Landownership around the North Leverett sawmill 1770-1800

Examples of abbreviations:

• TR-34: Leverett Town Record Book (1773-1807), Page 34

• Abs2/41: Hampshire County Abstracts, Book 2, Page 41

• 2/41: Franklin County Deeds, Book 2, Page 41

• F1, F2, F3: Three separate purchases into one contiguous parcel by a landowner of historic interest.

Notes

• Prominent historical figures and important lots or features are printed in bold font.

• A rod is 16½ feet (a quarter of a chain), and there are 160 square rods per acre.

This color-coded version of the land ownership map is easier to visualize since individual ownership was grouped using a single color. This refinement has been done under the direction of Will Melton, public historian.

Lots designated on the map

LOT A:

Joseph Slarrow; 4 acres E, N, and W of his mill & stream. TR: 242, 4/28/1774; See also TR: 349, Vote 6, 4/28/1774. Thereafter subsumed under Lot B. Partial ownership of the sawmill and ½ acre of surrounding land came to Samuel Leland, Horatio N. Watson, and Gilman Watson (and presumably others). See Lot F. The 4-acre lot is not mentioned again after James Curtis took ownership of the mill.

LOT A1:

A 5-acre lot south of the river, opposite the mill was granted to James Curtis by the town, TR-287, 4/17/1796, “being laid out to make up for the wantage of land laid out to Capt. Joseph Slarrow.” Slarrow’s grant was supposed to be 43 acres+ 4 acres, but the description of the 43-acre lot (Lot B) wholly embraced the 4-acre lot, so this grant may have been a belated attempt to compensate for that error. That the grant is for 5 acres, not 4, suggests that there was an additional “wantage,” but it might have been a way of avoiding a one-acre “orphan” surrounded by claimed land. The SW comer of this lot is not specified, but an 1837 deed to Lot H suggests that it is 18 rods south of the river.

LOT B:

Joseph Slarrow; 43 acres (includes Lot A above, i.e. 39 acres of additional land; see above); TR: 242; 3/31/1775 (Description flawed, 74-rod line appears to be ~47 rods. Perhaps the digits were reversed.)

Joseph Slarrow to Richard Montague: Abs3/350; 4/12/1779; along with 5/8 interest in mill.

Richard Montague to James Curtis: 3/150; 3/15/1779; along with 5/8 interest in sawmill. Also includes that part of Lot G north of Sawmill River.

LOT C:

“Nathaniel Sartwell lot. Approximately 22 acres (scaled). According to according to TR: 242, 3/31/1775 (Lot B, above), this lot was owned by Joshua Goss in 1775 but had been formerly owned by Deacon (Samuel) Montague, presumably part of a large tract of land that Montague amassed on both sides of the Sawmill river, including land from Samuel Billings Absl/164; 3/22/1732; as well as: TR: 40; 7/20/1738; TR: 29; 3/29/1738; TR: 21; 5/8/1730.

I could find no relevant deed to Goss nor from Goss, though it is apparent that Goss sold it to Nathaniel Sartwell before 1784 (see Abs4/64). The first and only description of this lot is in a deed from Nathaniel Sartwell to Calvin Thayer; 3/734, 5/19/1791, but I have found no further transactions for the lot, as such, in the Registry of Deeds. The significance of the lot is that it is not only well described with metes and bounds, but it is possible to locate the location of the comers quite precisely. This was essential in anchoring adjacent lots.

It Is apparent from abutting deeds [see (D)] that, through unrecorded deeds, the Sartwell lot came into possession of the Graves family for three generations (Daniel, Stephen, and Sanford) and was absorbed with the other Graves properties (also mostly unrecorded). A large tract of land west of Chestnut Hill Road, including most of the Sartwell lot, was sold by Sanford Graves to Elmer Graves in 1876: 321/369. Probate records (which I have not searched) might reveal more of the history of the lot.

Of particular interest is that the southeast comer is placed “near the bridge by Curtis’s sawmill.” Since the location of the bridge can be determined fairly closely, this clue provides an objective starting point for the Slarrow lot as well.

Joshua Goss sold a 1/8 interest in the “saw mill near Nathaniel Sartwell’s dwelling house” to Obadiah Dickinson (1/27/1784). Thus Goss was a partner, and the house was near the mill.

LOT D:

In 1775, Daniel Montague was named as northwesterly abutter of the Slarrow lot (Lot B, from the town: TR 242). Daniel was Richard’s brother, and this lot was apparently part of his share of the large tract assembled by Samuel Montague, described in (Lot C) above. It appears to me that the lots to Samuel described in TR 29, in Leverett and Montague, include this lot. The lot passed to Daniel’s son, Medad Montague, who sold a half interest to Noadiah Montague 54/339; 3/6/1820. This deed identifies the easterly and southerly abutters as Stephen and Daniel Graves, indicating that by 1820, both the Slarrow lot and the Sartwell lots had been acquired by the Graves family. The deed also establishes the azimuth of the lines as shown on the map. (Most of the lot, not shown, lies in Montague.)

LOT E:

Eleazar Warner. Warner’s claim to this land is inferred only from his mention as the northeasterly abutter in the town deed to Slarrow (Lot B). I have not found a Warner reference that fits this location precisely. It remains a loose end that can be followed by tracing contemporary deeds back, but I have not yet done so.

LOT F:

William Scott received a grant from the town (then Sunderland) for Lot F. TR 34; 6/15/1738. The lot ran 110 rods down Chestnut Hill Brook to an ash tree near the river, so it is possible to plot this lot fairly well, since the brook does not meander much as it runs down the steep hill. A second tract in that grant, running along the river, is poorly described and can only be interpreted by inference in light of later deeds.

The lot passed to his son, Joshua Scott, who sold it to Daniel Graves; 5/234; 6/16/1792. In a rare moment of civic responsibility, Graves recorded this deed.

Daniel Graves to Samuel Leland; 57/161; 2/19/1811. 50 acres. Note that Leland bought a half interest in the sawmill (apparently unrecorded). 

LOT F1:

John and Eluna Martin to Samuel Leland; 57/160; 2/19/1811. 18 Acres. F2: George Aldrich to Samuel Leland; 57/110; 4/13/1816. 9 acres.

Samuel Leland to Horatio N. Watson; 79/342; 8/24/1826. 77 acres, together with half interest in the sawmill and the ½ acre sawmill lot. H. N. Watson and his son Gilman Watson were to run the sawmill for many years. Gilman Watson’s heirs sold the mill and ½-acre mill surrounding it to Dan Glazier 643/330; 4/17/1919. (Horatio Nelson Watson was born in 1800, two years after Horatio Nelson won the Battle of the Nile but five years before Trafalgar).

LOT G:

78½ acres. Samuel Montague had the lot surveyed by Elisha Root, and gave it, or sold it, to Richard Montague, but apparently no deed was recorded.

Richard Montague to Joseph Slarrow; 78½ acres; Abs2/478; 11/2/1772. No mention of buildings, orchards, or improvements.

Joseph Slarrow to Richard Montague, including Lots A, B, G, Gt, w: Abs3/350; 4/12/1779. With this deed, Lot G, together with adjoining land to the west, became Richard Montague’s home lot until his death in 1794. The land remained in the family until Isaac & Jerusha Montague sold it to Vinson Chapman; 114/183; 4/6/1841. The deed from Slarrow to Montague mentions “buildings, orcharding, and improvements,” which suggests that he was the person who built the house on the property. Furthermore, this deed mentions that the brook at the starting point lies “between the houses that Slarrow and Montague now occupy.” So, Montague’s original house was approximately opposite Zebina Montague’s house on what is now the northwest comer of Jackson Hill Road and Cave Hill Road.

Lot G1:

Samuel or Richard Montague; 9½ acres “that said Montague [which one?] bought of the town” (so described below). But I can find no record of that transaction in the town records, at least described in this way. It adjoins the Lot G on the southwest. The first reference appears to be the following: Richard Montague to Joseph Slarrow; Abs2/478-479; 11/2/1772. Thereafter it was sold with Lot G.

LOT G2:

Joseph Slarrow; 9 acres on east side Stoddard Hill. TR; 242, 10/16/1774. Thereafter sold with Lot G.

LOT H:

This lot is an important central lot, both geographically and historically, for it was owned in succession by Richard Montague, Ebent2er Curtis, and James Curtis. From 1779 onward, when Richard Montague sold it to Ebent2er Curtis, the deed chain is continuous, and the description clear, but how Montague got possession of the tract is unclear. I believe that this lot, perhaps together with Lots Ht and K, were assembled from town grants and unrecorded transactions to John Billings, Fellows Billings, and Samuel Billings, for they are mentioned as abutters in descriptions of some of the surrounding and nearby lots.

How the pieces fit together, I can’t yet say, but the following tracts appear to me to lie in this neighborhood. Various clues suggest that the lots were part of the 4000-acre division of the Town of Sunderland.

TR 20; 5/17/1732; to John Billings, 19½ acres east of Stoddard Hill and whose northerly line lies on the brow of the hill above the river. Bounds west on Samuel Billings and east and south on common land.

Slarrow’s 1779 deed to Richard Montague (Lot G) cites Fellows Billings as an abutter where this lot appears to lie.

TR 31 to Fellows Billings, 20 acres (by calculation); undated, but the other four records on this page, as well as other grants on neighboring pages, are dated 1738. Its southwest comer is a “crotched red oak” a landmark that occurs in other deeds and, if unique, would tie them together.

TR 32; 5/26/1738; two tracts to John Billings: (1) 22 acres, 32 square rods, east of Stoddard Hill and “adjoining his own land.” Northeast of Widow Root’s lot. (2) 11 acres east of Samuel Montague’s land. (But the town record goes on to say that there is an error in acreage somewhere, an incompatibility with the 4000-acre grant.)

TR 38; 5/23/1739; two tracts to John Billings: (1) 10 acres, 92 square rods (36x47 rods). Description inconsistent but appears to lie between his other land (which could be part of Lot H) and Samuel Montague (which could be Lot G). (2) 3 acres. Total 13 acres, 92 square rods (though the record book says 19 acres, 92 square rods, but this is clearly a copying error, as the dimensions specify the acreage precisely. These two lots, and an additional 4-acre, 68-square-rod lot, 18 acres in all, were deeded to Samuel Montague (Absl/276; 5/25/1739) and may constitute part of Lot G.

Richard Montague to Ebenezer Curtis. 2/689; 7/17/1779 (Includes Lot Ht, 83 acres, and mentions a “crotched red oak.”) Later deeds set it at 79 acres, 58 square rods.

Ebenezer Curtis to James Curtis. 11/544; 11/8/1797. 113 acres (including Lot J and an unrelated lot.)

James Curtis, Jr. (by guardian, Isaac Woodbury) to Edward Jones, 120/117; 5/1/1837. (James Curtis remarried at 69, had a child, James Jr., at 70, and died at 73 in 1825. Isaac Woodbury was appointed guardian and managed the estate until at least 1842 [see 126/300].)

Edward Jones to Samuel Everett. 107/174. 12/26/1839. 

LOT I:

27 acres: Northerly half of a 55-acre lot laid out to the widow of James Bridgman, TR 25; 11/13/1730. The northwest comer of the lot is a large rock marked “WB” (presumably for Widow Bridgman). This rock apparently lies on the south margin of what is now Hemenway Road, opposite the mouth of Mill Hill Road. The markings identify it unambiguously, and it is mentioned in every deed in which it could be a landmark. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the rock, possibly because the hillside opposite the mouth of Mill Hill Road has been artificially built up, suggesting that the rock has been buried. Ownership of the tract passed to David Smi who acknowledges Widow Bridgman’s prior ownership, but I can find no deed to the transaction.

David Smith to Tilley Batrick, 3/576; 1778. “52 acres” bounded by the brow of the hill overlooking the Sawmill River and by what later became Mill Hill Rd. and Hemenway Rd.

Tilley Bathrick to James Curtis; 1/344; 3/15/1784; 27 acres, the north half of the Bridgman lot.

LOT J:

A lot on the northeast side of Staddle Hill, described, in part, in a 15-acre grant to Ebenezer Curtis; TR 277; 1789. The description alludes to an existing 4-acre lot of Ebenezer Curtis to the south. The whole, presumably 19 acres, was bundled with two other lots in a sale to James Curtis: Ebenezer Curtis to James Curtis, 11/544; 1797. Lots H, H1, J; 113 acres.

LOT K:

85 acres, 55 square rods, including the Ann Tweedy house on the southwest comer of Jackson Hill Road and the present Cave Hill Road.

Zebina Montague, Richard Montague’s son, is the first owner of this lot that I have been able to find. He owned the lot at least as early as 1779, for he is listed as the relevant abutter of a neighboring lot in that year (2/689; 7/l 7/1779). It is probably part of Samuel Montague’s tract. The lot is bounded on the north by the county road to New Salem, now Jackson Hill Road and Hemenway Road, and was bounded on the east by the former road up Staddle Hill (now mistakenly variously called Jackson Hill or Cave Hill). The old road was abandoned, and the present Cave Hill Road split the lot, roughly in half. The northwest comer of the lot is described in early deeds as being opposite Richard Montague’s house.

Zebina Montague to Simeon Coombs; 5/318; 4/18/1791; Lot K, “with buildings” Simeon Coombs to Thadeus Thayer (west half); 5/537; 1792.

Thadeus Thayer to Samuel Lesure (west halt); 17/343; 4/27/1795.

Simeon Coombs to Samuel Lesure (east halt); 18/156; 1796; thus, reuniting the lot. Samuel Lesure to Peter Ripley. 17/378; 12/2/1802

The lot came to Nathan Ripley, presumably by inheritance. The lot passed through several hands, undergoing some modifications, and by 1836, it was deeded to Elijah Montague, Richard Montague’s grandson; 95/16; 4/1/1836.