178 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



old town of Dunstable, and created two towns of the same 

 name, adjoining each other, one in each Province. This con- 

 dition of affairs continued until January i, 1837, when the 

 New Hampshire township, by legislative enactment on De- 

 cember 8, 1836, put aside its old name and took that of 

 Nashua. Dr. Eldredge was a representative from Dunstable 

 to the Massachusetts Legislature in the years 1809 and 181 1, 

 but, at the writing of the letter, he appears to have been liv- 

 ing on the New Hampshire side of the line. He removed to 

 Groton in the year 1826, where he remained for two years, 

 living on what is now Hollis Street, in the house occupied 

 by the Reverend John Todd when Mr. Butler's Map of the 

 town was published. He left Groton early in 1828, and went 

 to Dunstable (now Nashua); and he died on July 2, 1849, 

 at Milford, New Hampshire. The honorary degree of M. D. 

 was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1841. 



Boston, Dec. 20, 1884. 



Dear Dr. Green, — As you are born Historian, you have a 

 better right to Dickson's letter than I have, so I commit it unre- 

 servedly to your hands, to make such use of it as you see fit. 



Yours truly, Elizur Wright. 



West Springfield, July 17, 1832. 



Dear Wright, — I received your letter of inquiries respecting 

 our friend Eldredge, while attending our Senior examination at 

 New Haven, last week ; and I will endeavour to answer your ques- 

 tions as. far as I can recollect the circumstances. Though from the 

 time that has elapsed since, and not having laid up the particulars 

 for future use, I can give you only a general outline of the affair. 



The student's name was Grirake, of South Carolina, son of the 

 celebrated lawyer Grimke'. The tutor was Jones. What he said 

 with regard to the complaint at the time I know not. Jones wrote, 

 not to Eldredge's father, but to Mr. Nott, minister in Dunstable, 

 N. Hampshire, where Dr. Eldredge lives. The object of his writing 

 was (as I understood from Jones himself afterwards) not to satisfy 

 himself (Jones), as to Eldredge's being a white man, but, he said, 

 he thought if he could have a letter from some one in Eldredge's 

 place, it would satisfy the scruples of the Hon. Southerner (who, 



