Analysis

Analysis: proprietary right, not residence (the 1659-1663 frontier pattern)

In 1659-1663 John Gurney repeatedly took up proprietary rights in newly-forming plantations - a Billerica house-lot and Dudley-Farm proprietor's share (1659), a Mendon allotment (1662), and an unlocated Quinapaug frontier interest (by 1663) - and relocated to none of them; the same pattern includes the 1651/2 Weymouth Second-Division great lot granted after he had left that town. The record distinguishes taking up a proprietary right in a new plantation from removing there to live: John's home stayed in the established Weymouth-then-Braintree corridor (his own Monatiquot freehold with house and orchard, sold 1661/2, and the leased Tyng farm he held as tenant). This is proprietary right held separately from residence, not an absence of settlement - John was himself a settler and landholder across several new towns.

Confidence: Moderate-high

Topic file location: Colonial frontier rights