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some part of that District should be erected into a seperate County, which was a large Tract whichtook in a space equal to Forty supposed Townships was included in the County which was calledCumberland ; Several Bills were passed to Enable them to build a Court House, Prison, &c a . andevery priviledge possessed by th,e other Counties in the Province was granted to them except thatof sending Members to the Assembly which at their own request was left out, for the new Countywas neither populous enough to require such a Priviledge, and the expence of paying their Memberswhich is constantly practised in this part of the world would have been burthensome to them sothat they themselves for these reasons alone declined it. I afterwards issued out Commissions forforming a Militia in those parts, and in some months afterwards a return was made to me of theRegiment formed there, which amounted to upwards of COO men. I could not help expressing muchsatisfaction at seeing so large a Return, and expected to find that the number of families was inproportion to it, but the Officer who made it would not impose on me, and told me in a very ingenu-ous manner that a great number of Families concerned in those Lands resided either in NewEngland, New Hampshire or Connecticut and had never been upon them; some of the most activeyoung People out of each family were sent there to begin the Settlem ts many of whom at the closeof the summer returned to their Homes, others more industrious continued there in the Winter thatby forwarding their improvements they might more readily pave the way for those who did notchoose to encounter all the difficultys of a New Settlement but w aited till some improvements weremade before they removed. The same steps could not be taken for the service of that part of theCountry to the North of the County of Cumberland, for although the District was large enough toform a County of the same extent, very few Improvements had been made in any of the Townshipsexcept in that of Newberry, the Inhabitants of which were desirous of having another County formedas they imagined it would be the means of introducing Settlers there but the Legislature was ofopinion that it would be a great absurdity to give the priviledges of a County to a few families intheir present situation but at the same time assured them that they should be put on the samefooting with the Neighboring County as soon as there w r as a sufficient number of Inhabitants torequire it.
As it w T as necessary that something should be done to encourage people to settle in those parts, Idetermined then to engage personally in it, and to take up a Tract of Land there which should bedistributed out to poor Families in Small Farms on the condition that they should begin upon themanufacture of Pot ash and the culture of Hemp ; His Majesty’s Council having approved of myplan consented to have a Township laid out for me and some others associated with me, at twelvemiles distance from the North Line of the County of Cumberland, and on a spot neither granted byNew Hampshire nor claimed by any persons whatsoever. I then made public my Intentions of givingthe Land in certain proportions to the Families inclined to settle thereon, and that no rents or profitsshould be reserved for myself, but tliat the whole ol them should remain with the proprietors oncondition of manufacturing so much Pot Ash yearly and that a certain quantity of acres accordingto the abilities of eacli family should be constantly planted with Hemp. These conditions beingfulfilled, the Fee of the Lands was to be vested absolutely in the Possessors of them; no soonerwere these Terms made known but applications were made by different Persons for Grants and noless than 14 Families are already settled on it, and I have had proposals made from Ten more nowliving in this Town who will be settled there during the course of the Summer, besides several othersas well from Connecticut as the Massachusets Bay, so that there is the greatest probability of a con-siderable Settlement being made there in a very short space of time. But as the giving of Landsalone to these people was not sufficient without other assistance I have at their request ordered a SawMill and Grist mill to be built for their use, and as their is no building in that part of the Country