Scope and Content: In an effort to ease the financial distress in which it found itself immediately after the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts, through the work of various committees sold public land in the District of Maine through the Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands, the land agents from 1801, and through the Land Office from 1816. Such lands were often purchased with promissory notes. Land speculators sometimes defaulted and notes were then not fulfilled. The General Court passed numerous resolves over the years in an attempt to collect the amounts owed, or to have the lands revert back to the Commonwealth, or to allow more time for certain purchasers to meet their obligations. –With the creation of Maine as a separate state in 1820, the Massachusetts Commissioners Appointed under Act of Separation (until 1828) attempted to collect on unpaid purchases. Later,  the Land Office (usually personalized as the land agent) handled such claims.  Resolves 1847, c 40 directed the land agent to sell lands where notes due on them remained unpaid. St 1850, c 307 designated the state secretary, treasurer, and auditor as   commissioners to approve such sales.  Resolves 1859, c 52 empowered the land agent to resell lands forfeited for unpaid notes within seventeen months after passage of the resolve (i.e., Sept. 1860), and to execute and deliver deeds for such lands. St 1861, c 85 abolished the Land Office.
Notes: Papers were filed with the state treasurer as the primary fiscal agent for the Commonwealth. Extracted from: Massachusetts. Treasury Dept. Deeds for lands owned by the Commonwealth, 1817-1975 ((M-Ar)2468)
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