New Hampshire Grants

The New Hampshire Grants were land grants, including 131 towns, made between 1749 and 1764 by the governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth (they are thus also known as the Benning Wentworth Grants). The land grants, totalling about 135, were made on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River, but which properly belonged to the Province of New York. The resulting dispute led to the eventual establishment of the U.S. state of Vermont.

Arrangement

The grants were usually six miles square or 15.5 km² (the standard size of a U.S. survey township, although the Public Land Survey System is not used in Vermont) and cost the grantee(s) £20. The grants were then subdivided amongst the proprietors, and six of the lots were set aside—for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (a missionary organization of the Church of England), for the Church of England itself, for the first clergyperson to settle in the township, for a school and two for Wentworth himself. The permanent annual tax on each grant, called a quitrent, was one shilling, paid directly to the King.

Related Topics:
Survey township - Public Land Survey System - Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts - Church of England - Clergy - Quitrent - Shilling

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~