Land encroachment methods continue through the 1600s and 1700s. Historian Temple writes, "In the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, the General Court exercised the right to dispose of all the lands within her bounds. These grants were freely made... and in these grants, no respect was paid to Indian ownership or occupancy." The Framingham History Center notes that "By 1700, Nipmuc people no longer had ownership of any land that falls within the borders of modern Framingham. Although Natick remained a largely Native settlement into the 18th century, by the end of that century most Indigenous landowners had been forced to sell their land to white settlers." There are several documented examples of land being granted to English settlers as payment for their contributions to society. In other cases, tribes were devastated by plagues, and settlers took over their land.
- https://www.natickhistoricalsociety.org/algonquian-and-english-roots-of-natick
- Boston Globe Article
- https://www.ashlandhistsociety.com/Pages/magunco/ Temple, J.H. (1887) "History of Framingham, Massachusetts". Published by the Town of Framingham.
- Accessed via https://archive.org/details/historyofframing00templ/mode/2up https://exhibitions.framinghamhistory.org/home/watched-and-worried/reverberations/long-term/