myfourleggedstool
  • Home
  • About the Author
  • Blog
  • "The Immigrant"
    • Author's Interview
    • Published Reviews of The Immigrant
    • Resources for The Immigrant
    • 3 September 1650 Dunbar Scotland
    • November 1650 On the North Atlantic
    • Early Winter 1650 - 1651 Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony
    • 22 April 1676 Concord, Massachusetts
    • August 12, 1676 Miery Swamp Bristol, Rhode Island
  • "The Believers"
    • Published Reviews of The Believers In The Crucible Nauvoo
    • 29 June 1844 Nauvoo, Illinois
    • July 1844 Peterborough, New Hampshire
  • Other Timelines
    • 19 April 1775 Concord, Mass
    • 11 July 1863 The First Assault on Morris Island
    • January 2009 Acton, Massachusetts
    • September 2009 Sharon, New Hampshire
  • Alfred's Four Legged Stool
    • Eleven Generations of John Law Descendants
    • John Law of Acton, Massachusetts
    • Reuben Law of Acton, Massachusetts and Sharon, New Hampshire
    • Re-dedication of Woollacott Square, 26 May 2015
    • John Woollacott of Atherington, Devon, England, patriarch of the Fitchburg Woollacotts
    • The Woollacotts of North Devon
    • Early Woollacotts and Variations thereon
    • Élisabeth Isabelle Salé, Les Fille du Roi
  • Jill's four legged stool
    • Russell Clark Germond and two generations of Ancestors
    • Some Chandler's of Androscoggin and Oxford Counties, Maine
    • Thrice-related, only a genealogist could be impressed by it

John Law of Acton

Picture
John Law appears in West Concord circa 1655 tending sheep on a "new grant" of land, which  Concord received from the Commonwealth for public grazing. A Scottish man, John may have been a prisoner of war captured at either Dunbar (3 September 1650) or Worcester (3 September 1651). As the above road sign that bears his name shows, Acton was incorporated out of  Concord in 1735. John Law was the first settler in the area, and lacking a land grant, Concord residents most likely considered him a squatter.

He was opportunistic, settling near a brook for water and an added barrier from Concord Center. The brook now flows close to the Lawsbrook Road and School Street intersection in Acton. The scene shown to above may be similar to what John Law first saw in 1655, and in my imagination, the bridge and guard rails do not exist. Perhaps later, John lashed sturdy limbs together and set them upon rocks to cross from his wilderness to Concord Center. But given what little we know of him, I doubt he often traveled east. If you were a Scottish Immigrant living in a Puritan Theocracy, wouldn't you have been reclusive?

In Marion Houghton's article about him, she says, "we know he was stubborn, proud, and held himself aloof from outsiders, but he was brave, hardworking, and devoted to his family." He struggled with Concord officials to obtain title to his land for  forty years before achieving success. John Law of Acton, Massachusetts and Reuben Law of Acton, Massachusetts and Sharon, Hampshire were published in the MASSOG Spring and Summer 2011 editions, respectively. Here is a link to the John Law article  /uploads/1/9/2/5/19256439/law1_from_massogvol35no1spring2011.pdf

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.