1668  Taunton North Purchase

        Purchase of a tract of land in which the town of Easton was later settled.

In the year 1662 Captain Thomas Willet succeeded in purchasing a tract of land from the Indians of the area.  This purchased was called the North Purchase of the Indians. Thirty-five men from Taunton were involved in this purchase.  However several years passed before these Taunton men came into possession of their purchase.  A small part of this purchase was granted to Rehoboth, titled the Rehoboth North Purchase.  After the men came into possession of the North Purchase, a small fifty square mile area remained (Chaffin, 17). 

This area was a large and irregular strip of land, which was unoccupied.  "It was bounded on the north by the line that separated the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts, east by Bridgewater, south by the northern boundary of Taunton, and west by Rehoboth North-Purchase, now Attleborough" (Chaffin, 19).  Undoubtedly the settlers of Taunton desired this land.  Several settlers of Taunton entered into discussions for this land purchase.  The following is an excerpt of the deposition of Thomas Leonard, one of the interested participants.

Then it was asked how much it was and how it lay:  said Gentlemen answered it was all the land between Taunton bounds and Rehoboth bounds, and between Taunton bounds and the bay line home to Bridgewater Bounds, excepting two parcells that was granted unto others before.  So we made a bargain accordingly with said agents of committee, and ten of us became bound for payment of what we gave for said lands & a deed was then written and left with said William Harvey; but we then not knowing all who would be proprietors in said lands,"(Chaffin 19-20).

Fifty-three proprietors of Taunton purchased this fifty-mile tract of land for one hundred pounds.  The deed was issued on June 1, 1668 (Chaffin, 20). This purchase is what is known as the Taunton North Purchase.

As previously noted the two parcels of land within the Taunton North Purchase were granted to private persons.  One of these persons was John Bundy.  It is unclear however if John Bundy ever settled on his parcel of land.  There are records of his presence in Taunton, but never in this purchased land.  The other parcel of land was issued to Thomas Briggs, son of Clement Briggs.  Thomas Briggs is suspected to be the first settler to live within the Taunton North Purchase (Chaffin, 22).

Even though the proprietors of the Taunton North Purchase bought an unoccupied area of land, the Indians were predecessors to these 53 men.  Two tribes of Indians, the Massachusetts Indians and the Wampanoags, were present in the general area of the Taunton North Purchase.  The Wampanoags, under their leader Massasoit, possessed the entire land of Bristol county.  There was some evidence that Massasoit did not possess the area of present day Easton in the Taunton North Purchase.  However, several documents have proved that Massasoit had dominion over this area in question (Chaffin, 30).

The area of the Taunton North Purchase contains not only present day Easton, but parts of Mansfield and Norton.  Other points of interest regarding the Taunton North Purchase include; a border dispute between the Massachusetts colony to the north and the Plymouth colony to the south, which was finally settled on March 6, 1773 (Chaffin, 31) and the incorporation of the towns of Norton, Easton, and Mansfield in 1710, 1725, and 1775 respectively.