Hello, I am trying to solve a small mystery in my KIDDER research. During the 1680's, my ancestor, John KIDDER, reportedly bought ..two.. 500-acre lots of land from Jonathan TYNG. According to some researchers, both lots of land were originally part of "the Wamesit Purchase" of 1686. In 1686, Jonathan TYNG bought this "Wamesit Reservation for Praying Indians." The land included a large area of land at the intersection of the Merrimack River and the Concord River, and it also included 500 acres of land on the northern side of the Merrimack River where the Pawtucket Falls is now.
FYI: In 1668, Edward TYNG gave his son, Jonathan TYNG, 3000 acres of land. Edward TYNG had come from Dunstable, England, so the land would eventually became known as Dunstable, Massachusetts. (At the beginning, the towns, Nashua through New Ipswich, NH, along the MA border were part of Dunstable, MA.)
According to another researcher, Jonathan TYNG sold the 500 acres of land on the opposite side of the Merrimack River to John KIDDER. In turn, John KIDDER sold this land to John VARNUM. (I'm sorry I don't remember the years.)
The KIDDER mystery comes into play when I try to figure out where the 500 acres of land that John Kidder bought from Jonathan TYNG in 1681 .. comes into play. According to the "Kidder book," this land was in Chelmsford on the western shore of the Concord River. BUT .. this land (WAMESIT) did not belong to Jonathan TYNG until 1686.
This would make me think that the 500 acres of land John Kidder bought in 1681 .. was part of the "Chelmsford Plantation" which was founded in 1655 (mostly on BUTTERFIELD land).. to the west of the Concord River, along both sides of the Merrimack River, but beyond the Wamesit Reservation.
FYI: John KIDDER grew up on the Billerica Plantation, also founded in 1655, and was the son of the patriarch, James KIDDER, of Cambridge and Billerica, MA.
FYI: The land of "the Wamesit Purchase" on the western shore of the Concord River .. would become the Town of Lowell, which was annexed off the Town of Chelmsford in 1826.
Now we get to a Deed I found out about on eBay this week. This Deed gives indication that "the KIDDER property" in Chelmsford .. was very near the shore of the Merrimack River on the western shore of the Concord River .. and thus within the bounds of the Wamesit Reservation.
The mystery I am trying to solve is: where "the KIDDER homestead" was located in 1600's through 1800's, Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
I just found out last week .. that "the KIDDER homestead" in Billerica, Massachusetts, in the 1600's and 1700's was located directly in Billerica Center. It was an important property in the original "Billerica Village."
What surprises me is that, if John KIDDER, bought probably 1,000 acres of land off of Jonathan TYNG in the late 1600's, why isn't John Kidder's name mentioned in the history books?