The Town of Worcester, in answer to Sd Petition and Order of Court, beg leave to say, that they have not been served with a plan of said town exhibited with said Petition to the Court, and therefore are not in a Capacity to offer reasons against, or to comply with it untill they know how far it Extends. But if the said plan Does not include any of those persons nor their Estates which belong to the Town of Worcester, and which were Excepted from being set off to said precinct when it was first Erected, We have no objections to their being made a Distinct Town. But if said plann includes those persons and their Estates who were first Exempted from belonging to said precinct, and are still unwilling to be set off to said Town, We beg leave to say we think it would be inconsistent to include a Number of persons & their Estates into the said New Town and still continue them to belong to the Town of Worcester, and to include them in the plann aforesaid & set them off against their Consent & the Consent of this Town, is departing from the principles upon which the said precinct was at first Erected, and will subject the said persons to an inconvenience that they had a right to Expect an Exemption from by the act of the General assembly & as the said persons who were first Exempted from belonging to Sd Precinct and who are still unwilling to be set off to Sd new Town and their Estates all lay upon the side of Sd new Town next to Worcester, this Town are humbly of opinion that a line may be run between the Town of Worcester & the Sd new Town Leaving the Sd persons & their Estates to the Town of Worcester without any Inconveniency to Either of the said Towns, which if complied with the Town of Worcester are Content.
| Nathn Baldwin | } | Comittee." |
| Nathan Perry | } | |
| David Bigelow | } |
On the 2d of February, 1778, in Worcester Town Meeting, it was voted to choose two persons to meet the Committee of the General Court, to view the proposed new township, and to fix the lines and boundaries; and on the 23d of the same month, it was voted to remonstrate against the proceedings of said Committee, and the lines established between the towns, with what effect it does not appear.
On the 10th of the following April the Precinct was incorporated as a Town and named Ward.
February 17th, 1837, the name of the Town was changed to Auburn. This was influenced largely, it is said, by the confusion in writing the names Ward and Ware by those not familiar with the two places.
The Order establishing the South Precinct or Parish of Worcester comprises the names of those who were the first residents of the new town, and the founders of the prominent families, the names of whose immediate progeny and later descendants appear in the Records embodied in this volume:
In Council, June 19, 1773, ordered that Gershom Rice, Israel Stevens, David Bancroft, Jonathan Stone, Daniel Boyden, Jacob Stevens, Thomas Drury, Thomas Drury, Jr., Henry Gale, Wm. Bancroft, Jas. Nichols, Darius Boyden, Jas. Hart, Thos. Baird, Jas. Hart, Jr., Thos. Baird, Jr., Oliver Curtis, Comfort Rice, Elizabeth Boyden, Phebe Bancroft, Jno. Boyden, Daniel Bancroft, Chas. Hart, Jas. Nichols, Peter Boyden, of Worcester; Benjamin Carter, Chas. Richardson, Timothy Carter, Phineas Rice, Benjamin Carter, Jr., Rachel Buck, Daniel Roper, Gershom Bigelow, Gershom Bigelow, Jr., Peter Hardy, Daniel Cummings, Charles Richardson, Jr., of Sutton; Samuel Eddy, Levi Eddy, Peter Jenison, Ruth Stone, Jesse Stone, Isaac Pratt, Abraham Fitts, Alexander Nichols, David Gleason, of Oxford; John Crowl, Jr., Andrew Crowl, Jonathan Phillips, John Hart, Thomas Scott, William Yong, Jonathan Stone, of Leicester; be and hereby are, with their Families and Estates, erected into a Precinct, and shall enjoy all the powers and privileges which other Precincts in this Province by Law enjoy; and it is further ordered that all other persons (with their Families and Estates) living in the towns of Worcester, Leicester and Oxford, not further than three miles (as the roads are now trod) from the Place hereinafter fixed for building the meeting-house upon, together with all such others in Sutton that live not further than one mile and a half from said place, who shall signify their desire to belong to said Precinct by lodging their names in the Secretary's office within nine months from this date, be and hereby are Incorporated and made a part of the Precinct aforesaid—Ordered that the spot for erecting the meeting-house upon be at the following place (viz)., at an Oak stump with stones upon it, Standing on the Westerly side of the County road leading from Worcester to Oxford, near the Centre of two acres of Land which Thomas Drury conveyed to Jonathan Stone, Daniel Boyden and David Bancroft; the said two acres of land lieth on the gore of land which was annexed to the town of Worcester.
Those who signified their desire to be included in the new division were:
Samuel Holman, Gershom Rice, Jr., Israel Stone, Wm. Parker, Joseph Phillips, Samuel Learned, Israel Phillips, Jacob Work, Jonathan Cutler, David Stone, John Harwood, Thomas Gleason, William Phips, Isaac Putnam, Joseph Gleason, Jonas Bancroft, Elisha Livermore, Gardner Chandler (for his land within the limits) Nathaniel Scot, David Bates, Nathan Patch, David Richards.