Last Tuesday in March Annually TO HAVE & TO HOLD the S Tract of Land as above Expressed togeather with all the Previledges & Appurtenances to them & their Respective heirs & assignes forever upon the following Conditions (Viz) That every Grantee his heirs or assignes Shall Plant or Cultivate five Acres of Land within the Term of five years for every fifty Containd in his or *thier Shear or Proportion of *1-83 Land in Sa Township And Continue to Improve & Settle the Same by Aditional Cultivations on Penalty of the forfeiture of his Grant or Share in the Said Township and its Reverting to his Maj'y his heirs & Successors to be by him or them Regranted to Such of his Subjects as Shall Effectually Settle & Cultivate the

Same-That All white & other Pine trees within the Said Township fit for Masting our Royal Navy be carefully Preserved for that Use and none to be Cut or felld without his Majesties Especial Lycence for So doing first had & obtaind upon the Penalty of the forfeiture of the right of Such Grantee his heirs or assignes to us our heirs & Assignes to us our heirs & Successors as well as being Subject to the Penalties of Any Act or Acts of Parliament that now Are or hereafter Shall be Enacted-That before Any Division of the s Land be made to & Amoungst the Grantees A Tract of Land as near the Center of the Township as the Land will Admit of Shall be Reserved & Marked out for Town Lotts one of which Shall be Allotted to Each Grantee of the Contents of one Acre And also One Other Tract of Land Containing five hundred Acres Including the Neck of Land in the Plan hereunto Annexed Marked B: W: which Is hereby Granted unto Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour aforesaid & to his heirs & Assigns for ever Yeilding & Paying therefor to us Our heirs & Successors for the Space of Ten years to be Compleated from the Date hereof the rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only on the Twenty fifth Day of December Annually if Lawfully Demanded: the first Payment to be made on the 25th Day of December 1752 after the Date hereof every Proprietor Settler or Inhabitant Shall Yield & Pay unto us our Heirs & Successors Yearly & every Year for ever from and after the Expiration or the Ten years from the Date hereof Namely on the 25th Day of December-which will be in the year of our Lord Christ One thousend Seven hundred & Sixty two One Shilling Proclamation money for every hundred Acres he So owns Settles or Possesses & So in Proportion for A greater or Lesser Tract of the Said Land which money shall be paid by the Respective Persons above sa thier heirs or Assignes In our Council Chamber in Portsmo or to Such officer or officers as Shall be appointed to Receive the Same and this to be in Lieu of all Other Rents and Services whatsoever—In Testimony hereof We have Caused the Seal of Our sd Province to be hereunto affixed Wittness Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Com'ander in Chieff of ours Province the Tenth Day of November in the Year of our Lord Christ 1751 and in the Twenty fifth year of our reign

By his Excellencys Comand

with Advice of Council

Theod' Atkinson Se

B Wentworth