DEPOSITION OF AMOS HAMMOND

DEPOSITION OF AMOS HAMMOND (ca. 1735 - 1813)

[This transcription is published here by permission of the Rhode Island Historical Society. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format without the permission of Rhode Island Historical Society. See note regarding source following the text.]

"I, Amos Hammond, of Foster, in the County of Providence of Lawful Age and engaged according to Law do testify and Say That I am now in my Seventy Sixth ["Fourth" is crossed out] year of my Age; and I have lived on the Farm where I now live Fifty Three years next November; and when I first moved up where I now live there Stood a Small White Oak Tree about Twelve Rods North of my House which was then called Range Tree in the Lane between the Town of Scituate and Glocester and has ever since been so considered until it was cut down - and the Districts in each town have always mended the Highway in each Town up to where said Tree stood, and that was the dividing Line between each District.

Questions by the Committee of the Town of Foster

Have you always Since your Residence in the Towns of Scituate and Foster paid Taxes in those towns for your Dwelling House and Barn and that part of your Real Estate which is Southern of the Line of where the said White Oak was one of the Ranges?

Answer Yes

Question by the same

Do you know how far Southward of the Place where the said White Oak Tree the Line was, which was run out by Judge Man and Richard Knight Jnr. at the Request of the Committees of the Town of Scituate and Foster

Answer I cannot Recollect

Question by the same

How far is it from the said Place where said White Oak Stood to the Walnut Tree on the Line run out by Judge Man previously to that run out by him and Elder Knight?

Answer I think it was Forty Eight Rod to my Corn Cribb - But I am not certain

Question by the same

Have you any knowledge of the Place where the Boundary Line between Glocester - Scituate on where the said White Oak Tree Stood struck Connecticut Line running westward from said White Oak?

Answer I do not know -

Question by the same

Did you Jerimiah Hopkins & Charles Smith run out said line taking said White Oak for one of the Ranges

Answer Yes

Question by the same

Did the said Line run by you as aforesaid pass Northward of the Dwelling House in which Elisha Aldrich lived previously to his removing into his new house where he now lives

Answer Yes about Thirty Five Rods

Question by the same

Was you ever called upon to do Military Duty in any of the Train Bands of the Town of Glocester:

Answer No I was not

Question by the same

Did you build the Dwelling house where you now live, if so how many years ago?

Answer I built it Fifty Three Years Ago

Question by Committee from Glocester

What Course did you run when you Charles Smith & Jeremiah Hopkins run the Line before alluded to?

Answer I do not know we took the Course from James Aldrich's House and ran westward - and what Course we ran I know nothing about it -

Question by same

To what Amount of Taxes have you paid in Glocester for the Farm you now live on

Answer About Seventy Dollars in old Continental Money at one Term for a Number of Years Taxes

Question by same

How came it to run a Number of years before you paid said Taxes

Answer The Reason was that Charles and Gideon Harris Esq. And Judge Randal of Scituate advised me to stand out and not pay them - the Line would be run for me and they would bear me harmless and after a while they advised me to pay them.

Question by the Same

Do you know of your own Knowledge any thing about the Monument on the Line of Connecticut between the Towns or whether there were any or not -

Answer No. I have seen a Bound there that Jeremiah Hopkins told Me was the Bound between the Towns

Question by the same

Where away was the Bound Jeremiah Hopkins showed you

Ans - I cannot certainly tell. It was to the Northern of the Ducks Pond and to the Northern of the Monument lately shown Me to be the Bound where was not the Bound that I formerly saw - I have looked for it but never found it.

Question by the Committee of the Town of Foster

What was the Reason that Gideon & Charles Harris and Judge Randal advised you not to pay said Taxes to the Town of Glocester

Answer The Reason was that they meant to have the Line run and they supposed that it would run further to the Northward and they intended to have more Land.

Amos Hammond his mark

Duly Sworn to Oct. ye 26^th 1812 Before Henry Jones Just Peace"

[Note: This deposition is transcribed from part of a manuscript contained in the records of theRhode Island Historical Society Manuscript Division. The title of the record in the card catalog is "Depositions in regard to the Town of Foster, 1812." The cite given for the manuscript is RIHSM Vol IV, p. 146. The manuscript intself has no page numbers. The deposition of Amos Hammon is preceded by a deposition of Nathaniel Horton dated Oct. 26, 1811. The deposition of Nathaniel Horton was sworn before Henry Jones, Justice of the Peace. The attestation by Henry Jones states that the deposition was to be used as evidence before the General Assembly in Providence in February, 1812. Amos Hammon's depostiion, although dated October 26, 1812, is believed to have been actually taken October 26, 1811 - the same date of Nathaniel Horton's deposition.]

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