There is a chapter on Court Grants. Following is info related to Edmund Chandler and
descendants and a little background:
"The Court Grants in Duxbury, laid out according to the Second land Division of 1627,
began at the mouth of the Jones River and extended north around Kingston Bay, up around
Island Creek Pond, down into the Nook, and, in a few instances, away from the shore. The
Plymouth Colony Court ordered all grants to be laid out at right angles to the shore, five
acres in breadth along the shore, and four in length inland. Since the acreage varied
according to the size of the family, some lots were long and narrow, running as far inland
as necessary to encompass the established total. Whenever a contour in the shore was met,
the four acres per person continued, but the lots sort of fanned out to follow on around
the bay. Many of the original grants can be located today, their original boundaries can
be traced, their successive owners listed, and the many changes in sizes accounted for.
It is theoretically possible for twenty people today to trace their own one-acre lots back
to the!
original one share part of a grant."
"The Colony Court was explicit in setting forth the rights and privileges that went
with the grants. Briefly, all paths and ways were to remain; every man was to have a
right of way to the shore, no matter where his land lay; all could hund and fish on all
lands; and all cut cut wood, timber excepted, on the Common Lands. The Common Lands, or
Commons, were the areas beyond the grants and lay, roughly, beyond what is not Tremont
Street, stretching far inland over much of present Pembroke. They were granted to those
who came later; or to individuals for various reasons; or sold to defray town
expenses."
"Land changed hands rapidly in the early days. The locations were drawn by lot,
which procedure may account for some moves; early deaths, personal preferences, or family
ties explain other transfers. In some instances the original owner stayed long enough to
give his name to the area; in others, only long enough to be a name on a deed. It was a
time when the private ownership of farms was new in the Colony, and a man quickly took
advantage of the right to choose his home site."
I think this pretty much fills in the background, but to go into who owned what would make
this too long, so I'll put that in the next email Thanks all for being receptive
to info. I personally think this is the kind of info that allows us to relate to
everyday life of our ancestors.
Joan Earnshaw