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.

Real estate

According to Wentworth, the border between New Hampshire and the Province of New York was ambiguous, especially if he leaned on the dictate from Britain "that the northern boundary of Massachusetts be a similar curve line pursuing the course of the Merrimack River at three miles distance on the north side thereof, beginning at the Atlantic Ocean and ending at a point due north of a place called Pautucket Falls, and by a straight line drawn from thence west till it meets his Majesty's other governments." Wentworth took this to mean that New Hampshire's jurisdiction extended as far west as the jurisdiction of Massachusetts extended—in New Hampshire's case this meant a line 20 miles (32 km) east of the Hudson River. New York correctly stated that the letters Patent granted the Duke of York all of the lands west of the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay.

Related Topics:
Province of New York - Merrimack River - Pautucket Falls - Hudson River - Letters Patent - Duke of York - Connecticut River - Delaware Bay

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Wentworth made the first grant, Bennington, a township west of the Connecticut River, on January 3, 1749. Cautioned by New York to cease and desist, Wentworth promised to await the judgment of the king, and refrain from making more grants in the claimed territory until it was rendered, but in November 1753, New York reported that he had continued to grant land in the disputed area. Grants briefly ceased in 1754, because of the French and Indian War, but in 1755 and 1757, Wentworth had a survey made 60 miles (97 km) up the Connecticut river, and 108 grants were made, extending to the line 20 miles east of the Hudson, and north to the eastern shore of Lake Champlain.

Related Topics:
Bennington - January 3 - 1749 - 1753 - 1754 - French and Indian War - 1755 - 1757 - Lake Champlain

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