Sepperate Precinct and Invest y'e Inhabitants thereon (Containing about y'e N'o. of Forty Famelies) and Such others as Shall hereafter Settle on s'd. Lands with Such Powers & Priviledges as other Precincts in s'd. Province have &c or Grant to your Petitioners Such other Releaf in y'e. Premises as your Excellency and Honours in your Great Wisdom Shall think Fit: and your Petitioners as in Duty bound Shall Ever pray &c. Benj Swallow W'm: Spalden Isaac Williams Ebenezer Gilson Elias Ellit Samuel Shattuck iu James Shattuck David Shattuck David Blood Jonathan Woods John Blood iuner Josiah Parker Jacob Ames Jonas Varnum Moses Woods Zachery Lawrence Jun'r Jeremiah Lawrence John Mozier Josiah Tucher W'm Allen John Shadd Jam's. Green John Kemp Nehemiah Jewett Eleazar Green Jonathan Shattuck Jonathan Shattuck Jun'r In the House of Rep'tives Nov'r. 26. 1742 In Answer to the within Petition ordered that that Part of the Town of Groton Lying on the Westerly Side of Lancaster River within the following bounds viz't bounding Easterly on said River Southerly on Townsend Road so called Wisterly on Townsend line and Northerly on Dunstable West Precinct with the Inhabitants thereon be and hereby are Set off a distinct and seperate precinct and Vested with the powers & priviledges which Other Precincts do or by Law ought to enjoy Always provided that the Inhabitants Dwelling on the Lands abovementioned be subject to pay their Just part and proportions of all ministeriall Rates and Taxes in the Town of Groton already Granted or Assessed. Sent up for Concurrence. T Cushing Spk'r. In Council Nov'r. 26 1742 Read and Concurr'd J Willard Secry Consented to, W Shirley, [Massachusetts Archives, cxiv, 768, 769.] When the new Provincial line was run between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, in the spring of 1741, it left a gore of land, previously belonging to the west parish of Dunstable, lying north of the territory of Groton and contiguous to it. It formed a narrow strip, perhaps three hundred rods in width at the western end, running easterly for three miles and tapering off to a point at the Nashua River, by which stream it was entirely separated from Dunstable. Shaped like a thin wedge, it lay along the border of the province, and belonged geographically to the west precinct or parish of Groton. Under these circumstances the second parish petitioned the General Court to have it annexed to their jurisdiction, which request was granted. William Prescott, one of the committee appointed to take charge of the matter, nearly a quarter of a century later was the commander of the American forces at the battle of Bunker Hill. It has been incorrectly stated by writers that this triangular parcel of land was the gore ceded, in the summer of 1736, to the proprietors of Groton, on the petition of Benjamin Prescott. The documents relating to this matter are as follows:--