On this day, an astounding 686 deeds (master deed, unit deeds, mortgages, etc.) were recorded at the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds (although there do appear to be a lot of duplicate records).  Shame to waste all that paper and money on a transaction that will have to be undone.  If you want to have a look at the full list, go here and search for “Feoffees” in the Last Name field.  You might want to increase the number of records per page to make it easier to scan through.  The most interesting single deed is likely the Master Deed, so I include that below for easier reference.

Sale – 120809 – Master Deed

Although the Ipswich Chronicle seems to have lost interest in the story, there has been a lot of action on the sale of Little Neck over the last few weeks.  The new Feoffees, having been stripped by the Probate Court of the powers granted to them under the settlement agreement, have still been working tirelessly to be ready for the “post-sale” transition.  Their meetings have made it abundantly clear how – contrary to the opinion of many past and present School Committee members – the quality of the governance of the Trust matters.  Had these individuals (or others like them) been installed as Feoffees years ago, our community would not be on the brink of breaking the oldest charitable trust in the United States.

But that is hindsight.  The current reality is that condominium unit closings are happening in escrow on a daily basis, apparently at the rate of about 10 per day.  It is expected that on or about August 10th, the old Feoffees will be in position to record the master deed and then immediately thereafter record the unit deeds that are currently in escrow.  At that point, Little Neck will be legally “sold” and the new Feoffees will take over governance of the Trust.

Although the closing has been slightly delayed, the fact of it happening has been anticipated since March.  We have consistently said since then that in order to be successful, we are going to have to convince the Supreme Judicial Court to rescind title and unwind the transaction.  It was never going to be easy, but the “fact” of the sale will not make it any harder than we knew it would be before the historic Town Meeting vote.  We are convinced that the law is on our side.  We are committed to seeing it through until there is a ruling not simply on our “standing”, but on the law by which this Trust is being defaced.

This site is dedicated to making public as much information as possible about the attempt by the trustees (Feoffees) of the oldest charitable trust in the United States (the 1660 Grammar School Trust in Ipswich, Massachusetts) to sell Little Neck, the only remaining asset, in contravention of the will of its donor, William Payne.

Read, explore, ask questions and make up your own mind.  If you or someone you know can help us, let us know.  You can have updates sent to your email by clicking the “follow” button to the right.

"Knowledge is power." - Sir Francis Bacon
"Only the educated man entertains doubts, and doubt is the
beginning of wisdom." - Adlai Stevenson
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
"Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks"
- William Shakespeare