Band 
Volume IV.
Seite
418
JPEG-Download
 

418

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

if. That this Deponent attended the Circuit Court held last June in the City of Albany, whenfour of these Ejectments were tried, viz* those ag l James Breakenridge Samuel Rose one of the princeTown Def ts Isaiah Carpenter, Josiah Fuller one of the Inhabitants on the Grant to Rev' 1 M cSlaughter—that Breakenridge made no Defence, his Possession being within Twenty miles fromHudsons River, against the other three Verdicts were found by Special Juries, on Trials that appearedwholly fair to this Deponent, and to some of the leading Persons interested under New Hampshire ,and particularly to one Bliss Willoughby, who acted there as Trustee for the New Hampshire Claim-ants,—And this Deponent well remembers that after the said Trials some of the Delend ts and manyother of the leading People under the Claim of New Hampshire , went to some of the Proprietorsunder New York, then in Albany , owned their Title to be good confessed their moderation, anddeclared they could only blame the Government of New Hampshire for granting their lands, andthemselves for contending against the New York Proprietors.

L. That many of the Claimants under New Hampshire in consequence of these Trials proposedsettling their Dispute with the New York Proprietors; but the writs of Possession being delayed,they in general changed their minds, and declared the New York Proprietors dared not to servethem—and from the common and public Conversation of those Inhabitants it was manifest to thisDeponent that they had confederated to support each other by Force of Arms.

M. That about the Beginning of January last the Sheriff of Albany as this Deponent hath under-stood in the neighbourhood, and verily believes, came to execute writs of Possession for the Farmsrecovered in the said Ejectments, and that he was resisted by a number of armed men, who by Forceprevented entirely his serving his writs on the Possessions of Breakenridge and Fuller, and thathe returned to Albany without executing them—and that this Deponent has in like manner beeninformed and believes that the next day thereafter the Sheriffs Deputy executed the processes onthe Farm of Samuel Rose and Isaiah Carpenter but not without a violent Resistance by a numberof armed Men.

JY. And this Deponent saith that he has never heard of any other Ejectments being brought forany Lands to the Westward of the Green Mountains under New Hampshire , except one ag l one Col-vin, which was served, but not further prosecuted.

O. That the Deponent is acquainted in general with all the Inhabitants of the Lands formerlyclaimed by New Hampshire on the West side of the Green Mountains from the Line of the Massa-chusetts Bay to the most Northern Settlements and knows not of one Person among them whoserved in his Majesfys Regular Forces at any Time whatsoever, and that very few of them everserved in any of the provincial Forces.

P■ And this Deponent further saith that soon after the present Governor of New Hampshire arrivedin that Government the Inhabitants of the Lands granted under New Hampshire in the Neighbour-hood of the Deponent, were animated with Hopes that the Royal order of 20 th July 1764 mightbe rescinded—That messengers frequently from his arrival as aforesaid hitherto have been sent bythem to Portsmouth to him, and always returned with Encouragements to the People, that he wouldsoon get them annexed to New Hampshire , and this Deponent is well assured that if they had notreceived Encouragements from the s d Governor Wentworth, they would in general long since havesubmitted to the Laws and Jurisdiction of the Province of New York , and the Disputes concerningTitles have been at an End—That something above a year ago a Petition was carried about forsubscription, in the Inhabited Parts of the Country within this Province formerly claimed by NewHampshire , addressed to the present Governor of that Province, requesting his assistance in obtainingthe annexing that Country to New Hampshire which measure was commonly understood by the saidInhabitants in the Deponents neighbourhood, to have been undertaken by the Instigation of Governor