_John Hill_, Esq; brought down the Petition of a Committee of the Town of _Dunstable_, as entred the 4th of _April_ last, and refer'd. Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council _June_ 5th 1753. Read again, together with the Answer of the Inhabitants of that Part of _Groton_ commonly called _Joint-Grass,_ and likewise _William Lawrence_, Esq; being heard in Behalf of the Town of _Groton_, and the Matter being fully considered, _Ordered_, That the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted, as that _Joseph Fletcher, Joseph Spaulding, Samuel Comings, Benjamin Rabbins, Timothy Read, John Swallow, Joseph Parkhurst_, and _Ebenezer Parkhurst_, Jun. with their Families and Estates, and other Lands petitioned for, be set off from the Town of _Groton_, and annexed to the town of _Dunstable_, agreable to the Vote of the Town of _Groton_ on the 18th of _May_ 1747, to receive Priviledge and do Duty there, provided that _Timothy Read_, Constable for the Town of _Groton_, and Collector of the said Parish in said Town the last Year, and _Joseph Fletcher_, Constable for the said Town this present Year, finish their Collection of the Taxes committed or to be committed to them respectively; and also that the said Inhabitants pay their Proportion of the Taxes that are already due or shall be due to the said Town of _Groton_ for the present Year, for which they may be taxed by the Assessors of _Groton_, as tho' this Order had not past: provided also that the Meeting-House for the publick Worship of GOD in _Dunstable_ be erected agreable to the Vote of _Dunstable_ relating thereto in _May_ 1753. Sent down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd. [Journal of the House of Representatives (page 21), June 7, 1753.] The part of Nottingham, mentioned in these petitions, was not joined to Dunstable until a later period. On June 14, 1754, an order passed the House of Representatives, annexing "a very small Part of Nottingham now lying in this Province, unable to be made into a District, but very commodious for Dunstable;" but the matter was delayed in the Council, and it was a year or two before the end was brought about. The west parish of Groton was set off as a precinct on November 26, 1742. It comprised that part of the town lying on the west side of the Nashua River, north of the road from Groton to Townsend. Its incorporation as a parish or precinct allowed the inhabitants to manage their own ecclesiastical affairs, while in all other matters they continued to act with the parent town. Its partial separation gave them the benefit of a settled minister in their neighborhood, which, in those days, was considered of great importance. It is an interesting fact to note that, in early times, the main reason given in the petitions for dividing towns was the long distance to the meeting-house, by which the inhabitants were prevented from hearing the stated preaching of the gospel.