Shirley was originally a part of Groton, which included a large territory granted to Dean Winthrop, son of Gov. Winthrop, with several others, by an act of "the General court held at Boston the 23d day of the 5th month, 1655." Its location is so far from the center of the abovenamed territory-the settlement of which at first progressed very slowly, owing to Indian depredations, and to a sparseness of settlers-that it remained an unbroken wilderness for more than sixty years after the grant of the territory of Groton, and until all the settlements of the neighboring districts had successfully commenced. During this period the Indian wars of Massachusetts had been waged, carried on and concluded, and enterprising settlers were encouraged to penetrate and occupy those hitherto wild lands which were to be the future homes of themselves and their children, without the protection of garrisoned houses, and with no fear of surprise from the nocturnal visits of the revengeful aborigines of the soil. The precise time of the first settlement in Shirley cannot now be ascertained, but it is supposed to have been about the year 1720. The farms first occupied were those on the Squannacook river, and along the northern boundary of the town. The second framed house was erected two miles from what is now "Shirley Centre," at the corner formed by a union of the roads leading from Shirley and Lunenburg to Groton. The population had, however, become sufficiently numerous, as early as 1747, to realize the need of a distinct town organization, and those who most fully recognized this need united in forwarding a petition to the parent town praying for an early separation. The following, taken from the town records. of Groton, is a copy of that PETITION. "To the inhabitants of the town of Groton, assembled in town meeting on the first day of March, 1747. The petition of us the subscribers, being all inhabitants of the town of Groton, aforesaid, humbly showeth, that your petitioners all live in the extreme parts of the town, and by that means are incapacitated to attend public worship constantly, either ourselves or families; and being sensible that our being set off in order for a precinct will be of great service to us, we desire that we may be set off by the bounds following, viz., beginning at the mouth of the Squannacook river, and so run up said river till it comes to Townsend line, and then by Townsend and Lunenburg lines till it cometh to Groton southwest corner, and so by the south line in said town until it cometh to Lancaster (Nashua) river, and then run down said river till it cometh to Harvard corner, and then about a mile on Harvard north line, then turn to the north and run to the waste brook in Coicors (Canicus or Nonacancus) farm, where people generally pass over, and from thence to the mouth of Squannacook river, where we first began; and your petitioners as bound in duty shall ever pray, &c. JOHN WHITNEY, DAVID GOULD, JOHN KELSEY, OLIVER FARWELL, ISAAC HOLDen, JARATHMAEL POWERS, PHILEMON HOLDEN, WILLIAM PRESTON, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, HENRY FARWELL, ISAIAH FARWELL, DANIEL PAGE, MOSES BENNEtt Jr., CALEB HOLDEN, HEZEKIAH SAWTELL. 33 signers. "The above petition was read at the anniversary meeting in Groton, March 1, 1747, and the prayer thereof granted, except the land on the easterly side of Lancaster (Nashua) river, and recorded. THOMAS TARBELL, Town Clerk." It is probable that the signers of the petition for a separate town constituted a majority of the voters within. its proposed limits, when the petition was presented, and yet it is certain that some of the first families are not represented. Whether they considered the project premature, or had other motives for not sustaining the movement, cannot now be known. Although, as appears from the action of the town, no opposition was made to this movement of the petitioners, yet it was almost six years before their plan of organization was carried into effect. Whether this delay was occasioned by opposition on the part of the minority interested in the proposed change, by legislative refusal, or by indolence and inefficiency in the leaders of the movement, no record or tradition remains to inform us. Whatever the cause, it must have been a discouraging delay to those who were seeking to remove the inconveniences which they were forced daily to encounter from their location in a remote and comparatively inaccessible corner of the district. At the January session of the "General Court," in the year 1753, an act of incorporation was passed and approved, whereby the territory became a district and received the name of name of Shirley, in honor of William Shirley, who was then Governor of Massachusetts Colony. By a subsequent act of the Legislature, in the year 1786, all districts which had been incorporated previous to the year 1777 were made towns. In this change Shirley was included. By an act of the Legislature of 1765, a strip of land on the south boundary of Shirley, lying between Shirley *See Appendix A. and Lancaster,-"being a territory of about two hundred rods in breadth, and extending in length one mile, from Lunenburg line to Nashua river-was annexed to Shirley." This piece of territory has usually been denominated Stow Leg.* By still another legislative act, passed in 1798, the farms of Moody Chase, Samuel Chase and Simon Daby or Darby-forming a territory of irregular shape, on the east side of the Nashua river-were set off from Groton and annexed to Shirley. The territory as described in the petition for a separation from Groton, together with these two annexations, constituted the town of Shirley until the year 1871, when the last-mentioned addition was severed from Shirley and united with the territory which now constitutes the town of Ayer. Such are the territorial changes through which Shirley has passed since it became an independent municipality; but such are its present geographical relations to other towns that no further alterations need be expected.† What the population of the town was at the time of its incorporation cannot now be ascertained; but the following table will show its increase and decrease from the first census year after its organization, down to the last. census, that of 1880: Thus it appears that the increase of population for nearly one hundred years, though gradual, was comparatively small. The loss of territory by the incorporation *See Appendix B. †See Appendix C. of Ayer in 1871 diminished the number of inhabitants,and this town, in common with other farming districts, has been continually drained of its young men who remove to cities and large towns, preferring these more exciting fields of enterprise to the quiet, though manly and dignified pursuits, which the country affords. There may appear but little hope of much greater immediate increase; and yet it is certain that the water facilities of the town are not all under improvement, and the soil too, if properly cultivated, is capable of double its present amount of production. The location is such as to promote health and favor long life, and such as to invite country artisans and men of comparative leisure to make it their place of residence. As the early proceedings of a newly organized branch of the body politic are interesting to the descendants of the actors, the records of the first town-meeting are here inserted entire. The warrant for calling the meeting : "Middlesex, ss. To Nathaniel Harris, in Shirley, in the district of Groton, in said County of Middlesex. Greeting. By virtue of the power and authority given to me, the subscriber, by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, for dividing the Town of Groton, and making a District by the name of Shirley, to call the first meeting of the inhabitants of said district. You are hereby required in his Majesty's name, to warn and give notice to all free holders and other inhabitants, qualified by law to vote in Town, District and Parish meetings, to assemble and meet at Mr. John Whitney's, in said Shirley, on the First day of March, next, at nine of the clock in the Forenoon. First to choose a moderator to manage said meeting. 2ly To chuse all such officers for said district as other towns by law are enjoyned to chuse at their annual meeting. |