it, & the no want of either or any of the above named Towns. Shall
it Pleas the great & Gen'll Court to grant this o'r Petition, wee
shall be much more able to defray Publick Charges, both Civil, &
Ecclesiasticall, to settle o'r Minister amongst vs in order to o'r
Injoyment of the Gospel in the fullness of it. Whence hopeing &
believing that the Petition of the Poor, & needy will be granted.
Which shall forever oblidge yo'r Petition'rs to Pray &c:

THO: STEEVENS. Cler:
In the Towns behalfe

[Massachusetts Archives, cxiii, 330.]

This petition was granted on October 21, 1702, on the part of the House
of Representatives, but negatived in the Council, on October 24.

During this period the territory of Nashobah was the subject of
considerable dispute among the neighboring towns, and slowly
disappearing by their encroachments. Under these circumstances an effort
was made to incorporate a township from this tract and to establish its
boundaries. The following petition makes a fair statement of the case,
though the signatures to it are not autographs:


To His Excel'cy: Joseph Dudley Esq: Cap't: Generall & Gov'r: in
Chief in and over Her Maj'ties: Province of Mass'ts: Bay in
New-England, Together with y'e Hon'ble: the Council, &
Representatives in Gen'll: Court Assembled on the 30'th of May, In
the Tenth Year of Her Maj'ties: Reign Annoq Dom'i: 1711,--The
Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of Concord,