455 Indenture of Palmer Cleaveland

    [November 25 1738]

    This Indenture made the twenty fifth day of November in the Twelfth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George … Annoque Domini 1738 between Edward Holyoke of Cambridge … and Palmer Cleaveland of North Kingstown … Taylor, on the other part … doth … to Farm Let … A Tract or Parcel of Land Scituate Lying and being in North Kingstown aforesaid it being part of Five Hundred Acres of Land given to said College by the Honourable Samuel Sewal Esq. and Hannah his wife Deceased … sixty Acres of Land lying and being at the Northerly and North westerly corner of the Farm, and lying together in one entire peice, Bounded Westwardly by the school farm, Eastwardly by a Brook or Run of water commonly called horse yard run, Northerly partly the Land of said Palmer Cleaveland and partly by Land of Nicholas Gardner and John Gould, Southerly by another part of said Farm …from the twenty fifth day of March next … for and dureing the terme of twelve years … paying the annual Rent of one pepper Corn per annum dureing said term if demanded … he the said Palmer Cleaveland shall entirely clear and subdue, and dureing his Terme keep cleared and subdued entirely of brush and trash thirty Acres (of the sixty aforesaid) and in one entire piece and bring it to mowing English Grass upon the whole of said Thirty Acres, and enclose said Thirty Acres with good sufficient fence and to keep the said Fence dureing his Term, and Leave it at the End of it in good tenantable Repair, and the Said Palmer Cleaveland shall within a year of the Date of this Lease Plant in the most convenient place within the said Thirty Acres an Orchard of Sixty good thrifty Apple Trees, at thirty two feet Distance from each other and enclose the said Orchard with good sufficient Fence of Posts and four Rayles or good Virginia Fence sufficient to turn horn Cattle, Sheep, or Goats and any other Creatures that may injure the Trees, and shall keep said Orchard so Fenced dureing his Lease and at the end of it Leave said Fence in good tenantable Repair, and shall at suitable times open the ground about the Roots of said Trees, and dung them well to make them thrifty, and from time to time prune the Trees as there shall be Occasion. The said Cleaveland shall improve the wood and timber on the aforesaid thirty Acres for fenceing the same and for the maintenance of one fire and no more and when the wood and timber is cleared from the thirty acres for the uses aforesaid, he may cut wood and timber necessary for fenceing the hired Land, and for one fire, on the remaining part of the Demised Sixty Acres. And if the said Cleaveland tils any part of the Demised Premises he shall keep up in tillage for no longer a space then four years, and then lay it down for four years level and fit to produce grass for mowing. Furthermore if the said Cleaveland shall see cause to clear enclose and subdue anymore of the said Demised premises than the said thirty Acres he shall have Liberty so to Do, provided he Clears thoroughly as he goes and cuts and keep down the Brush, and encloseth the same, and keeps it fenced and enclosed as aforesaid and the said Cleaveland shall spend all the Hay or Stover that may be produced on said Demised premises upon the same and neither carry of nor suffer to be carried of any Dung or muck from said Premises but shall improve the same thereon for inriching and manureing the same, and the said Cleaveland shall inspect and oversee the other part of the College Farm not Demised and not suffer any strip or Wast or Pillage of wood or Timber &c. to be made upon the same, and shall pay all Taxes that shall or may be Levyed on the Premises dureing his term, and the said Cleaveland shall neither assign over this Lease nor admit any undertenant on the Demised Premises without the approbation of the Lessor … In Witness whereof the Partys aforesaid have interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year above wiitten.

    The marke of Palmer x Cleavland

    Signed Sealed and Delivered in presence of—

    Francis Willett

    Kings County Ss

    Samuel Watson

    North Kingstown January 9th 1738/[39]

    The above subscriber Palmer Cleavland appeared and acknowledged the foregoeing instrument to be his act and deed. Before

    Francis Willett Justice Quorum

    Narragansett Farm Papers, p. 8. Three dots indicate the omission of legal phraseology common to such documents.