Keene New Hampshire Proprietor List

In March, 1732, a committee was appointed to lay out house-lots in the townships mentioned, who, in June, made a report of the house-lots in the Upper township. Of these, fifty-four were laid out on what is now the city plain, twenty-seven on each side of the Main street, and the other nine upon the plain on the Swanzey line. They were 160 rods long and eight rods wide, each containing eight acres. This committee, being also authorized to admit settlers, notified all persons who were desirous of taking lots to meet at Concord, Mass., June 26, 1734. A few days previous to the time for holding this meeting, the general court passed the following item:

” Voted, That after the sixty persons [grantees] for each township shall have drawn lots, given bonds, and paid their _15 each according to the order of the court, passed in July, 1732. they forthwith assemble at Concord, Mass., and then and there choose a moderator and proprietors clerk, agree upon rules and methods for the fulfillment of their respective grants, for making further divisions, and attend to any other matters or things necessary for the speedy settlement of said townships.”

Upon these several votes the proprietors of Upper Ashuelot entirely depended for titles to their land, as no charter was ever given by Massachusetts. The meeting was held at Concord, according to notice, 0n the 26th of June, when the following named sixty individuals paid .65 each to the committee, were formally admitted as proprietors of the township of Upper Ashuelot, and drew their house-lots. The numbers prefixed to each name denotes the number of his lot, No. e being the south lot on the east side of the street; No. 54 the south lot on the west side; Nos. 27 and 28 the most northern lots on the east and west sides:

  1. Capt. Samuel Sady
  2. Jeremiah Hall
  3. Samuel Heywood
  4. John Witt
  5. Joseph Wright
  6. Samuel Flood
  7. Solomon Kees
  8. Jonathan Morton
  9. Thomas Weeks
  10. Isaac Power
  11. William Heaton
  12. Eleazer Allen
  13. Ministers lot
  14. Daniel Haws
  15. John Hawks
  16. Philemon Chandler
  17. Robert Moor
  18. Isaac How
  19. William Witt
  20. Jonathan Whitney
  21. Joseph Hill
  22. William Puffer
  23. Bartholomew Jones
  24. Joseph Priest
  25. Jonas Kees
  26. William Smeed
  27. Joseph Hill
  28. School lot
  29. Ministry lot
  30. Edward Hall
  31. David Moss
  32. Isaac Heaton
  33. David Chandler
  34. Benjamin Whitney
  35. Joseph Allen
  36. Nicholas Sprake, Jr
  37. Abraham Master
  38. Nathan Fairbanks
  39. Nathaniel Rockwood
  40. John Corbit
  41. John Guild
  42. Joseph Ellis
  43. John Nims
  44. Jonathan Southwick
  45. Robert Gray
  46. Thomas Abbott
  47. Josiah Fisher
  48. Jabez Ward
  49. Isaac Tomberlin
  50. Jonas Wilson
  51. Ebenezer Witt
  52. Amos Foster
  53. David Harwood
  54. Edward Twist
  55. John Burge
  56. Ebenezer Mason
  57. Daniel Hoar
  58. Elisha Root
  59. Mark Ferry
  60. Josiah Fisher
  61. Elias Witt
  62. Samuel Witt
  63. Stephen Blake

The previous Nos. 55-63 inclusive, are those laid out on the Swanzey line.

The next day a full meeting of the proprietors was held, when Samuel Sady was chosen moderator and Samuel Heywood, clerk, and the meeting was adjourned to the 18th of September, then to be held within the limits of the township. In that month the following persons, proprietors, or sons of proprietors, set out for the township, viz.: Jeremiah Hall, Daniel Hoar, Seth Heaton, Elisha Root, Nathaniel Rockwood, Josiah Fisher and William Puffer. None of them had ever visited the township, and as it was then considered quite a formidable journey thereto, ” Deacon” Alexander, of Northfield, was secured to act as guide. They did not arrive at the line of the township until late in the evening of the 18th, the day appointed for the adjourned meeting to convene, so, as soon as their guide informed them that they had passed the town line, they immediately opened a meeting, only to adjourn it to the following day. Such was the first visit of the proprietors to what is now the city of Keene, late on a September evening, 15 years ago.


Collection:
Hurd, Duane Hamilton. History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire. Philadelphia: J. W. Lewis. 1886.

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