erritory was given to
Westford. It was a long and narrow tract of land, triangular in shape,
with its base resting on Stony Brook Pond, now known as Forge Pond, and
coming to a point near Millstone Hill, where the boundary lines of
Groton, Westford, and Tyngsborough intersect. The Reverend Edwin R.
Hodgman, in his History of Westford, says:--

Probably there was no computation of the area of this triangle at
any time. Only four men are named as the owners of it, but they, it
is supposed, held titles to only a portion, and the remainder was
wild, or "common," land, (Page 25.)

In the Journal of the House of Representatives (page 9), September 10,
1730, there is recorded:--

A petition of _Jonas Prescot, Ebenezer Prescot, Abner Kent_, and
_Ebenezer Townsend_, Inhabitants of the Town of _Groton_, praying,
That they and their Estates, contained in the following Boundaries,
_viz._ beginning at the _Northwesterly_ Corner of _Stony Brook_
Pond, from thence extending to the _Northwesterly_ Corner of
_Westford_, commonly called _Tyng's_ Corner, and so bound
_Southerly_ by said Pond, may be set off to the Town of _Westford_,
for Reasons mentioned. Read and _Ordered_, That the Petitioners
within named, with their Estates, according to the Bounds before
recited, be and hereby are to all Intents and Purposes set off from
the Town of _Groton_, and annexed to the said Town of _Westford_.

Sent up for Concurrence.

This order received the concurrence of the council, and was signed by
the governor, on the same day that it passed the House.

During this period the town of Harvard was incorporated. It was made up
from portions of Groton, Lancaster, and Stow, and the engrossed act
signed by the governor, on June 29, 1732. The petition for the township
was presented to the General Court nearly two years before the date of
incorporation. In the Journal of the House of Representatives (pages 84,
85), October 9, 1730, it is recorded:--

A Petition of _Jonas Houghton, Simon Stone, Jonathan Whitney_, and
_Thomas Wheeler_, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf and at the
desire of sundry of the Inhabitants on the extream parts of the
Towns of _Lancaster, Groton_ and _Stow_, named in the Schedule
thereunto annexed; praying, That a Tract of Land (with the
Inhabitants thereon, particularly described and bounded in said
Petition