for your Excellency & your Honours as in Duty bound shall Ever pray. Dated at Hopkinton Aforesaid October 1st 1767. Voted, That Ens. Jonathan Straw prefer this Petition to the General Court. Names of the Subscribers. Gideon Gould Hezekiah Foster Abraham Brown Ruben Kimball Wm Clements Timothy Farnham John Gage Joseph Standly Ezekiel Stanley? Moses Smith Ezekiel Straw Jotham How Green French Tim Clement James Scales David How Enoch Eastman Jeremy French William Stevens Benjamin Merrill James Kimball Joseph Putney John Burbank Moses Jewett Abel Kimball Polard Judkins John Blasdell William Davis Jeremiah Fowler Joseph Eastman Caleb Burbank David Woodwell John Eastman Tho Eastman Samuel Stanley Ezra Hoyt. Voted, That the petitioners have leave to Bring in a Bill for Laying a tax of one half peny sterling pr acre yearly for five years on all the Lands of Resident and non resident Proprietors except that part which was taken off from the town of Bow In Council March 16th 1768 The above Vote of the House read & Concurred. M. Weare, Clr. Province of Feby 11 1768. In the house of Representatives New Hampshire jupon Reading this Petition voted that the Petitioners cause the substance of this Petition to be printed in the New Hampshire Gazette as soon as may be & to continue it there for three weeks successively with notice that any person who has any objection against the prayer thereof may be heard thereon on the third day of the setting of the General Assembly next after the Tenth of March next In Council 13th February 1768. Read & Concurr'd. Geœ. King Dep. Secy. M. Weare, Clr. Province of In the House of Representatives March 15th 1768. The New Hamps} within Petition being Considered and the petitioners and such as appeared to make objections heard thereon, Voted, HUDSON-formerly NOTTINGHAM WEST. [Incorporated 5 July, 1746, having previous to 1741 belonged to Massachusetts. ED.] Petitioners for a new Parish. To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq Capt General and comander in chief in and over his Majesties Province of New Hampshire in New England, May it please your Excellency, According to your Excellencies direction, I hereby signifie to your Excellency that the whole Number of Proprietors and Inhabitants in the Towns of Nottingham and Litchfield within the Limits we petitioned for are forty five; and those who are willing and desirous to be erected into a Township or Parish (according to your Exceilencies pleasure) have hereunto Set their names. Nottingham. John Taylor William Cumings John Marshall John Parker Josiah Cumings Benjamin Greeley Litchfield. Nathaniel Hills Ebenezer Spaulding Joseph Pollard Joseph Kedder Jr If your Excellency will be pleased to erect us into a Town or Parish agreable to our Petition you will exceedingly oblige your most Dutifull and most obedient Petitioners Litchfield. NATH HILLS } In the Name of some of the Proprietors & Inhabitants of the Towns of Nottingham & Litchfield. Prov. N. H. } Petition for Town privileges. To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq. Governour, The Honble His Majestys Council & House of Representatives in Gen Court Assembled at Portsmouth the 20th days of May 1743. The Peti of us the Subscribers Inhabitants & freeholders of the District called Nottingham Humbly sheweth: That in the year 1732, Wee were on application made to the Gen Court of the Massachusetts Province sett off from the town of Dunstable a Distinct and seperate township with the Powers & Priveledges of a Town & thereby enjoyned & Required to Procure and settle a Learned orthodox minister amongst us & make provision for his Comfortable & Honble support, which in the year 1737 the town fullfilled but so it Happened contrary to our Knowledge or Expectation, The Running of the Line Between the Governments according to his Majestys Late Determination has taken considerable part of our Town into this Province, by means whereof, we are without the Power to manage our necessary affairs as a Body corporate & more especially to Raise and collect money for the support of the Rev Nathaniel Merrill our Minister, according to our Contract with him; That before the Running of.the line assessments was made for the Ministers Rates Many Delinquents (on the Running the line) declared against paying, and continue to neglect it, tho no complaint of being over Rated. That thereby the minister has suffered, & long been kept out of his Just Due. That we Have not since the running of that Line been able in any Equal way to Raise his yearly Sallery. That so much of our Improvements being left in the Massachusetts and our circumstances so Low Renders it of necessity for all the Inhabitants in our District to assist in payment, or it will be Impracticable for us to Subsist as a Society and many difficult circumstances attending these things presses us Humbly to Supplicate, and In as much as this Honble Court has been pleased to look upon us as Subjects of the Government by Taxing us to the Support of it, which we Readily & dutifully comply with, we doubt not but Wee shall be owned as the children of the Same & obtain the Priviledges & protection other Inhabitants Enjoy: Wherefore we most Humbly pray your Excellency & Hon to take the premises into your consideration & Invest the s District of Nottingham (that is to say that part of Nottingham that Lyes in the province of New Hampshire) with the Powers & priveledges of a Town & enable us to Levy & collect the former Delinquent Rates or make some speciall Law that shall Relieve us in the Premises as in your great Wisdom shall be tho best, & as In duty bound shall pray. John Butler Henry Baldwin Jr Joseph Blodget Joseph Snow Hezekiah Hamblet Sam Huston Petition for a Parish. To his Excellency Bening Wintworth Esq. Captine General & commander in chief in & over his Majesties Province of New Hampshire in New England. Your Excellency with the rest of the Honourable Court may well remember that we your humble Petitioners a considerable time since put in a petition to ye General Court for a distinct town or parish which the Honourable Court shall judge most convenient & we still remain earnest in our desires that s petition may have a hearing, and that it may be acted upon when your Excellency with the rest of the Court shall think convenient, the reasons why wee desire to be a distinct town or parish are contained in our former Petition: We live at such a distance from our respective meetings, that we look'd upon it that we were obliged to maintain y Gospel amongst us, which we have done for almost three years, and from the encouragement that we had from time to time we have lived in hopes that we should be freed from paying taxes elsewhere, but since the late act made by y Hon ourable Court to impower certain districts to raise money for ye support of y° ministry & other charges & our respective district have had meetings, & have raised large sums of money, not only for y present year but for several years past as appears by their votes. And we look upon it as a Great hardship that we should be obliged to pay s1 rate for three reasons (Viz) Ist We live at such a distance from y Places of Publick worship in our respective districts, that we cannot attend y° worship of God with our Families there. 2d We have had a minister with us and are obliged to him for so much money from day to day, therefore we look upon it a hardship to pay taxes elsewhere. 3d And there are some of us that have moved into these districts long since y money was due that they now rate us for, this appears to be a hardship to such of us. Therefore we your humble petitioners pray that your Excellency with y others of y Honourable Court would take these reasons into your consideration, & free us from these heavy burthens laid upon us, we have many of us borne a heavy burthen for a long time & we fear its growing heavier for we find none amongst us in our respective districts that will move it so much as with one of their fingers. Therefore as you are our Fathers we humbly apply ourselves to you for relief, & if in your great Wisdom think it not convenient as yet to erect us into a town, we beg that we may be aquited from paying the taxes that are served upon us, & that we may have the Priviledges of other Parishes or districts, till such times as we may be further answered in our request that so we may able further to maintain y Gospel amongst us; these things we humbly ask & rest your humble Petitioners. Dated at the District called Nottingham September y 19th 1743. P. S. We that live in the district called Litchfield would acquaint your Excellency that at y time of their settling a minister in this district that we entered our dissents but they proseded & settled a minister Contrary to our opinion, & we think it a hardship, that we should be Obliged to pay taxes to a Minister that is settled upon such a foundation that he is-which is Presbyterianism. This is Contrary to what we was ever acquainted with contrary to our opinion in matters of religion and Contrary to our minds to set under him as such. Joseph Kidder Charles Dorah George Burroughs Jr William Cumings Nathan Cross |