In a post to the Kingston Town Locals group on Facebook , Will Perry described a recently uncovered 1810 document that describes the line between Pembroke and Kingston. It appears to be a “Notice of Perambulation” documenting a joint walk along the border by the Selectmen of both Towns. By law, Towns should perambulate every five years.
Early land descriptions can be tricky to read, but this map from the The Atlas of the Boundaries of the Town of Kingston shows the Pembroke-Kingston line as it was in 1899. Admittedly, that’s almost a century later, but the “corners” in the notice very likely correspond to stones 8, 9, 10, and 11 on the map. In the Atlas, stone 11 is described as W.M., a witness marker. This post has more information on Kingston’s boundaries and photographs of a couple of witness markers.
Transcription
We the subscribers, Selectmen of the Towns of Pembroke and Kingston, having this day run and reviewed the line between the said Towns and find the corners and distances as follows. Viz
Beginning at a stake and stone by the Jones River Pond [Silver Lake] marked KP thence North 41 1/2 East 110 rods to a stake marked KP in the North-westerly corner of the land of Jedidiah Holmes, thence North 87 Degrees East 349 Rods to a stake and stones marked PK in the line between Jacob Fish and Zachary Fish, by a small run of water, thence South 69 Degrees East 108 rods to a stake and stones by Pine Brook marked KP in Duxbury line
December 14th 1810
Kilborn Whitman, [Isaac?] Hatch, Selectmen of Pembroke
John Faunces, Elisha Hall, Selectmen of Kingston