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A SKETCH

THE ISTORY

NBWBURY, NEWBUBYPOftT, AND WEST NEWBURY,

BY JOSHUA COFFIN, A. B. S. }

I \J *.\ .

P U B 1 DRAKE,

No. 56 COESHILL. PRINTED BY GEORGE COOLIDGE, NO. 67 WASHINGTON STREET.

1845.

I'm- ftiffuA IJisinry ,,f .Vci,

A SKETCH

THE HISTORY

NEWBURY, NEWBURYPORT, AM) WEST NEWBURY,

FROM 1635 TO 1 845.

BY JOSHUA COFFIN, A. B. S. H. S.

' For out of the old fieldes, as men saithe, Cometh the new come from yere to yere, And out of old bookes in good fiuthe Cometh this new science that men lere.'

CAoucer.

Lives there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself nath said, T hu it my otcn, my native land?'

Scott.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL G. DRAKE,

No. 56 COF.XHILL. PRINTED BY GEORGE COOLIDGE, NO. 67 WASHINGTON STREET.

1845.

OLD-TOWN MEETING-HOUSE, 1700-1806.

PREFACE.

THOSE who are familiar with ancient mythology, will recollect the story of the f good Isis who went forth wandering and weeping to gather up the parts and fragments of her murdered and scattered Osiris, fondly yet vainly hoping that she might recover and recombine all the separate parts, and once more view her husband in all his former proportions and beauty.'* With equal assiduity, but with far less lamentation, has the compiler of 'the following pages been for many years engaged at intervals, in collecting the scattered fragments of t Quid Newberry.' and has arranged his imperfect materials in the form which they now exhibit to the reader. No one can be more sensible than himself, of its deficiences, its want of symmetry and proportion, which the reader may, if he chooses, attribute as much to the want of skill in the artist, as to the lack of

* Quarterly Register.

IV PREFACE.

the requisite materials. Throughout the whole of this compilation he has en- deavored to make a broad distinction between fact and tradition, and to relate nothing as fact, which he does not believe to be true. Strype in his annals says, ( I have chosen to set down things in the very words of the records and originals, and of the authors themselves, (rather than in my own, without framing and dressing them in more modern language,) whereby the sense is sure to remain entire as the writers meant it. whereas by affecting too curious- ly to change and model words and sentences, I have observed the sense itself to be often marred and disguised.7 This is the course that the compiler has taken. He has endeavored to give as accurate a representation as possible, of the character of the inhabitants of Newbury and their transactions, for over two hundred years, and has been desirous, in the language of Tacitus, i sine ira, sine studio/ without fear, favor, or affection, neither l to extenuate, nor aught set down in malice.' He is well aware that his statements in many places do not agree either with the tradition, or the belief, of many of the inhabitants of the town, or with history. Where he has been obliged to differ from com- mon opinion, he has done so for reasons, which to him appeared entirely satis- factory, and has been pleased to rind that the instances have been very few where fact and tradition do not substantially agree. It is however much to be lamented, that so small a number of the first settlers were in the habit of re- cording the transactions of the day, and that the journals or diaries of those who made a record, should have been in so many instances lost or destroyed. Mr. Anthony Somerby, the first school-master of Newbury, the ancestor of all of that name in this country, and one of our best and most useful citizens, kept a diary of passing events, as I have been informed by those who have seen it, but of which no trace can now be found. An aged lady, one of his descendants, informed me that he versified the whole book of Job. Numerous instances might be given where valuable papers in large quantities, have been destroyed, because they were 'so old that nobody could read them.' 4 All are not such,' and among the many persons, who have in various ways rendered valuable assistance in the compilation of this work, the author can- not forbear mentioning the names of Messrs. Robert Adams, reverend William S. Bartlet, Daniel Dole, Moses Davenport, George Danforth, doctor Ebenezer Hale, doctor E. G. Kelley, Tristram Little, Josiah Little, Moses Petti ngill, esquire, Horatio G. Somerby, of Boston, and Charles Toppan, of Philadelphia, to whom he tenders his warmest acknowledgments for the interest they have manifested in the work, and the aid they have afforded toward its completion, and to all others not mentioned by name, who have rendered any assistance. If, as is undoubtedly the case, he has made any mistakes, or omitted any necessary or valuable information, he will be greatly obliged to any person or persons, who will correct those mistakes, or supply those omissions, as it is his intention still to continue to collect information, in order that some future his- torian may be able to supply his deficiences, and at some future day may pre- pare a work, which will do justice to the reputation of i Ould Newberry.' The sources whence the compiler of the present history has derived his materials, are almost innumerable, and to specify them all, would require a small volume. The principal are the colonial, province, state, county, town, church, and parish records. The town records have been well kept, and with the exception of a few missing leaves of the first book, are full and accurate. The records of the

PREFACE. V

first church commence in 1674, the preceding transactions of the church, having been to all appearance intentionally destroyed ; a loss very much to be regret- ted, but which hafc in part been supplied by copious quotations from the county records. Some persons may suppose, that too many pages are occupied with the ecclesiastical affairs of the town. li, should be remembered that in no other way could the peculiar traits in the character of our ancestors be fully developed. It was the religious doctrines that they had embraced, and the consequent principles of religious and civil liberty, which they could not enjoy in their own land, that induced such a company of gentlemen, merchants, and mechanics, to emigrate from the populous and cultivated towns of their father land, to this then wilderness, and exchange, as many of them did, the sword, the awl, the needle, and the yard -stick, for the hoe, the axe, the anvil, and the plough ; and to omit a sufficient allusion to their religious principles and their actual development in practice, would be to narrate effects, and not notice the causes which produced them. No one can justly appreciate the character of our forefathers, and the sacrifices they made for their posterity, without a knowl- edge of those principles, which, like a main-spring, set every thing in motion. But enough has been said on this subject. Our attention for a few pages will be given to affairs more secular.

The town of Newbury was originally one of the largest towns in the county. It was about thirteen miles long, and about six miles broad in the widest place, and contained about thirty thousand acres, of which nearly two thousand are covered with water.

In 1764, it was divided into two towns, Newbury and Newburyport. In 1771, a province valuation was taken, and in 1781, a valuation was taken by the state, in which Newbury and Newburyport stood thus.

Newbrny. Newburyport.

750 875 Polls ratable.

10 7 " supported by the town.

75 51 " not supported by the town.

437 430 Dwelling houses.

36 60 Shops separate or adjoining other buildings.

26 38 Tan houses, slaughter houses, &c.

393 210 Barns.

14 45 All other buildings of £ 5 value and upward.

1450 113 1-2 Acres of tillage land.

2380 86 3-4 " of English and upland mowing.

10,802 113 1-2 " of pasturage.

192 7176 Tons of vessels, of 5 tons burthen and upward.

592 £ 74,131 Stock in trade.

341 146 Horses and mares, 3 years old and upward. 562 30 Oxen, 4 years old and upward. 1468 1741 Cows, 4 years old and upward. 645 160 Swine, 6 months old and upward. 318 5149 Ounces of silver plate. £ 57,726 £ 24,668 Debts due to any persons. £ 2825 Monies on hand.

Newburyport also in 1781. had ten distil and sugar houses, three jope walks,

VI PREFACE.

thirty-nine ware-houses, and eighty-seven thousand nine hundred superfi- cial feet of wharf. Newbury also had in 1781, sixteen grist, saw, fulling, and slitting mills, one thousand one hundred and six acres of fresh meadow, three thousand one hundred and sixty-seven acres of salt marsh, made one thousand four hundred and thirteen barrels of cider, had eight hundred and fifty-two acres of wood land, three hundred and three acres of unimproved land, and thirty-five acres of land unimprovable, had ten colts, two years old, fourteen colts one year old, three hundred and one neat cattle three years old, three hundred and ninety, two years old, three hundred and fifty-five, one year old, and two thousand three hundred and seventy-six sheep and goats. In 1819, West Newbury was set off and incorporated as a separate town. The state valuation for 1840, is as fol- lows :

Newbury. Newburyport. West Newbury.

859 1249 404 Ratable Polls 16 years old and upward.

182 304 32 Male polls not taxed nor supported by the town.

18 56 4 U u u supported by the town.

401 832 301 1-2 Dwelling houses.

6 1 — Rope walks.

3 1 Grist mills.

9 53 4 Shops within, or adjoining to dwelling houses.

74 103 79 other shops.

4 1 Tan houses.

238 4 Ware houses and stores.

6 1 — Rope walks.

4 — Cotton factories, 11.046 spindles, and 280 looms

in the same.

2 1 Woolen factories.

240 800 '— Spindles.

376 318 2195-12 Barns.

80 1-8 161 141 All other buildings and edifices of the value of

$20 and upward.

— 453,812 — Superficial feet of wharf.

2,397 1-2 13,456 Tons of vessels and small craft of 5 tons bur-

then and upward. 2,011 1-2 41 2496 1-2 Acres of English and upland mowing.

346 — 1084 1-2 Acres of fresh meadow.

6,947 3-4 88 1-2 4,084 1-2 Acres of pasturage. 888 1-4 — - 279 Acres of woodland. 201 1-2 — 190 Acres of unimproved land.

The three towns also raised in 1840, eight hundred and eleven bushels of wheat, one thousand two hundred and forty bushels of rye, six thousand and seventy-three bushels of oats, fifteen thousand six hundred and thirty-five bush- els of Indian corn, and three thousand one hundred and sixty-six bushels of barley. There were also in Newbury, three thousand eight hundred and twenty- five and one half acres of salt marsh, and two thousand eight hundred and sixty- five and one half tons of salt hay cut on the same. Newbury also had two carding machines, two fulling mills, and one and a half saw mills.

Since the first settlement of the town, that part of it now called Newburyport,

PREFACE. V

has witnessed great changes, not only in its business, but in its external appear- ance. In the printed programme of the procession, which honored general Washington with an escort in 1789, a conspicuous place was assigned to the 1 distillers,' whg were then a numerous body of men. At that time there were ten or twelve distilleries in the town, and six rope walks. Now there are but one of each, and manufacturing, a new and rapidly increasing business, is tak- ing the place of the West India trade, by which it once rose to great wealth.

In 1796, doctor D wight thus writes :

1 Newburyport is probably the smallest township in the state, including only six hundred and forty acres. It lies on the . southern shore of the Merrimac. The town is built on a declivity of unrivalled beauty. The slope is easy and ele- gant : the soil rich, the streets, except one near the water, clean and sweet ; and the verdure, wherever it is visible, exquisite. The streets are either paral- lel, or right angled, to the river ; the southern shore of which bends, here, to- wards the south east. None of them are regularly formed. Still there is so near an approximation to regularity as to awaken in the mind of a traveler, with peculiar strength a wish that the regularity had been perfect. For my- self I was not a little mortified to see so fair an opportunity of compassing this beauty on so exquisite a spot finally lost. As it is, however, there are few towns of equal beauty in this country. . . . The houses taken collectively, make a better appearance than those of any other town in New England. Many of them are particularly handsome. Their appendages also unusually neat. In- deed, an air of wealth, taste and elegance, is spread over this beautiful spot, to which I know no rival. . . . From the tower of the church belonging to the fifth Congregation, a noble prospect is presented to the spectator. On the west and south, spreads an extensive champaign country, ornamented with good farmers' houses, orchards, and cultivated fields, and varied by a number of beautiful hills. Behind them rise, remotely, two mountains, finely connect- ing 'the landscape with the sky. On the north flows the Merrimac, visible about four miles ; exhibiting two islands in its bosom, near the point, where it first appears ; and joining the ocean between two sand banks, on which are erected two movable Light houses. On the North shore stand the towns of Salisbury and Amesbury. Behind this the country rises gradually, parted into a variety of eminences ; one of them, which from its appropriation by the sav- ages, is called Powow hill, particularly handsome. Over all these ascends at the distance of twenty-five miles, the round summit of Agamenticus. North eastward, the Isles of Shoals appear at the distance of eight leagues, like a cloud in the horizon. Eastward the ocean spreads inimitably. At a small dis- tance from the shore. Plum Island, a wild and fantastical sand beach, is thrown up by the joint power of winds and waves into the thousand wanton figures of a snow drift. Immediately beneath is the town itself, which with its churches and beautiful houses, its harbor and shipping, appears as the proper centre of this circle of scenery, and leaves on the mind a cheerfulness and brilliancy, strongly resembling that, which accompanies a delightful morning in May.

1 Newbury contains five parishes, in which are five congregations and a so- ciety of Friends. It is all settled in plantations, formed especially along the Merrimac of excellent land under good cultivation. The surface is generally pleasant, and remarkably so on the borders of the river from some of the emi- nences.' These eminences, of which the doctor speaks, are principally in

Vlll PREFACE.

West Newbury, and are called Pipe-stave, Crane-neck, Archelaus. Old-town, and Indian hills. With the exception of the summit of Old-town hill, the land on all the swells in Newbury, is of the first quality. The Indian-hill farm, owned by colonel Benjamin Poore, is in a high state of cultivation, and received in 1843, the premium of two hundred dollars, from the committee of the agricultural society, who deemed it the best managed farm in the county. Newbury has also the honor of having the first incorporated academy in the state, the first toll-bridge, the first chain bridge, the first incorporated woolen factory; and the first vessel that displayed the American flag in the river Thames, was the Count De Grasse, commanded by captain Nicholas Johnson, of Newburyport. Many other interesting facts might be mentioned, for which I have no room. I will only add, for the information of the reader, that a brief sketch of the life of doctor John Clark, whose portrait is prefixed to this work, may be found in Thacher's Medical Biography. See also page 391. The wood cut of the first parish meeting-house, built in 1700, and demolished in 1806, is not an exact representation. It was drawn from the recollection of one person, by another, who never saw it. f The roof was originally constructed with four gable ends or projections, one on each side, each containing a large window, which gave light to the upper galleries, where the young people sat. The children sat on a seat in the alley, fixed to the outside of the pews. Before the pulpit and deacon's seat, was a large pew containing a table, where sat the chiefs of the fathers. The turret was in the centre, and the bell was rung and tolled in the centre of the broad aisle. Originally, the space within was open to the roof, where were many ornaments of an antique sculpture and wainscot, and was, in the day of it, a stately building, but long before it was torn down, a steeple was substituted for the turret, the dormar windows were removed, and the roof thus made plain,' # as it appears on the third page. The reader of the following pages, will make the following corrections. Page 244, < June seventeenth, 1774,' should be placed in 1775. On page 270, for 'captain Michael Smith,' read l captain Samuel E. Bailey.' On page 363, for * tattle,' read l cattle.' On page 285, add : reverend Daniel P. Pike, pastor.' Other errors the intelligent reader will undoubtedly notice, in the following sketch of Ould Newberry.

* Reverend doctor Popkin.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

1635.

1 OULD NEWBERRY,' as it was anciently called, was settled, incor- porated, and paid its first tax, in the spring of 1635. It derives its name from Newbury, a town in Berkshire, England, situated in the south part of the county, on the river Kennet, fifty-six miles west from London. It was so named in honor of the reverend Thomas Parker, who had for some time preached in Newbury, England, before his arrival in America. Till its incorporation in 1635 it was called by its Indian name, Quascacunqucn, a name, which the natives gave, riot to the whole territory, (as the word signifies a ' waterfall,') but to < the falls,' on what is now called the river Parker, on whose banks the first settlers fixed their habitations. As different dates have been assigned by different persons for the first settlement of the town, some placing it in 1633, others in 1634, and others in 1635, I will here mention all the facts and assertions I have been able to find on the subject, and the reasons which induce me to suppose, that, if any, no permanent settlement was here made till early in the spring of 1635. In the Newbury records, under the year 1752, I find the following entry, which, as far as I can learn, is the origin of all the assertions, any where to be found, that Newbury was settled in 1633.

1 For religion's sake, as I trust, our forefathers left their native shore; they bid adieu to their stately buildings and goodly seats, and many of them look a final farewell of their friends, and shipped themselves and families on board the ship Hector for New England, and by the grace of God, they arrived in this wilderness in the year 1633, and this place was then called by the natives Quascacunquen. Our fathers began with courage to clear, manure, and till the land ; the Lord was pleased to bless their industry, and the earth brought forth increase, and also the Lord added to their families and increased their number; and in the year 1635, on the third month, called May, the great and general assembly was pleased to incorporate them into a town, and invested them with town 'privileges, and called the name thereof Newbury; and our fathers be<?an the year of births and deaths, as by record do appear, on the first O

10 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

of March; and it hath been so continued, from time to time, until this day. nnd now, by an act of Parliament, we aiv ordered 1o Itcunr the' year on the iirst of January, and in humble obedience to the crovrn and dignity, I shall proceed accordingly; viz. January ye lirst, 1752.

JOSEPH COFFIN, Town Clerk.'

From the preceding statement, any person, without examination, would be induced to believe that ' our lathers,' the first settlers of Newbury, all came here in the year 1(333, in the ship Hector. That this was not the case, we have abundant proof. In the first place, the word, Hector, the name of the ship in which it is said they came, is not in the original record, but was inserted there by some subse- quent hand, and cannot be true, as we have abundant evidence that a large majority of the lirst settlers of Newbury, came to New Eng- land at different times and in different ships, between the last of April, 1634, and July, 1635, as we shall hereafter see. In the next place, we have no proof that the Hector came to New England till 1636, when Mr. Thomas Milward, who afterward settled in New- bury, came over as mate of that ship, as will be seen under that year. It is, however, possible, that the Hector came to New Eng- land in 1633, as, oat of eight ships that arrived in ' this wilderness ' in that year, the name of one only is not known. In the year 1634, twenty-two ships arrived in New England. Of these, we know the names of nearly all, but the name of the Hector is not among them. Those, therefore, who have supposed that their ancestors came to Newbury in 1633, in the Hector, must, in the absence of all proof, place no dependence on the apocryphal tradition, part of -which has been interpolated by some anonymous writer.

I now proceed to give my reasons for believing, that the territory which was afterward incorporated by the name of Newbury, was not settled till the spring of 163o. Possibly, there might have been a few interloping fishermen, who occupied a part of the coast, and the banks of the Merrimac and Quascacunqucn during the fishing season, but who were not among the permanent settlers of Newbury.

Governor Winthrop, in his invaluable History of New- England, vol. 1, pp. 98, 99, thus writes, under date of seventeenth of January, 1632-3.

i The governor, having intelligence from llie east, that the French had bought the Scottish plantation near cape Sable, and that the fort and all the ammunition were delivered to them, and that the cardinal, having the managing thereof, had sent some companies already, and preparation was made to send many more the next year, and clivers priests and Jesuits among them — called the assistants to Boston, and the ministers and captains, and some other chief men, to ad rise what was lit to be done for our safety, in regard the French were like to prove ill neighbours. (beinir papists :) at which meeting it was agreed that a plantation and a fort should forthwith be begun at Natascott, partly to be some block in an enemy's way, (though it would not bar his entrance.) and especially to pre- vent an enemy from taking that passage from us ; and also, that a plantation should be beo'un at Aira warn, (beinir the best place in the land for tillage and cattle,) least an enemy, finding it void, should possess and take it from us. The governor's. son, (bein^ one of the assistants.) was to undertake this, and to take no more out of the hay than t\vo!vo mm : the rest to be supplied at 1h.-« coming of the next ships.7

HISTORY OF XEWnURY. 11

Referring to this subject, governor Hutchinson remarks:

' Tt appears that the Massachusetts people took possession of the country at a very critical time. Ricliliri]. in all probability, would have planted his colony nearer the sun. if he could have found any place vacant. De Monts and com- pany had acquired a thorough knowledge of the coast from cape Sables beyond cape Cod in 1604; indeed, it does not appear that they went round or to the bottom of Massachusetts bav. Had they once gained footing there, they would have prevented the English.'* k

From these quotations it is evident, that it was the determination of the Massachusetts colony, to extend their settlements eastward as fast as possible, and, as it was of great importance that the first set- tlers especially should be men of the right stamp, in 1630, Septem- ber seventh, ' all persons were forbidden,' by the court, ' to plant within the limits of their patent without leave.' ' A warrant shall forthwith be sent to Agawam, to command those who are planted there, forthwith to come away/f Again, the court, April, 1633, ' ordered that no person whatsoever shall go to plant or inhabit at Agawam, [now Ipswich.] without leave from the court, except those that are already gone with Mr. John Winthrop, junior, namely, Mr. [William] Clerk, Robert Coles, Thomas Howlett, John Biggs, John Gage, Thomas Hardy, Mr. [John] Thorndike,' and three others, names not given, all of whom had removed to Agawam the preceding month.

In the course of the year 1G33, eight ships with passengers, arrived in New England." In 1034 twenty-two ships arrived, of which six arrived in May, fifteen in June, and one in November. These ships brought a large number of passengers, who soon found places to settle. In one of the ships, that arrived in May, came ' Mr. [Thomas] Parker, a minister, and a company with him, being about one hundred, [and] went to sit down at Agawam, and divers others of the new comers.' J

So great, in fact, was the influx of emigrants to New England, that in many places they could not be accommodated. i Those of Newtown, [now Cambridge,] complained of straitness for want of land, especially meadow, and desired leave of the court, Mav, 1634. to look out either for enlargement or removal, which was granted; whereupon they sent men to see Agawam and Merrimack, and gave out they would remove.' § They, however, went the next year, (October, 1633,) to Connecticut.

Hubbard, in his history of New England, page 192, states, that * the plantation at Agawam, was from the first year of its being raised to a township, [August, 1634,] so filled with inhabitants, tli at some of them presently swarmed out into another place a little farther eastward. Mr. Parker was at first called to Ipswich to join with Mr. Ward ; but he choosing rather to accompany some of his countrymen (who came out of Wiltshire in England,) to that new

* Hutthinson. vol. 1. page 30. "t General court record.

J Winthrop, vol. 1. page 133. § Winthrop, vol. 1. page 132.

12 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

place, than to be engaged with such as he had not been acquainted withal before, removed with them and settled at Newbury, which recess of theirs made room for others, that soon after supplied their places.'

Now, as it is well known that Messrs. Parker, Noyes, Woodbridge, and company, did not remove to Quascacunquen till May, 1635, the inquiry naturally arises why they did not remove to that place before, especially as Agawam was ' filled with inhabitants,' the situation of Quascacunquen being one of the best in the country, and the general court extremely anxious to extend their settlements as fast as possible. The answer to these questions may be found in Edward Winslow's ' Hypocrisie Unmasked ; whereunto is added a Brief Narration, (occasioned by certain aspersions,) of the true grounds or cause of the first planting of New England,' and so forth ; lately reprinted in the ' Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth,' by reverend Alexander Young, Boston. As no copy of the original work, which was printed in small quarto in 1646, was to be found in America, Mr. Young procured a transcript of the work from one in the British Museum. On pages 402, 3, and 4, of that extremely valuable and ably edited collection, I find the following :

f The next aspersion cast upon us, is, that we will not suffer any that differ from us never so little, to reside or cohabit with us ; no, not the presbyterian government, which differeth so little from us. To which I atiswer, our practice witnesseth the contrary. For 't is well known that Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyce, who are ministers of Jesus Christ at Newberry, are in that way and so known, so far as as a single congregation can be exercised in it ; yet never nad the least molestation or disturbance, and have and find as good respect from magis- trates and people, as other elders in the congregational or primitive way.7 1 So also 'tis well known that before these unhappy troubles arose in England and Scotland, there were divers gentlemen of Scotland that groaned under the heavy pressures of those times, wrote to know whether they might be freely suffered to exercise their presbyterial government amongst us; and it was answered affirmatively that they might. And they sending over a gentleman to take a view of some fit place, a river called Meromeclc, near Ipswich and Newberry aforesaid, was showed their agent, which he well liked, and where we have since four towns settled, and more may be for aught I know ; so that there they might have had a complete presbytery, and u-hither they intended to have come. But meeting with manifold crosses, being half seas through, they gave over their intendments ; and as I have heard, these were many of the gentlemen that first fell upon the late covenant in Scotland.'

Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, vol. 1, page 73, makes a similar statement, but neither he nor Winslow gives the date of the letter, or the time when the agent arrived. This deficiency is supplied, not only by Winthrop, but by the court records. The former, vol. 1, page 135, says, ' we received letters from a godly preacher, Mr. Levinston, a Scotchman in the north of Ireland, whereby he signi- fied that there were many good Christians in those parts resolved to come hither, if they might receive satisfaction concerning some questions and propositions, which they sent over.' This was in July, 1634. The court records for September state, vol. 1, p. 128,

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 13

'it is ordered, that the Scottishe and Irish gentlemen, who intends to come hither, shall have liberty to sett doun upon any place upp Merrimack river, not possessed by any.' From all these quotations it is evident, that the general court, in September, 1634, had granted to this expected company, through their agent, a township of land at the mouth of Merrimack river, and ; whither they intended to have come;' that, after receiving satisfactory answers to their 1 questions and propositions,' they embarked for New England, and, after performing about one half their voyage, * they gave over their intendments,' in consequence of the ' manifold crosses ' they met, and returned home. Now, when it is recollected, that ' the court had forbidden all persons to plant within the limite of their patent without leave,' and that the territory nowr called Newbury had actually been granted to a company of ' good Christians ' who had 1 resolved to come hither,' and that the settlers at Agawam, [Ipswich,] must have known these facts, the reason is obvious why they neither took possession of the territory, nor asked permission so to do. Neither is it at all probable that they had heard of the failure of the intended expedition till the next spring. The reasons for this opinion are these. Of the twenty-two ships, which arrived in New England during the year 1634, one only arrived after June, and that was the 1 Regard,' which came in November. This opinion is corroborated by the following extract from the Ipswich records, namely:

' December 29th, 1634. It is consented unto that John Perkins, junior, shall build a ware, [fish trap,] upon the river of QuasycuiiGf. [now river Parker.] and enjoy the profitts of it. but in case a plantation shall there settle, then he is to submit himself unto such conditions, as shall by them be imposed.'

This conditional grant certainly implies, that no settlement had then been commenced, and the probability, that a plantation in that place would soon be established, when their jurisdiction would of course cease. There are also other proofs. On the tombstone of Henry Sewall, now standing in the burying yard of the first parish in Newbury, is the following inscription.

1 Henry Sewall. sent by his father. Henry .Sewall, in the ship Elizabeth and Dorcas, arrived at Boston 1634, wintered at" Ipswich, helped begin this plantation 1635, furnishing English servants, neat cattle, and provisions. Married Mrs. Jane Dummer March 25, 1646. and died May 16. 1700. His fruitful vine, being thus disjoined, fell to the ground January following. Ps. 27 : 10.'

This inscription was undoubtedly written by his son, judge Samuel Sewall, in whose diary I find the following. ' Newbury was planted in 1634. My father has told me so, -who was one of the first inhabitants.' The reverend Samuel Danforth, 'a great antiquary,' in his almanac for 1647, states that ' Newbury was begun in 1634.' Captain Edward Johnson, in his ' Wonder-working Providence,' written in 1651, states, that ' Messrs. Parker and Noyes began to build the tenth church at a place called Newbesry in the latter end of the year 1634.' These apparent contradictions can be

14 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

easily reconciled, if we bear in mind the fact, that the year, with otif puritan forefathers, began on the twenty-fifth of March, and not on the first of January, as the custom now is. Not satisfied with renouncing all rites and ceremonies, not, in their opinion, clearly warranted by the bible, they attempted a reformation in the calendar by repudiating the names of the months, and of the days of the week, as of heathenish origin, and altogether unsuitable to be used by chris'.ians, for, in the language of Johnson, in his ' Wonder- working Providence,' ' the practice was designed of purpose to prevent, the heathenish and popish observation of days, months, and years, that they may be forgotten among the people of the Lord.' They also commenced their year in March, the twenty-fifth of that month being new year's day. In order, however, to accom- date all tho.se who did not desire this reformation, a double date was used between January first and March twenty-fifth. Thus twelfth mo. 1634-5, meant either February the twelfth month, 1634, or February the second month, 1635, according to the different opinions of the reader. ' The latter end' of 1634 might mean, and probably did mean, the time between January first, and March twenty-fifth, which would then be considered, as the beginning of 1635. From all these considerations, the probability, therefore, is, tli at. no settlement was made in Quascacunquen, before the year l()-3o, as it is not probable that the first settlers removed in the depth of winter, as the land was then, according to all accounts, covered with a thick and heavy growth of timber. Horses and .carts, as a means of conveyance, could not then be used, as nothing but a narrow and winding footpath led from Agawam to Quascacunquen. The most rational supposition, and one which accords with all the information we have on the subject, either traditional or recorded, is, that they, with Henry Sewall, 'wintered at Ipswich,' and made preparations for a removal in the spring. The first notice we have of their determination, is given by Winthrop, volume 1, page 160, in these, words : 'at this general court, [May, 1635,] some of the chief of Ipswich desired leave to remove to Quascacunquen, to begin a town there, which was granted them, and it was named Newberry/ In the colonial records, it is thus noticed.

1 Mai; 6th. 1 635. Quascacunquen is allowed by the court to be a plantation, and it is referred to Mr. [John] Humphrey. Mr. [John] Endicott, captain [Nathaniel] Turner, and captain [William] Tra'sk, or any three of them, to set out the bounds of Ipswich and Quascacunquen, or so much thereof as they can. and tli;1 name of the said plantation shall be changed, and shall hereafter be called Newbenry.

•' Further it is ordered, that it shall be in the power of the court to take order that the said plantation shall receive a sufficient company to make a competent to\vne.'

From the preceding quotations, it is apparent, that the first inhab- itants of 'Newberry' obtained 'leave of the general court' to reniove to Quascacunquen, settled there, and were incorporated as a township in the spring of 1635. If any persons, prior to that

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 15

period, had commenced a settlement within the territorial limits of 1 ould Newbcrry,' of which we have no positive proof, they must have been considered as intruders, or ' squatters,' or they supposed, as in the case of John Perkins, that the northern limit of Agawam was the river Merriraack. Indeed, we are told that when Agawam. was settled, in 1633, it was bounded on the north by the Merrimack, and on the West by Cochichawick, [now Andover.] The jurisdic- tion of Masconomo, the sagamore of Agawam, extended from Naumkcag river to the Merrimack. William Wood, in his ' New England Prospect,' thus speaks : ' Agawam is the best place but one, which is Merrimack, where is a river twenty leagues navigable. All along the river side is fresh marshes, in some places three leagues broad.' ' These two places may contain twice as many people as are yet in New England, there being as yet scarce any inhabitants in these two spacious places.' He was in America in 1633, and set sail for England on the fifteenth of August of that year. At that time we know of thirteen persons only, who were in Agawam, besides John Winthrop, junior, namely, the twelve who came with him, and ' Thomas Sellan,' who on 'June eleventh was admitted as an inhabitant.' There were probably fishermen in various places on the banks of the Quascacunquen and the Merri- mac, 'where,' says Wood, 'much [sturgeon] is taken, pickled, and sent to England, twelve, fourteen, eighteen feet long.' He, as it will be seen, is not remarkable for his accuracy, either respecting the navi- gation of the Merrimack, the width of the fresh marshes on its banks, or the length of the fish in its stream. We will there fore leave him and return to the first settlers of Newbury. Uniform tradition asserts that they came by water from Ipswich, through Plum island sound, and up the river Quascacunquen, [now river Parker,] to the place they had selected as their future habitation. Tradition asserts that they landed on the north bank of the river, about one hundred rods below the spot where the bridge now stands, and that Nicholas Noyes was the first person who leaped ashore. This company was few in number, and probably consisted of Mr. Henry Sewall and servants, William Moody, his wife and four sons, Anthony Short, Henry Short and wife, ]Mr. John Spencer, IMr. Nicholas Easton, his wife and son John, Richard Kent, senior, and Stephen Kent, brothers, with their wives, Richard Kent, junior, and James Kent, brothers, Mr. Thomas Parker, Mr. John Woodbridge, IMr. James Noyes, his wife, and brother Nicholas Noyes, Thomas Brown, Richard Brown, George Brown, Mr. James Browne and wife, Thomas Coleman, Franc-is Plumer and wife, with his two sons Joseph and Samuel, with a few others, whose names are not known with certainty. For a short time the business of the town was transacted in committee of the whole, but the population increasing rapidly, fifteen ships with passengers, having arrived in June, one in August, one in November, and one in December, bringing with them many families, who immediately settled in Newbury, ; the plantation' soon received ;a suliicien! company to

16 HISTORY OF NEWBUEY.

make a competent toune,' according to the order of the general court, which in the same month, May, 1635, ordered the same men, namely, Humphrey, Endicott, Turner, and Trask, to set out a farm for Mr. Dummer, about the falls of Newberry, not exceeding the quantity of five hundred acres, provided it be not prejudicial to Newberry.' At the same time ' liberty was granted to Mr. [Richard] Dummer and Mr. [John] Spencer, to build a mill and weire at the falls of Newberry, to enjoy the said mill and weire with such privi- leges of ground and timber as is expressed between them and the toune, to enjoy to them and their heires forever.'^ The court also ordered that ' no dwelling hous.e shall be built above a half mile from the meeting house in any new plantation, without leave from the court, except mills and farm houses of such as have their dwellings in toun.' ' John Humphrey, esquire, and captain Turner, were ordered to set out the bounds between Salem and Ipswich, and Ipswich and Newbury, before midsummer next, and also to view, and inform the next general court if there may not be another toune settled conveniently betwixt them, and it is agreed that the bounds of said tounes shall be six miles apiece into the country.' At the same court, [May, 1635,] 'it was ordered, that Mr. [Richard] Dummer, and Mr. Bartholomew, shall set out a convenient quan- tity of land within the bounds of Newberry, for the keeping of the sheep and cattle that came over in the Dutch shipps this yeare, and to belong to the owners of said cattle.' These 'owners' were Richard Saltonstall, Richard Dummer, Henry Sewall, and ' divers other ' gentlemen in England.' With the exception of the lands above mentioned, the first settlers of 'ould Newberry,' granted, surveyed, and settled the lands according to their own judgment. For a short time, a year or more, the business of the township was transacted in committee of the whole. Mr. John Woodbridge was chosen their first town clerk, and Richard Kent and Henry Short, lot layers. All their records pertaining to grants of land, are full and complete, having been very accurately copied into a new set of books, now called the ' Proprietors' Books,' which for many years have been kept separate from the town records. As there are a few leaves wanting in the first volume of the transactions of the town, the deficiency in that respect, must be supplied from other sources. In the records of the court at Salem, I find the following.

c I John Pike do testifie that I was present at the gathering of the church at Newbury, and I did hear our reverend pastor preach a sermon on the eighteenth of Matthew, seventeenth verse ; i And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church : but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican,' wherein he did hould forth that the power of discipline belonged to the whole church, yt the matter of the church ought to be visible saints joyned or gathered together, that the manner of their joyning together ought to be by covenant, yt the end of it is for the exercisinge and enjoyinge of the ordinances of Christ togeather. He strongly proved his doc- trine by many places of the scripture, both in the old and new testament. The

* Court records, page 152.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 17

\vhirh sermon togeather with the scriptures did much instruct and confirme us in that waye of church discipline which as I understood he then preached for namely, the congregational waye, some noates of the said sermon, which 1 then took from his mouth I have here ready to shew if you please. The ser- mon being ended the brethren joyned together by express covenant, and being joyned they chose their pastor, Mr. Parker, who accepted the call, and joyned with them" according to the covenant aforesaid ; and those that afterward joyned to the church, consented to the said covenant explicit. The brethren of the church acted in these admissions of ye members, expressing their voats therein by lifting up the hande, and soe continued together lovingly a considerable number of yeares untill other doctrine began to be preached amongst us.'

1 Per me JOHN PIKE.

c Sworne in court, 30 March, 1669.

/Robert Pike also testifies that the meeting was on the sabbath and in the open air under a tree.'

'At the same time that Mr. Parker was chosen pastor, Mr. James Noyes was chosen teacher.'

Similar testimonies were given by John Emery and Thomas Browne. The cause of these testimonies' being given, was a con- tention in the church, which was carried to the court at Ipswich, as will be seen under the years 1669, 1671, and 1672. They give us the place and the manner in which the church was formed, but not the time. It could not have been earlier than the month of June, as John Pike, Robert Pike, and John Emery, did not arrive in New England till that month. Tradition states that Mr. Parker preached his first sermon under the branches of a majestic oak, which stood on the north bank of the river, about one hundred yards below where the bridge now stands, and which, like the auditory it once shaded, has long since crumbled into dust. Under the same tree, probably, the church was gathered, and their spiritual guides set apart .by them for their appropriate work. A meeting-house was also built. That, tradition informs us, stood on the lower green, a few rods northwest from the spot where captain Enoch Plumer's house now stands. The first grave yard was near it, as appears by a petition to the general court in or about the year 1647.

A house for the ministers was built, a large number of house lots, planting lots, and meadow lots were granted. How many houses were erected and how many families were in Newbury during the first year, there is no record to inform us. Houses were erected on both sides of the river Parker, and on Kent's island, and as then meadow land was very valuable, and in fact almost essential to their very existence as a support for their cattle, many were built on the margin of the meadows, not only on the banks of the river Parker, then called i the Great river,' but also on the banks of the < Little river,' as far as Trotter's bridge, and in various other places, so that in a very short time the law prohibiting any person from erecting ' a dwelling house above half a mile from the meeting-house without leave of the court,' was entirely disregarded. The principal settle- ment was around the meeting-house on the lower green, and there was to be, as the first settlers supposed, the future commercial metropolis of Newberry. During this year sir Henry Vane and 3

18 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

reverend Hugh Peter arrived in Massachusetts, grand juries were established by law, the circulation of brass farthings was prohibited, and musket bullets were to be used instead. This year, August fif- teenth, i about midnight the wind came up at northeast, having blown hard at south and southwest the week before, and blew with such violence with abundance of rain that it blew down many hundreds of trees, overthrew some houses, drave ships from their anchors. In the same tempest a bark of Mr. Allerton's was cast away upon cape Ann, and twenty-one persons drowned. Among the rest, a Mr. Avery, a minister in Wiltshire, with his wife and six small children, was drowned.' ' This Mr. Avery,' says Cotton Mather, * went to. Neiuberry, intending there to settle, but being urged by magistrates and ministers to settle in Marblehead, he embarked with his own family, and his cousin Mr. Anthony Thacher's, all of whom were lost except Mr. Thacher and his wife.'

The ship angel ' Gabriel,' in which came passengers John Bailey, senior, and John Bailey, junior, who afterward settled in Newbury, was 4 lost at Pemaquid,' now Bristol, in Maine, and ' the Dartmouth ships cut all their masts at St. George.' ' The tide rose at Narra- ganset fourteen feet higher than ordinary and drowned eight Indians flying from their wigwams.' ^ ' The effects of this tempest, one of the most violent and destructive probably that the country has ever experienced, were visible,' says Morton in his Memorial, i many years.'

In September of this year the court assessed £200 on the towns in the colony. Of this rate Newberry paid £7 10s., Ipswich £14, Salem £16, Charlestown £15, Boston £25 10s., and so forth.

In the court records, under date of November, 1635, is the follow- ing, namely :

f Whereas Thomas Coleman hath covenanted with Richard Saltonstall and divers other gentleman in England and here for the keeping of certain horses, bulls and sheepe in a general stock for the space of three years, and now since his coming hither hath been exceedingly negligent in discharging the trust committed to him, absenting himselfe for a long time from the said cattle and neglecting to provide something for them, by reason whereof many of the said cattle are dead already and more damage likely to accrue to the said gentlemen : it is therefore ordered that it shall be lawful for the said gentlemen to divide the oates and hay provided for said cattell among themselves, and soe every one take care of their own during the winter.'

The tract of land, which was set apart as the place for pastur- ing these cattle, was near the falls of Newbury. Of this land, Mr. John Spencer had a mill lot of fifty acres, Mr. Richard Dummer three hundred acres, Mr. Henry Sewall five hundred acres, Mr. John Clark four hundred acres, ' beginning at the mouth of cart creek.' Of Mr. Henry Sewall we are told in the life f of his son, judge Samuel Sewall, « Mr. Cotton would have him settle in Boston, but he preferring an inland situation on account of his cattle, he re-

* Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 165, 166. t Quarterly Register, February, 1841.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 19

moved to Newberry.' How lars:e the number was who owned stock in the cattle community, and which was so soon dissolved by the negligence of shepherd Coleman, we have no means of knowing. All we know is that there were ' divers gentlemen,' not only here, but 'in England,' each of whom soon found that he could best take care of ' his owne cattle.' lu the division of the land throughout the town, the first settlers recognized the scripture rule, ' to him that hath shall be given,' and the wealth of each of the grantees, as well as others of the first settlers, can be very nearly estimated, by the number of acres of land, which were granted them.^ This was according to the rule agreed upon in London, in 1 629, by c the assist- ants of the company,' who settled Massachusetts. They gave to each adventurer two hundred acres for every d£50 he put into the common stock, and so in proportion. < Such adventurers as send over any person, were to have fifty acres for each person, whom they send.' Every person, who transported himself and family to New England at his own expense, should have fifty acres.

This year, second of September, ' Francis Plumer was licensed to keep an ordinary,' f that is, a tavern. •

Mary Brown, daughter of Thomas BrowTn, the first white child born in Newbury. was born this year. May thirteenth, 1656, she was married to Peter Godfrey, and, 'having had a good report as a maid, a wife and a widow,' she died April sixteenth, 1716, in her eighty- first year.

1636-

This year the general court enacted, that ( every particular town- ship should have power over its own affairs, and to settle mulcts upon any offender, upon any public order not exceeding twenty shillings," and liberty to chuse 'prudential men, not exceeding seven, to order the affaires of the towne.'

The town of Newbury, availing itself of this privilege, chose, l by papers,' the following men, namely : !NIr. Edward Woodman, Mr. John Woodbridge, Henry Short, Mr. Christopher Hussey, Richard Kent, Richard Brown, and Richard Knight. They were at first called by the name of ' the seven men,' then ' towne's men,' then ' towne's men select,' and finally ' select men,' as they are still called. They 'were chosen,' says the reverend Richard Brown, in his diary, 'from quarter to quarter by papers to discharge the business of the town, in taking in, or refusing any to come, into town, as also to dispose of lands and lots, to make' lawful orders, to impose fines on the breakers of orders, and also to levy and distrain them, and were fully impow- ered of themselves to do what the town had power for to do. The reason whereof was, the town judged it inconvenient and burden- some to be all called together on every occasion.'

About this time it is probable the town made some regulations

* See appendix, A. t Colonial records.

20 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

concerning the manner, in which their town meetings or meetings of the ' freemen ' should be held. As the town records are lost prior to the tenth of June, 1G37, and as the manner of proceeding in the neighboring towns was essentially the same, the following from the Salisbury records will supply the deficiency :

In the year 1640 the town ' ordered that in the first of every meeting there shall be a moderator chosen by the companie. He shall have power to interrupt and call to accompt any that shall exceed in speaking and in case of fayling herein he shall be fyned at the discretion of the companie, and in case the moderator shall refuse so to doe he shall for such offence pay two shillings ^tnd sixpence; Also that every freeman shall speak by turne, and not otherwise, and shall signifie when he is to speak by rising or putting off his hatt, and his speech being ended, shall signifie it by putting on his hatt or sitting downe, and in case he be interrupted by the moderator and shall refuse to cease shall forfeit for every such offence one shilling. Also that no person shall depart from meeting without leave on the like penalty/

In Hampton, New Hampshire, the regulations adopted in 1641 were somewhat different.

4 1. The moderator was to be chosen at the end of every meeting for the next succeeding one. 2. The moderator, if the elders were not present, was to open the meeting with prayer. 3. He was then to state some proposition or call on some one to do it. 4. When any person addressed the moderator he was to stand up or put off his hat, and no other person was to speak at the same time, or be talking of any other thing (when a matter is in agitation) within the meeting roome. The clerk was to call over the ' freemen ' and note the absent.'

Such substantially were the rules and regulations, adopted by the first settlers of Newbury in their town meetings, as will in part ap- pear hereafter.

This year ' another windmill was erected at Boston, and one at Charlestown ; and a watermill at Salem, and another at Ipswich, and another at Newbury.' ^

This mill, the first erected in Newbury, was built at ' the falls,' on the river Parker, by Messrs. Dummer and Spencer, in accordance with the grant from the general court, and an agreement with the town in 1635.

February eleventh, Newbury neck was leased to Richard Dummer for two years.

This year, the general court passed the following sumptuary law, to which, and other similar laws, allusion will be frequently made.

* No person after one month shall make or sell any bone lace or other lace to be worne on any garment upon pain of five shillings the yard for every yard so made or sold, or set on, provided that binding or small edging laces may be used on garments or linen.'

* Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 196.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 21

Joshua Woodman, son of Mr. Edward Woodman, was the first white male child born in Newbury. He died the thirtieth of May, 1703, in his sixty-seventh year.

This year, the third of March, the general court laid a tax of .£300 on Massachusetts, of which Newbury was to pay £11 5s., Salem £24, and Boston £37 10s., and 'ordered that courts in Essex county should be held quarterly, two in Salem, one in Ipswich to which Newbury shall belong.'

May twenty-fifth, ' Newbury men were fined sixpence apiece for choosing and sending a deputy to the court, who is no freeman.' ^ iNIilitary men were to be ranked in three regiments, of which one is to consist of Saugus, Salem, Ipswich, and Newbury. Mr. John Spencer was chosen captain for Newbury. Mr. Richard Dummer and Mr. John Spencer were chosen magistrates.

In the month of March, 16ai, ' Mr. [John] Endicott of Salem was called ' before the court ' to answer for defacing the cross in the ensign ; but, because the court could not agree about the thing, whether the ensigns should be laid by, in regard that many refused to follow them, the whole cause was deferred till the next general court ; and the commissioners for military affairs, gave order in the mean time, that all the ensigns should be laid aside.1 f

At the next court, Mr. Endicott was ordered to be ' sadly admon- ished ' for cutting the cross out of the king's colors, ' and to be disabled for one year from bearing any publick office.' He was instigated to do this by Roger Williams, who considered it as c a relique of antichristian superstition.' In 1635, each military company was to have colors, the cross to be left out. The objec- tion to the cross in the ensign, was, that it was idolatrous and sinful. It was deemed of so much consequence, that ' the ministers promised to take pains about it, and to write into England to have the judgments of the most wise and godly there.' In this state of feeling, Mr. ' Thomas Milward, mate of the ship Hector,' and who was afterward one of the proprietors of Newbury, ' spake to some of our people aboard his ship, [June, 1636,] that we had not the king's colours at our fort, we were ah1 traitors and rebels,' and so forth.J Such language could not, in the opinion of our fathers, be tolerated. He was accordingly sent for, the words proved against him, and he committed. He was discharged on signing the following submis- sion, which may be found in the colonial records, 1, 179.

' Whereas I, Thomas Millerd have given out most false and reproachful speeches against his majesty's loyal and faithful subjects dwelling in the Mas- sachusetts Bay in America, saying that they were all traitors and rebels and that I would affirm so much before the governor himselfe, which expressions I do confess (and so desire may be conceived) did proceed from the rashness and distemper of my own brain, without any just ground or cause, so to think or speak, for which my unworthy and sinful carriage being called in question, I do justly stand committed. My humble request thereforels, that upon this my full and ingenuous recantation oJ this my gross failing, it would please the governor

* See appendix. t Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 156. \ Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 187, 1S8.

22 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

and the rest of the assistants to accept of this my humble submission to pass by my fault7 and to dismiss me from farther trouble and this my free and voluntary confession I subscribe with my hand this ninth June 1636.

'THOMAS MILLERD.'

Shortly after this, Mr. Millerd moved to Newbury, and became one of the proprietors of the town. He is called in our records ( Mr. Thomas Mil ward, mariner.' This scruple concerning the use of the cross in the colors, continued many years, as we shall hereafter show. The whole country was agitated by the controversy, and in addition to this, the theological difficulties, and prosecutions growing out of the ' revelations ' of Mrs. Hutchinson, ' that master-piece of woman's wit,' as Johnson calls her, began to create a great excitement.

The Pequods, about this time, were beginning to be troublesome, and i cattle,' says Winthrop, ' were grown to high rates ; a good cow cost £25 or £30 ; a pair of bulls or oxen, £40. About thirty ploughs were used in Massachusetts this year, and much rye was sown.'

In November, the town ordered, that 'John Woodbridge should have £5 a year and be free from all rates and payments, while he is the towne register.' * The general court empowered Richard Dum- mer and John Spencer to build a house at Winnicowett at the ex- pence of the colony. The architect was Nicholas Easton who soon after removed to Newport and built the first English house there. The house at Winnicowett was called the Bound- House,' and was situated in what is now called Seabrook.^

1637.

In April, one hundred and sixty men, under the command of captain Stoughton, were raised to go against the Pequods. Of this number Newbury raised eight, Ipswich seventeen, Salem eighteen, Lynn sixteen, and Boston twenty-six. It will serve to give the reader some idea of the all-pervading influence of the theological discussions, which were then agitating the whole community, 1o inform him, on the authority of Neal, that, these very troops deemed it necessary to halt on their march to Connecticut, in order to decide the question, whether^ they were under a covenant of grace or a covenant of works, deeming it improper to advance till that momen- tous question was settled. These soldiers were to have twenty shillings per month, lieutenants £4, and captains £6. In May Mr. John Spencer was discharged from being captain. This was probably owing to his religious tenets, he being an adherent of Mrs. Hutchinson. ' Mr. Edward Woodman was chosen lieutenant, and Mr. John Woodbridge, surveyor of the armes at Newbury.' In the same month the election was held at Newtown, (now Cambridge,) in the open air. Then the law required all the 1 freemen ' from all the towns in the province, to meet at the general

* Belknap, vol. 1, p. 38.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 23

court of elections, and choose the magistrates, including the gover- nor and lieutenant governor. This practice continued till 1663. In order to prevent the re-election of sir Henry Vane as governor, and to strengthen the friends of governor Winthrop, Henry Sewall, junior, Nicholas Noyes, Robert Pike, Archelaus Woodman, Thomas Coleman, Thomas Smith, James Browne, John Cheney, Nicholas Holt, and John Bartlett, went from Newbury to Cambridge on foot, (forty miles.) qualified themselves to vote by taking the freeman's oath^ seventeenth of May, 1637, or, in other words, * were made freemen.' ^ Winthrop was chosen governor, and sir Henry Vane and the friends pf Mrs. Hutchinson were in a minority.

On the morning of May twenty-sixth, the fort of the Pequods was attacked with fire and sword, and their whole tribe, four or five hundred in number, extinguished, in that and the subsequent attack by captain Stoughton the latter end of June.

In August, a synod of ministers, messengers of churches, and magistrates, was held in Newtown, (Cambridge,) and condemned above eighty erroneous opinions. The general court then took up the business, and proceeded to disfranchise, or banish, or disarm, many of those who held these erroneous opinions. ' A great number,' says Hutchinson, 'removed out of the jurisdiction.' The court ordered about sLxty of the inhabitants of Boston to be disarmed, and several of other towns; among them were three belonging to Newbury, Mr. Richard Dummer, Air. John Spencer, and Mr. Nicholas Easton. Spencer returned to England, Easton went to Rhode Island, but Dummer remained in Newbury. In June, two ships arrived with passengers. With them came Mr. Hopkins, I\Ir. Eaton, and Mr. Davenport, and many others, of good note. • Great pains were taken to induce them to settle in Massa- chusetts. ' The court offered them any place they would pitch upon.' ' The town of Newbury offered to give up their settlement to them,' but they chose to remove to Connecticut, where they built New Haven, and so forth.

' It was ordained in a lawful meeting, November fifth, that whosoever is admitted into the towne of Newbury as an inhabi- tant thereof, shall have the consent and approbation of the body of freemen of sayd towne.' f

' The seven men, mentioned in 1636, were again chosen by papers,' were desired to serve 'for one quarter longer and shall labor in the case according to what the Lord shall direct to doe according to what is prescribed/ if

The preceding directions to the selectmen, remind me of the following extract, which may be found in Friend's records, in Rockingham county, New Hampshire.

'Hampton, 1707. This meeting not having unity with John Collins7 testi- mony desires him to be silent till the Lord speak by him to the satisfaction of the meeting.'

* Judge Sewall's diary. f Town record. J Town record.

24 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

In October, Richard Singleterry, William Palmer, John Moulton, Thomas Moulton, Nicholas Busbee, and Abraham Toppan, were admitted as inhabitants of Newbury. The following is a specimen of the form of admission.

( Abraham Toppan being licensed by John Endicott esqr. to live in this jurisdiction was received into the towne of Newberry as an inhabitant thereof and hath heere promised under his hand to be subject to any lawful order, that shall be made by the towne.' *

ABRAHAM TOPPAN.

In the same month, fourteen individuals were fined £4 155. l for defect of fences whenever they shall be called on.' ^

' In September, William Schooler, a vintner from London, was hanged in Boston for an alleged murder. He lived with another fellow at Merrimack, and there being a poor maid at Newbury, one Mary Sholy, who had desired a guide to go with her to her master, who dwelt at Pascataquack, he enquired her out and agreed for fifteen shillings to conduct her thither. But, two days after, he returned, and being asked why he returned so soon, he answered that he had carried her within two or three miles of the place, and then she would go no further. Being examined by the magistrates at Ipswich, and no proof found against him, he was let go. About half a year after, the body was found by an Indian ten miles short of the place he said he left her in. About a year after, he was again apprehended, examined, arraigned, and condemned,' f on circumstantial evidence.

In November, the church petitioned the general court for relief, who passed the following order, namely :

1 November 2rf, 1637. Whereas it appeareth unto this court that the inhabitants of the towne of Newbury owe divers persons neare the sum of £60, which hath been expended upon publick and needful occasions for the benefit of all such as do, or shall, inhabit there, as building of houses for their ministers &c. whereas such as are of the church there are not able to bear the whole charge and the rest of the inhabitants there do or may enjoy equal benefit thereof with them, yet they do refuse against all right and justice to contribute with them. It is therefore ordered that the freemen of the said towne or such of them as shall assemble for that end, or the greater number of them, shall raise the said sum of £60 by an equal or proportionable rate of every inhabitant there, having respect both to land or other personal estate, as well of such as are absent, as of those dwelling there present, and for default of payment shall have power to levy the same by distress and sale thereof by such persons as they shall appoint, and the same being so collected shall satisfy their said debts, and if any remain- der be, the same to be employed on other occasions by the towne.7 $

November. l The inhabitants of Newbury haveing been moved to leave their plantation, the court granted them Winnicowet, [now Hampton,] or any other plantation upon the Merrimack below the first falls, and to have six miles square, and those that are now inhabitants and shall remove within one yeare, shall have three yeares immunity, (as Concord hath,) the three yeares beginning the first of first month next, namely, March first, 1638.' f

* Town record. t Winthrop. | Colonial records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. J/ 25

1638.

January ISfh. c The lease of the neck of land to Mr. Dummer for two years being expired, the towne doth take it into their own hands and intendeth to dispose of it at their pleasure.' =fc

* It was ordered that Richard Knight, James Brown and Richard Kent shall gather up the first payment of the meetinghouse rate and the towne rate within one fourteenight on the penalty of six shillings and eight pence apiece.' ^

February 1st. ' John Emery shall make a sufficient pound for the use of the towne two rod and a halfe square by the last of the present month if he cann.' ^

' It is agreed that Mr. \Voodman shall have a house lott between Mr. Eastoii's and the river provided that if there shall be a fort built by the waters side hereafter that then his lott shall give way.'^

February 24th. ' It was voted, that Thomas Cromwell, Samuel Scullard, John Pike, Robert Pike, and Nicholas Holt, are fined two shillings and sixpence apiece for being absent from towne meeting at eight o' clock in the morning, having due and fitt warning.' *

' Having taken into serious consideration the weight of managing all publick affaires and being desirous that those whom God hath fitted and icho necessarily are called forth unto such publick services, may not be overburdened with expense of time and other charges, which necessarily attend such publick busynesses, but rather should be encouraged to the end that they may bear that burden, and faithfully discharge that service to which they are called, and considering likewise the practice of other townes and places in this government in putting their shoulders to help bear up and sustain this common worke, either in person or estate, or both, wee have therefore thought fitt to settle some way and course in this behalfe to the end that such publick busynesses may be carried on without murmuring by any, who shall be appointed thereunto, and have for the present thought fitt that those, who are sent for deputyes and grand jurors shall be allowed two shillings and sixpence, for foure dayes. in which they goe and returne, and twelve pence a day for every other day, which they necessarily attend towne's sen-ice, if the county find the charges of diett, otherwise more as shall be thought fitt upon due consideration.' ^

April 14th. i It is ordered that Richard Brown, the constable, shall cause a sufficient pound to be made by the twenty-first of this moneth to impound swyne and other cattell, in the place, that shall be shewed him and of that largeness which shall be thought fitt.'

April 19th. Two constables and two < surveyors of the high waves ' were chosen ' for one whole yeere.'

^This,' says \Vinthrop, * was a very hard winter. The snow lay half a yard deep about the Massachusetts from November fourth to

* Town records.

26 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

March twenty-third, and a yard deep beyond Merrirnack and so the more north, the deeper.'

April 2lst. ' Henry Short, John Cheney, Francis Plumer, Nicholas Noyse, and Nicholas Holt are fined two shillings and sixpence apiece for being absent from the towne meeting, having lawful warning, and so forth.' #

It was ordered that ' Nicholas Batt shall keep the herd of cows ' eight months from the sixteenth of March till the sixteenth of November for eighteen pounds, ' nine pounds in money ' and forty bushels of corne, ' provided he is to keep them one Lord's day, and the towne, two.' ^

May 5th. ' It is ordered that John Pike shall pay two shillings and sixpence for departing from the meeting without leave and contemptuously.' %•

William Morse was the keeper of the ' towne's heard of goates,' and, 4 as part of his wages,' he was to have three pence for every goate above a yeere old,' and Nicholas Batt was to have twenty-two pence for every cow or heifer either in money or corn at seven shillings the bushel.'

June 1st. ' Being this day assembled to treat or consult about the well ordering of the affairs of the towne, about one of the clocke in the afternoone, the sunn shining faire, it pleased God suddenly to raise a vehement earthquake coming with a shrill clap of thunder, issuing as is supposed out of the east, which shook the earth and the foundations of the house in a very violent manner to our great amazement and wonder, wherefore taking notice of so great and strange a hand of God's providence, we were desirous of leaving it on record to the view of after ages to the intent that all might take notice of Almighty God and feare his name.' f

June 19th. ' It is agreed that Richard Singleterry and William Allen shall have each of them four acres of planting ground 011 Deer island, provided the island be not [over? ] twelve acres.'

1 The court having left it to the liberty of particular townes to take order and provide according to their discretion for the bringing of armes to the meeting house, it is for the present thought fitt and ordered that the town being divided in four several equal parts, sayd part shall bring compleat armes according to the direction of those, whom the towne hath appointed to oversee the busynesse in order and manner as folio weth, namely, John Pike, Nicholas Holt, John Baker, and Edmund Greenleafe being appointed as overseers of the busynesse, are ordered to follow this course, namely. They shall give notice to the party of persons under their severall divisions to bring then: armes compleat one Sabbath day in a month and the lecture day following in order successively one after another and the

* Town records.

t Town records. ' It came,' says Winthrop, f with a noise like continued thunder, or the rattling of coaches in London. The noise and shakings continued about four minutes.' ' The course of it,' says Hutchinson, ' was from west to east. It shook the ships, threw down the tops of chimnies, and rattled the pewter from the shelves.' 'This was a very great earthquake and shook the whole country.'

O^r

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 27

persons afore mentioned shall cause every person under their severall divisions to stand sentinell at the doores all the time of the publick meeting every one after another either by himself in person or by a sufficient substitute to be allowed by the overseer of the ward. And further it is ordered that the sayd overseers shall diligently mark and observe any that shall be defective in this respect, having lawfull warning, and they together with the surveyour of the armes shall collect or distrain twelve pence for every default according as hath been thought fitt by order of the court in this case provided.' *

Trumbull, in his McFingal, thus alludes to this practice of the early settlers in Connecticut, as well as Massachusetts :

1 So once, for fear of Indian beating, Our grandsires bore their guns to meeting ; Each man equipped on Sunday morn With psalm book, shot, and powdei horn, And looked in form, as all must grant, Like th' ancient true church militant, Or fierce like modern deep divines, Who fight with quills like porcupines.'

July 6th. * Whereas there hath bin notice taken of much disorder in publick towne meeting by reason of divers speaking at one and the same time, some walking up and -downe, some absent, and divers other miscarriages, it is henceforth ordered that if any person shall offend against any order prescribed in this case, there shall |be exact notice of such offence in this respect, and hee shall be censured accordingly.' *

* Mr. Woodman, Mr. Rawson, Abraham Toppan and John Knight were chosen [selectmen] for one whole quarter and till new be chosen.'

4 There is granted to goodman Goffe some fresh marsh, where Richard Kent mowed hay on this side of Mr. Greenleaf 's farme,' and so forth.

August 6th. l Whereas it is agreed with Mr. Richard Dummer of Newbury by the persons, whose names are underwritten, hereunto subscribed that in case Mr. Dummer doe make his mill fitt to grynd corne and doe maintaine the same, as also doe keep a man to attend gryndirig of corne, then they for their part will send all the corne that they shall have ground and doe likewise promise that all the rest of the towne (if it'lye in their power to promise the same) shall also bring their come from tyme to tyme to be ground at the same mill. And it is further agreed that (the aforementioned conditions being observed by Mr. Dummer) there shall not any other mill be erected within the sayd towne.

EDWARD* WOODMAN.

JOHN KNIGHT.

EDWARD RAWSON.

RICHARD BROWN.

HENRY SHORT.'

To this the town agreed and assented, at a public meeting, October sixth, 1638.

* Town records.

28 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

August Wth. ' Thomas Hale and John Baker are appointed hay wards till the town shall appoint new.' ^

4 The towne hath appointed that a rate of twenty-six pounds shall be made speedily and gathered within one fourteenight for the finishing of the meeting house.' f

4 At a general towne meeting, twenty-eighth of September, 1638, it was granted that Mr. [doctor] Clarke in respect of his calling should be freed and exempted from all publick rates either for the county or the towne so long as he shall remayne with us and exercise his calling among us.' #

November 19th. A rate of twenty-six pounds was ordered to be made l for the officers,' [that is, ministers,] ' rating all lands as they are divided at ten pence or five pence the acre.' ^

4 It is ordered that Edward Rawson shall supply the place of Mr. Woodbridge and be the publick notary and register for the towne of Newbury and whilst he so remains, to be allowed by the towne after the rate of five pounds per annum for his paynes.' *

May Tilth. * Newbury was fined six shillings and eight pence for defects in the roads.' f

1 Anthony Emery was fined twenty shilings for a pound breach and to give thirteen shillings and fourpence to Thomas Coleman for his charges.'' f

c Newbury was fined five pounds for want of a pair of stocks, and time given till next court to make them.' f

' There came over this summer,' says Winthrop, ' twenty ships and at least three thousand persons, so as they were forced to look out new plantations. One was begun at Merrimack, and another at Winicowett,' [now Hampton.]

Mr. Edward Rawson, Mr. John Woodbridge, and Mr. Edward Woodman, were chosen commissioners for small causes in Newbury.

In a book printed in London, 1638, and entitled, ' a true relation of a battell fought in New England between the English and Pequot salvages/ I find the following sentence :

1 They that arrived out there this year [1638] out of divers parts of Old England, say they never saw such, a field of four hundred acres of all sorts of English grain as they saw at Wintertown there, yet that ground is not comparable to other parts of New England, as Salem, Ipswich, Newbury, and so forth.'

1639.

March 13th. l Plum Island is to remain in the court's power ; only for the present, Ipswich, Newbury and the new plantation [Rowley] between them may make use of it, till the court shall see cause otherwise to dispose of it.' J

In the spring of this year, Mr. Ezekiel Rogers, who had arrived in New England in December, 1638, with about twenty families from Yorkshire, having received an addition to his company of

* Town records. t Colonial records. J Colonial records, vol. 1, p. 205.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 29

about forty families, settled down on that tract of land, which was incorporated by the name of Rowley in the following September. This tract belonged partly to Ipswich and partly to Newbury, * and because some farms had been granted by Ipswich and Newbury, which would be prejudicial to their plantation, they bought out the owners, disbursing therein about eight hundred pounds.' *

The proprietors' records of Newbury give us the following account, the date not being recorded :

1 The towne being assembled together and being desirous to manifest theyr earnest desires and willingness to give due incouredgpnent unto the worthy gentilmen, who desire to set down between us and Ipswich as to part with such. a portion of land as cannot any way be expected from them, or they may without endangering their present necessityes afford. Hoping on good grounds it may fully answer their desires and expectations they have determined as followeth :

1 By the common and general suffrages of the body of freemen, none excepted, there was granted to the said gentilmen all the upland and meadow and marish between us and Ipswich incompassed by the line heer underwritten, namely :

1. That their line shall begin from the head of the great creek between the great river and Mr. Dummer's, running due west as we come to the great creek being the bounds of John Osgood's farm, which issues into Mr. Easton's river and above that creek all the lands southward of Mr. Easton's river, and from that river from the path leading to the falls to run a due west line into the country a mile and afterwards to run on a north west line so as it come not within half a mile of the side line of Mr. Dummers farm. Likewise it comes two miles distant of Merrimack. Provided that if after they have entered by buildings or otherwise on this part of land granted to them and leave off from going on with a plantation or a towne between us that then the grants abovesaid shall be void to all intents and purposes and to remaine the proprietyes and inheritances of the towne of Newbury in as ample a manner as before the grant hereof in all respects/ f

c Another plantation was begun upon the north side of the Merrimack called Salisbury, another at Winicowett, called Hampton.' J

The reverend Stephen Bachiler and his company, who had received permission from the general court, October, 1638, when united together by church covenant, commenced a settlement at "Winicowett. He was at this time residing in Newbury. On ]\Ir. Rawson's request, the place was called Hampton. The following persons, residents of Newbury, went with ]\Ir. Bachiler. John Berry, Thomas Coleman, Thomas Cromwell, James Davis, William Easton, William Fifield, Maurice Hobbs, Mr. Christopher Hussey, Thomas Jones, Thomas Marston, William Marston, Robert Marston, John Moulton, Thomas Moulton, Wrilliam Palmer, William Sargent, and Thomas Smith. Smith, however, soon returned to Newbury. A few went to Salisbury. Those who remained deemed it necessary to make some preparations for defence. They again contemplated building ' a fort by the water's side ' just below where Parker river bridge now stands. It was probably never built. The records say, c it is ordered and determined by the body of freemen

* Winthrop, vol. 1, 294. f Proprietors' records. J Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 289.

30 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

that there shall be a walk of sixteen feet broad on the topp of the great hill from one end to the other, and a way of four feet broad through Stephen Kent his lott.' This ' walk ' ran east and west, and the ' way ' north and south from the green to the top of the ' hill.' Near the centre of this walk the place is still pointed out, where, tradition informs us, ' a sentry box, or watch house, was erected.' It is highly probable, from appearances, that the tradition is ^correct. The position is a commanding one, and a far better place to ' stand sentinell,' than ' at the doores ' of the meeting house * all the time of the publick meeting.'

June. ' There was at this time,' "says Winthrop, ( a very great drouth all over the country, both east and west, there being little or no rain from the twenty-sixth of April to the tenth of June.'

In consequence of the complaints against excessive wearing of lace, and other superfluities, the general court, September, 1639, 1 ordered that hereafter no garment shall be made with short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arme may be discovered in the wearing thereof, and such as have garments already made with short sleeves shall not wear the same unless they cover the armes to the wrist with linnen or otherwise. And that hereafter no person whatsoever shall make any garment for weomen or any of the sex with sleeves more than half an ell wide (twenty-two and a half inches ! ) in the widest place thereof and so proportionable for bigger or smaller persons.'

The court also forbade the wearing of 'immoderate great breeches, knots of rybands, shoulder bands, rayles, rases, double ruffs and cuffes.'

1 Edmund Greenleaf was ordered to be ensign for Newbury and allowed to keep a house of entertainment.' ^

' Mr. was fined ten shilings and sixpence for selling strong

water without license.' ^

' John Bayley,' senior, of Salisbury, afterward of Newbury, ' was fined five pounds for buying lands of the Indians without leave of the court, with condition if he yield up the land to be remitted.' ^

4 Richard Bartlett petitioned the general court and was granted twenty pounds according to his petition.' ^

' Mr. Edward Rawson is allowed five hundred acres of land at Pecoit so as he go on with the business of powder, if the salt-petre come.' *

The people of Newbury having built a l ministry house,' a meeting house, which was soon used as a school house, had their ferry established at ' Carr's island,' and become an orderly community, began not only to lay out new roads, but, as they were rapidly ex- tending their settlement farther north, to take special care of the town's timber by prescribing a penalty of five shillings for every tree cut down on the town's land without permission. Nearly the whole of what is now called West Newbury, or that part above

* Colonial records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 31

Artichoke river, was called * the upper woods/ The common land in the southerly part of the town was divided into the 'ox common,' the ' cow common,' the ' calf common,' and so forth. The sheep and the goats, of which the inhabitants had many, each had their prescribed limits, each flock were under the charge of a keeper, and were obliged to be folded at night to protect them from the wolves. The town also received a valuable addition to its population in the persons of Anthony Somerby, their first schoolmaster, Henry Somerby, Mr. John, Mr. Richard, and Mr. Percival Lowle, who had been merchants of Bristol, Mr. William Gerrish, and Richard Dole of Bristol, who had also been engaged in mercantile transactions before coming to Massachusetts. Not far from this time, though the date cannot be fixed with certainty, captain John Cutting, 'ship master,' and Mr. Thomas Milward, ' mariner,' who in 1640 owned a ' shallop' and was engaged in the fisheries at cape Ann, came to Newbury. Mr. Richard Dole commenced business as a merchant near the ' river Parker,' and was always called ' marchant Dole.' The town granted lots of land which were called the 'fishermen's lots.' John Knight had a lot of land granted him on condition that he 'follow fishing.' To encourage the fisheries the general court enacted that all estates, employed in catching, making, or transporting fish, should be free from all duties and taxes, and forbade ' all men after the twentieth of the next month to employ any basse or cod-fish for manuring of ground, and shall forfeit for every hundred weight of fish so employed in manuring of ground, twenty shillings.'^ ' All ship-builders and fishermen during the season for business were excused from ah1 trainings.' f At that time it does not appear that the inhabitants of Newbury had ever sent any vessel over Newbury bar. Their commerce centred in 'the river Parker,' and came up by the way of Ipswich. ' Merrimack,' says Hubbard, ' is another gallant river, the entrance into which, though a mile over in breadth, is barred with shoals of sand, having two passages, that lead thereinto, at either end, of a sandy island, that lieth over against the mouth of sayde river. Near the mouth of that are two other lesser ones, about which are seated two considerable townes, the one called Newberry, the other Ipswich, either of which have fayre channels, wherein vessels of fifty or sixty tons may pass up safely to the doores of the inhabitants whose habitations ar>: pitched neere the banks on either side' $

The first vessels built in Newbury were undoubtedly erected on the banks of the ' river Parker,' and were designed for the fishery, and for the ' coasting trade.' At that time the channel of the river was much deeper than it now is, or vessels of fifty or sixty tons ' could not pass safely up to the doors of the inhabitants.' The river Parker was once celebrated for the abundance of the fish in its stream. ' There was,' says Hubbard, 'a noted plantation of them' [Indians] at the falls of the river of Newberry, by reason of the plenty of fish,

* Colonial records. i Hutchinson. J Hubbard, p. 17.

32 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

that ' at almost all seasons of the year used to be found both in winter and summer.' =& In the will of Richard Kent, who died in 1654, I find the following bequest. * Also I give the first salmon that is caught in my weir yearly to Mi*. Noyes, and the second to Mr. Rogers till my son be nineteen years of age,' and so forth. After that, his son might do as he saw good.

This year Anthony Somerby came to Newbury, and was em- ployed to teach school. It is thus noticed on the town records :

'There was granted unto Anthony Somerby in the year 1639 for his encour- agement to keepe schoole for one yeare foure akers of upland over the great river in the necke, also sixe akers of salt marsh next to Abraham Toppan's twenty akers.'

1640.

This year emigration to New England almost entirely ceased, in consequence of the political change in the affairs of England.

4 This sudden stop,' says Hutchinson, ' had a surprizing effect on the price of cattle.' Cows which had for some time sold for twenty- five or thirty pounds, could now be bought for five or six pounds each. The whole number of neat cattle in New England was estimated at twelve thousand, their sheep at three thousand. The number of passengers, who had arrived from the beginning of the colony in two hundred and ninety-eight ships, were estimated at twenty-one thousand and two hundred, about four thousand families, and if is probable, in the language of Hutchinson, that, since 1640, 4 more persons have removed out of New England to other parts of the world than have come from other parts to it.' The number of new settlers in this and subsequent years was small. Among them may be mentioned Robert Adams, Henry Jaques, George Little.

The great influx of provisions, the cessation of emigration, with various other causes, occasioned a scarcity of money, and of course a great abatement of the price of all commodities. As neither * money nor beaver,' says Winthrop, ; were to be had,' the court ordered that ' Indian corn at four shillings, rye at five shillings, and wheat at six shillings should pass in payment of all new debts.' ' Men could not pay their debts though they had enough.' i And he that three months before was worth one thousand pounds could not, if he should sell his whole estate, raise two hundred pounds.'

Notwithstanding the distresses of the times, Winthrop informs us that ' it was a common rule that most men walked by in all their commerce to buy as cheap as they could and sell as dear,' and complains of it as a * notorious evil.'

' Most men ' at the present day are probably liable to the same charge, ' notorious' as the ' evil' may be.

' Henry Sewall, senior, was bound over to his good behaviour in sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings, and fourpence, for contemptuous speeche and carriage to Mr. Saltonstall.' ^

* Colonial records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 33

4 Mr. John Woodbridge, presented for releasing a servant, is discharged by paying two shillings and sixpence.' ^

This summer Air. John Ward and some inhabitants of Newbury petitioned for a place of settlement.

In the court records is the following, namely :

4 At a general court held at Boston the thirteenth of the third month, 1(340, [thirteenth of May, 1640,] the desires of Mr. Ward and Newbury men, is committed to the governor, deputy governor and Mr. Winthrop sen. to consider of Pentucket and Cochichawick, and to grant it to them, provided they return answer within three weeks from Ihe twenty-first present and that they build there before the nextcourte.' The names of the < Newbury merT' who with Mr. Ward settled Pen- tucket, (now Haverhill,) are these. William \Yhite, Samuel Gile, James Davis, Henry Palmer, John Robinson, Christopher Hussey, John Williams, and Richard Littlehale, with four others.

The same month, in consequence of the great loss which governor Winthrop had suffered 'in his outward estate,' through the unfaith- fulness of his bailiff, 'the elders' agreed, 'that supply should be sent in from the several towns by a voluntary contribution.' * The whole came not to five hundred pounds whereof near half came from Boston, and one gentleman of Newbury, INIr. Richard Dummer, propounded for a supply in a more private way, and for example himself disbursed one hundred pounds.' f

4 This unexampled liberality to Winthrop in his distress,' says Mr. Savage, in a note, ' is a more satisfactory proof of the high esti- mation in which he stood than could be afforded by the most elab- orate eloquence of eulogy. But the generosity of Dummer is above all praise. His contribution is fifty per cent, above the whole tax of his town, and equal to half the benevolence of the whole jnetropolis ; yet he had been a sufferer under the mistaken views of Winthrop and other triumphant sound religionists.'

The state tax this year was £1200, of which Boston paid £179, Ipswich £120, and Newbury £65.

May, 1640. ' Mr. Edward Woodman, Mr. Christopher Batt, and John Cross are appointed (when the way is settled) to settle the ferry, if they think meet.' ^

July 3t/, 1640. The town of Salisbury granted to George Carr, shipwright, the island, which still bears his name.

1641.

This general court desired « the elders would make a catechism for the instruction of youth in the grounds of religion.' In compli- ance with this desire, Mr. James Noyes, of Newbury, composed ' a short catechism for tho use of the children there.' For a copy of the work, which was reprinted in 1714, see appendix, B.

k Mr. John Woodbridge, Mr. Edward Woodman, and Mr. Edward

* Colonial records. t Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 4.

5

34 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

Rawson, appointed commissioners for small causes in Newbury.' * * Mr. Rawson instead of Mr. John Oliver.'

1 At a court holden at Ipswich the twenty-eighth of month,

1641, George Carr is appointed to keep the ferry at Salisbury at the island where he now dwelleth for the space of two years provided that he find a sufficient horse boate and give diligent attendance. The ferriages are as follows, namely. For a man present pay two- pence, for a horse sixpence, great cattle pay sixpence, calves and yearlings pay two-pence, goates one penny, hoggs two-pence. If present pay be not made that hee must book any ferriage, then a penny apiece more. If any be forced to swim over their horses for want of a great boat, they shall pay nothing. Per curiam.' f

Johnson, in his ' Wonder-working Providence,' published in 1651, thus speaks : ' over against this towne [that is, Salisbury,] lyeth the towne of Newberry on the southern side of the river, a constant ferry being kept between, for although the river be about half a mile broad, yet by reason of an island, that lies in the midst thereof, it is the better passed in troublesome weather. The people of this towne have of late placed their dwellings so much distance the one from the other that they are likely to divide into two churches.'

The difficulty, as will be seen, was settled without a division. f* * This court,' (February second, 1641,) says Winthrop, i having found by experience that it would not avail by any law to redress the excessive rates of labourers' and workmen's wages and so forth (for being restrained, they would either remove to other places, where they might have more, or else being able to live by planting and other employments of their own, they would not be hired at all) it was therefore referred to the several towns to set down rates among themselves. This took better effect, so that in a voluntary way, by the counsel and persuasion of the elders, and example of some, who led the way, they were brought to more moderation than they could be by compulsion. But this did not last long.' J

If the town of Newbury at this time passed any laws regulating the wages of laborers, or the price of goods, the record is lost. To supply the deficiency we shall again quote from the Salisbury records.

1 April 5th, 1641. At a general meeting of the freemen it was ordered that the year shall be accompted thus : from the first of November to the last of the first month [March] shall be winter months and the seven other, summer months, and all labourers for the winter months shall have no more but sixteen pen'ce per day, and for the summer months twenty pence per day, and all carpenters shall have two-pence per day more than labourers, that is eighteen pence per day in winter, and twenty-two pence per day in summer.' l Also that mowers shall have no more but two shillings per day, and if they mow per the acre they shall not exceed two shillings per acre.

'Also that no man shall sell clabords of five foot in length for more than three shillings per hundred, and if shorter according to proportion, and if they cleave by the hundred they shall not exceed sixpence per hundred for five foot in length.

* Colonial records, f Court records, [i. t, county court.] \ Winthrop, vol, 2, p. 25.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 35

'Also that noe man shall sell ani sawn bord for more that five shillings per hundred, and for the sawing no more than three shillings and sixpence per hundred, and for slitt work no more than four shillings and sixpence per hundred.

* Also that butter shall nott be sould for above sixpence per pound.

1 Also that milk shall be sould for three half pence a quart, new milk, and one penny skimmed milk ale measure.'

From the above extracts it is evident, that what are now called clap-boards, were originally boards that were ' cloven,' and not ' sawn,' and were thence called ' clove-boards,' and in process of time cloboards, claboards, ' clap-boards.'

The Hampton records give us a similar tariff of prices with this addition. ' A cart, four oxen and a man five shillings for the winter months and six shillings and eight-pence for the summer months.'

Early this year, through the agency of Hugh Peter, ' a man of a very public spirit and singular activity on all occasions,' ^ a ship of three hundred tons was built at Salem, and soon after another at Boston of one hundred and sixty tons, called the Trial. All for- eign commodities at this time ' grew scarce, and our own of no price.' * Corn would buy nothing — and no man could pay his debts, and so forth. These straits set our people on work to provide fish, clapboards, plank, and to sow hemp and flax (which prospered very well) and to look out to the West Indies for a trade for cotton.' * * This year about three hundred thousand dry fish were sent to the market.' * The town of Rowley made laudable efforts to raise hemp and to some extent succeeded-

; These straits,' the settlement of Hampton, Salisbury, and Haver- hill, the establishment of a ferry at Carr's island, and the addition to the population of five or six wealthy men, who had been educated as merchants, all undoubtedly conspired to extend the limits of their settlement, and to make the centre of their village two or three miles farther north. This, however, was not effected without much difficulty, as we shall hereafter see.

The general court, determining that the whole of New Hamp- shire came under their jurisdiction, as a line to run east from three miles north of the head of Merrimack river would take in the whole of that state, passed a law accordingly, the ninth of October, 1641.

1642.

The winter of 1641-2 was unusually severe. ' All the bay was frozen over, so much and so long, as the like, by the Indians' rela- tion, had not been for forty years. It continued from the eighteenth of November to the twenty-first of February so as horses and carts went over in many places where ships have sailed.' f

4 February 23d, a generall towne meeting. By the generall con- sent of all the freemen the stinting of the commons was referred to Henry Short, Mr. [Edward] Woodman, Edward Rawson, Thomas

* Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 24, 31. t Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 60.

36 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

Hale and Mr. [John] Woodbridge, according to their best judg- ments and discretions.'

Accordingly, twelfth of March, 1642, they determined, that the several numbers or rights ' shall perpetually belong to the several persons to whom they are allotted and to no other persons whatso- ever, except he gett them by purchase or some other legal way,' and that 'all the commons within the limits of the towne shall be equally divided into three several parts and that the same number of cattle that are allowed in the stint of the cows and oxen shall be allowed in the heifer common and a third like quantity of young cattle above Mr. Rawson's farme.' The number of persons was ninety- one. One right was assigned to the ' towne house,' one ' to lye at the towne's appointment,' one to ' the ferry lott ' and three 'for them that shall be schoolmasters successively.' This ' stint ' allowed five hundred and sixty-three cattle in each of the three pastures, namely : the cow common, the ox common, and the heifer common. The highest number of ' rights ' was sixty-two and a quarter to R. Dummer, the lowest, Lewis and Mattox, one.

On March twenty-first ' the town also ordered that all commons and waste grounds above Mr. Rawson's farme and so to and above Mr. Dummer's farme to our line next Rowley line shall lie perpetu- ally common, according to the former order for common, the meadows only excepted within the verge.' ^

This tract of land, which was thus ' ordered to lie perpetually common,' comprehended not only a part of Newbury, but nearly the whole of what is now called West Newbury, now containing some of the best farms in the county, but then considered, with the exception of 'the meadows,' as 'waste grounds,' fit only for ' perpetual commons.' In 1686, six thousand acres, a tract more than nine times as large as the whole of the territory of Newbury port, situated above Artichoke river, in what was then called ' the upper woods,' was divided for the first time among the inhabitants. It was then called ' the upper commons.'

From the first settlement of the town till this year, the inhabitants had made the ' lower green,' on the banks of ' the great river,' as they called it, their central place of business. At this time, however, a majority of them had determined on a removal from the ' old town ' to the ' new town.' Their reasons for this removal will be given from the records in their own words, though it is probable that some pages are lost. It thus commences :

1 Whereas the towne of Newbury well weighing the streights they were in for want of plough ground, remoteness of the common, scarcity of fencing stujfe, and the like, did in the year 1642 grant a commission to Mr. Thomas Parker, Mr. James Noyes, Mr. John Woodbridge, Mr. Edward Rawson, Mr. John Cutting, Mr. John Lowle, Mr. Edward Woodman and Mr. John Clark, for removing, settleing and disppseing of the inhabitants to such place as might in their judgements best tend to theyr enlargements, exchanging theyr lands and making such orders as might bee in theyr judgments for the wrell ordering of

* Tristram Coffin's manuscript.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 37

the towne's occasions and as in their commission more largely appeareth, the said deputed men did order and appoint John Merrill, Richard 'Knight, Anthony Short, and John Emery to go to all the inhabitants of the towne, taking a true list of all the stock of each inhabitant and make a true valuation of ^all their houses, improved land, and fences that thereby a just rule might be made to proportion each inhabitant his portion of land about the ne\v towne? and removing of the inhabitants there.'

' It was ordered at a meeting of the eight deputed men abovementioned that each freeholder should have a house lott of foure akers. It \vas further ordered that in respect of the time for the inhabitants removeing from the place they now inhabit to that, which is layd out and appointed for their new habitations, each inhabitant shall have their house lotts foure years from the day of the date of this commission/

The day of the month is, however, not given. However great might be the difficulties they found in remaining together, still greater ones in some respects awaited their removal. As it has often been since, both here and elsewhere, the main object of their contention was their meeting-house. The minority, that remained, were unwilling to have the house removed, and the majority were equally unwilling to go without it, and when it was removed, where to place it was the difficulty, and it was not until four years after, and then not without great opposition, that a decision was finally made.

The first intimation that we have of a new place to set the meeting-house upon, is contained in the following grant :

4 There was granted unto Mr. James Noyes that four acres of land upon the hill by the little pine swamp, which was marked to sett the meeting house about the year 164*2.' #

This year it appears that the fishing business commenced on the Merrimack. On the twenty-sixth of March, 1642, the town of Salisbury ' granted to Robert* Ring two acres of upland upon the island f over against Watts' sellar J to be employed about fishing for two years.'

In the year 1671, ' Robert Ring testifies that he did build a cellar upon that land and a little house and did keep fishing there and did set up stages upon the salt marsh, being a little cove next the river and this was about twenty-nine years agoe.' 1671 — 29=1642.

The house of commons this year passed a resolve, exempting from custom, subsidy, or taxation, the exports and imports of New England.

In September the governor of Massachusetts received information from Connecticut, that * the Indians all over the country had combined themselves to cut off the English.' § It was therefore thought fitt to disarm all the Indians who were within our jurisdiction. A warrant was accordingly sent to Ipswich, Rowley, and Newbury, < to disarm Passaconaway, who lived by Merrimack.' ' The next day, being Lord's day, forty armed men were sent for that purpose, but

* Proprietors' records, p. 12. f Ring's island.

t ; Watt's cellar ' stood near where Newburyport market-house now stands.

§ Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 78, 87.

38 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

as it rained all day, they could not go to his wigwam, but went to his son's and took him which they had warrant for, and a squaw and her child, which they had not warrant for,' # wherefore fearing the consequences ' an order was sent to lieutenant Greenleaf, or in his absence to Mr. Woodman for sending home the Indian woman and child from Newbury and to send to Passaconaway for satisfaction.' f

On the fifteenth of November, Passaquo and Saggahew, with the consent of the above-mentioned Passaconaway, sold for £3 10s. ' to the inhabitants of Pen tucket,' now Haverhill, a tract of land fourteen miles long and six miles broad, 'with ye isleand and the river that ye isleand stands in,' and so forth. Among the witnesses to this deed was Tristram Coffyn, who this year came to New Eng- land, and went from Salisbury to Haverhill.

In September, ' nine bachelors commenced at Cambridge, young men of good hope.' ^ It was the first class that graduated at Harvard college. The students then took their degrees, and are ar- ranged in the catalogue, according to the rank of their parents. The first graduate was Benjamin Woodbridge of Newbury. See appen- .dix, C.

December 7th, 1642. ' The men deputed for the managing of those things that concerned the ordering of the new towne, declared and ordered according to the former intentions of the towne that the persons only abovementioned [ninety-one in all,] (see appendix, letter D,) are acknowledged to be freeholders by the towne and to have a proportionable right in all waste lands, commons and rivers undisposed and such as from, by or under them, or any of them or thcyr heyrs, have bought, granted or purchased from them or any of them theyr right and title thereunto and none else, provided also that no freeholder shall bring in any cattle of other men's or townes, on the towne's commons above or beyond theyr proportions other- wise than the freemen shall permit.' $

1643.

This year, the fifth of March, ' at seven in the morning, being the Lord's day, there was a great earthquake. It came with a rumbling noise like the former but through the Lord's mercy it did no harm.' §

March 2Sth. The town ( ordered that every house lott shall be foure acres ' and * that he that hath least land in the new towne shall have eight acres except John Swett, Thomas Silver and John Russe.' f

' For the confirmation of all men's proprietyes, and direction likewise for the exchanges in the new towne, itt is ordered that all the lands as they are entered into the towne's book shall be estab- lished and confirmed to the owners according as they are entered, unlesse that any man shall bring in just and right exception against any man's portion of land within fourteene days after this time to

* Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 78, 87. t Colonial records.

J Town records. § Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 93.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 39

Mr. Lowle, and if there come in none, then the owners thereof shall quietly and peaceably thenceforth enjoy the same and shall have lib- erty to buy or exchange the same or any part or parcels thereof as they please.' ^

'Corn,' says Winthrop, 'was very scarce all over the country and many families in most towns had none to eat by the end of April, but were forced to live of clams, muscles, dry fish, and so forth, but the merchants had great success in the sale of their pipe-staves and fish.' The Trial, of Boston, 'made a good voyage, which 'encour- aged the merchants and made wine, sugar and cotton very plentiful and cheap in the country.' f ' Our supplies from England failing much, men began to look about them, and fell to a manufacture of cotton, whereof we had store from Barbadoes, and of hemp and flax, wherein Rowley, to their great commendation, exceeded all other towns/ f

This year the thirty towns in the colony were divided into four counties, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Norfolk contained Salisbury, Haverhill, Exeter, Dover, and Portsmouth. Essex was as it now is with the exception of the first two towns.

This year also, May nineteenth, the colonies of Massachusetts, New- Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, adopted articles of confederation for their mutual advantage.

July 5th. * There arose a sudden gust at northwest so violent for an hour as it blew down multitudes of trees. It lifted up their meeting house at Newbury, the people being in it. It darkened the air with dust, yet through God's great mercy it did no hurt, but only killed one Indian with the fall of a tree. It was straight J be- tween Linne and Hampton.'§ This was a removal of their meeting- house which neither party anticipated. It was then standing on the lower green.

August 4th. ' There was an assembly at Cambridge of all the elders in the country (about fifty in all) such of the ruling elders, as would, were present also, none else. The principal occasion was because some of the elders went about to set up some things accord- ing to the presbytery as of Newbury and so forth. The assembly concluded against some parts of the presbyterial way and the Newbury ministers took time to consider the arguments,' and so forth.§ ' There was little rain this winter and no snow till the third of March, the wind continuing west and northwest near six weeks.' §

1644-

'Jamw.ry Wth. Remembering the severall inconveniencyes, multiplicity of suites and vexations arising from the insufficiency of fences, which to remedy in the old towne hath been so difficult, yett in our removal to the place appointed for the new towne may

* Town records. t Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 94, 95.

\ l Straight,' that is, : narrow in extent between Lynn and Hampton.' § Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 124, 136, 155.

40 HISTORY OF NEWBUHY.

easily be prevented. Itt is therefore ordered that all fences generall and particular at the first setting- up shall be made so sufficient as to keepe out all manner of swyne and other cattle great or small and at whose fence or part of fence any swyne or other cattle shall break thorough, the party owning the fence shall not only beare and suffer all the damages, but shall further pay for each rod' so insuffi- cient the somme of two shillings ' and so forth. ' It is likewise ordered that the owners of all such cattle as the towne shall declare to be unruly and excessively different from all other cattle shall pay all the damages their unruly cattle shall doe in breaking thorough fences.' ^

'•In consideration of Mr. Rawson's keeping the towne book it is ordered by us according to our power from the towne and courte granted to us, that he shall be freed and exempted from all towne rates for one whole yeare from the twenty-ninth of September last to the twenty-ninth of September next 1644.' ^

* January llth. Itt is hereby ordered and determined by the orderers of the towne affaires that the plan of the new towne is, and shall be laid out by the lott layers as the house lotts were determined by their choice, beginning from the farthermost house lott in the South streete [now called West India lane] thence running through the Pine swampe, thence up the High streete, numbering the lotts in the East street to John Bartlett's lott the twenty-ninth then through the west side of the High streete to Mr. Lowell's the twrenty -eighth and so to the end of that streete, then JMMMWfc the Field streete to Mr. Woodman's the forty-first, thence to the end of that streete to John Cheney's the fiftieth then turning to the first cross street to John Emery's the fifty-first thence comming up from the river side on the east side of the same streete to the other streete the west side to Daniel Pierce's the fifty-seventh and so to the river side on the side the streete to Mr. Clarke and others to Francis Plummer the sixty-sixth as heereinunder by names and figures appeare.' ^ Here follow, in the original record, the names of sixty-five men and three women. There is also one lot called ' the ferry lott,' and one to ' John Indian.' This is the first intimation we have on the records, that there were any of the aboriginal inhabitants residing in New- bury. His lot is numbered sixty-one. The numbers of the lots which they chose, are affixed to the names, except seventeen. The highest number given is sixty-six. The tract of land which was laid out as the 'new towne,' contained, probably, about seven hundred acres. The exact limits of the 'new towne' cannot be accurately ascertained, as the original plan is lost. It, however, extended farther north and south than the town of Newburyport now does, but not so far west, and east by the waters of the Merrimac.

On the same day they determined, that ' their lands shall be liable to maintaine all publick towne charges, as ministry and such like,

# Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 41

and that thereby they acknowledge their lands.' * They also annexed a penalty of two shillings and sixpence for every tree"' fit for timber or fence ' within certain prescribed limits, and ' that all trees already felled shall be under the like penalty,' and ' the trees shall lye and remayne on the ground, till the party be knowne to whom the land belongs that so paying for the labour he may have them to serve his occasions.1*

March. ' Upon the motion of the deputies ' to the general court, 1 it was ordered that the court should be divided in their consulta- tions, the magistrates by themselves, and the deputies by themselves, what the one agreed upon they should send to the other, and if both agreed, then to pass and so forth. This order determined the great contention about the negative voice.' f From this division origi- nated the phraseology, upper and lower house, in consequence of the deputies holding their sessions in the lower story, and the magistrates occupying the room over their heads. We still hear the phrases < sent up ' or * sent down, for concurrence,' when in fact both houses are on the same floor.

June 5th. i Two of our ministers' sons,' says Winthrop, 'being students in the college, robbed two dwelling houses in the night of some fifteen pounds. Being found out they were ordered by the governors of the college to be there whipped, which was performed by the president himself.' This was probably the first instance of the infliction of such a punishment within the walls of old Harvard. 4 The names of these offenders ' has escaped the notice of .Mr. Savage, whose information concerning the early history of New England, is as remarkable for its variety and extent as its accuracy. Their names were James Ward, son of Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, and **** Welde of Roxbury, son of reverend Thomas Welde. They robbed the houses of Joshua Hewes, and Joseph Welde, the one in March, the other in April, of eleven pounds in money, and thirty shillings worth of gunpowder.

April Wth. ' There was laid out unto John Emery junior, four- score akers of upland, bee it more or lesse joyneing unto Merri- macke river on the north and running from the mouth of Artichoke river unto a marked tree by a swampe on the northwest corner being about one hundred and thirty-two rods long at the head of the cove thence about an hundred rods to the southwest corner, thence running on a strait lyne about an hundred and fifty-six rods to Artichoke river on the east about eighty rods broad.' *

In this month, June, William Franklin, one of the first settlers of Newbury, and one of the ninety-one grantees in 1642, was hung in Boston, for murder. ' He had been found at the last court of assist- ants, guilty of murder, but some of the magistrates, doubting of the justice' of the case, he was preserved till the next [this] court of assistants. The case was this. He had taken to apprentice one

* Town records. t Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 160.

6

42 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

Nathaniel Sewell, one of those children sent over the last year' from England. ' He used him with continual rigor and unmerciful correction, and exposed him many times to much cold and wet in the winter season, and used divers acts of rigor towards him, as hanging him in the chimney and so forth and the boy being very poor and weak he tied him upon an horse and so brought him (sometimes sitting and sometimes hanging down) to Boston, being five miles off, to a magistrates, and by the way the boy calling much for water, would give him none, though he came close by it, so as the boy was near dead when he came to Boston, and died in a few hours after.' ^ The governor, magistrates, and elders, having met at Salem, May thirtieth, to consider this and several other cases, ' the magistrates seeming to be satisfied, warrant was signed by the governor a week after, which was not approved by some in regard of his reprieval to the next court of assistants.' * l He had been admitted into the church at Roxbury about a month before.' ^ The following order is transcribed from the Ipswich records :

May l\th. t It is ordered that all doggs for the space of three weeks after the publishing hereof shall have one legg tyed up, and if such a dogg shall break loose, and be found doing any harm, the owner of the dogg shall pay damages ; if a man refuse to tye up his dogg's legg, and hee bee found scrapeing up fish in a corne fielde the owner thereof shall pay twelve pence damages, beside whatever damage the dogg doth. But if any fish their house lotts and receive damage by doggs, the owners of those house lotts shall bear the damage themselves.'

In the Exeter records, I find the following, namely :

1 May 19th, 1644. It is agreed that all dogs shall be clog'd and side lined in ye day and tied up in the night and if any dogs shall be found trespassing in the lots, they that shall find them shall showt them.'

As in these days 'doggs' were very numerous, and fish almost everywhere were necessary as manure for the corn, similar regula- tions were undoubtedly made in Ne\vbury and other places, though the record of such penalties and the intimation of such a custom, if any were made, are now lost.

At the same meeting it was ordered, that for every wolf killed with hounds, ten shillings should be paid, ' and if with a trappe or otherwise five shillings ; provided they bring the heads to the meet- ing house and there nayle them up and give notis thereof to the constable, whom wee appoynt to write in his books due remembrance thereof for the clearing of his account to the towne.' f

In the Hampton records of the same year we find a declaration somewhat similar. ' It is hereby declared that every townsman, which shall kill a wolf and bring the head thereof and nayle the same to a little red oake tree at the northeast end of the meeting house, shall have ten shillings a wolfe for their paynes.'

As early as this year Water street was laid out. This street at

* Winthrop, vol. 2. pp. 184, 185. f Ipswich records.

HISTORY OF XEWBURY. 43

that time was between Thomas Mihvard's fish house, and dwelling- house, which stood near the foot of what is now called Federal street.

1 Tristram CofTyn is allowed to keep an ordinary, sell wine, and keep a ferry on Ncwbury side and George Carr on Salisbury side ' of Carr' s kland.

i The winter of 1644-5 was very mild, and no snow lay, so as ploughs might go most part of the winter, but on February sixteenth there fell so great a snow in "several days as the ways were unpas- sable for three wrecks, so as the court of assistants held not' ^ their usual session.

1645.

March 4th , 1645. ' There was granted by thetowTie of Newbury to Daniel Pierce twelve akers of upland which was formerly Mr. Woodman's, which the said Daniel Pierce requested, promising he would remaine with us in Newbury as long as hee liveth unlesse hee should return to Old England.' f

4 By an agreement each family in each colony gave one peck of corn or one shilling to Cambridge college.' J

March 5th. This day ' the elders of the churches throughout the united colonies met at Cambridge' to agree upon some answers Ho books written in defence of anabaptism and other errours and for liberty of conscience as a shelter for their toleration and so forth, others in maintenance of the Presbyterial government.' §

September 12th. i There was granted to William Ballard seven akcrs and a halfe of land and five rod in the great field beyond the new tpwne called by the name of divident land to enjoy to him and his heirs forever.' f

December IS///, 1645. GRIST MILL NUMBER TWO. A committee of seven men were appointed { at a publique meeting for to procure a water-mill || for to be built and set up in said towne [of Newbury] to grind theyr corne.' And they agreed to give John Emery and Sam- uel Scullard £20 in merchantable pay, to ' give them ten acres of upland and six acres of meadow ' and that the said mill is to be free from all rates for the first seven years and to be a freehold to them and their heirs forever, they on their part agreeing to sett up said mill between Nicholas Holt's point and Edward Woodman's bridge ready for the towne's use to grind the town's grists at or before the twenty-ninth of September, 1646. ||

December 22d. ' Thomas Colman having taken a farme so that he cannot attend to lay out lotts, John Pemberton was appointed lott layer in his roome" and to joyne with Richard Knight and to have fourpence per acre and what they are not paid for the towne is to see them satisfyed for, the legall means being first used to ob- tayne it.' f

* Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 210. t Town records. J Winlhrop, vol. 2, p. 216. $ Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 248. || Proprietors' records, vol. 1, p. G.

44 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

During this year the difficulty commenced between Mr. Parker and the church, concerning church government, and was not finally settled till 1672.

1646.

1 At a towne meeting of the eight men, January second, 1646.' 1 Wee, whose names are in the margent expressed,* for the settleing the disturbances that yett remayne about the planting and setling the meeting house that all men may cheerfully goe on to improve their lands at the new towne, doe determine that the meeting house shall be placed and sett up at or before, the twentieth of October next in, or upon, a knowle of upland by Abrahams Toppan's barne within a sixe or sixteen rodd of this side of the gate posts, that -are sett up in the high way by the said Abraham Toppan's barne.' f 1 Edward Rawson contradicente this order.7

This ' knowle of upland,' where the meeting-house stood after its removal, was on the northwest corner of the present burying ground in the first parish. The following petition to the general court, very clearly presents the views of those who were opposed to the removing of the meeting-house, and shows that ' Edward Rawson' was not the only one who ' contradicented this order.'

(To the right worshipfull, the ever honored court, the governor, deputy governor, witlTthe rest of the' assistants and deputies now assembled in Boston.7

1 The humble petition of us the inhabitants of Newbury.7

1 The true sense and feeling of the great distractions and sad grievances among us, which as far as we see) are likely dayly to increase upon to our farther smart, if not utter confusion rather than to amend, have caused us right worshipful with truly mournful hearts, after encountering with many difficulties and using the utmost of means yt we know, to bring our sad complaints to your ears, intreating you that while yet there is a little hope, which may possibly decrease dayly, and so the advantage be lost, you would shew a fatherly affec- tion to us and strike in to save us, if it may be from utter breaking. If you knew our hearts they would speak far more affectionately than our papers, and the sad sighs that are on us (when we consider with ourselves how many thousand miles we are come to enjoy ordinances, and the shadow of a godly government, and to bequeath so much, if we could to our little ones after us, that have adventured their lives with us, yet as things now stand we are likely to miscarry both of our aims) were you sensible of them, could not but move you to the very heart. It is very griefe to us to lay open our case in such man- ner as it is, lest we too much discover the shame that is amongst us, yet as there hath formerly been some smoke of this fire in some small occasions presented to this court, which hath vanished because the depth hath been not considered, the truth soundly evidenced, nor the just cause of our grief dis- covered, therefore we are inforced to set down things as they are, and though in some particulars some persons only have been active, yet it hath bin with the well wishes of many, whose eyes have been on them expecting and desiring their good issue. And we alone at this time appear in this complaint, yet the proceedings and carriage of some of their chief affaires are very distasteful to most of the town, though it may be on some other grounds, yet we doubt not but to say that more of us appear in this complaint than can be produced on the other side, a great many expecting what the issue will be, not able any way to help, and so not willing to displease, standing neuter. Trie foundation of all our troubles is a pretended commission, illegal in itselfe, and

* These names are James Noyes, Edward Woodman, John Cutting, John Lowle, Richard Knight, Henry Short, t Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 45

as illegally presented, faire pretences to draw menrs consent (nothing in the issue answered) at first urged some men in particular, privately drawn by over persuasions of fair speeches, and when all was done, so many never subscribed, whose estates were as much, if not more, than half the towne, without which we doubt not to affirme they had no commission to do any thing as they did. Professions and protestations were made against their proceedings in the begin- ning, the illegality and hurt of it often urged, other and far better waies of helping the towne's necessity, proposed. Yet they proceed and secretly winding in and intangling most men by some unadvised act or other of their owne seemed at last to be masters of their purpose. The main and very end of the said commission [is] in their own confession utterly impossible to be per- formed (whereupon we should think the commission voide) the promises and ingagements in the same, impossible to be made good and the very principles which themselves insisted on. without which they pretend no face or colour to do any thing by them in the execution, utterly subverted to the unjust oppres- sion of many. Besides private oppositions (not to speake of all the publicke) one notorious was this. An action was brought to ye court by some of us, and eleven of the jury (as was evident by the frequent verdicts not accepted brought in by them) were for us, and as far as we could discerne half the bench, though all were not present when sentence was given, so a special verdict being accepted the case went against us. though from ditferent grounds in the judges. Appeate was made from the sentence, and sufficient bond put in at the request of those, that managed these affaires, with faithful promise of referring it, and standing to the arbitration of those, that were chosen by us, we surceased to prosecute appeal, yet have often called upon them, also we found ourselves deluded with such a carriage, as our simplicity was not able to reach unto. It were too long and tedious to mention all the particulars, wherein their policy (their whole carriage has been full of it) hath wrought on our sim- plicity and so left us all at last in misery. To come to the last passages, which stir and set on the great [burden] of our sorrows. Discourse at last was had of taking down ye meeting-house. Those (as well as we can guesse) that paid two parts of three to the building of it, consented not. many strongly opposed it, yet the voices of many, that were then servants, and never paid penny to it, prevailed, down it is taken without any satisfaction given us, and besides what we are forced to pay toward it. The high way in part, that served both town and country and the very places assigned to bury the dead, and where many dead bodys lye are sold away (as wee are informed, though all things are secretly carried) to sett up againe, where both old and new towne judge it unmeete for both, but especially for us of the ould. The present and already seen inconveniences in respect of enjoying the ordinances, which we came so many miles to be partakers of, hath caused us oft to sigh in secret, and forcibly put us on thought to provide for ourselves, and not to betray the blood of our poor innocents, which cannot (or exceeding rarely) be partakers of the ordinary means of salvation, nor we ourselves, but uncomfortably, and with great dis- tractions, which they of the new towne can experience to us by that little they have already felt. Divers propositions wee have made. Att the beginning of these motions we promised the elders both of ym their maintenance (which must needs be to our great charge) if they would engage themselves to abide with us. We were rejected in this. Since we have made several propositions. The towne being continued and stretched out neare five miles, if not upwards, besides the inconveniences of a great river at the old towne, whereby it cannot be imagined that we, ould. feeble men, women and children of all sorts, can possibly many of ym goe above three miles to meeting, besides the necessary occasions in the winter time of attendance of cattell. which will require divers to be neerer. most men having small help but by themselves and ye two ends of ye towne being most populous, wee have therefore desired either first, that one of the elders might be resident with us, though the other be there, the church and maintenance still continuing one, and the same, or secondly that there might be two churches and one elder might be ours, or thirdly, if neither of the former might be obtained, then to let us be a church of ourselves, and let us have their helpe and furtherance to provide an elder for ourselves, all

46 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

which they know with Jutyful expressions and sufficient reasons we have rendered to the church in wilting, and wee know not what farther to think to propose, yett we can receive no answer of our desires, and wee suppose they cannot answer otherwise if they deny us these but that wee must live at home and turn igno- rant atheists wee and ours, or attend on the ordinances bee our conditions what [they] will with such extraordinary inconveniences, as are not to be borne which wee' hope that godly magistrates will not suffer, whose authority is for our good to see the townes and churches builded and not destroyed. Having thus showed our complaints, every particular charge whereof we stand to defend and maintaine, and least wee be overtedious we shall now in a word humbly tender to you the sum of our requests.' [Here the remainder of the sheet on which the petition was written is torn off, and all the names of the signers on the other side of the paper except four, lost with it. It concludes thus : ] l And wee profess and hereby engage ourselves to this honored court that if there should be thought any just cause of complaint against us that wee should have ye better in case these things are granted that wee shall bee ready at any time to be directed and take ye advice of others (in case wee cannot agree ourselves) to come to equal agreement and composition for the promoting of their prosperous estate suitable to our towne. whose good we desire, as well as our owne, whose prosperity we heartily wish, though (as we hope yourselves easily conceive) necessity forces us to seek your favour in our just petition. And wee the rather desire your speciall help in" this case because where our whole hope was that in case of extremity ye court might and would help us. Two or three, if not more of their chiefe stike not to say and speake more than by intimation that the court generall hath nothing to do with it nor cannot help us, which, if it were so our sorrows would be multiplied.

EDMUND GREENLEAFE.

DANIEL THURSTON.

STEPHEN KENT.

JOHN i>ooRE.;

Shortly after this petition was presented, three of the petitioners removed from Newbury. Mr. Greenleaf went to Boston. Stephen Kent moved to Haverhill, Mr. Henry Sewall, senior, moved to Rowley, that he might be near the meeting-house there.

April 8th. ' Mr. Henry Sewall, Mr. Woodman, Henry Lunt, and Archelaus Woodman, were fyned twelve pence apiece, and Steven Kent for their absence from the generall towne meeting, to be gathered within ten dayes. In case the constable bring it not by that time, Anthony Morse is appointed to distreyne on him for all the fynes.' %•

At a town meeting of the eight men, ' the time being too short to finish and perfectly record all the grants, which have bin made by the eight men, it is ordered that whatever Mr. Rawson shall record that himself or Richard Knight doth perfectly remember was granted to any inhabitant shall be by all, and is by all, hereby acknowledged to be authentick and legall as any other grant allready recorded, so it be done within these six months.' ^

c In the end of June we had a strong hand of God upon us. Upon a suddaine innumerable armies of caterpillars filled the country all over the English plantations, which devoured whole meadows of grasse, Indian corn, and barley. Wheat and rye not much. Much prayer was made about it and fasting and the Lord

* Town records.

HISTORY OF XEWBURY. 47

heard and took them away againe suddenly in all parts of the country to the wonderment of all men.'^

At a general town meeting, the tenth of December, 1646, the town being informed that Mr. Thomas Parker was unwilling to act any longer in any matters concerning the new town and that Mr. Cutting was going to sea, 'did make choyse of Nicholas Xoyes and William Titcomb to be added to the rest of the new towne men for six weeks.' t and so forth.

December 16///, 1646. ' At a meeting of the eight men. it is ordered that all those that do accept of any lands between the great river and Stephen Dummer's farme shall have it on this condition that they goe not to divide the church, or oppose the first order or agreement about the removeing of the towne.' f

' Granted to Aquilla Chase, anno 1646, four acres of land at the new towne for a house lott and six acres of upland for a planting lott where it is to be had, and six acres of marsh where it is to be had, also on condition that he do go to sea, and do service in the towne with a boat for foure years.' f

; The six acres of upland ' above granted were laid out to Aquilla Chase ' beyond the new towne.'

In what month of tjiis year these conditional grants were made to Aquilla Chase, or what was the precise service, which he was obligated to perform, the records do not inform us. He, however, removed from Hampton to Xewbury this year, and sometime prior to September, as we find in the county records the following presentment :

4 September, 1646. We present Aquilla Chase and wife, and David Wheeler for gathering pease on the Sabbath day.' For this offence the court orders them to be admonished and their fines remitted. For a more particular account of Aquilla Chase see appendix, E.

mber 1st. The assembly or synod met at Cambridge, and," having continued but about fourteen days, broke up, and was ad- journed to the eighth of June, 1647. t

' This winter [1646] was one of our mildest. No snow all winter Ion 2:. nor sharp weather. We never had a bad clay to go to the Indians.' §

1647.

1 KENT'S ISLAND.' This year, February seventh. • the men deputed to order the affaires and exchanges of the new towne,' granted to Richard Kent, junior, the island, which is still called Kent's island, and is still owned by his descendants. It is thus mentioned in the

* Roxbury church records.

t Town records. There is a tradition in the Chase family, that he was the first person, who ever brought a vessel over Newbury bar. He was probably a pilot, and fisherman.

t Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 270, 271.

\ Roxbury church records, written by the reverend John Elliot.

48 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

records. After noticing ' the tenn acres of upland, which the towne granted him on the island over the little river, and sixty four acres of marish,' it grants him l all the rest of the upland and marish on the island over the little river being one hundred and seventy acres or thereabouts, being formerly granted to particular persons.' The remainder of the island the said Richard Kent, junior, obtained either by purchase or exchange, either with the town or individuals, *' all which land in the island above mentioned being two hundred and fifty-eight acres or thereabouts to enjoy to him and his heires forever,' and so forth. %•

April 1st. i It was ordered that Mr. [Edward] Woodman should be moderator of this assembly and appointed to execute the former order, that so confusion be prevented.' ^

This is the first time that mention is made in the records, of a 4 moderator,' though such an officer had undoubtedly been chosen annually from the first settlement of the town. At the same meet- ing, the ' selectmen,' * one grand jury man,' a ' constable,' three ' way- wardens,' and a ' deputy ' to the general court, were chosen. This deputy was Mr. Edward Rawson, who this year was chosen secretary of state, in room of Mr. Increase Nowell. The next town clerk was Mr. John Lowle, who dying June twenty-ninth, 4 Anthony Somerby was chosen clerk of the writs at Newbury, and to record births, deaths and marriages in the place of John Lowle deceased.' f

In May, the following law was passed, namely : ' it is ordered that when any towne shall increase to the number of one hundred fam- ilies or householders they shall set up a grammar school and so forth. And if any town neglect the performance hereof above one year, it shall pay £5 per annum to the next such school till they shall perform such order.' f In May 1671 the fine was increased to £10, and in 1683 to £20.

May 18th. The town for £3 'granted to John Emery that parcell of land called the greene, about three akers, being more or lesse, bounded by the half acre lotts on the west, the hye way on the south east and his own land on the north, being in a triangle, only the twenty rods [is] reserved in said land for a burying place as it is bounded with stakes with a way to it from the east.' ^

This 'burying place ' still remains, and is situated east of old town hill, in land now owned by Mr. Paul Ilsley, and is still called the * Emery lot.'

This year, in the month of January or February, Mary Johnson was executed as a witch in Hartford, Connecticut. This was the first instance in New England.

May 10th. ' Upon examination it appeared that there was not enough corn in the whole country to last two months.' f

June 8th. The synod again assembled at Cambridge. In conse- quence, however, of an epidemical sickness, ' which went through the country among the Indians and English, French, and Dutch,

* Town records. t Colonial records.

HISTORY OF NEWBTJRY. 49

the synod were forced to break up of a sudden/ as { divers of the

members were taken with it.' ' Not a family, nor but few persons,

j ? -u- escaped. *

It was about this time, according to Winthrop, that <a trade was" opened with Barbadoes, and other West India islands,' by which our cattle, provisions, staves, and so forth, were exchanged for4 sugar, cotton, tobacco and indigo,' which ' were a good help to discharge our engagements with England.' =fc

Of this trade the inhabitants of Newbury soon began to avail themselves, as we shall hereafter see, so that, in the language of Samuel Danforth, in his almanac for 1648,

1 Heaps of wheat, pork, bisket. beef and beer, Masts, pipe-staves, fish should store both far and near, Which fetch in wines, cloth, sweets and good tobac- 0 be contented then, ye cannot lack.'

December 26^, 1647. « Tristram Coffin [senior] is allowed to keep an ordinary, and retayle wine, paying according to order, and also granted liberty to keep a ferry at Newbury side.' f This ferry crossed the Merrimac at Carr's island, George Carr keeping the Salisbury side, and Tristram Coffin, senior, the « Newbury side.'

1648.

April 27l/i. < At a general meeting of the freemen of the towne it was ordered that from henceforth from yeare to yeare the meeting for the choyse of towne officers shall be upon the first Monday in March- upon publick warneing.' J

i There was granted to Thomas Marvyn two akers of land lying near to the new pond on the back side of Mr. Nicholas Noyes his house lott at the new towne for encouragement to kill wolves, and that he shah1 endeavor to his utmost to catch them.' J

June. l At this court Margaret Jones of Charlestown was indicted and found guilty of witchcraft and hanged for it.' § This was the first case of that lamentable delusion in Massachusetts, which required the services of an executioner. , In Danforth's almanac for this year is the following note set against the fifteenth of June. i Alice Jones executed for witchcraft.' Alice should be Margaret.

July lo/A. ' The synod met at Cambridge by adjournment.' § 'This synod,' says .Air. Savage, in a note, 'erected the famous Cam- bridge platform,' which continued so many years, and which was in a great degree occasioned by the change of sentiment respecting church discipline, entertained by the ministers of Newbury, Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes.

c John Bartlett, constable, was fined forty shillings for not provid- ing measures, and Newbury, presented for want of a sufficient

* Winthrop, vol. 2, pp. 308, 309. 310. t Colonial records.

t Town rernrdp. § Wintbrop. vol. 2, p. 330.

50 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

pound,' and also presented ' for want of a convenient safe way for the new towiie to the ferry side.'

4 Lieutenant Edmund Greenleaf is allowed to keep an ordinary in Newbury.' f

4 It was ordered that Isaac Buswell and George Carr shall have power to call upon Newbury to lay out the country way as far as belongs unto them from the island to Mr. Clark's farme.' *

Clark's farm was near Thurlow's bridge, so called.

This year the ' court desired Mr. Edward Rawson and Mr. [Joseph] Hills to compose the amendments of the book of laws passed and make them as one ; one copy to remain in the hands of the commit- tee for the speedy committing them to the press, and the other to remain in the hands of the secretary sealed up till the next court.'

December. Thomas Smith, aged twelve years, fell into a pit on his way to school, and was drowned.'

1649.

1 At a generall towne meeting March sixth, 1649, Mr. Edward Rawson was appointed to serve deputy at the next courte of election for this towne and to stay and consumate the affayres of the country according to order for the year following.'

' At a meeting generall of the freemen the sixth of March 1649. * There was chosen Mr. William Gerrish, John Saunders, Daniel Pierce, Henry Shorte, Richard Knight, Robert Coker, William Titcomb, Archelaus Woodman, and John Merrill, to bee a commit- tee for the towne to view the passages into Plum island and to informe the courte by way of petition concerning the righte the towne hath to the sayd island and to have full power with Mr. Edward Rawson to draw forth a petition and present it to the next general courte.'

* Mr. Edward Rawson, Mr. John Spenser and Mr. Woodman was chosen by the towne to joyne with those men of Ipswich and Rowley, that was appointed to bee a committee about Plum island.' f

May \5th, 1649. The town of Newbury petition the general court to grant them the whole of Plum island. After declaring their confidence in the < Christian readiness of the court to uphold the meanest member of this jurisdiction from sinking under any pressure,' and so forth, and so forth, they go on to say :

{ The substance of our desires is that, if after you have heard and perused what we say, that in right Plum island belongs not to us7 yet out of your just favour, it may be granted to us to relieve our pinching necessities, without which we see no way to continue or subsist. Our feares were occasioned by a petition which was preferred to the last general court for it. Our apprehensions of our right to it are, first, because for three or four miles together there is no channel betwixt us and it. Second, because at low water we can go dry to it over many places, in most with, carts and horses, which we usually doe, being

* Salisbury records. t Colonial records. J Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 51

necessitated so to doe since our guift to Rowley on the court's request and promise that we should have any thing in the court's power to grant. Thirdly, because the court's order gives all lands to dead low water marke not exceed- ing one hundred rods, to towns, or persons, where any lands do so border. In many places Plum island is not ten rods, at no place one hundred rods from low water marke.

1 Fourth, because we only can improve it without damage to our neigbouring plantations, which none can doe without much damage to your petitioners, if not to the ruining of both the meadow and corne of your petitioners, and' so forth. The premises considered we hope (and doubt not) this honorable court will see just grounds to answer our request and confirme the island to our towne and we shall always as in duty we are bound pray, and so forth.

THOMAS PARKER. JAMES NOTES.

PERCIVAL LOWLE. WILLIAM GERRISH.

JOHN SPENCER. EDWARD WOODMAN.

JOHN SAUNDERS. HENRY SHORT.

RICHARD KENT in ye name of ye rest.7

In answer to this petition, the court, October seventeenth, 1649, granted two fifths of the island to Newbury, two fifths to Ipswich, and one fifth to Rowley.

March. c Anthony Morse was presented for digging a pit and not filling it up seasonably.' In this pit Thomas Smith was drowned.

This year, Pentucket, [now Bradford,] 'ordered that the fence between" us and Newbury shall be made sufficient with three rails on penalty of sixpence a rod fine for defect.'

On the' tenth of May, 1649, governor Endicott, deputy governor" Dudley, with seven of the assistants, bore the following testimony against the wearing of long hair. It is inserted as a curiosity.

1 Forasmuch as the wearing of long hair after the manner of ruffians and barbarous Indians, has begun to invade New England, contrary to the rule of God's word, which says it is a shame for a man to wear long hair, as also the commendable custom generally of all the godly of our nation, until within these few years.

• We the magistrates, who have subscribed this paper (for the shewing of our own innocency in this behalf) do declare and manifest our dislike and detesta- tion against the wearing of such long hair, as against a thing uncivil and unmanly, whereby men doe deforme themselves and offend sober and modest men, and doe corrupt good manners. We doe therefore earnestly entreat all the elders of this jurisdiction (as often as they shall see cause to manifest their zeal against it in their publike administrations) to take care that the members of their respective churches be not defiled therewith ; that so such as shall prove obstinate and will not refonne themselves, may have God and man to witness against them.'

In the Roxbury church records, and in the hand writing of the venerable John Elliott, I find the following. It is the seventh 1 proposition about apparel and fashions.'

' 7. Locks and long haire (now in England called rattle heads and opposite to Christians, who wear short haire all of a lengthe and therefore called round heads) is an offence to many godly Christians, and therefore be it known to such, they walk offensively.'

52 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

The first tanner in Newbury, of whom we have any account, was Mr. Nicholas Easton, who was afterward governor of Rhode Island. He is called by Winthrop, ' one Easton, a tanner.' The remains of an old tan-yard are still visible, on land once owned by him, and which some years after came into possession of Mr. Richard Dole, who, as we learn from his will, carried on, among his other occupations, the business of tanning. The site of the yard, which is still owned by his descendants, is a few rods north from Parker river bridge, and a few rods east from the main road leading to the bridge. John Bartlett was also a tanner. His place of business was a short distance from the banks of the Merrimac, near the road leading to Amesbury ferry. In what year he com- menced the business, it is impossible to say. Descendants of the same name are 'still engaged in the same business, on the same spot.

On the nineteenth of April, this year, the i freemen ' granted to Job Clements, from Haverhill, a freehold 'conditionally yt he live with us heere in Newbury exercising his trade four years or as long as he shall live within that tearme and also let the shoemakers of this towne have the first proffer or the forsaking of his leather, making him as good pay as others.' ^

This attempt to secure the services of Job Clement, as tanner, failed, he ' not performing the conditions above specifyed.'

September. Newbury was presented for want of a pound, and their constable presented for not providing weights and measures according to order of court, but afterward the fine was remitted, f

' Newbury was presented for want of a sufficient pound and is to pay forty shillings, unless it is completed by the first of May next.' f

The following curious sentence of the court, on a citizen of Ipswich, is found on the county records.

< Thomas Scott upon his presentment is fyned ten shillings unless he learn Mr. Norton's chatachise by next court.'

The records of the court do not state the nature of the offence, which induced the court to inflict the ' chatachise ' on the offending brother, or its value in money. It appears, however, that he chose rather to lose the money than to take the ' chatachise,' as the records of the 'next court' inform us, that ' Thomas Scott not appearing to make known that he hath learned Mr. Norton's chatachise his fyne is to be taken.'

In September, ' there was a general visitation by the small-pox.' f

1650.

The first notice we have, on the town records, of any Indians liv- ing in Newbury, is in January, 1644, where lot sixty-one in the new town is granted to ' John, Indian.' The next is in April sixteenth of this year, where the town, through their selectmen, William Ger-

* Town records. t County records. J Roxbury church records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 53

rish, Abraham Toppan, and Anthony Somerby, purchase a tract of land of ' Great Tom, Indian.' It commences thus :

1 Witness by these presents that I, Great Tom. Indian, for and in consideration of three pounds in hand paid by, and received of, the townsmen of Newbury, have given, granted, covenanted and fully bargained, and for and by these presents do give, grant, convey, confirme, bargain and sell all that my th*** acres of planting land as it is fenced in one entire fence in Newbury lying neere Indian hill with all my right, title and interest in all the woods, commons and lands that I have in the township of Newbury to have and to hold, and so forth, and so forth. In witness whereof I, the said Great Tom, Indian, have set to my hand and seale April sixteenth, 1650.

The mark * of GREAT TOM, INDIAN.'

November 20th. The town * granted to John Poore twenty-two acres of upland/ in consequence of l his being so remote from meeting and difficulty in coming over the ferry and for his satisfaction.'

September 7th._ Mr. John Spencer, nephew of Mr. John Spencer, deceased, sold to Henry Sewall, the mill lot, being fifty acres of upland and ten acres of meadow, for sixteen pounds sterling.

In this year, December nineteenth, ' the townsmen at a- meeting* voted to pay out of the ' towne rate one shilling for every dozen of black birds, two shillings for every dozen of wood-peckers' and jays' heads, and three shillings for every dozen of crowes, and so proportionable for any lesser number.'

'John Tillotson was presented for scandalous and reproachful speeches cast on the elders and others in a publick church meeting on a Lord's day.' %•

4 Henry Somerby was licensed to keep an ordinary instead of Mr. Greenleaf.' *

' John Perry of Newbury is ordered to sit in the stocks one house enxt lecture day for abusive carnage to his wife and child.' *

'John Tillotson on his many offences is fined twenty pounds, bound to his good behaviour, and fined twenty-seven pounds for killing a mare belonging to Mr. James Noyes.' *

In an old manuscript, once owned by the reverend James Noyes, and now by one of his descendants, Mr. Silas Noyes, is an account of the testimony taken in the case of John Tillotson, and some of 4 his many offences,' which induced the court to lay so heavy a fine on him. The evidence concludes by saying : ' at last he killed our elder's mare, great with foal, and a special good beast she was, provoked with her at ye instant, he killed her with a long pike, thrust through both her sides,' and so forth, and so forth, and ' the morning after this transaction he made a deed to convay all his estate away from himselfe offering it to goodman ^fc^^MMfc whereby our elder would have been wholly defrauded of his mare.'

* County records.

54 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

1651.

From Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, published this year, I make the following extract :

1 This town [Newbury] is situated about twelve miles from Ipswitch, neere upon the wide venting streams of Merrimack river, whose strong current is such that it hath forced its passage through the mighty rocks, which causeth some sudden falls and hinders shipping from having any accesse far into the land. This towne is stored with meadows and upland. Their houses are built very scattering, which hath caused some contention about removal of their place for sabbath assemblies. It consists of about seventy families. The soules in church fellowship are about an hundred. The teaching elders in this place have carried it very lovingly toward their people, permitting them to assist in admitting of persons into church society, and in church censures, to long as they act regidarly, but in case of maladministration they assume the power wholly to themselves.11

The preceding lines of Johnson very well express the principles of church discipline, held by Messrs. Parker and Noyes, and which occasioned the long and bitter controversy, which was not finally settled till a short time before the death of Mr. Parker in 1677. A majority of the church demanded as a right, what Messrs. Parker and Noyes, in the language of Johnson, ' lovingly permitted ' as a favor, and believing that the church in its corporate capacity had a right, and were therefore under a sacred obligation, to manage its own affairs, they contended most strenuously, and with untiring pertinacity, against their ' elders' assuming,' under any pretext, ' the power wholly to themselves.' Full proof of this will be hereafter exhibited.

In consequence of £ divers complaints, having been made from time to time of disorder in the meeting house,' and believing that i the abuses in the youth cannot be so easily reformed, unlesse every house-holder knows his seat in the meeting-house,' the selectmen, the twenty-fourth of January, 1651, ' hereby order that every house- holder both men and women shall sit in those seats, that are appointed for them during their lives, and not to presse into seats where they are full already.' They also declare that they ' have drawne a list of the names of the inhabitants and appointed them their places in the meeting-house and have set their names in each particular seat where they shall sit and the young men are appointed to sit in the four backer seats in the gallery and in the two lower seats at the west door.'

This was called ' seating the meeting-house,' and occasioned, as will be hereafter seen, much difficulty. At this time pews were not known. The foregoing extract was taken from the quarterly court files in Salem. It was a copy from the * towne booke,' which cannot now be found.

As a specimen of some of the cases tried at Salem court, I give the following testimony, * T junior of Newbury came

HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

to goodman Sanders' barne and with a great swingell did strikS William Richerson athurt the bake and so ran away.' *

The town granted to Richard Pettingell, fourteen acres of marsh, in consideration of his ' yielding up into the towne's hands a way 1 four rods wide through his land.' f That way is now Green street, formerly called Rolfe's lane.

March 5th. Henry Short, agent for Mr. Stephen Dummer, sold to Thomas Brown and George Little, his 'farm at the Birchen meadows containing three hundred acres for twenty-one pounds.'

October 14Z//. The court made another abortive attempt to regulate the fashions of the people, to prescribe what certain classes of persons should not wear, and what exceptions ought to be made to the general rule. They declare that 'intolerable excesse and bravery hath crept in upon us and especially among people of mean condition and their utter detestation and dislike that men of mean conditions and callings should take upon them the garb of gentle- men by wearing gold or silver lace, or buttons, or points at their knees, to walk in great boots, or women of the same ranke, to wear silk or tiffany hoods or scarfs, which though allowable to persons of greater estates, or more liberal education, they judge it intolerable in persons of such like condition.'

They then order, that, with the exception of ' magistrates or any publick officer of this jurisdiction, their wives and children, military officers or soldiers, or any other, whose education or employment have been above the ordinary degree, or whose estates have been considerable, though now decayed, or who were not worth two hundred pounds, no person should trangress this law under penalty of ten shillings.'

• 1652.

On the court records at Salem, I find the following :

1 This is to certify whom it may concern that we the subscribers being called upon to testify against [doctor]" William Snelling for words by him uttered, affirm that being in way of merry discourse, a health being drank to all friends, he answered

I '11 pledge my friends,

And for my foes,

A plague for their heels,

And a poxe for their toes.'

1 Since when he hath affirmed that he only intended the proverb used in the west country, nor do we believe he intended otherwise.'

WILLIAM THOMAS, THOMAS MILWARD.

' March 12, 1651-2. All which I acknowledge, and I am sorry I did not expresse my intent, or that I was so weak as to use so foolish a proverb.' *

GULIELMUS SNELLING.

So great, however, was the enormity of the doctor's offence, that neither explanation, nor apology, was of any avail, as the record

* County records. t Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

5rms us that c William Snelling in his presentment for cursing is fined ten shillings and the fees of court.' ^

After this specimen of their abhorrence of profanity, we have a right to presume that doctor Snelling was especially careful of what he said concerning his neighbors' heels or toes.

This year a mint was established at Boston, for coining shillings, sixpences, and threepences. The pieces at first, had N. E. on one side, and XII. VI. or III. on the other. It was afterward ordered, that all pieces should have a double ring, with the word MASSA- CHUSETTS, and a tree in the centre, on one side, and NEW ENGLAND and 1652 on the other. The same date was continued for thirty years after. * The mint master was John Hall, who raised a large fortune from it,' his perquisites being fifteen pence for every twenty shillings coined. Judge Samuel Sewall married his only daughter, and, it is said, received with her thirty thousand pounds in New England shillings.

This year, Hugh Parsons, of Springfield, was tried for witchcraft, but the jury and the magistrates not agreeing, the general court acquitted him.f

This year a prison was built in Ipswich, being the second in the Massachusetts colony.

< Stephen Kent formerly of Newbury was fined ten pounds for suffering five Indians to be drunk in his house in Haverhill and one wounded, shall pay the fine and satisfy for the cure of the wounded Indian.'

We present ' Elizabeth Randall of Nuberrie for useing reproach- ful language unto goody Silver base lieing divell, base lieing tode, base lying sow, base lying iade.' ^

In December, ( there appeared a comet in Orion, which continued its course toward the zenith for the space of a fortnight till [the rever- end] Mr. Cotton died? $

It is thus mentioned in the records of the first church in Boston : 4 December ninth, a large star with a long blaze appeared. It grew less and less till the twenty-second, when it disappeared.' The reverend John Cotton died the twenty-third of December.

November 29th, 1652. < There was voted by the major part of the towne that there should be a convenient house built for a schoole.'

' There was also voted that there should be twenty pounds a yeare allowed for to maintaine a school master out of the towne rate.

< There was also voted that Mr. Woodman, Richard Kent, junior, lieutenant Pike and Nicholas Noyes should be a committee for the managing the business of the schoole.' §

These votes, with the exception of the grant of ten acres of land to Anthony Somerby in 1639, ' for his encouragement to keep

* County records. t Hutchinson.

4 Roxbury church records. § Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 57

schoole for one year,' contain the first notice on record of the town's intention to build a school-house and to support a master at their expense. This was, doubtless, in obedience to the law passed by the state in May, 1647, as may be seen in Ancient Charters, page 186, though a school had for many years been taught in the meeting house.

The following extract from the first section of the act of May, 1647, is worthy of perpetual remembrance, and is therefore herp inserted.

1 It being one chief project of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the scripture, as in former times keeping them in unknown tongues, so in these latter times persuading from the use of tongues, so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers ; to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth the Lord assisting our endeavours, it is therefore ordered,' and so forth.

1653.

4 At a general meeting of the towne, the fourteenth of May, 1653, there was ordered that the towne should by an equal proportion according to men's estate by way of rate pay twenty-four pounds by the yeare to maintaine a free schoole to be kept at the meeting house, and the master is to leach all such inhabitants' children, as shall be sent to him so soon as they know their letters and begin to read.' *

Against the establishment of such a school, seventeen persons < desired to have their dissents recorded,' all of whom, it appears, resided so far from the meeting-house that their children could not conveniently attend the school. They were therefore unwilling to be taxed to support an institution, which, however advantageous to the whole town, was not directly beneficial to them.

September. * Tristram Coffyn's wife Dionis was presented for selling beer,' at his ordinary in Newbury, * for three pence a quart.' Having proved ' upon the testimony of Samuel Moores, that she put six bushels of malt into the hogshead she was discharged.' f

The law, which she was supposed to have violated, was passed in 1645, and is as follows, namely :

1 Every person licensed to keep an ordinary, shall always be pro- vided with good wholesome beer of four bushels of malt to the hogshead, which he shall not sell above two pence the ale quart on penalty of forty shillings the first offence and for the second offence shall lo<se his license.'

Goodwife Coffyn probably reasoned thus :

4 As four is to two, so is six to three. I '11 have better beer than my neighbours and be paid for it. A fig for the law.'

Other presentments for violations of the law of more consequence

* Town records. t County records.

8

58 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

than selling beer were multiplied. Many of these were for not regarding the sumptuary law of 1651.

For instance, l Nicholas Noyes' wife, Hugh March's wife, and William Chandler's wife were each presented for wearing a silk hood and scarfe,' but were discharged on proof that their husbands were worth two hundred pounds each. John Hutchins' wife was also discharged ' upon testimony of her being brought up above the ordinary ranke.'

Joseph Swett's wife for the same offence was fined ten shillings. Agnes, the wife of deacon Richard Knight, was also presented. This troubled the good deacon exceedingly, and induced him to solicit Mr. Rawson to send the following letter to one of the magis- trates at Salem.

'HONORABLE SIR,

An honest godly man, a friend of mine in Newbury, whose name is Richard Knight, whether of ignorance or wilfulness by some neighbour is pre- sented for his wife's wearing of a silk hood, supposing he has not been worth two hundred pounds. It being a grievance to him, who is advanced [in years] to be summoned to a court, that never useth to trouble any, at his request I thought fit to inform you on my owne knowledge his estate is better worth than three hundred, and therefore I desire you would, as you may, forbeare, in your war- rant to insert his name in it, it may be ; if not, at least that you would take private satisfaction of him in your chamber, which he can easily give you, or any, in a moment. Not else at present but my service to you and Mr. Symon Bradstreet.

Your friend and servant,

EDWARD RAWSON.

Now at Newbury, the fourteenth of August, 1653.'

' This letter, as it will be seen, was of no avail, though the woman was acquitted.'

This year, the road was laid out from Andover to Newbury, * leaving Rowley way at the beginning of a plain by a little swamp called Barberry swamp, thence the old way to Falls river, thence over the head of Cart creek, thence to Hull's bridge over Hull's plain to the mill bridge,' and so forth.

This year Newbury gave fifteen pounds to Harvard college.

September 7th. ' The court, on hearing that lieutenant Robert Pike declared that 'such persons as did act in making that law restraining unfit persons from constant preaching did break their oath to the country, for, said he, it is against the liberty of the country, both civil and ecclesiastical,' declared that he had been guilty of defaming the general court, and order that he shall be disfranchised, disabled from holding any publick office, bound to his good behaviour, and fined twenty marks,' equal to thirteen pounds, six shillings, and eight-pence.

The law alluded to above was made to restrain Joseph Peasley and Thomas Macy, formerly of Newbury, then of Salisbury, new town, from exhorting the people on the sabbath in the absence of a minister. This order had no effect on Joseph Peasley, who still continued his preaching in defiance of the law, as we find, in the year 1659.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 59

The punishment inflicted on lieutenant Pike caused a great sensation in the neighboring towns. Petitions were presented to the general court, containing the names of nearly all the citizens of Newbury, Andover, Hampton, Salisbury, and so forth, earnestly entreating the magistrates to remit the punishment and the fine imposed on lieutenant Pike. The whole case is a very instructive one. It exhibits, on the one hand, the watchful jealousy of the people, in consequence of any supposed or real incroachments on their civil or ecclesiastical rights, and on the other hand the deter- mination of the magistrates not to have their authority lightly called in question.

They immediately chose a committee to call the petitioners of the several towns together, ascertain their reasons for signing the petition, and make return. This was done in 1654, and eight Newbury men were bound to their good behavior in a bond of ten pounds each for signing the petition, the remainder having acknowledged their offence.

October 29th. There was a small shock of an earthquake.

1654.

Kent's island, with sixteen cows and four oxen on it, was let this year, for seven years, by Richard Kent, to Launcelot Granger, ^for forty-six pounds a year.

1 On the ninth of June this year there was a storme of thunder and haile, such as hath not been heard of in New England since the first planting thereof, which haile fell in the bounds of Hampton, the haile being to admiration for the multitude thereof, so that in some places it remained after the storm was over twelve inches in thickness and was not all dissolved in two days, many of which haile were said to be three or four inches in length.'^

September 21st. t Liberty was granted to the inhabitants of the 4 old towne ' to make a fence and hang a gate acrosse the way about Anthony Short's or John Knight's provided they hinder not the cattell from going into the commons there.' f

Many such fences and gates were erected in various parts of the town. There were two on the south side of * the river Parker,' one, a few rods north of the present first parish meeting-house, another, on the 'four rod way' south of Turkey hill, and in many other places. At this time, and for many years after, travelers, who usually went on horseback, were obliged every few miles to dismount and open a gate, which the town ordered to be made to open and shut ' flippantly.'

' John Emery was chosen to answer at the next court at Ipswich concerning the presentment about the way to Andover.' f

The selectmen were ordered to examine and require * an account of the money or goods, that hath been gathered to purchase a bell, in whose hands it is, and to make report to the towne.' f

* Hampton records. t Town records.

60 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

The bell, we have reason to suppose, was obtained about this time, as we find in December, 1665, that Anthony Morse was chosen 1 to keep the meeting-house and ring' the bell?

This year the general court declare that * Richard Thorlay having built a bridge over Newbury river, at his owne cost hath liberty to take toll for cattle, sheep, and so forth, so long as he shall maintain and repair the same, passengers free.'

1655.

April 25th. i The towne granted to captain Paul White a par- cell of land, not exceeding half an acre, about Watts his cellar ^ for to make a dock, a wharf, and a warehouse, provided he do build a dock, and warehouse as aforesaid ; but the town granteth no liberty of freehold or commonage hereby and if he shall here- after sell it, when he hath built upon it, the town shall have the forsaking of it.' f

This is the first record of a grant to any person, for permission to build a wharf, and so forth, on the Merrimack. The grantee, captain Paul White, was a merchant, who had been engaged in trade for some years at Pemaquid, now Bristol, Maine, and had been in Newbury about two years.

May 25th, 1655. Joseph Swett petitions the honorable court to confirm to him the grant of ' Deer island, which the selectmen of Newbury have granted him, which is not above six acres of land, and is not above six or eight rods from Newbury shore,' and so forth.

This year, in July, an epidemical disease, like that in 1647, pervaded New England, ' whereof many died.'

June. George Carr made ' a floating bridge five feet wide with rails on each side,' from his island to Salisbury shore. ' The floate bridge,' says George Carr, ' is above two hundred and seventy feet long with ye faule.'

The people of Hampton, New Hampshire, proposed to join with Rowley, in petitioning the general court for a country way, from Carr's ferry to [doctor] Clark's farm, [near Thurrill's bridge,] and so * as direct from thence as may be to Rowley line.' J

1656.

May 7th. On this day, ' the half acre of land/ granted last year to captain Paul White, was laid out ' at the end of Fish street [now State street] joyneing to Merrimack river on the northwest, and from the river by the great rocks upon a strait lyne to a stake by the way,

* c Watts his cellar,' which is frequently mentioned in the town records, and in deeds of land, was on, or just below, the spot where the market-house in Newburyport now stands. This Watts was, undoubtedly, the first person who dug a cellar within the limits of ' ould Newberry.' He was probably engaged in fishing and trading with the Indians.

t Town records. J Hampton records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 61

and from that stake to another stake westerly by another great rocke,*1 and from a stake running over part of the rock upon a straight lyne westward to another stake by the dock.' f

With the conditions of the grant he complied, and built a wharf, warehouse, and * stillhouse,' and made a dock. He was extensively engaged in business till his death, July twentieth, 1679.

In June, of this year, Mrs. Ann Hibbens was executed in Boston, for the supposed crime of witchcraft. ' This,' says Hutchinson, ' was the second instance on record of any person's being executed for witchcraft in New England. Her husband, who died 1654, had been a magistrate, and a merchant of note.'

1 Mr. Noise, the blessed light at Newbury died.' J This was the reverend James Noyes, who died October twenty-second, 1656. He had been teacher of the church in Newbury from its first formation.

1657-

In the month of March, died, in Rowley, Mr. Henry Sewall, whose only son Henry, was one of the first settlers of Newbury. He came to Newbury soon after his father, and after the removal of the meeting-house from the lower green, to the place where it now stands, in 1646, he crossed the river to Rowley, and there resided through the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage. During the latter part of his life, he is said to have been occasionally a little deranged. This was probably the cause of his being two or three times presented by the grand jury for various offences. The first instance was in December, 1650. The testimony was as follows, namely :

' Mr. Showell was walking in the foremost seat in the meeting-house neare the pulpit and Mr. Rogers being present and ready to step into the place to begin prayer, said, Mr. Showell, cease your walking. Mr. S. answered, you should have come sooner, with more words to that purpose, but he not ceasing his walking, presently our pastour added these words, remember where you are, this is the house of God, to which Mr. S. answered with a lowd voyce I know how to behave in the house of God as well as you. Then our pastour said rather than that he disturb the congregation, putt him out, to which Mr. S. replyed, lett us see who dare. After this a brother spake unto Mr. Showell in a friendly way, but Mr. S. with a stearne countenance and threatning manner saide he would take a course with some of us and in many other wordes we doe not now remember. Upon another Lord's day Mr. S. was walking, a part of the congregation being assembled, Mr. S. did exclaim thus with an audible voyce, looking up, good Lord, this day is spent I know not how, and nothing is yet done, expressing some trouble in other words.' ,

October. General court ordered, that ' the penalty for entertain- ing quakers should be forty shillings.'

* ' The great rocke,' mentioned in the grant, stood where Mr. George Granger's store now stands, and was at least twenty feet high, t Town records, j: Roxbury church records.

62 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

1658.

This year, it appears, incidentally, that the town contemplated building a new meeting-house, as a committee were appointed to sell Edward Woodman twelve acres of marsh, for which he * engages to pay either in boards or nayles or both for the meeting- house.' %•

At what time, precisely, the ' new meeting-house ' was built, no record informs us. It was, however, erected prior to 1661, as will be seen under that year.

' Newbury upon their presentment for want of a lattin scoole is to pay five pounds to Ipswich lattin scool, unles they by the next court provyde a lattin scoole master according to law.' f

This year, in May and October, there was great difficulty among the military companies of Newbury, which was finally settled by the general court, who ordered four persons ' to be severally admon- ished and pay the several charges of their neighbours the last court, namely, four pounds, eight shillings.'

In this year, Salem paid fifty-three pounds, Ipswich seventy-two pounds, and Newbury thirty-four pounds, of the province rate.

1659.

' William Trotter for slanderous speeches, to make publick acknowledgement next lecture day.' f

October. Sixteen inhabitants of Newbury, and six of Dover, petition the general court to grant them i a tract of twelve miles square,' in a ' place called Pennecooke,' and < crave the liberty of three years to give in their resolution,' and, in case they determine to settle i a plantation soe far remote,' ' to have ye grant of their freedom from publique charge for ye space of seven years,' and so forth. The court granted them eight miles square, on certain con- ditions, with which they did not comply. < Pennecooke,' now Concord, was not settled till 1730, though the first white family moved there in 1727.

* April thirtieth, old style, there was a great storme of snowe, which lay three or four inches thick upon May-day in the morning.' J

This year several persons were prosecuted and* fined for violating the law of 1657, which prohibited ' entertaining quakers.' Among them was Thomas Macy, one of the first settlers of Newbury, but at this time a resident in Salisbury. Complaint having been made against him, he was summoned to appear before the general court, to answer the charges preferred against him. Instead of complying with the requisition, he sent a letter, of which the following is a copy.

* Proprietors' records. f County records. J Hampton records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 63

.* This is to entreat the honored court not to be offended because of my non- appearance. It is not from any slighting the authority of this honored court, nor from feare to answer the case, but I have bin for some weeks past very ill, and am so at present, and notwithstanding my illness, yet I, desirous to appear, have done my utmost endeavour to hire a horse, but cannot procure one at present. I being at present destitute have endeavoured to purchase, but at present cannot attaine it. but I shall relate the truth of the case as my answer should be to ye honored court, and more cannot be proved, nor so much. On a rainy morning there came to my house Edward Wharton and three men more ; the said Wharton spoke to me saying that they were traveling eastward, and desired me to direct them in the way to Hampton, and asked me how far it was to Casco bay. I never saw any of ye men afore except Wharton, neither did I require their names, or who they were, but by their carriage I thought they might be quakers and told them so, and therefore desired them to passe on their way, saying to them I might possibly give offence in entertaining them, and as soone'as the violence of the rain ceased (for it rained very hard) they went away, and I never saw them since. The time that they stayed in the house was" about three quarters of an hour, but I can safely affirmeut was not an houre. They spake not many words in the time, neither was I at leisure to» talke with them for I came home wet to ye skin immediately afore they came to the house, and I found my wife sick in bed. If this satish'e not the honored court, I sfyall subject to their sentence : I have not willingly offended. I am ready to serve and obey you in the Lord.'

THO. MACY.*

Notwithstanding this explanation and apology, he was fined thirty shillings, and was ordered to be admonished by the governor, for ' entertaining quakers,' two of whom, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson, were hung in Boston, December twenty- seventh-, 1659.

Tradition informs us, that Thomas Macy, immediately after his sentence, took an open boat, and with his wife and children, went to Nantucket, was one of the first English settlers in that island, and there resided the remainder of his life. An amusing ballad, founded on the above-mentioned incidents, was written by the poet J. G. Whittier, and published some years ago in a Philadelphia annual. See appendix.

1660.

March 16£A, old style. There was a very severe ' storm of driving snow, which drove up in drifts four feet deep.' f

The winter of 1659-60 was ' a very hard winter.' f

This year the county court * order a road from Rowley to Newbury by Richard Thurrell's bridge.'

In September, a return was made of the road, which was laid out from the north end of Rowley to Thorla's bridge, and so on through the farms of Edmund Moore's and Robert Adams, then to Trotter's bridge, then to the meeting house of Newbury as Andover way is laid out.' if

This year the general court granted to several inhabitants of Newbury, on their petition, a tract of land on Saco river, ' provided they have twenty families and a minister settled within four years.'

* General court files. t Hampton records. J County records.

64 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

1661.

January 28th. The selectmen agreed with Henry Jaques to ' build a gallery in the new meeting house at both ends and all along on the west side with three substantiall seats all along both sides and ends, the said Henry Jaques shall fell the timber and provide all the stuff both planks, boards, rayles, and juyces and nayles and to bring the stuff all in place and make for it three payre of stayres and whatever else is requisite to compleate the said gallery, for which he is to have i thirty ^pounds in good current pay or provisions.' Also the said Henry Jaques shall have all the old stuffe of the old gallery in the old meeting house. The said Henry Jaques is also to lay a floore all over the meeting house from beame to beame and the towne doth engage to provide juyces, boards and nayles,' and so forth, and so forth.

From this it is evident that both houses were standing at the same time. The old house stood north of the new one.

June 22d. The selectmen discharged the lot layers, ' as there is no more land to be granted by the towne.'

The same month, c the meeting house was seated,' as it was called. Every man and woman had his or her seat designated, the men and women in separate seats. The galleries were, as now, on the north, west, and south sides of the house, and were then considered as the most desirable parts of the house. In the foreseat of the west gallery, were thirteen men, 'which,' say the selectmen, (are as many as can comfortably set in it, and no more may be imposed or intruded into it.'

September 23d. Plum island was divided, to 'every one his just right,' ' beginning at the upland neere Merrimack barre and so extending to Sandy beach.'

September 25th. Another division was made, ' beginning at Rowley bounds and reaching to Sandy beach.' ~ March 9th. General court repeal the laws against quakers.

Charles second proclaimed king, the eighth of August.

The following singular order is found in the Hampton records. It is a curious illustration of the state of society at that period.

May I6th} 1661. ' It is ordered yt if any person shall discharge a gunn in the meeting house, or any other house without leave of the owner or house holder, hee or they shall forfeit five shillings for every such offence nor shall any person ride or lead a horse into the meeting house under the like penalty.'

1662.

This year another physician, doctor Henry Greenland, with his wife Mary, came to Newbury. He appears to have to have been a man of good education, but passionate, unprincipled, and grossly immoral. He of course soon became involved in difficulties with

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 65

his neighbors, and caused great excitement among the sober citizens of the town, who had not been accustomed to such specimens of immorality, as he had displayed before them.

' It pleased the Lord/ says the apostle Elliot, * to exercise the country with a very severe drought, which some were so rash as to impute to the sitting of the synod, but the Lord was pleased to bear witness against their rashness, for no sooner was the synod met, June tenth, but they agreed to set the next day apart to seek his favorable presence, and to ask raine, and ye day following the Lord sent showers from heaven, and visited the land with seasonable showers of rain, week after week until the harvest.' #

March 3d. ' The marsh lands in the neck over the great river were divided as the lands were in Plum island, beginning at the west end.' f

This year the highway from Newbury to Haverhill was laid out.

' John Atkinson [hatter] had half an acre of land by the spring near Anthony Morse, junior's, house.' f

Newbury was fined ten pounds for not sending a deputy to general court. It was afterward remitted.

Captain Paul White was licensed by general court l to still strong waters for a yeare and sell by the quart.' J

The county court ordered the road by Thorla's bridge, to be made passable by the twelfth of October, 1662, under penalty of ten pounds.

On the twenty-ninth of March, an event occurred in Ipswich, which caused great excitement in Essex county. On that day, one J. P. was incarcerated in Ipswich, and i did that night break prison/ 1 it being,' as the record informs us, < the first offence of this nature committed in this country.'

The jailer, Theophilus Wilson, deposes, that, on that day, 4 he, according to order of court, put him into prison, and lockt the dore fast, and put the hasp on to the staple on the ontsyde of the dore^ which none within can unhasp, and left no tooles or means of light in the prison.' J

It was afterward discovered that some of J. P.'s neighbors, not liking his confinement, went to Ipswich in the night, ' nnhasped the dore on the outsyde] and so forth, and let him return home.

In the quarterly court records, I find the following :

( We, James Ordway, John Woolcot. Peter Godfrey and Joshua Woodman, do acknowledge that we are justly to be blamed to come into the seats of other men contrary to the order of the selectmen and here by the presents we do engage ourselves that we will keep to our own seats and not disturb any man in their seats any more.' i This engagement was unto the selectmen the sixth of June 1662.'

The cause of their offence was an apprehension that the select- men had, without sufficient authority from the town, built some new seats in the gallery and assigned them to some individuals. They

* Roxbury church records. f Town records. J General court records.

9

66 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

therefore took possession of these seats, to which the selectmen had not given them any right. Hence there was a contention in the meeting-house, a summons for them to appear at court, and a set- tlement by their promise to behave better in time to come.

' The winter was very moderate. No frost in the ground till the twentieth of December.' *

1663.

' January 26th. There was an earthquake, at the shutting in of the evening,' one of the greatest in New England, and on February fifth, another. The first shock continued above half an hour. On the same day, at evening, another, and did not cease till July following.

On the records of the court at Salem, I find the following, namely :

' May 5th, 1663. Lydia Wardwell on her presentment for coming naked into Newbury meeting house. The sentence of the court is, that she shall be severely whipt and pay the costs and fees to the marshall of Hampton for bringing her. Costs, ten shillings, fees two shillings and sixpence.

The maiden name of the person, who was induced to make such an exhibition in Newbury meeting-house, in the time of worship, was Lydia Perkins, but at this time the wife of Eliakim Wardwell of Hampton. The story is thus told by George Bishop, in his i New England Judged.' It is proper to state, that, so far as I know, he is, with one exception, the only writer, who attempts to justify conduct so strange and fanatical.

1 His wife Lydia, being a young and tender chaste woman, seeing the wick- edness of your priests and rulers to her husband, was not at all oftended with the truth, but as your wickedness abounded, so she withdrew and separated from your church at Newbury, of wrhich she was sometimes a member, and being given up fo the leading of the Lord, after she had been often sent for to come thither, to give a reason of such a separation, it being at length upon her in the consideration of their miserable condition, who were thus blinded with ignorance and persecution, to go to them, and as a sign to them she went in (though it was exceeding hard to her modest and shamefaced disposition,) naked amongst them, which put them into such a rage, instead of consideration, they soon laid hands on her, and to the next court at Tpswich had her, where without law they condemned her to be tyed to the fence-post of the tavern where they sat — and there sorely lashed her with twenty or thirty cruel stripes. And this is the discipline of the church of Newbury in New England, and this is their religion, and their usage of the handmaid of the Lord, who in a great cross to her natural temper, came thus among them, a sign indeed, signincatory enough to them, and suitable to their state, who undeir the visor of religion, were thus blinded into cruel persecution.'

In the same year I find the following, namely :

1 Elizabeth Webster for taking a faulse oath. The sentence of the court is that she shall stand at the meeting house dore at Newbury the next lecture day

* Hampton records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURT. 67

from the ringing the first bell, until the minister be ready to begin prayer with a paper on her head, written in capitall letters, (FOR TAKING A FALSE OATH IN COURT,) the constable to see it done, or else to paye a fine of five pounds to the treasurer, and to be disabled from taking an oath, and to pay cost and fees.' 1 She made choice to stand at the doore.' *

At the same court, ' John Emery was fined four pounds for enter- taining quakers.'

His offence consisted in granting food and lodging to two men and two women, who were traveling farther east. One of the witnesses ' testified that he [John Emery] took them by the hand and bid them welcome.' I shall make no comments on these extracts, nor any apology for inserting them. The duty of an historian is to find facts, and not to make them. An accurate picture of the sun should exhibit its spots as well as its brightness. To veil the one, or omit the other, \vould be a caricature, and not a likeness, and, should the features I have attempted to delineate, here or elsewhere, be deemed harsh and repulsive, the blame should be cast, not on the accuracy of the painter, but the inherent ugliness of the subject The first settlers of New England were a noble race of men, and the wonder is, not that they had faults, but that they were so few in comparison with all other sects and people of the age in which they lived. *In the language of Bancroft, ' they, of all contemporary sects, were the most free from credulity, and in their zeal for reform pushed their regulations to what some would consider a skeptical extreme. So many superstitions had been bundled up with every venerable institution of Europe, that ages have not yet dislodged them all. The puritans at once emancipated themselves from a crowd of observances. They established a worship purely spiritual. To them the elements remained but bread and wine ; they invoked no saints ; they raised no altar ; they adored no crucifix ; they kissed no book ; they asked no absolution ; they paid no tithes ; they saw in the priest nothing more than a man. The church, as a place of worship was to them but a meeting house ; they dug no graves in consecrated earth. Unlike their posterity, they married without a minister, and buried the dead without a prayer.'

On March thirty-first, doctor Henry Greenland was found guilty of the charge preferred against him by Mary Rolfe. The court sentenced him c to be imprisoned till next sessions of the court, then to be whipt or pay a fine of thirty pounds and be bound to good behaviour.'

One of the witnesses in his behalf, testified, that ' he had been a soldier, and was a gentleman, and they must have their libertyes.' Another asserted, that, as he was a stranger, and a ' great man, it would be best not to make an uprore but to let him goe away privately.'

On the twenty-seventh of September, 1664, he was convicted, with captain Walter*Barefoote, of an assault on William Thomas, and

* County records.

68 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

Richard Dole. He was again fined and bound to keep the peace. He appealed to the general court, who confirmed his sentence, and ordered him ' to depart the jurisdiction and not to practice physic or surgery.' From 1666 to 1672 he was living in Kittery, where, for the present, we will leave him.

June 18th. John and Rebecca Bishop sold to Peter Cheney * all the mill and mill house lately erected in Newbury on the little river with the stone, wheel, and so forth, and so forth, for two hundred and fifty pounds sterling.'

July 26th. This day the reverend John Woodbridge returned from England, where he had resided about sixteen years.

He was immediately engaged to assist his uncle Parker in preaching. The town voted him thirty pounds for the first half year, beginning the twenty-fifth of September, ' for his encouragement in the ministry.'

November 10th. ' The country way according to order of court was laid out from Mill bridge to Rowley bounds,' notwithstanding the town's remonstrance.

As this < country way ' was laid out in a new place, causing the town much expense, the inhabitants had remonstrated in a petition sent to the general court the preceding June. Among other things, they state, 'wee have already for many yeares made and maintained an ancient country rode according to the order of the general court, according to which our towne hath been modelled and men have built and fenced, and also our ferry constituted, whereas our towne might otherwise have been modelled with groat convenience, had it not been for the country high way. All which notwithstanding, the honorable county court is pleased to impose upon us this new coun- try high way, and have enjoined us under a fine to make a way over a great marsh of about a hundred rod by the end of June, which the towne are in no wise comfortably capable to perform.' After speaking of 'the extreme charge, which the towne necessarily would be put to,' ' in purchasing land through men's proprietyes near three mile,' which must be fenced, and bridges built over several con- siderable swamps and small brooks, and so forth, ' beside the miry- nesse of the said waye and unevenness of it by reason of the rocky and low lande, through which the way is to goe,' they then petition the general court, * that so great a burthen may not be imposed upon us but that the country may be satisfied with the old antient country roade, which we have from the beginninge of our towne maintained,' or ' that their fine may be remitted, and that the said new waye may be purchased, made and maintained at the charge of the country or county, or by those that have occasion to make use thereof.' June second, 1663.

Jocelyn, who was in New England this year, thus writes :

* On the south side of Merrimack river, and near upon the wide venting streams thereof, is situated Newberrie. The houses are scattering, well stored with meadow, upland, and arable, and about four hundred head of cattle.'

HISTORY OF NEWBURY. 69

1664.

March. On petition of lieutenant John Pike, an acre of ' land, eight rods broad and twenty-two long was laid out to his brother Thomas Turvill, beginning at a stake near the spring between Henry Jaques' and George Littles' for to set up tanning of leather, provided he follow his trade of tanning.' #

May 6th. l All horses and dry cattle to be cleared out of Plum island, and all fences to be made up by the thirteenth of May.' #

July 6th. ' Giles Cromwell is to keep the boys in order in the meeting house, and to give notice to selectmen of such as are out of order, and to have six shillings for his paynes.' #

October 26th. ' Major part of the towne voted that Mr. Parker should have but sixty pounds per year.' *

Here we have indirectly the first intimation of any difficulty between the reverend Mr. Parker and a portion of the church. It had been of long standing, and originated, as we shall see hereafter, not from any difference in point of doctrine, or want of personal respect and esteem, but solely from his change of views respecting church government. Then- first recorded manifestation of their disapproval of this change was the reduction of his salary, but the next June, their sense of justice induced them to raise it again to eighty pounds, per annum, which, notwithstanding all the subse- quent difficulties, in which he was involved in consequence of his change of opinion respecting church government and discipline, was regularly paid to him through life.

June 26th." 'About this time began the blasting of the wheat to be perceived.' f This was construed by the quakers as a judgment from God, an evident token of his displeasure against the people of Massachusetts for the cruel persecutions, which had been inflicted on many of that persuasion in the state some years before. Similar opinions were at this time entertained by all denominations of Christians. If any calamity should fall upon their opponents, it was a judgment ; if on themselves, it was a trial.

1665.

' Town voted to pay forty shillings for every wolf that is killed within the towne.' ^

June 3d. Town voted that Mr. Parker ' shall have eighty pounds a year, and Mr. Woodbridge sixty pounds.'

November 1st. c It was voted whether Mr. Woodbridge should be chosen by papers to preach to the towne for one year. There were four votes in the affirmative and thirty-one blanks.' ^

December 25th. Anthony Morse, senior, is to keep the meeting- house and ring the bell, ' see that the house be cleane swept, and the

* Town records. t Roxbury church records.

70 HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

glasse of the windows to be carefully look't unto, if any should happen to be loosed with the wind, to be nailed close again.' *

4 The winter of 1664-65 was mild and moderate till the middle of the month. On the fourth of February a comet disappeared, which had been visible from the seventeenth of November 1664.'

' Winter and summer wheat, again struck with mildew.' f

At the close of this summer, Philip Carteret, having been appointed governor of New Jersey, settled at Elizabethtown, which he made the seat of his government, and despatched agents into New Eng- land to publish the constitution and invite emigrants. In conse- quence of this invitation, several persons went from Newbury and settled in a township, which, in honor of the reverend John Wood- bridge, of Newbury, was called Woodbridge, which name it still retains. Of these emigrants from Newbury some returned, while others remained, and became distinguished both in civil and military life. Among them may be mentioned the names of captain John Pike, the ancestor of general Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who was killed at the battle of Queenstown in 1812, Thomas Bl cornfield, the ancestor of Joseph Bloomfield, for some years governor of New Jersey, John Bishop, senior and junior, Jonathan Haynes, Henry Jaques, George March, Stephen Kent, Abraham Toppan, junior, Elisha Ilsley, Hugh March, John Bloomfield, Samuel Moore, Nathaniel Webster, John Ilsley, and others.

Daniel Pierce bought a tract of land in New Jersey of Mr. Ogden JLuke Watson, and sold it to Henry Jaques.

This year Thomas Thorlay killed seven wolves in Newbury.

1666.

' March 8th. Liberty was granted to such as would build a shelter for horses, by goodman [Abraham] Toppan's fence, provided they do not make it above twelve foot high.' ^

March 13th. The town ordered that a small ' house shall be built for shelter of the herdsmen, and a large pen for the cattle, and two herdsmen shall attend the cattle all summer to keep them from coming to the lower commons [below Artichoke river] and pen them, every night.' ^

April 25th. ' Voted that Mr. Parker's eighty pounds by the yeare should be paid him yearly and Mr. Woodbridge to have sixty pounds a year till further order/ ^

' An army of caterpillars came this season, and a severe drought.' 4 Wheat mildewed again.' f ' The canker worm first appeared in New England this year,'

* Town records. t Roxbury church records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

1667-

' At a general meeting of the town, March first, Mr. was voted (man by man called over,) to have sixty pounds a year for preaching.' *

4 Winter very moderate, little snow or bad weather.'

1668.

In June the selectmen and other inhabitants of Newbury petitioned the court at Salem that ' captain Paul White be licensed to sell wine out of dores by retaile for the necessary relief of some sick or other indigent persons by whom the churches exigencies have sundry times been supplied, who also may the more conveniently accom- modate the churches occasions from time to time, until some man be licensed to keep ordinary here.'

By this it appears, that, at this time, there was no ' ordinary,' or, in other words, no tavern in Newbury. From other documents in the general court records we learn that it was difficult, and for a time impossible, to induce any person to open a public house for the accommodation of travelers, and so forth. At last Hugh March consented to leave his farm and commence the tavern keeping on a large scale in the year 1670. His expenses, as he himself informs us, for fitting up his house, stables, and so forth, were more than five hundred pounds — a large sum for those days. His stand, which was, for many years, a noted place, was near the head of Marlborough street, on the spot where Messrs. John and Stephen Ilsley now reside. In 1673 he petitioned c against Paul White's selling wine,' stating that ' so it is that captain White under colour of providing the sacrament wines, doth frequently retaile wines unto the inhabitants and others to the damage and disabling your petitioner.'

The quantity of wine used on sacramental occasions during the year, was. as we shall hereafter see, very great.

*March '2'L Town voted counting man by man, that Mr. Wood- bridge shall have sixty pounds a yeare for his preaching.' ^ This was continued till May twenty-first, 1670, when the town voted that * the order should be void.' *

In this year the meeting-house was again ' seated,' and a watch- house built on the east side of the upper green.

March. l The town ordered that no horses shall be tyed within side or without side the fence 'by the meeting-house gate, ( under penalty ^^^^^ for each offence.' ^

- Tradition informs us that the meeting-house was surrounded with ' pales,' through which, by a gate or gates, the meeting-house was entered. Near these gates the horses were tied, and they would frequently get across the path, often to the great inconvenience of

* Town records.

HISTORY OF NEWBURY.

those, who wished to go to ' meeting.' This induced the selectmen to prohibit all persons from tying their horses outside of the fence. To their great surprise, however, they found on the next public meeting, several horses ' tyed ' inside the fence. This caused them to make the order above-mentioned, forbidding all persons hereafter to tie their horses any where, either inside the fence or out. Thus much tradition, which derives some confirmation from the order just mentioned, a great part of which on the origininal record, is entirely illegible. V

December 3d. i The selectmen granted liberty to five persons to build a pew for their wives at the east end of the south gallery to the pulpit.' ^ This was probably the first pew ever built in the ' meeting house.'

December 21s£. A road was laid out ' from Goodwin's ferry to Amesbury mill,' and ' one from Newbury to Rowley village,' now Bradford.

April. Salisbury new town was called Amesbury, and a ferry established there.f

1669.

The ecclesiastical difficulties, with which, in a greater or less degree, the whole town had been agitated for the last twenty-four years, had at this time arisen to such a height, that an appeal to the