Where is the 8575 Acre "Green & Walkers" Land

 Last September Phil (last name withheld) asked me about a colonial map he owned, thought to be part of Colrain, Massachusetts. It is dated 1741, and is a survey plan of 8575 acres for Green and Walker,  signed by Richard Hazzen & Nathaniel Kellogg, two prominent land surveyors of the time. Of special note is the fact that surveyor Hazzen had established the Massachusetts state line just a few months earlier.

 

North is at the right side of this image. and along that edge are the words "This line is the Northern Boundary of the Province"  (below)

This survey plan was signed in October 1741.  Hazzen's survey of the Province Boundary was signed in May of 1741.

However, there is another 1741 plan of the 8575 acres filed at the Massachusetts Archives.  It is a little bit different than Phil's 1741 plan.

The Mass Archives plan has the same land boundary math as Phil's and the same written text, but has more details of rivers and streams . It is has the same date and signatures, but the signatures are different than on the Phil map.  Maps of this era are often copied so it can be hard to tell which of these is the original ( or whether both are tracings).   More on this below....
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This is not a survey of land in Colrain (as Phil had been told) but is in fact the north half of the adjoining Town of Heath.  An undated  map from Mass Archives (below) shows "Green and Walkers" land adjoining Colrain.

Since the early boundaries of this area are a bit confusing I have made this "Early Boundaries Analysis" map for clarity (below). It shows the 8575 acres and some other early land boundary info for Colrain.

The heavy solid lines on this "Early Boundaries" map are the modern town lines of Colrain, Heath and Charlemont. The 8575 acre "Green and Walker" land grant is the yellowed area -the north half of Heath. (My best guess as of July- this area could be slid further west after further research)   I studied all 3 towns because each boundary related to the others.
The Mass General Court created Charlemont and Colrain (then called Boston #1 & 2)  in 1736 - shown above as the grey areas. (My best guess in July 2024, subject to change). The boundaries of each town shifted in the mid to late 1700s.
There was a confusing overlap at the Colrain-Charlemont boundary.  That boundary was settled giving Colrain more land in 1784-5 when Heath was established. Heath  included a carve-out from Charlemont and the 8575 acre Green and Walker lands. (see below).
The 1741 Province Boundary Survey created a gap or "gore" of land to the northwest of 1736 Colrain (Then "Boston No.2" ) , and a smaller overlap to the northeast, now parts of Halifax and Guilford Vermont. How that northwest gore  (near Christian Hill) came to be part of Colrain is unclear. The "Bernardston Gore" to the southeast of ancient Colrain was annexed in 1779. 
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How did I do this analysis?   Mostly with old maps like the 1736 Mass Archives map of Charlemont and Colrain (below).

This is the map (above) which created Charlemont and Colrain, then called Boston No. 1 and Boston No. 2. It's author (surveyor) was Nathaniel Kellogg,  the same fellow who helped Richard Hazzen later survey the 8575 acres.
Heath was first surveyed as one unified tract (below) by this 1779 Mass Archives map . Note that "Green and Walkers So Calld" is the top half.

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Now, back to the signatures on the two 8575 acres plans. It looks like Phil's copy is an outlier, and thus is quite likely a copy.  That said, as you look at the other "Richard Hazzen" signatures below you will wonder if several of these aren't copies as well. It is quite the task to be sure that a colonial signature is or is not a copy.  A copyist could be faithful to the original's curls and swirls, as seems possible below, or be less faithful as in Phil's copy.

Above is Phil's map with signatures.  Below is the Mass Archives map. I don't think these have are the same handwriting.  The "z's" have descenders in "Hazzen" above, and there is only one "g" in "Kellogg".

The Mass Archives map's signatures look to have been written with different pens. Note that the second signature, Kellogg's, is darker than Hazzen's.  Could that be a clue favoring this as having original signatures?

The next image (below) is from a 1750 survey notebook by Richard Hazzen.

Next below is Hazzen's signature on the copy of the 1741 Province Line survey held by the NH Archives.

Finally, 2 pages from Hazzen's field book for the Province Line survey, also from NH Archives.

The first page (above)

The most likely "true" signatures are probably these last ones, as the field book's crossed out text  suggests that it is an original document.

I do not have an opinion as to whether the Mass Archives 8575 acre map has original signatures, but since the "Richard Hazzen" on that map is quite similar to several others, it is at least a faithful copy, if not the true original.
As to Phil's 1741 map it seems likely that it is very old, and may be a contemporary copy (1741 +- ) of the original 1741 map. 

Dave Allen  July 2024