On February 3, 1764, this petition was put over to the May Session, but I do not find that it came up for consideration at that time. It does not appear again for some years.

A Petition of James Prescot, Esq; and others, praying that a Grant of Land may be made them in Lieu of a former Grant, which falls within the New-Hampshire Line.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 129), November 2, 1770.]

This petition was referred to a committee consisting of Dr. Samuel Holten, of Danvers, Colonel Joseph Gerrish, of Newbury, and Mr. Joshua Bigelow, of Worcester.

The Committee on the Petition of James Prescot, Esq; and others, reported.

Read and accepted, and Resolved, That in Lieu of Lands mentioned in the Petition, there be granted to the Petitioners, their Heirs and Assigns, Four Thousand Four Hundred Acres of the unappropriated Lands belonging to the Province, to be laid out in the Westerly Part thereof, adjoining to some former Grants, provided they can find the same; or Five Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty Acres of the unappropriated Lands lying on the Easterly side of Saco River; it being their Proportion in said Grant: And return a Plan thereof taken by a Surveyor and Chainman under Oath, into the Secretary's Office within Twelve Months.

Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 156), November 14, 1770.]

The Committee appointed to consider the Plan of two Tracts of Land granted to James Prescot, Esq; and others, reported.

Read and accepted. Resolved, That both the above Plans, the one containing Four Thousand one Hundred and thirty Acres, the other containing two Hundred and seventy Acres, delineated and described as is set forth by the Surveyor in the Description thereof hereunto annexed, be accepted, and hereby is confirmed to [76] James Prescot, Esq; and others named in their Petition, and to their Heirs and Assigns in Lieu of and full Satisfaction for Four Thousand four Hundred Acres of Land lost by the late running of the Line between this Province and New-Hampshire, as mention'd in a Grant made by both Houses of the Assembly, A.D. 1765, but not consented to by the Governor. Provided both said Plans together do not exceed the Quantity of Four Thousand four Hundred Acres, nor interfere with any former Grant.

Sent up for Concurrence.

[Journal of the House of Representatives (page 73), June 22, 1771.]

It is evident from these reports that the Prescott brothers took the forty-four hundred acres in the westerly part of the province, rather than the fifty-eight hundred and eighty acres on the easterly side of the Saco river, though I have been unable to identify, beyond a doubt, the tract of land thus granted. I am inclined to think however, that it is the one mentioned in the Memorial of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Middlefield, Massachusetts, August 15, 1883. The town is situated on the westerly border of Hampshire County,—forming a jog into Berkshire,—and was made up in part of Prescott's Grant. A map is given in the "Memorial" volume (page 16) which shows that the Grant was originally in Berkshire county, very near to the tract of land given to the proprietors of Groton.

Professor Edward P. Smith, of Worcester, delivered an historical address on the occasion of the anniversary, and he says:—

Prescott's Grant, the nucleus of the town, appears as a large quadrilateral, containing more than a thousand acres in the north and west part of the town. Who the Prescott was to whom the grant was made is not known, further than that he must have been some one who had rendered military or other services to the State. That he was the Prescott who commanded at Bunker Hill is, indeed, possible; but, as the grant was probably made before the Revolutionary War, that supposition seems hardly tenable. (Page 15.)

By an act of the General Court, passed February 25, 1793, a large section of territory was taken from Groton and annexed to Dunstable. This change produced a very irregular boundary between the two towns, and made, according to Butler's History of Groton (page 66), more than eighty angles in the line, causing much inconvenience. The following copy from the "Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" gives the names of the families thus transferred:—