Bakerstown Proprietors Papers, 1758-1831; 1769-1826.

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Bakerstown Proprietors. Bakerstown Proprietors Papers, 1758-1831; 1769-1826.

Bakerstown Proprietors Papers, 1758-1831; 1769-1826.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64684360

The Bakerstown Proprietors was a land company to which was granted, by the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a tract of land six miles square, in the Maine district of Massachusetts (Maine became a separate state in 1820). The business of the Company was carried on by Moses Little, a major shareholder, and his son, Josiah Little, shareholder and agent of the Proprietorship. The case of Commonwealth v. Bakerstown Proprietors arose from a competing claim for the Bakerstown lands by John Bridgham, of another land company. Series One contains pleadings, petitions and decisions relating to the case, including reviews and summaries of the background and relevant facts of the case. Also included are depositions of settlers, surveyors and others. Series Two contains Surveys and plans of the area and of its subdivision into individual lots. Land transfers document the sale of individual parcels, and include some mortgage instruments and also auction sales of parcels of land, usually for non-payment of assessed taxes by owners. Series Five, Bakerstown Proprietors, include minutes of Proprietors' meetings, journals and accounts of proprietors and agents, and other business of the Company. Also included in the collection and miscellaneous papers documenting problems with "squatters," and proceedings of towns with the Bakerstown grant. Some material include notes relating to both the Bakerstown Proprietors and the Pejepscot Proprietors, a similar land company, with many shareholders in common with the Bakerstown group, and with land immediately abutting the Bakerstown claim.

4 boxes, 1 oversize box. (1.5 linear feet).

Peabody Essex Museum