Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3CHAPTER III. - Division of the Town. ? Records. ? Additional Grants. ? Indian Deeds. ? Iron Works built. ? Town Farm. ? Town of Stow granted. ? Chronological Items. We shall now recur to the civil history of the town from the time to which it was brought up in the first chapter. As the lands became more cleared, the meadows were somewhat textit{dryer, and ceased to be a subject of frequent complaint. The inhabitants sought other spots for cultivation, more productive than the sandy ones on which they first settled; and those that remained became more contented with their situation. Their numbers soon after began to increase. Some additional land was granted to the town; and parts of the old settlement had become vacant by the removal of the original inhabitants. A second division of lands now took place. The town met several times to consider in what manner this division should be made. On the 2d of Jan. 1654, it was voted to divide the town into three parts or textit{quarters, and to have the lands first divided in the quarters; but this was not entirely satisfactory to the inhabitants. " Much weariness about these things," say the Records, took place before the system was matured. On the 8th of March, 1654, " at a publique training," nine men were chosen, " three out of each quarter, empowered by the town to hear and end former debat, according to their best light, and dis- cresion, and conscience; only eight of the nine must agree to what is determined, or else nothing to be of force; and none . voted to the contrarie, but Georg Wheeler, Henry Woodies, Joshua Edmands, William Buttrick, and Thomas Stow." textit{Tbf labors of this committee resulted in the following agreement: ? " We whose names are under written conclude that 20 acres of meadow shall be resarved for a minister in the Ho...