Description:

Bernard Francis 1712 - 1779 Massachusetts Colonial Governor Bernard signed attractive document, important early boundary dispute between Massachusetts Bay colony and New Hampshire: "by the late running the Line between this Province & the Province of New Hampshire fell within the Bounds of the Government of New Hampshire..."

Manuscript Document Signed "Fra. Bernard" as Governor of Massachusetts Bay, 1p, 7.75" x 12.5". [Boston], October 30, 1765. On watermarked laid paper, expertly mended horizontal folds on verso; old glassine tear repair on verso. Chipped at blank left edge. Very Good condition.

Land was granted by the Massachusetts General Court earlier in 1765 to Captain Thomas Baker and other soldiers for their services in the 1690 Battle of Quebec called Bakerstown Plantation. It replaced a 1736 grant made to them called Bakerstown (now Salisbury, New Hampshire) which was ruled invalid in 1741 at the separation of Massachusetts from New Hampshire. The new town was also called Bakerstown Plantation and included present-day Poland, Mechanic Falls, and Minot in Androscoggin, Maine (part of Massachusetts until Maine statehood in 1820).

In part, "Province of the Massachusetts Bay. In the House of Representatives October the 29th 1765. A Plan of a Township of Land of the Contents of Seven and a half Mile Square Granted to Samuel Gerrish Esqr and others the Original Grantees of a Township call'd Bakers Town, (which Town by the late running the Line between this Province & the Province of New Hampshire fell within the Bounds of the Government of New Hampshire.) To them & their Legal Representatives and Assigns - And by them laid out on the West side of Androscoggin River, Bounded firstly by a great Rock near the middle of Androscoggin River upon the Great Falls of Twenty mile Falls... Ordered that it be and hereby is Accepted: And the Land therein Contained unto them the said Grantees of said Bakers Town so called... They complying with the Conditions of the Grant. And Settle Sixty Families pursuant to an Agreement they have since come into, over and above the Thirty mentioned therein, within Six years from this Date. Provided the same doth not exceed the quantity of Seven and half Mile Square Exclusive of Eight Thousand & Six hundred Acres allowance for Ponds therein contained, not interfere with any former Grant... Consented to Fra. Bernard"

Ten years later, Capt. Samuel Gerrish fought at Bunker Hill.

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