.-.^'•^-^ > -o^'^-f-*/ *<.^-^^\/ %*^-'y .. v^ is»'. \.J' /Jife\ •^*..*^ .-if^^-o \„.#* /jite-. *^..^^ ■J%\ ^ '^^ %* ^0 -V ' .^ -0-.. ^^ ^^ .lU:.^'^^ u. .^"^ ^'^ ^0 r^'^b^i^"; ^ov ^^\C^^,\^ .C°/^^^'>o ,/\c^^^\ ^^. '"'•■'* ^<^ 0^ 0-..% '^^ ku^^^W"^ V^^^\^^ "^-^'^^-'^ .. ^.. V-^' [•: V^ :^ 1907.] The Society's Land Titles. 365 V THE SOCIETY'S LAND TITLES. BY CHAKLES A/ CHASE. By the will of our late President, the Hon. Stephen Salisbury, this Society has come into possession of the Man- sion-house at Lincoln Square, diagonally opposite the Society's hall. One hundred years ago this square was the centre and life of the town. Here, or in the neighborhood lived, or had lived Isaiah Thomas, Stephen Salisbury the first, the first Levi Lincoln, the second John Chandler, Timothy Paine, Daniel Waldo, the Lynde, Bangs and Wheeler families. Here were the warehouses of Mr. Waldo and Mr. Salisbury, with their large interior jobbing trade. The tavern still stands close by, at which Washington was a guest in 1789, and in which Lafayette breakfasted in 1829. The first saw- and grist-mill in Worcester stood a few feet north of the square, on land granted by the Proprietors of Worcester to Capt. John Wing of Boston, May 22, 1685, this tract containing "ten rod of land round where his mills standeth, together with the privilege of the mill b[r]ooke to him only and his heires whilst hee or they keep the mills in repair for the towns use." Captain Wing was on the same day admitted as "an inhabitant in the village of Worcester," and at about the same time was appointed to fill a vacancy on the committee named by the General Court for the settlement of the town. Captain Wing, by his will filed in the Suffolk Registry Feb. 14, 1703, left this mill lot with other large holdings to his son Cord, subject to a life interest for his wife. On May 21, 1717, Cord Wing conveyed it to Thomas Palmer, John Oulton and Cornelius Waldo.^ On Jan. 31, 1727, these ^Book 18, page 403, in Middlesex Registry. The County of Worcester was not created until 1731. A4-T3 '3 366 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., grantees made a division of their lands, this mill-site going to Mr. Waldo.2 April 22, 1771,^ Joseph Waldo, son of Cornelius, sold to John Hancock of Boston, and on Nov. 5, 1771, John Hancock sold to Stephen Salisbury the first of the name in Worcester.^ While the exact date of building the mansion cannot now be fixed, it was probably built by Mr. Salisbury in 1772, occupied by him until his death in 1829 and by his widow until her death in 1843. After her death it was used as a boarding school and by private families, and for some ten years past by the Hancock Club, which bears a name which this writer had the privi- lege of suggesting. The second Stephen Salisbury, on his marriage in 1833, began house-keeping in the block which he had built oppo- site the Court House, and, about the year 1836, built the mansion on the grounds just north of Antiquarian Hall, where this Society was for so many years entertained at the close of its annual meetings by him and his son, both of whom were our most generous benefactors. OUR PRESENT HOME. In tracing the title to our present location (page 385, Vol. XIV., Proceedings for October, 1901,) I did, not find how it came into possession of William Jennison. The recent researches by The Worcester Society of Antiquity show that it was a part of forty acres granted by the pro- prietors "for the Minister at Worcester." [Rev.] Andrew Gardner conveyed this to Benjamin To wnsend, May 10, 1723. (B. 23, P. 376, Mid. Reg.) Benjamin To wnsend to William Jennison, Nov. 23, 1725, B. 26, P. 489, Mid. Reg. *Book 27, pages 14, 19, 26, 32, 66, Mid. * Book 66, page 143, Wor. *Book 66, page 193, Wor. i'' %.*•???•■«•«■*' %*••.'•'**?' "^''^if^''-^^ ^Oj.'^^' '^-0^ ^^vrv'b''' -J -0' *^' ^'^p*^^^ ^- '^^-^'' -^^^^ \^^^" '*^K- "^^ -^^ ' *^^ v<^^ ^ * ^v* »>. • ^mSi * ;.;7i;:.'*-^ • c«5^^'.. o o. *'T7r»' A 4 o V *..o' y o *,,,.' .0-' sooKaiNOf^. CranMllt Fa «5> '-Vo' y O ►.,,.* ,0'' L^" ..^"^ '^ .o"^ .•"•♦ "^o .^* _.^". '<* ^0' A^"" a-V'* ^^^