The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, No. VI. June, 1884 | Page 6

year, the name was changed from Nashobah to Littleton. As already
stated, the plan of the original Groton grant had never been returned by
the proprietors to the General Court for confirmation, and this neglect
had acted to their prejudice. After Littleton had been set off, the town
of Groton undertook to repair the injury and make up the loss. John
Shepley and John Ames were appointed agents to bring about the
necessary confirmation by the General Court. It is an interesting fact to
know that in their petition (General Court Records, x, 216, February 11,
1717, in the office of the secretary of state) they speak of having in
their possession at that time the original plan of the town, made by
Danforth in the year 1668, though it was somewhat defaced. In the
language of the Records, it was said to be "with the Petitioner," which
expression in the singular number may have been intentional, referring
to John Shepley, probably the older one, as certainly the more
influential, of the two agents. This plan was also exhibited before the
General Court on June 18, 1713, according to the Records (ix, 263) of
that date.
The case, as presented by the agents, was as follows:--
A petition of John Sheply & John Ames Agents for the Town of Groton
Shewing that the General Assembly of the Province did in the year
1655, Grant unto M'r Dean Winthrop & his Associates a Tract of Land
of Eight miles quare for a Plantation to be called by the name of Groton,

that Thom's & Jonathan Danforth did in the year 1668, lay out the said
Grant, but the Plat thereof through Neglect was not returned to the
Court for Confirmation that the said Plat thô something defaced is with
the Petitioner, That in the Year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth Surveyour
& Son of the abovesaid Jonathan Danforth, at the desire of the said
Town of Groton did run the Lines & make an Implatment of the said
Township laid out as before & found it agreeable to the former. W'h.
last Plat the Petitioners do herewith exhibit, And pray that this Hon'ble
Court would allow & confirm the same as the Township of Groton.
In the House of Represent'ves; Feb. 10. 1717. Read, Read a second
time, And Ordered that the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted that
the Plat herewith exhibited (Althô not exactly conformable to the
Original Grant of Eight Miles quare) be accounted, accepted &
Confirmed as the Bounds of the Township of Groton in all parts,
Except where the said Township bounds on the Township of Littleton,
Where the Bounds shall be & remain between the Towns as already
stated & settled by this Court, And that this Order shall not be
understood or interpreted to alter or infringe the Right & Title which
any Inhabitant or Inhabitants of either of the said Towns have or ought
to have to Lands in either of the said Townships
In Council, Read & Concur'd, Consented to Sam'll Shute
[General Court Records (x, 216), February 11, 1717, in the office of the
secretary of state.]
The proprietors of Groton felt sore at the loss of their territory along the
Nashobah line in the year 1714, although it would seem without reason.
They had neglected to have the plan of their grant confirmed by the
proper authorities at the proper time; and no one was to blame for this
oversight but themselves. In the autumn of 1734 they represented to the
General Court that in the laying out of the original plantation no
allowance had been made for prior grants in the same territory, and that
in settling the line with Littleton they had lost more than four thousand
acres of land; and in consideration of these facts they petitioned for an
unappropriated gore of land lying between Dunstable and Townsend.

The necessary steps for bringing the matter before the General Court at
this time were taken at a town meeting, held on July 25, 1734. It was
then stated that the town had lost more than twenty-seven hundred and
eighty-eight acres by the encroachment of Littleton line; and that two
farms had been laid out within the plantation before it was granted to
the proprietors. Under these circumstances Benjamin Prescott was
authorized to present the petition to the General Court, setting forth the
true state of the case and all the facts connected with it. The two farms
alluded to were Major Simon Willard's, situated at Nonacoicus or
Coicus, now within the limits of Ayer, and Ralph Reed's, in the
neighborhood of the Ridges; so Mr. Butler told me several years before
his death, giving Judge James Prescott as his authority, and I carefully
wrote it down at the time.