CHARLESTOWN NEW-HAMPSHIRE CHARTER with GRANTEES From: Farns10th@aol.com - Janice Farnsworth Source:  History of Charlestown, NH - Fort No. 4 by          Rev. Henry H. Saunderson 1876 p.639                Charlestown New-Hampshire Charter Province of New Hampshire George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland  King Defender of ye Faith etc. To all Persons to whom these Presents Shall Come Greeting: Whereas Sundry of our Loving Subjects before the settle- ment of the Dividing Line of our Province of New Hamp- shire, aforesaid and of our other Government of the Massachusets Bay began a Settlement of a Tract of Land called Number Four Lying on Conneticut River above the Great Falls, and made Sundry divisions of and Improve- ments upon the said Tract of Land, and there remained till the Indian Warr forced them off, and our s'd sub- jects being desirous to make an Immediate settlement on the Premises, and having Petitioned our Governor & Council For his Majesty's Grant of the Premises to be so made as might not Subvert & Destroy their former Surveys and Laying out In Severalty made thereon as afores'd. Now Know ye that we of our Special Grace certain know- ledge and mere motion for answering the ends aboves'd and for the due Encouragement of Settling the s'd Plantation by and with the advise of our Trusty and well Beloved Benning Wentworth Esq'r our Governor and Commander in chief in and over our s'd Province of New Hampshire in America and of our council of our s'd Province, Have upon ye conditions & Reservations herein after made, Given and Granted unto our Loving Subjects Inhabitants of our s'd Province of New hamps're and our other Governments in New England and to their heirs and assigns for Ever; Whose names are entered upon this Grant, to be divided to and amongst them, Into so many and such shares and proportions as they now hold or claim ye same by Purchase Contract Vote or agreement, made amongst themselves, All that Tract or parcel of Land, scituate, lying and being within our said Province of New Hamps're, Containing by admeasurement Twenty three Thousand and Forty Acres, which tract is to contain six miles square and no more, out of which an allowance is to be made for high ways and unimproveable Lands by rocks, mountains, ponds and rivers, one Thousand and Forty acres free, according to a Plan thereof made and presented by our s'd Governour's orders and hereunto annexed; Butted and Bounded as follows viz't.  Beginning at Tree on the Bank of Connecticut River marked for ye northwest corner of Walpole, then runs South 78 degrees East three miles and one hundred Rods to ye North East Corner of s'd Walpole from thence one mile and two hundred and eighty eight Rods East by ye Needle to an Angle in Newton. Then north 2 degrees West eight Miles & half by Newton & Burnet and to an angle in Buckingham - Then North 17 degrees East one Thousand and Sixy Rods by Buckingham afores'd Then North 78 degrees West up home to Connecti- cut River - Thence running down s'd River to ye Bounds first mentiioned; and that the same be and hereby Incorporated into a Township by ye name of Charlestown. And that the Inhabitants that do or shall hereafter In- habit the s'd Township are hereby declared to be En- franchised with, and Intitled to all and every, the Priviledges and Immunities that other Towns within our s'd Province shall be Fifty Families resident thereon shall have the Liberty to open and keep a Market one or more days in each week as may be thought most advanta- geous to ye Inhabitants; Also that the First Meeting For the Choice of Town officers and other affairs agree- able to the Laws of our s'd Province shall be holden on ye second Tuesday in August next,  which meeting shall be notified by Phineas Stevens, Esq. who is hereby also appointed the Moderator of the s'd First Meeting which he is to Notifie and Govern agreeable to the Law and Custom of our s'd Province; and that the Annual Meeting for ever hereafter for ye Choice of such officers for the s'd Town shall be on the Second Tuesday In March Annually. To have and to Hold the s'd Tract of Land as above expressed together with all the Privileges and appurten- ances to them and their respective heirs and assigns forever, upon the following Conditions (viz't.) That every Grantee his heirs or assigns shall plant and cultivate five acres of Land within ye term of five years for every fifty acres contained in his or their shares or proportion of Land in the Township and contin- ue to improve  and settle the same by additional culti- vations on penalty of forfeiture of his Grant or share in the s'd Township and its reverting to his Majesty, his heirs and successors to be by him or them Regranted to such of his Subjects as shall effectually Settle and Cultivate the same.  That all White and other Pine trees within ye s'd Township fit for Masting our Royal Navy be carefully preserved for that use and one to be cut or felled without his Majesty's Especial License for so doing first had and obtained, upon the Penalty of the Forfeiture of ye Right of such Grantee, his heirs or assigns to us our heirs and and successors, as well as being subject to ye penalty of any act or acts Parlia- ment that now are or hereafter shall be enacted; also reserving  the power of adding to or Dividing the s'd Town so far as it Relates to Incorporation Only, to us our heirs & sucessors, when it shall appear necessary or convenient for the Benefit of the Inhabitants thereof That before any further division of the s'd Lands be made to and amongts the Grantees, a Tract of Land in the most Commodious Place the land will admit of shall be reserved and marked out for Town lots one of which shall be allotted to each Grantee of the contents of one acre. Yielding and Paying therefor to us, our heirs and sucessors, for the space of Ten Years to be computed from the date hereof ye annual rent of one ear of Indian Corn only, commencing on ye first day of January ensueing the Date hereof; and every Proprietor, Settler or Inhabitant shall yeild and pay unto us, our heirs and successors yearly and every year forever from and after ye Expiration of the Ten years from the date hereof, namely on the first day of January which will be in ye year of our Lord Christ one Thousand seven hundred and sixty four, One shilling Proclamation money for every one hundred acres he so owns, settles and Possesses and so in proportion for a greater or Lessor Tract of the s'd Land, which money shall be paid by ye Respective Persons above s'd their heirs or assigns in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive ye same and this to be in Lieu of all other rents and services whatsoever.  In Witness whereof we have caused the Seal of our s'd Province to be hereunto affixed.  Wittness Benning Wentworth, Esq our Governour and Commander in Chief of our s'd Province the second day of July in the Year of our Lord Christ 1753 and ye Twenty sevent year of our Reign     By his Excellenc'y Command with the advice of     Council                   B. Wentworth     Theodore Atkinson, Sec'y     Province of New hamps., July 2d 1753     Entered & Recorded in ye Book of Charters, p.161,     l62 - l63.               Theodore Atkinson, Sec'y                       NAMES OF THE GRANTEES OF CHARLESTOWN Joseph Wells Stephen Farnsworth John Sawyer, Jr. Isaac Amsden Andrew Gardner Josiah Willard Obadiah Dickinson Jonathan Hubbard Moses Willard David Farnsworth Phineas Stevens James Farnsworth Nathaniel Parker Seth Putnam Silvanus Hastings William Hayward James Kellogg Ebenezer Putnam Joseph Billings Thomas Adams Jonathan Page John Sawyer The widow and heirs of Obadiah Sartwell  John Hastings, Jr. James Porter Isaac Parker Joseph Willard James Johnson John Hastings Ebenezer Hinsdale John Spafford Isaac Holden Benjamin Allen Abijah Wetherbee Seth Walker Thomas Putnam Moses Wheeler Caleb Dana Samuel Wetherbe Simon Sartwell Lemuel Hastings Peter Labaree Jonathan Wetherbe Joseph Woods His Excellency Benning Wentworth, Esq., one tract of land of the contents of five hundred acres. One sixty-fourth part of the said tract for the Indorporated Socity for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign  parts. One sixty-fourth part for the first settled Minister of the Gospel in said town. One sixty-fourth part of the said tract for a Glebe for the Church of England as by law established. Recorded from the back of the Charter for Charlestown the 2d day of July 1753                             Theodore Atkinson, Secr'y ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. 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