Copy of the Petition of Samuel Stratton to the Massachusetts General Assembly
Province of the Massachusetts Bay
To His Excellency Thomas Pownall, Esq., Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Said Province, to the Honorable His Majesty's Council and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled.
The petition of Samuel Stratton of Natick in the County of Middlesex and Province aforesaid, miller, humbly sheweth that whereas the General Court or Assembly of the said Province on the first day of September 1729 upon the petition of John Speen and others Indians of said Natick praying the Messrs. John Gleason and Henry Leland might have liberty to erect, use, and improve a grist mill upon a stream running through a part of the said Speen's land, known by the name of Indian Brook, alias Steep Brook in said Natick under the conditions, provisos, and reservations therein contained did, thereupon order, namely, that the prayer of the petition be granted and the said John Gleason and Henry Leland are allowed to erect the said mill and receive the profits according, saving that the Indian’s corn shall be received and ground toll free for the space of the thirty years next after the run of the said mill, provided the meadows therein mentioned be overflowed from the first of October to the tenth of April and no longer,1 as per the records of this Honorable Court, if not consumed, may Appear, and whereas the said John Gleason and Henry Leland both died soon after the aforesaid order,2 and the said nill not erected, nor their families under proper circumstances to erect and empower the same, it was unavoidably neglected until about twelve years ago, at which time the said mill and dam was well built, which (at the limited season) hath continued to grind ever since to the great relief of the poor, especially Indians in that part of Natick, for as there are sundry Indian families near said mill, some of whom are in very indigent circumstances. Your petitioner not only grinds for them toll-free but many times transports their corn and meal for them and to some of them of who are objects of charity, not only gives them their grinding but their corn also.
But of late some queries have arisen touching the aforesaid order, namely, whether the said mill shall not be demolished and the charges of building and the privileges of the stream last (by the mill owner) at the end of thirty years from the date of the order aforesaid, or whether it shall not continue to stand, so long as it shall be kept in repair, and shall be well improved by the owners or occupants thereof, and that the said thirty years doth only limit the time how long the Indians' corn shall be ground for toll-free, accounting from the run of the mill.
Whether the time of overflowing is therein intended to mean only (from the first of 3 April to the tenth of October) for the first year or yearly.
And the Indians who live near the mill, having no horses to carry their corn, most of whom are widows and fatherless children and are three or four miles from another mill, being very much dissatisfied that the validity of the order should be questioned, and that their said privileges of grinding toll-free, and of having a mill so convenient to them should be infringed upon.
And your petitioner's expenses on repairing as well as purchasing the said mill and privileges being so great and his subsistence depending thereupon as it accommodates sundry other towns, and his charity to the Indians over and above his obligation per order of Court, having been so extensive as to leave no opportunity to lay up for his own future support. Your Petitioner, therefore, cannot but be in some concern till the said order be favorably explained, and the mill privileges quieted and put out of doubt. Therefore, your petitioner humbly prays that This Honorable Court will explain the said order.
And your petitioner as in duty bound shall ever pray,
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Endorsement: |
[ top line cut ] / Petitioners 1760 |
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Legislative Action: |
In the House of Representatives, March 26, 1760. The House taking into consideration the petition of Samuel Stratton of Natick and the votes of the General Court relative to the matters therein contained. It appears that it was not the intent of the court that the privileges to build the mill mentioned in the said petition should be discontinued and the same demolished at the end of thirty years from the grant of said privilege, but that the miller should grind for the Indians thirty years toll-free, and that the overflowing mentioned in said petition and the former votes of the Court is to be understood yearly. Therefore, voted that the petitioner, his heirs, and assigns shall and may hold and enjoy the said mill and the privileges relative thereto heretofore granted by this Court so long as they maintain a good mill in that place, provided they grind for the Indians toll-free for the term of thirty years from the time of the first building of said mill. Samuel White, Speaker, Sent up for concurrence. In Council, March 26, 1760. Read and concurred, Andrew Oliver, Secretary. Consented to, Thomas Pownall. |
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Copy: |
Copy examined, Andrew Oliver, Secretary. Copy examined per Thaddeus Mason, Clerk. A true copy examined by Nathaniel Hatch, Clerk |
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Cataloguing: |
462, 463, 464 |