Webster v. Town of Boscawen
| Decision Date | 11 March 1892 |
| Citation | 67 N.H. 111,29 A. 670 |
| Parties | WEBSTER v. TOWN OF BOSCAWEN et al. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Exceptions from Merrimack county.
Bill in equity by C. B. Webster against the town of Boscawen and others to quiet title. There was a finding for defendants, and plaintiff excepts. Exceptions overruled.
The bill was under chapter 43, Laws 1883, alleging that the plaintiff is in possession of a tract of land described in Boscawen, claiming a freehold therein. The defendants claim that the land is a legally-existing highway. The plaintiff prays that the title be determined by the court, and for an injunction. Facts found by the court: The land described in the bill has been known for more than 100 years as the "Old Ferry Road," which originally ran from King street, in Boscawen Plain, to Clement's ferry, on the Merrimack river. The ferry ceased to be used about 1804. The plaintiff acquired the title and possession of the farm which includes the disputed tract January 2, 1889, by warranty deed from Lucia Webster, which reserves "all right which the town of Boscawen may have in a highway across the northerly portion of said land as now laid out and known as 'Ferry Street'" Prior conveyances of the farm back to 1821 contain no reservation or mention of the ferry road. The defendants put in evidence a transcript of the town records: "A return of a highway laid out to Clement's ferry: Beginning at a stake on King street, two rods south of Moses Gerrish's house lot," and described by courses and distances to the Ferry way. "At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of Boscawen held May 21, 1782, after hearing the report of the committee for viewing highways, voted that a wall be made at the charge of the town on the road leading to Clement's ferry, three-quarters of the way from the river bank to the road, which is in consideration of damage done Doctor Peterson by taking the road off his land, and agreed to by Dr. Peterson as full satisfaction. "Voted Capt Kimball and George Jackman be a committee to get said wall made as cheap as may be." The plaintiff objected to the competency of the first transcript, "because the return is not signed by anybody," but it was admitted subject to exception. Whether the...
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Williams v. Babcock
...on the ground. The master could properly rule and find on the record that the above 1788 layout was admissible, Webster v. Boscawen, 67 N.H. 111, 29 A. 670 (1891), and constituted proof that a highway was lawfully laid out by the town of Stoddard on November 12, 1788. On the evidence presen......
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Hoban v. Bucklin
...as a public highway until 1876, was evidence sufficient to sustain a finding that the highway was legally laid out." Webster v. Boscawen, 67 N.H. 111, 113, 29 A. 670, 671. See, also, Thompson v. Major, 58 N.H. 242, While the article and vote contain a recital of only one of the termini of t......
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Davenhall v. Cameron, 7398
...to a road, while the plaintiff alleges to be the Old Road to Trotting Park, as a private way. The plaintiff relies upon Webster v. Boscawen, 67 N.H. 111, 29 A. 670 (1891), which he reads as holding that recitals in ancient records and deeds as well as evidence of public use of a road are co......
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Gill v. Gerrato
...use of the road for twenty years without objection. The evidence, as described above, supports these findings. See Webster v. Boscawen, 67 N.H. 111, 113, 29 A. 670 (1891) (recitals in ancient records and grants is competent evidence of laying out); State v. Atherton, 16 N.H. 203, 209–10 (18......