This is an original document dated 1738, where John Drew, carpenter, of Somersworth, New Hampshire has sold to William Key of Berwick, two thirds of a land grant in Kittery, Maine....signed on back by John Drew, Abigail Drew, Joseph Chadbourne, Moses Butler, John Hill and Jeremiah Moulton. Document is 8x12, folds, toned at center fold, overall very good condition.

Jeremiah Moulton (b. York, Massachusetts (now in York, Maine), 1688, d. York, 20 July 1765) was a New England militia officer and member of the Massachusetts Council.

As a boy, during King William's War, Moulton's parents were killed and he was taken captive in the Raid on York (1692). He was eventually released and served in Father Rale's War at Fort Richmond (Maine). Between 1721 and 1724 there were four attempts to capture the missionary Father Sebastian Rale; Captain Jeremiah Moulton played a prominent role in at least two of these, including the last, which succeeded, which is known as Battle of Norridgewock.

After this attack, Captain Moulton continued to take part in scouting expeditions. When the war was over, he remained a militia officer, but resumed his civil career. He became a judge, sheriff of York County, member of the Massachusetts Council, and holder of various other offices. He also developed farms and mills, and helped to found the town which later became Sanford, Maine.

During King George's War, Moulton, now a colonel and one of New England’s most experienced soldiers, once more saw active service; he commanded one of the three Massachusetts regiments in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). In April of that year he landed with the New England troops at Canso and went from there, leading a detached force of New Hampshire men, to capture and destroy Port-Toulouse in early May. He sat regularly with the council of war at Louisbourg and stayed on after the fall of the town to help with its occupation. He did not return to Maine until December 1745; shortly thereafter he was appointed judge of probate for York County.

He remained an active and respected citizen of York until his death in 1765. He is buried in the Old York Cemetery, York Village, York County, Maine.

John Hill, was born in 1703. Early in his life, he was appointed a justice of the peace, later becoming an associate justice and then chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a representative to the Massachusetts General Court and a member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council from 1755 to 1771.

He entered the military as an ensign in 1727 and left as a major in 1754. He also continued in the lumber and sawmill business in Berwick. John Hill married Elizabeth Gerrish and they had several children. After her death in 1763, he married Sarah Frost Blunt. John Hill in died in 1772.

BUTLER, Moses, surveyor, born in Berwick, Maine, 13 July, 1702; died in 1756. His father, Thomas Butler, who was prominent in the affairs of York county, Maine, for more than twenty years, was a descendant of the noble house of Ormonde in Ireland. His son was chosen in 1730 to represent Berwick in matters relating to the seizure of property belonging to citizens, by the crown surveyor of woods, and from 1733 till 1756 he was annually elected selectman of Berwick and surveyor of land.

 He was commissioned captain in the 1st Massachusetts regiment, 5 February, 1744, and during the siege and capture of Louisburg was in command of his company, under Sir William Pepper-ell's immediate instructions. In a letter from Sir William Pepperell to John Hill, Capt. Butler's alacrity in enlisting his full company of men for service in the Louisburg expedition is warmly praised. He was chosen in 1748 to answer a petition executed against the town of Berwick at the general court in Boston, and on 92 May, 1749, was elected a representative to the general court.  

Joseph Chadbourne, b. c1690, d. Oct. 18, 1757, m. Sept. 14, 1738 in Portsmouth, N.H. to Sarah Phipps (b. Apr. 1716), daughter of Thomas Phipps and Mary Plaisted Hobbs.

John Drew . Birth: 17 Oct 1707. Dover, Strafford County, New Hampshire, USA. Death: May 1745 (aged 37). Killed by Lightning strike.

Abigail Wingate first married Andrew Spinney on June 25, 1726. Following his death, she married John Drew III. They were only married about eight years when he was killed by lightening. Abigail died after 1748, probably in Somersworth.

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