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“ [94] in America,” “all that part of America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid throughout the mainland, from sea to sea,” --“to be holden of him, his heirs, and successors, as of his manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in free and common sockage, and not in capite, nor by knight's service;” the grantees “yielding and paying therefor the fifth part of the ore of gold and silver which should happen to be found in any of the said lands.” Medford was included in the territory granted, Dec. 30, 1622, by the Plymouth Company to Robert Gorges. It was the tract “commonly called or known by the name of the Messachusiack,” lying “upon the north-east side of the bay, called or known by the name of the Messachusett.” It extended “ten English miles towards the north-east, and thirty English miles unto the main land, through all the breadth aforesaid.” Hutchinson says that this grant, being loose and uncertain, was never used. March 19, 1628: The Council of Plymouth, under their common seal, by a deed indented, granted and sold to Sir Henry Roswell and five others “all that part of New England, in America, which lies and extends between a great river there, commonly called Monomack (Merrimack), and a certain other river there, called Charles; being in the bottom of a certain bay there, commonly called Massachusetts.” These are the first grants, under legal authority, of the territory within which Medford stands. The Council also sold “all the lands being within the space of three English miles on the south of Charles River and Massachusetts Bay, and within the same space on the north of the river Monomack, and of all parts of said rivers and bay, and from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west.” “Upon the petition of said Henry Roswell and five others, and their associates, twenty in number, to have and to hold to them, &c., by the same tenure, and incorporated them by the name of ‘ The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.’ ” Holding under these grants and by these titles, the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay made grants of lands to companies and individuals for towns and plantations, usually annexing certain conditions to their grants; such as,
John Wilson and son. 22 School Street. Boston. 1855.
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