Question: I am seeking the whereabouts of a location referred to in Dorchester, Massachusetts Vital Records for 1771 as "Townsend at the Eastward" where Zebadiah Williams, an ancestor of mine, died at age 24.
Answer: Townsend of the Eastward appears to be an extinct region. Townsend was “formerly an indefinite territory between Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers” according to the book by Stanley Bearce Atwood, The Length of Breadth of Maine. (Augusta, ME: Kennebec Print Shop, 1946), p. 255 [NEHGS Call # REF/F17/A8].