Colonial Boundary Disputes Collection: Finding Aid mssHM 8970-8978
Melissa Haley
The Huntington Library
March 2023
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Colonial boundary disputes collection
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 8970-8978
Physical Description:
1.17 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1735-1774
Abstract: A collection of nine documents concerning the New Hampshire Grants assembled by John Adams for his report on the boundary
disputes commissioned by the Massachusetts General Court in March 1774.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Colonial boundary disputes collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Anderson Galleries, Henry F. De Puy sale, part 1; Sale 1440, Lot 8, November 17, 1919.
A series of land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by Benning Wentworth, the colonial governor of New Hampshire, led to a
boundary dispute between New Hampshire and New York that eventually led to the creation of Vermont in 1777. In March 1774,
John Adams was appointed to a Massachusetts committee to determine if the colony had any claims to the New Hampshire Grants.
See Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, vol. 2, December 1773 - April 1775 (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1977), 22-80.
A collection of nine documents concerning the New Hampshire Grants assembled by John Adams for his report on the boundary
disputes commissioned by the Massachusetts General Court in March 1774. Included are copies of the act of the Privy Council
settling the dispute between Samuel Waldo and David Dunbar (approximately 1735) and the Instruction of George II to Benning
Wentworth (approximately 1740); also present is a letter to the editor of The New Hampshire Gazette responding to "the political
piece in your Gazette of 5th Current upon the subject of the aggrieved and injured settlers of the towns granted by your Governor
to the west of the Connecticut river." Some items are in John Adams's hand, including copies of documents endorsed as "Charles
Phelps's State of his Case" and "New York Claim."
This finding aid was created in 2023 by Melissa Haley as part of the American Presidential Papers Project with enhanced description
of the presidential material present.
Collection is arranged chronologically.
"Charles Phelps's State of his Case" is published in Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, vol. 2, December 1773 - April
1775 (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977), 31-48. George II instruction to Benning Wentworth
is published in Documents and Records relating to the Province of New-Hampshire, vol. 5, 1738-1749 (1871), 595-596.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Great Britain -- Colonies -- America -- History -- 18th century -- Sources
Maine -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
Massachusetts -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
New Hampshire -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
New York (State) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
Vermont -- History -- To 1791 -- Sources
Government records -- United States -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Judicial records -- United States -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Adams, John, 1735-1826
Dunbar, David, Surveyor General
Waldo, Samuel, 1695-1759
Wentworth, Benning, 1696-1770
Box 1
Colonial boundary disputes collection