easily reconciled, if we bear in mind the fact, that the year, with our 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 christians, for, in the language of Johnson, in his Wonderworking 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 accomdate all those 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, that no settlement was made in Quascacunquen, before the year 1635, 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.

May 6th, 1635. 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] Trask, or any three of them, to set out the bounds of Ipswich and Quascacunquen, or so much thereof as they can, and the name of the said plantation shall be changed, and shall hereafter be called Newberry.

'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

towne.'

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

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period, had commenced a settlement within the territorial limits of ould Newberry,' 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 Merrimack. 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 Naumkeag 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 Merrimac, '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 navigation of the Merrimack, the width of the fresh marshes on its banks, or the length of the fish in its stream. We will therefore 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, Mr. 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, Mr. James Noyes, his wife, and brother Nicholas Noyes, Thomas Brown, Richard Brown, George Brown, Mr. James Browne and wife, Thomas Coleman, Francis 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 sufficient company to

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 privileges 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 house 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 quantity 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.

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'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: 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 doctrine by many places of the scripture, both in the old and new testament. The

*Court records, page 152.

which 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 Í then took from his mouth I have here ready to shew if you please. The sermon 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, expressinge 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.'

'Sworne in court, 30 March, 1669.

Per me JOHN PIKE.

'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 contention 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 '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 settlement 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

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 fifteenth, '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 Newberry, 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.'

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The ship angel' Gabriel,' in which came passengers John Bailey, senior, and John Bailey, junior, who afterward settled in Newbury, was lost at Pemaquid,' now Bristol, in Maine, and the Dartmouth ships cut all their masts at St. George. The tide rose at Narraganset 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, 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 following, namely:

'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 pasturing 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 † 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.

† Quarterly Register, February, 1841.