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Vol. 5, No.2 - 1 Aug 2003. Circulation: 100 and growing!
(C) 1999 Boylston Historical Society and Museum
7 Central St., PO Box 459, Boylston, MA 01505
boyhisoc@rcn.com   508-869-2720
Editors: Betty L. Thomas and Judith Haynes
Boylston Historical Society and Museum Web Page:
http://users.rcn.com/boyhisoc/
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the PotpourrEmail, or
to submit information to be included in the PotpourrEmail,
e-mail info to:boyhisoc@rcn.com
CONTENTS. Welcome; "The History of Boylston 1642-1741";
Tidbits; BHS News; On The Web; Humor

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Welcome to our Email newsletter! For those of you who are not
members of BHS and don't receive the snailmail newsletter, it is called
The Potpourri. Sooooo, we thought the appropriate name for this version
would be PotpourrEMAIL. This Email version is not meant to repeat or
copy the snailmail version, but to complement it, with the addition of
topics of interest to those with computer and web capabilities. If you
have a story to tell, information to impart, a good joke, computer
or web genealogy info, a Boylston genealogy query, or anything that would
be of interest to our readers--please Email us at:
boyhisoc@rcn.com

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"The History of Boylston 1642-1741"

The following is from Vol.II of the Historical Series.
This book is no longer available for sale, but there are bound
copies of all the Historical Series books in the Museum's Fuller
Research Library, the Boylston Public Library, the DAR Library and the
Allen County Public Library [Fort Wayne, IN.] There are drawings,
sketches and photos in the book that we cannot include
in this Email.

"The History of Boylston 1642-1741"
A Critical Edition of the Papers of George L. Wright
by William O. Dupuis
Volume II in the Boylston Historical Series
Revised edition 1978

CHAPTER 4

SHREWSBURY - ANOTHER PARENT TOWN

George L. Wright

Early Settlement

The town of Shrewsbury, from which most of the territory taken to form the towns of Boylston and West Boylston was derived, and of which they constituted the Second or North Precinct from 1742 to the incorporation of the town of Boylston in 1786, was not laid out until 1716, and its settlement did not begin until 1717.

By the time the settlement of Shrewsbury began, the Indian hostilities in this vicinity had ceased. Consequently, the town of Shrewsbury did not suffer from their depredations, and it has therefore little or no Indian history connected with it as a town. Still, it is known that the Indians lurked then around and about Lake Quinsigamond, but the town did not suffer from their cruelties as did the settlers of Lancaster, Marlborough and Worcester. The question has often been asked-why was the settlement of Shrewsbury so long deferred after the settlement of the region, and when it was known that there was some valuable land, and a fit place for a settlement on the territory between the eastern shore of Lake Quinsigamond, or Long Pond, and Marlborough. The answer to this question is that most of the land within this territory had been granted to individual or private grants
by the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay to different persons, and had been in the employment of the Province.
Original Grants

Of these grants,there were at least six within the Shrewsbury limits. viz. The Haynes Farm which comprised 3200 acres and was known as the Quinsigamond Farm, the name given to the "Greate Pond that lyeth west point to ye said farm."

This tract was originally granted to Iseaa Johnson in consideration of 400 pounds, and entered in the common stock of the Governor and company of "ye Massachusetts Bay in New England."

Johnson dying,the grant then came into the possession of Increase Norwell, who also died, when the grant came into the possession of John and Josiah Haynes and their brothers-in-law Nathaniel Treadway and Thomas Noyes. It was finally laid out to the Haynes' and Treadway, and confirmed by the General Court on May 27,1661.

Second, The Haynes Indian or Robbins Farm, granted June 15,1715, comprised 1,683 acres, and adjoining "Haynes Old Farm" on the south.

Third, the Davenport Farm, 650 acres made by the General Court to Capt. Richard Davenport in 1659.

Fourth, the Malden Farm, 1,000 acres, granted to the Church and town of Malden in 1662.

Fifth, the Rawson Farm, 500 acres laid out and confirmed by the General Court May 13, 1686, to the Province Secretary Edward Rawson. This was a rectangular tract of land described as lying between Marlborough, Lancaster, and Worcester about half a mile north of Haynes' Old Farm.  This tract was one mile or 320 rods long and 250 rods wide. On it was Rawson Hill, called in the records by its Indian name as Ashan's Hill, and also so called in the letters of incorporation of the Shrewsbury North Precinct, and of the Town of Boylston.

Sixth, Sewall's Quinsigamond Farms, 1,500 acres.

Seventh, Rocky Pond Grant of 200 acres laid out and confirmed by the General Court to Thomas Eames of Framingham in 1684.

The Davenport Farm and the Malden Farm lay wholly within the present lines of Boylston, as did also the Rocky Pond Grant, and the greater part of the Sewall Grant also lay within the Shrewsbury North Precinct.   A more detailed and particular description of these grants will be found in a chapter on Legislative Grants in Boylston.


Another Reason For Late Settlement

Another reason that the settlement of Shrewsbury was delayed was doubtless because the territory proposed for the township was then somewhat off the direct line of travel to the western settlements.   The original Bay Path, which was the old line of communication to the settlements on the Connecticut River, did not pass through the territory proposed for the township, but to the south of it.  It followed the old Indian trail to the region where William Pynchon, who had first settled and founded Roxbury, had founded and settled another town near the most westerly settlement of the Massachusetts Bay towns, at Agawam or Springfield.

It appears that the Bay Path, or Indian Trail, was not wholly satisfactory to these settlers. They desired a more direct course, and one free from the obstacles encountered on the old trail. So the matter was taken to the General Court, and under the date of March 30,1683, the following order was adopted by that body:

"Whereas the way to Connecticut now used being very hazardous to travellers by reason of one deep river that is passed four or five times over which may be avoided; it is referred to Major Pynchon to order ye way to be well laid out and well marked he having to hire two Indians to guide him in the way for fifty shillings it is ordered that the treasurer pay them the same in country pay..."

The Major Pynchon above mentioned and to whom the matter was referred, was Major John Pynchon, a son of William Pynchon, the founder of the town of Springfield, who had then returned to England. The result of the above order was that the Connecticut Road was laid north instead of south of Lake Quinsigamond. By this change it entered the territory taken to make the township of Shrewsbury at the same point where the Great or Post Road now enters Shrewsbury from Northborough, and passed through the town where the village now is to the head of Lake Quinsigamond, not far from the present Boylston lines.  King Philip's War was in progress, and we do not find that anything  more was done, or any further steps were taken to settle the territory. It appears that during this time, the original grantees of the Haynes Farm had died, and their rights in the Grant had descended to their heirs, and several of them had sold their shares therein, and in 1716 the owners of the grant, then twenty-three in number, living mostly in Marlborough and Sudbury, with a view to the division and settlement of the grant, had it surveyed and divided up by John Brigham of Marlborough.

More of chapter four in September!
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Tidbits

Tidbits section will be on vacation this summer....unless some of you readers out there have some tibits to share! If you do.... send them to me at boyhisoc@rcn.com  and I'll copy & paste them right here next month!
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BHSM News

2003 - 2004 PROGRAMS and EVENTS
All Programs open to the public and
held at the Society (unless otherwise noted).
7 Central St., Boylston
Donations at the door are gratefully accepted!
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Watch your mail for our full year schedule--coming at the end of August.

September -
    Sun. 14 - Opening of "We Were There" exhibit - 2-4 pm
    Exhibit focuses in on the World War II military careers of three Boylston soldiers.
    [Victor Delnore, Fenton Bean, and Florence Smith]
October -
    Sat. 4 - Appraisal Day - 10am-2pm, at the Townhouse on Main St.
    Paul Royka of Fitchburg will be doing appraisals
    $5 / item donation     $10/ 3 items

    16-19 - Civil War Encampment - BHSM and Hillside
    watch for more info!

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Visit the gift shop
http://www.ultranet.com/~boyhisoc/gift.htm

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On the Web ...for the month of August

4th - Birthday of romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley [1792-1822]
http://www.bartleby.com/139/
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C070D0B

18th - Founding of the Mendicity Society - 1818
http://www.victorianlondon.org/charities/mendicitysociety.htm


21st - Death of writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - 1689-1762
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/montagu-smallpox.html
http://www.montaguemillennium.com/research/h_1762_mary.htm


30th - Death of King Louis XI - 1423-1483
http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/antillians/louisxi.html
http://edison.ro/louisxi/web/


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Humor - from Carla Thomas

A young woman was pulled over for speeding. As the motorcycle Officer walked to her car window, flipping open his ticket book, she said, "I bet you are going to sell me a ticket to the Highway Patrolmen's Ball."

He replied, "Highway Patrolmen don't have balls."

There was a moment of silence while she smiled, and he realized what he'd just said. He then closed his book, got back on his motorcycle and left.



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PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from PotpourrEMAIL is granted
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Written by -author's name, e-mail address, and URL, if given-
Previously published by PotpourrEMAIL,
PotpourrEmail, Vol. 5, No.2 - 1 August 2003.
Please visit Boylston Historical Society and Museum's main
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This newsletter is distributed monthly, on the first day of the month,
to all Boylston Historical Society members (who have Email!), genealogists,
and friends who have a special interest in the history of the town of
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boyhisoc@rcn.com
508-869-2720
Boylston Historical Society
PO Box 459
Boylston, MA  01505
Web Page:  http://users.rcn.com/boyhisoc/

boyhisoc@rcn.com
508-869-2720
Boylston Historical Society
PO Box 459
Boylston, MA  01505
Web Page:  http://users.rcn.com/boyhisoc/