177 Lease to Stephen Gardner

    This Indenture made the Twenty first Day1 Anno Domini 1717 . . . between John Leveret Gentleman and the Fellows for the time being of Harvard Colledge . . . and Stephen Gardner of Kingstown, in King’s Province in [. . .] Narrhaganset Countrey in New England aforesaid . . . a certain Tract and parcel of Land lying in Kingstown aforesaid containing by Estimation Five Hundred Acres be the same more or less, being to the eastermost half part of one Thousand Acres of the Lot numbred 4 which did belong to Samuel Sewall Esq. and Hannah his wife, and was by them given to Harvard Colledge Bounded Southerly by the Lot laid out to Thomas M[. . .] numbred 3 Northerly by the Lot laid out to John [. . .] numbred 5 and Westerly by a Line to run across the [. . .] mentioned Lot numbred 4 with all the Priviledges . . . from the twenty fifth day of March next coming to the full end and term of fourteen years thence next ensuing . . . Twenty shillings yearly and [. . .] year for the first seven years of the said Term on or before the twenty fifth Day of March, and Three Pounds yearly [. . .] next Three years, on or before the twenty fifth Day of [March] and Five Pounds yearly for the last four Years on or before the twenty fifth Day of [March] . . . And the said Gardner doth hereby Covenant to subdue and clear of [. . .] Brush and keep cleared to the end of the said Term Fifty Acres The said demised Land and fence the Same. That he will not Dispose of, or carry off from the Premises any wood or Timber but from such places as he clears and cultivates, nor carry off any stones from the Premises, nor keep any of the land in Tillage for more than six Years . . . leaving the Fifty Acres that is to be cleared compassed with a good begate fence . . . .

    Signed Sealed and Delivered in presence of

    Stephen Gardner

    Andw. Bordman

    Samll. Barrett Junior

    Narragansett Farm Papers, Supplement. Three dots indicate omission of legal phraseology common to all such documents. Marginal and other tears account for missing words. Receipts to 1731, which follow the close of the document, have also been omitted. For the Sewall’s gift of land at Petaquamscot see CSM Publications, xv. 272.