of the Late North Parish of Methuen (so called) in the Province of the Mass Bay Humbly shews That the Government of the Said Province of the Massa Bay Claiming the Jurisdiction of the said Town of Methuen in ye Year of Our Lord 1735 upon the Petition of Sundry Inhabitants of the said Town Erected & Incorporated a Separate & distinct Precinct or Parish in the Northly part of the said Town & Invested the same with the usual Parish Powers & Privileges That thereupon the Parishioners proceeded to Build a Meeting House Settle a Minister & to Levy Taxes upon themselves to defray the Charges thereof by Authority of Law That Since the runing of the Boundary Line between this Province and that the Greatest part of the said Parish is found to lie in this Province and all the Habitations of the said Parishioners (Eight or Ten Excepted) fall within the Same-Whereby they Conceive their Parochial privileges & all Authorities & powers they were Invested with or that they Conceived they were Invested with are Dissolved & Vacated which makes it Impracticable for them to Subsist together in their former Relations or to manage their Parochial Con cerns That this Situation of Affairs will soon break up the Settlement there which will be no Service to this Government, & perhaps prove the Ruin of many Private Families who are Settled there with Considerable Cost to them Selves & who are Loyal Subjects to His Majesty & may be Serviceable members of the Community wherein they Live Wherefore your Petitioners in behalf of the said Parishioners (by whom they are Constituted & Instructed) most Humbly Pray that by your Excellency's Authority a Township may be Erected & Incorporated by the Following Metes & Bounds viz Beginning at the East End of a Pond commonly called & known by the Name of the Captain's Pond & from thence to Run to the Late Dwelling House of One Richard Petty now Deceas'd upon a Strait Line and from thence to the North part of Policy Pond so called And So running by Said Pond to the South West part thereof and then on a West Course until it comes to Dracut Line & then by Dracut Line till it Comes to the Province Line and So running by that till it Comes to the Place first Mentioned Which will Comprehend a Tract of Land of about five Miles Square That the same may be Granted to the said Persons who were the Inhabitants of the Said Parish (whose Settlements will be Comprized within the Said Boundaries) and to their Associates (Saving the Rights of former Regular Grants & the Interest of Private property) and that they may be Invested with the Legal Rights powers & Authorities that other Towns in this Province hold & Enjoy Or in Such other manner as Your Excellency with the advice of His Majesty's Said Council in your great Wisdom & Goodness shall think proper to Relieve your Peticoners & their Constituents from their Present Grievances And Your Petitioners for themselves & in behalf of their Principals as in Duty Bound Shall Ever Pray &c January 14th 1741. Henry Sanders [See Vol. V., pp. 183–187. — ED.] [3-94] [Report of a Committee on Southern Bounds of Towns on the Massachusetts Line.] Province of To his Excelency Benning Wentworth Esq Govern New Hamp' Jour & Commander in Chieff in & over His Majtys Province aforesd- May it Please your Excelency In Pursuance of your Excelency's Comission Under the Province Seal Dated the 27th of ffebry Last appointing us Comissioners to mark out the Southern Boundarys of as many Towns on the Boundary Line between the Massachusets Bay & this Province as the Land & Inhabitants would allow of untill we Crossed Merrimac river & alsoe to View Dunstable first & Second Parishs togeather with a Smal Part of Lytchfield on the Western Side of Sd river &c - We have been thro the Severall Districts & have taken the best Information we could obtain from the Principle Inhabitants for their General Accommodation & Do report that beginning at the S W corner of South Hampton on the Curve Line between the Province afores & runing on the Sd curve Line till it Meets with Haverhill north west Line runing from Holts rocks Into the Country may be one Town & from Haverhills Sa N West Line On the Curve Line aforesd till it Intersects the Line formerly between Methuen & Haver Hill So Called one other Town Excepting out of their Township the Estates of Timothy Johnson William Johnson & abiel Kelly which we Apprehend may more Conveniently be annexed to the Third & next Town & from the Sd Line between Haverhill & Methuen to the Line formerly the Bounds between Sd Methuen & a Place Called Dracut to be one other Town & from the Sd Last mentioned Line to Merrimack river to be one other Town Then on the Western side of the river We have Agreeable to our Comission Divided the Tract of Land Called the first & 2d Parishes of Dunstable into four Townships Agreeable to a Plan here with returned - all which is Humbly Submitted to your Excelency by May it Please your Excelency Your Excelency's Most Obedient Serv [The foregoing is in the handwriting of Theodore Atkinson, and not dated. ED.] [3-95] [Memorial of Justices of the Superior Court relative to Costs of the Trials of Philip Kenniston, Sarah Simpson, and Penelope Kenney.] To His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq' Captain General, Governour and Commander in chief in and over His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire in New England, To The Honorable his Majesty's Council for said Province and the House of Representatives in General Assembly conven'd The Memorial of the Justices of the Superiour Court of Judicature for the Province of New Hampshire - Sheweth That in the Year 1737 one Philip Kenniston was tried for the Crime of Burglary That the Jury found a special Verdict, That the Court upon advisement was of Opinion that he shou'd be acquitted paying cost, That there was a Bill Taxed amounting to Thirty Two pounds nineteen shillings and three pence an authentick Copy whereof is hereto annexed That the said Philip was detained in Gaol for said costs until he made his Escape by breaking the Gaol, and was afterwards Executed in the County of Middlesex for a Burglary there by him committed that the said Bill of cost remains still unsatisfied That in the year 1739 Sarah Simpson widow and Penelope Kenny Singlewoman were tried for destroying and murdering their Bastard Children, and were condemned and Executed, That their Trials were long tedious and attended with much Trouble and Difficulty That the said Sarah and Penelope left no visible estate That Bills of Cost were taxed in the whole amounting to the sum of Twenty seven Pounds Four shillings Authentic Copies whereof are hereunto annexed, That the said Bills of Cost remain unsatisfied That their Expences in the Trials of the said Sarah & Penelope amounted to the sum of Twelve pounds Twelve shillings That in the year 1740 there were sundry Persons tried for passing Counterfeit Bills of Credit on the Colony of Rhode Island knowing the same to be Counterfeit and that Justice might be done and his Majesty's Subjects of this Province secured from being imposed on (if not many of them from being ruined) Care was taken by the Justices of the said Court to prevail upon Two Gentlemen of Rhode Island Two of the Committee for signing their Bills to be here to give Evidence on the Trial, That an Express was sent from hence to Salem for that end, the charge of which was Five pounds and that of particular persons and which was for the good of the Province, That the said Gentlemen were here at the Trial and That (notwithstanding the Persons tried were acquitted yet it being proved that those Bills were Counterfeit) a stop was put to their passing Wherefore your Memorialists pray your Excellency and Honours and the House of Representatives to take this Memorial under Consideration and to allow out of the Treasury what may be tho't reasonable and your memorialists as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c — By Order of Court Portsm February 6th 1741 Benja Gambling Clerk [3-96] [Costs in Case of Philip Kenniston.] Superior Court at Portsm° in the Province of New Hampshire on the first Tuesday of February 1737/8- Dominus Rex vs: Philip Kenniston Bill of Cost against the Respond [Philip Kenniston was tried for burglary and convicted. He broke out of jail and fled to Massachusetts, where he was tried for a similar crime, convicted, and hung. — Ed.] [3-97] [Costs in Case of Sarah Simpson.] Superior Court at Portsmouth first Tuesday in August 1739— Dominus Rex-vs Sarah Simpson 5 women attending at examination Searching &c At this Court Drawing Indictment Attorneys Fee Entry &c Summons for 20 witnesses Service of Summons each 3 shillings 19 witnesses attend: at this Court and before Grand Jury Kings attorney attending 4 days Petit Jury Taxing ExamdB Gambling Clerk Allowd Fourteen pounds ten shillings A True Copy exam'd H Sherburne B Gambling Clerk [Sarah Simpson was executed December 27, 1739, for the murder of an infant. ED.] [3-98] [Costs in the Case of Penelope Kenney.] Superior Court at Portsm° first Tuesday of August 1739- |