y Deane Winthrop and seven others, was presented to
the General Court asking for certain changes in the conditions, and
among them the privilege to employ another "artist" in the place of Mr.
Danforth, as he was overrun with business. The petition was referred to
a committee who reported favorably upon it, and the request was duly
granted. Formerly a surveyor was called an artist, and in old records
the word is often found with that meaning.

Ensign Peter Noyes, of Sudbury, was then engaged by the grantees and he
began the survey; but his death, on September 23, 1657, delayed the
speedy accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some
trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the
question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it
was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted
surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often
mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying
out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved
among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at
first for the undertaking; and after Noyes's death he took charge of it,
and his elder brother, Thomas, was associated with him. The plat or plan
of the land, however, does not appear to have been completed until
April, 1668. The survey was made during the preceding year. At a meeting
of the selectmen of the town, held on November 23, 1667, it is recorded
that a rate should be levied in order to pay "the Artest and the men
that attended him and his diet for himself and his horse, and for two
sheets of parchment, for him to make two platts for the towne, and for
Transportation of his pay all which amounts to about twenty pounds and
to pay severall other town debts that appear to us to be due."

[Illustration: Groton Plantation as shown on a plan made in 1668 by
Jonathan Danforth]

A little further on in the records a charge of five shillings is made
'ffor two sheats of Parchment.' These entries seem to show that two
plans were made, perhaps one for the town and the other for the Colony;
but neither copy is now to be found. An allusion is made to one of them
in a petition, presented to the General Court on February 10, 1717, by
John Shepley and John Ames. It is there mentioned that "the said Plat
tho something defaced is with the Petitioner;" and is further stated
"That in the year 1713 M'r Samuel Danforth