Part of Alna’s town line may be off a bit, according to an envelope full of papers selectmen reviewed June 15. The items, including a letter to the board and information dating back centuries, are from a Newcastle man.

John Hilton addressed the letter to Alna and Jefferson selectmen and Lincoln County commissioners. In it, Hilton states he’s done several years of research and field work into the town line and properties that once belonged to some of his ancestors, including the family’s first settler, Samuel Hilton.

In 1790, Samuel Hilton’s son Abraham Hilton bought part of his father’s 300-acre parcel to make a homestead for his family, the letter states. It later turned out that about 20 northerly acres of Abraham Hilton’s farm were in Jefferson. “This situation must not have been acceptable to him,” John Hilton writes. In 1816, Abraham Hilton successful petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to move the line between Newcastle and Jefferson, so the whole property would be in Alna, the letter continues. Six new monuments went up along the property’s edge after the governor of Massachusetts okayed the change, according to the letter.

“The complexity of this particular change in the town line and the subsequent misguided representation of it on current maps is the main reason for my authoring this Report to you,” John Hilton writes. He claims the local tax maps and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s geological maps are wrong.

Alna selectmen spent several minutes looking over the materials. Besides the letter, Hilton provided copies of deeds and tax maps; government and other information dating to the 1700s and 1800s; and photos of several monuments inscribed with A’s, N’s, and J’s for the three towns’ names.

Referring to one stone that bears an A and a J, Hilton’s letter states, “(It) is sitting and waiting to be recognized once and for all as part of the Alna/Jefferson Town Line.”

First Selectman David Abbott said he has offered to walk the section of the line off Egypt Road with Hilton. The board agreed to contact Jefferson and Newcastle selectmen to propose sharing the cost for a surveyor to look into Hilton’s claims.

“He’s done a ton of work. It’s an obligation on us and Newcastle and Jefferson” to try to verify it, Third Selectman Doug Baston said. He knew of no financial or other implications if any maps change, other than a small amount in property taxes possibly shifting Alna’s way, he said.

Hilton was not at the meeting. Reached by phone later, he declined comment until after he’s heard back from those he wrote to.

Also June 15, selectmen reported the cleanup they sought at 251 Golden Ridge Road, including a dumpster’s removal, is done and the town has received an email of thanks from neighbors Steve and Pat Chaney; and the board further honed the town’s pay rates for casual labor.

The hourly rate will be $13, except when light equipment such as a chipper or chainsaw is involved. That work will start at $15 an hour and have steps for years of service, capping at $16.50, selectmen said.