ne 
Sy 
SSBS¥\ 
K{KQKG])"”"°"#§"EF’”»wniyyyi 
WCW 
NQQ)\"."'|l ll 
SG WWW 
WW 
\\ 
\SSW,Ww”wiwi¢y@Wwwuw °e °FrrivwypB yA J 
QQ 
S..\ 
PSN 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
GW 0° "0 °° °e ee ° ee °C ir "yy ~ qq e ey. eam: ww i. ]] 7 iw ;r,zy_;z_q_§?sp)99pyq]y]} WTF E> 
\ 
The Early Division of Common Land in Manchester 
Paper by Raymond C. Allen, before the Manchester Historical Society. 
With the Four Hundred Acres 
as a basis it was quite natural that 
the first grants of land should be 
adjacent to the original grant and 
this we find to be the case. From 
time to time lots were granted to 
individuals or groups of indivi- 
duals sometimes upon account of 
their personal common right and 
quite often indeed for the purpose 
of paying some of the obligations 
of the proprietors. Some of these 
lots were also sold in order to pro- 
vide revenue and some were laid 
out for the use of fishermen. On 
the whole, however, these various 
grants were made in no systematic 
fashion but rather as the immedi- 
ate need seemed to require. 
Among such divisions may be 
mentioned a grant to Samuel Allen, 
Samuel Leach, and John Sibly of 
land on the south side of Wolf 
Trap Brook. This land forms to- 
day the University of Pa. property 
and part of the farm owned by W. 
H. Coolidge, Esq., near the Glou- 
cester line. The little brook which 
runs just east of the Old Cove 
school house was known in the old 
days as Wolf Trap Brook. An- 
other of those divisions was one 
of eighty one acres which were 
laid out in 1685 ‘to 12 proprietors. 
This grant included a larger part 
of the land on both sides of Pine 
Street between Powder House Hill 
and Cheever’s pasture. At this 
time also there was laid out to 
Widow Bennett, Moses Bennett, 
and Aaron Bennett about twenty 
acres which was probably what we 
have more recently known as the 
Foster pasture, near Bennett’s Ice 
Pond. 
Many peculiar descriptions are 
found of which the following two 
are typical. A lot of land was laid 
out to Manesas Marstun and this is 
bounded in the language of the de- 
scription: “On the southerly side 
there cometh to the place called by 
the name of the old wheels neaet 
Squirts Gutter.” Again a lot of 
land was laid out to Thomas West 
and after describing several bound- 
ary trees, the following description 
occurs: “And so the long rock 
bounding the said land so far as 
the said long rock extends westard 
and from the west end of said rock 
southwesterly or thereabouts to a 
white pretty big pine tree and 
PART II. 
standing upon a great high rock 
which is almost to the admiration 
of them that do behold it.” 
As a general thing these divi- 
sions seem to have been for the 
purpose of filling out gaps and 
straightening lines along former 
holdings. 
It was not until 1694 that there 
appears to have been any system- 
atic division of common land. In 
that year a vote was passed defin- 
ing common rights in the land and 
referring to previous votes passed 
in 1677. By this action in 1695 a 
number of people not descendants 
or grantees of the original proprie- 
tors were given rights in the com- 
mon land in recognition of their 
public spiritedness in Town affairs. 
West DIvIsIon 
In 1699 a Committee was ap- 
pointed to divide the west end of 
the Common land in Manchester. 
This division is known as the West 
division and consisted of thirty- 
eight ten-acre lots. These lots 
bounded southerly upon land now 
owned by Mr. Denegre, westerly 
on Capt. West’s farm near the 
Beverly Town Line, northerly on 
the Ipswich lots, easterly upon 
what is now known as Cheever’s 
Commons and land now owned by 
Mr. Gorman and Mr. Walker. 
This division is shown on the plan 
in blue. Among the proprietors to 
whom the lots were granted, ap- 
pear the following names: Geo. 
Norton, Joseph Woodbury, Isaac 
Whittier, John Cross, Aaron Ben- 
nett, John Lee, Samuel Allen, 
Onesephrus Allen, Hannah Leach, 
John Sibly, John Knowlton, 
Abram Masters, John Goy, John 
Bishop, James Friend, Daniel 
Williams. 
East Division 
In 1701 it was voted at a meet- 
ing of the proprietors that a divi- 
sion should be made in the easterly 
part of the Town and another divi- 
sion in the western part of the 
Town, and a Committee was ap- 
pointed and given authority for 
dividing the land and for settling 
any complaints by the people to 
whom land was granted in relation 
to their bounds and were also 
authorized to employ artists to as- 
sist them in so doing. This divi- 
sion was made in 1705 and the first 
SSW WWW yh i go  q  .4  ] . yy, 8°  ”6 rnin 7710 ‘0p ])011 9, =" 
portion of it is known as the East 
Division and included land bound- 
ing easterly on the Gloucester 
Town line, south partly with the 
road to Gloucester and partly with 
the Ocean, westerly by land form- 
erly owned by Nathan Allen and 
now owned by Mr. Dexter and ex- 
tending a little northerly of the 
Magnolia Station of the Boston & 
Maine Railroad. This division of 
land is shown on the plan in green. 
The other lots at the westerly end 
of the Town formed an addition 
to the west division at its southerly 
and westerly end. 
The next divisions of common 
land occurred in 1716, when at a 
proprietors’ meeting it was voted 
that every proprietor who lived in 
Manchester in the year 1716, 
should have twenty acres of land 
for each single right. 
These divisions were the North 
Division, South Division, the Ce- 
dar Swamp Division, the Shingle 
Place Hill Division, the Brushy 
Plain Division and the Poplar Plain 
Division, and the Kettle Pond Cove 
Lots. In making these divisions 
a line was drawn from the meet- 
ing house in Manchester to a Hem- 
lock tree in the Ipswich line as the 
old records say, “Near where Mr. 
Potter’s logs were laid last year.” 
The common land to be divided 
was on the east of this line. The 
north division was bounded west- 
erly partly by the Beaver Dam 
Meadow, and partly on the land 
known as Beaver Dam Hill, north- 
erly by the Ipswich and Gloucester 
line, easterly by lLeach’s land, 
southerly by the northerly ends of 
the south division. This land in- 
cludes Baker’s Saw Mill on its 
western side and a considerable 
portion of the Dexter property on 
the east. It is shown on the map 
in brown. The lots were long and 
narrow in order that everybody 
might have wood at about the same 
distance from the settlement. 
The South division was bounded 
northerly by the southerly ends of 
the North Division Lots; easterly 
by Robert Leach’s old lot; south- 
erly by the Bryery plain lot, partly 
and by Bears land, Jones land and 
Poplar Plain; and westerly partly 
by the way by Jones and partly by 
the Beaver Dam River near where 
the mill stands. This division is 
SS °° ee ° °° ° 0 ee 
DRBC£RXXX\ 
NQwwwww i  E vr\ykrir 0 0 ri 
QO 
