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THE PARSON CAPEN HOUSE BUILT IN 1683 From a photograph by Wallace Nutting

THE

HISTORICAL

COLLECTIONS

OF THE

TOPSFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VOLUME XXIX— 1928

TOPSFIELD, MASS.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1928

GEORGE FRANCIS DOW Editor

THE PERKINS PRESS TOPSFIELD, MASS.

CONTENTS

THE PARSON CAPEN HOUSE	-	-	-	- Frontispiece
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY		.	_	- iv

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE YEARS 1923-1928 V REPORT OF THE TREASURER FOR THE YEARS 1923-1928 vii REPORT ON THE GOULD BUILDING FUND - - viii

REPORT ON MUSEUM ADDITION FUND - - - viii

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND IN THE SEVEN- TEENTH CENTURY BY GEORGE FRANCIS DOW - 1

ACCOUNT OF SUPPLIES FURNISHED BY THE COMPANY

OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY - - - - 31

AN INVOICE OF ENGLISH GOODS SHIPPED TO NEW

ENGLAND ABOUT 1690 36

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS BY SIDNEY PERLEY - 49

NEWSPAPER ITEMS RELATING TO TOPSFIELD (1876-1877),

COPIED BY GEORGE FRANCIS DOW - - - 99

TOPSFIELD VITAL STATISTICS, 1923-1928 - - - 142

VI

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

From the estate of George L. Gould, two bequests have been received, viz. "toward a fund, the income of which is to be used in the preservation and maintenance of the build- ing owned by the Society adjacent to the Common, known as the Capen House, the sum of four hundred (400) dollars, and with the further sum of one hundred (lOOj dollars to- ward the erection near the street of a suitable gateway and sign describing the building.”

The fund for the upkeep of the Capen House, with ac- crued interest, amounting to $432, was invested in United Shoe Machine Co. stock, and at present date has a market value of $1,036. A swinging tavern-type sign has been made and will shortly be erected on a post near Main Street.

From Miss Clara A. Avery of Great Barrington, Mass., has been received a gift of one hundred dollars the nucleus of a fund to be applied to the erection of a fireproof build- ing in which to place the museum of the Society.

The collateral note against the Society has been paid and the entire property now stands clear of any indebted- ness. The Cummings bequest is invested in 39 shares of United Shoe Machine Co., now having a market value of $2886.

The number of visitors at the Capen House increases with each year and the building is frequently illustrated in books and periodicals as being the finest existing example of 17th century New England domestic architecture. In 1924 the kitchen in this house was reproduced in the new American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the work being done under the direction of your Secretary, who at the same time was in charge of the reproduction of the parlor in the Hart house (c. 1640) at Ipswich. On several occasions the house has been visited by societies and the building and grounds have been used for meetings of social gatherings. In the coming spring it is planned to erect an old well-sweep and to set out a few fruit trees of old-time varieties of fruit.

Respectfully submitted,

George Francis Dow,

Secretary.

REPORT OF THE TREASURER

OF THE

TOPSFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY JAN. 1, 1923— DEC. 31, 1928

RECEIPTS

Balance cash on hand	$22	78
Annual dues	127	00
Historical Collections sold	28	00
” ” bindings	68	00
Loans	200	00
Transferred from Endowment Acct.	80	00

$525 78

PAYMENTS

Historical Collections, printing ” ” binding

Envelopes, postage and express Loans paid

$168 95 141 38 10 06

200 00 $520 39

Balance cash on hand

$5 39

REPORT ON ENDOWMENT FUND

JAN. 1, 1623— DEC. 31, 1924 RECEIPTS

Jan. 1, 1923 Balance cash on hand $71 45

Dividends, U. Shoe Mach. Co. 683 51

Rent of Capen House 680 00

Admission fees, Capen House 23 45

George L. Gould bequest 500 00

” ” interest 37 50

Sold 19 shares U. Shoe Mach. Co. Stock 680 95

2,676 86

PAYMENTS

Balance collateral note 1,200 00

Interest on same 106 58

'Repairs, Capen House 120 93

Insurance, ” 203 06

Printing Historical Collections 168 59

Transferred 12 shares Shoe Co. stock to

G. L. Gould Maintenance Fund 00

Transferred to G. L. Gould Fund 14 18

Investment Acct. Shoe Co. script 13 50

Trans, to Museum Bldg. Fund 30 00

Trans, to Regular Acct. to pay loan 80 00

Bronze Tablet : Fort and First Meeting

House Site 125 00

2,061 84

616 02

Balance cash on hand

REPORT ON GEORGE L. GOULD CAPEN HOUSE MAINTENANCE MAY 1, 1924— DEC. 1928 RECEIPTS

Dividends, U. Shoe Mach. Co. stock $190 00

Script ” 14 18

PAYMENTS

Repairing Capen Honse Balance cash on hand

REPORT ON MUSEUM BUILDING FUND (Gift of Miss Clara A. Avery) RECEIPl'S

Dividends, U. Shoe Mach. Co. stock

STATEMENT

Parson Capen House and 1 1-5 acre land

cost $2,100 00

Restoration and Furnishings, cost 2,461 12

Endowment Fund ; 39 shares U. Shoe Mach. Co. at 74

Gould Maintenance Fund ; 14 shares U. Shoe Mach. Co. at 74 Museum Building Fund ; 2 shares U. Shoe Mach. Co. at 74 Cash on hand

Respectfully submitted, George Francis Dow, Treasurer.

$204 18

161 65 $42 53

$7 00

$4,561 12

2,886 00

1,036 00

148 00 621 42

$9,252 54

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

By George Francis Dow

TO PICTURE the life in the homes of the colonists in the years immediately following the settlement would require many screens. Then as now life had its con- trasts and utmost poverty existed but shortly removed from comparative wealth. In 1657 an apprentice to a stone-mason in the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, testified that it was a long while before ”he could eate his master’s food, viz. meate and milk, or drink beer, saying that he did not know that it was good, because he was not used to eat such victualls, but to eate bread and water porridge and to drink water.”* A few miles away, in the town of Ipswich, lived Madam Rebecka Symonds, writing in her sixtieth year to her son in London to send her a fashionable "'lawn whiske,” for her neckwear. In due time he replied that the ’'fashion- able Lawn whiske is not now worn, either by Gentil or simple, young or old. Instead where of I have bought a shape and ruffles, which is now the ware of the gravest as well as the young ones. Such as goe not with naked necks ware a black wifle over it. Therefore, I have not only Bought a plaine one y’t you sent for, but also a Luster one, such as are most in fashion.” The dutiful son also pur- chased for his mother’s wear a feather fan ; but he writes, to her "I should also have found in my heart, to have let it alone, because none but very grave persons (and of them very few) use it. Now ’tis grown almost as obsolete as Rus- sets, and more rare to be seen than a yellow Hood.” When

*Essex County Quarterly Court Records, Vol. II, p. 28

(1)

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

the feather fan reached Ipswich it was found to have a silver handle and with it came ”two tortois fans, 200 need- les, 5 yds. sky calico, silver gimp, a black sarindin cloak, damson leather skin, two women’s Ivorie Knives, etc.”*

Fine clothing surrounded itself with fine furnishings, according to the standards of the period, and as the wealth of the Colonies increased with the successful exportation of fish, lumber, beaver, and peltry, it supplied them with all kinds of luxuries and refinements to be found in the shops of London, Plymouth, or Bristol. The ships were crossing frequently and the Colonies kept pace with the mother country much as the country follows the city at the present time. All the while, however, primitive living and also poverty existed everywhere. The inventories of numerous estates show meagre household furnishings, and many families of eight or more persons lived in houses only eighteen by twenty-four feet in size, possibly with a shed attached. Alexander Knight, a pauper in a Massachu- setts town, was provided in 1659 with a one-story house sixteen feet long and twelve feet wide having a thatched roof and costing only £6 to build, which no doubt was typical of the simple dwellings occupied by the poorer colonists in the early days following the settlement.

When Governor Winthrop arrived at Charlestown in 1630 with the first great emigration he found a house or two and several wigwams— rude shelters patterned after the huts built by the Indians— and until houses could be erected in Boston many lived in tents and wigwams, ''their meeting-place being abroad under a Tree.” Deacon Bar- tholomew Green, the printer of the Boston News-Letter, related that when his father arrived at Boston in 1630, "for lack of housing he was vain to find shelter at night in an empty cask,” and during the following winter many of the poorer sort still continued to live in tents through lack of better housing.

♦Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

3

There is a wide-spread misconception that the colonists on reaching New England proceeded immediately to build log houses in which to live. Historians have described these log houses as chinked with moss and clay and as having earth floors, precisely the type of house built on the frontier and in the logging camps at a much later period. A well-known picture of Leyden street, at Plymouth, shows a double row of log houses reaching up the hillside, which the Pilgrims are supposed to have constructed. In point of fact, no contemporary evidence has been found that supports the present-day theory. The early accounts of what took place in the days following the settlements along the coast are full of interesting details relating to day-by-day happenings but nowhere do we find allusion to a log house such as modern historians assume existed at that time.*

What happened at the Plymouth Colony after the May- flower came to anchor? The wind blew very hard for two days and the next day, Saturday, December 23, 1620, as many as could went ashore : "felled and carried timber, to provide themselves stuff for building,” and the following Monday "we went on shore, some to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, and some to carry ; so no man rested all that day.”t Bradford writes "that they builte a forte with good timber” which Isaac de Rasieres described in 1627 as "a large square house, made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams.” The oldest existing houses in the Ply- mouth Colony are built in the same manner and some half dozen or more seventeenth-century plank houses may yet be seen north of Boston. Moreover, when the ship Fortune sailed from Plymouth in the summer of 1621 part of her lading consisted of "clapboards and wainscott,” showing clearly that the colonists soon after landing had dug saw pits and produced boards in quantity suitable for the con- struction of houses and for exportation.

*In the Delaware settlement houses of logs split through the middle or hewed square were built “according to the Swedish mode.”

\MourVs Relation, Boston, 1841.

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

In the summer of 1623 Bradford mentions the ’’building of great houses in pleasant situations” and when a fire broke out in November of the following year it began in ”a shed yt was joyned to ye end of ye storehouse, which was wattled up with bowes.” It will be seen that this shed was not crudely built of logs or slabs but that its walls were wattled and perhaps also daubed with clay, in precisely the same manner with which these colonists were familiar in their former homes across the sea. An original outer wall in the old Fairbanks house at Dedham, Massachusetts, still has its ’’wattle and daub” constructed in 1637. What can be more natural and humanly probable than to find English housewrights who had learned their trade overseas, build- ing houses and outbuildings on this side of the Atlantic in the same manner they had been taught through a long apprenticeship in their former homes ? Can we of today assume that they, upon the spur of the moment, invented a new type of building — a log house — a construction they had never seen in England — a building also unknown to the Indians?

The houses of the Indians were ’’verie little and homely, being made with small Poles pricked into the ground, and so bended and fastened at the tops, and on the side they are matted with Boughes and covered with Sedge and old mats.”* These were called ’’wigwams” and as they were easily constructed and the materials were readily at hand many of the poorer colonists built for themselves imitations of these rude huts of the Indians. Governor Winthrop records in his ’’Journal,” in September, 1630, that one Fitch of Watertown had his wigwam burnt down with all his goods, and two months later John Firman, also of Water- town, lost his wigwam by fire.

Thomas Dudley writing to the Countess of Lincoln, in March, 1631, relates : ”Wee have ordered that noe man shall build his chimney with wood nor cover his house with thatch, which was readily assented unto, for that

*Higginson, New-Englands Plantation London, 1630.

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

5

divers houses have been burned since our arrival (the fire always beginning in the wooden chimneys) and some Eng- lish wigwams which have taken fire in the roofes with thatch or boughs.”* It was Dudley who was taken to task by the Governor in May, 1632, ’'for bestowing so much cost on wainscotting his house and otherwise adorning it,” as it was not a good example for others in the beginning of a plantation. Dudley replied that he had done it for warmth and that it was but clapboards nailed to the walls. A few months later this house caught fire ''the hearth of the Hall chimney burning all night upon the principal beam.”

The frequent references to the English wigwam seem to indicate that some such temporary construction was usual among many of the colonists at the outset. Settlers were living at Salem as early as 1626 and Endecott, with a con- siderable immigration, arrived in 1628. Marblehead, just across the harbor, was settled early and yet when John Goyt came there in 1637, he "first built a wigwam and lived thar till he got a house.”t The rude buildings also put up by the planters at Salem must have been looked upon at the time as temporary structures for they had all disap- peared before 1661. t The town clerk of Woburn, Massa- chusetts, writing in 1652, mentions the rude shelters of the first settlers "which kept off the short showers from their lodgings, but the long rains penetrated through, to their grate disturbance in the night season : yet, in these poor wigwams, they sing Psalms, pray and praise their God, till they can provide them homes, which ordinarily was not wont to be with many till the Earth, by the Lord's blessing, brought forth bread to feed them, their wives and little ones.” II

"Before you come,” wrote Rev. Francis Higginson, the first minister at Salem, "be careful to be strongly instruct-

*Force’s Tracts, Washington, 1838.

^Essex County Quarterly Court Records, Vol. VI, p. 363.

%Essex County Deeds, Book V, leaf 107.

II Johnson, Wonder Working Providence, London, 1654.

6

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

ed what things are fittest to bring with you for your more comfortable passage at sea, as also for your husbandry oc- casions when you come to the land. For when you are once parted with England you shall meete neither markets nor fayres to buy what you want. Therefore be sure to furnish yourselves with things fitting to be had before you come : as meale for bread, malt for drinke, woolen and linnen cloath, and leather for shoes, and all manner of car- penters tools, and a great deale of iron and steele to make nails, and locks for houses, and furniture for ploughs and carts, and glasse for windows, and many other things which were better for you to think of there than to want them here.’’* Elsewhere the good pastor set down ”A catalogue of such needfull things as every Planter doth or ought to provide to go to New England” in which he enumerated the necessary victuals per person for the first year, viz :

”8 Bushels of meale, 2 Bushels of pease, 2 Bushels of Otemeale, 1 Gallon of Aquavitae, 1 Gallon of Oyle, 2 Gal- lons of Vinegar,! Firkin of Butter; also Cheese, Bacon, Sugar, Pepper, Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, Nutmegs and Fruit.”

The household implements listed were: — 'T Iron pot, 1 Kettel, 1 Frying pan, 1 Gridiron, 2 Skellets, 1 Spit, Wooden Platters, Dishes, Spoons and Trenchers.”

Clothing, arms, and tools of all kinds of course must be taken and the natural resources of New England and the fruits of their husbandry and of the sea were expected to supply the rest of those things necessary to life and com- fort. Those who settled along the shore line north of Bos- ton found much ”fat blacke earth” that yielded bountiful crops. The soil to the southward of Boston Bay was light- er and less productive, but the valley of the Connecticut was found to be of unsurpassed richness.

Pastor Higginson wrote enthusiastically of the natural abundance of the grass that "groweth verie wildly with a great stalke” as high as a man’s face and as for Indian

♦Higginson, New-Englands Plantation, London, 1630.

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

7

corn— the planting of thirteen gallons of seed had produced an increase of fifty-two hogsheads or three hundred and fifty bushels, London measure, to be sold or trusted to the Indians in exchange for beaver worth above £300. Who would not share the hardships and dangers of the frontier colony for opportunity of such rich gain ?

But the housewives in the far-away English homes were more interested in the growth of the vegetable gardens in the virgin soil, and of these he wrote : ''Our turnips, par- snips and carrots are here both bigger and sweeter than is ordinary to be found in England. Here are stores of pum- pions, cucumbers, and other things of that nature I know not. Plentie of strawberries in their time, and penny-royall, winter saverie, carvell and water-cresses, also leeks and onions are ordinary.” Great lobsters abounded weighing from sixteen to twenty -five pounds and much store of bass, herring, sturgeon, haddock, eels, and oysters. In the for- ests were several kinds of deer ; also partridges, turkeys, and great flocks of pigeons, with wild geese, ducks, and other sea fowl in such abundance "that a great part of the Planters have eaten nothing but roast-meate of divers Fowles which they have killed.”

These were some of the attractive natural features of the new colony in the Massachusetts Bay, as recounted by the Salem minister. Of the hardships he makes small men- tion, for his aim was to induce emigration. There was much sickness, however, and many deaths. Higginson himself lived only a year after reaching Salem. The break- ing up of virgin soil always brings on malaria and fever. Dudley wrote "that there is not an house where there is not one dead, and in some houses many. The naturall causes seem to bee in the want of warm lodgings, and good dyet to which Englishmen are habittuated, at home ; and in the suddain increase of heate which they endure that are landed here in somer * * * those of Plymouth who landed in winter dyed of the Scirvy, as did our poorer sort whose howses and bedding kept them not sufficiently warm, nor

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

their dyet sufficiently in heart/’* Thomas Dudley wrote this in March, 1631. He explained that he was writing upon his knee by the fireside in the living-room, having as yet no table nor other room in which to write during the sharp winter. In this room his family must resort ’’though they break good manners, and make mee many times forget what I would say, and say what I would not.”

But these hardships and inconveniences of living which the New England colonists met and overcame differ but little from those experienced in every new settlemxent. They have been parallelled again and again wherever Englishmen or Americans have wandered. In a few years after the coming of the ships much of the rawness and discomfort must have disappeared, certainly in the early settlements, and comparative comfort must have existed in most homes. If we could now lift the roof of the average seventeenth-century house in New England it is certain that we should find disclosed not only comfortable condi- tions of living but in many instances a degree of luxury with fine furnishings that is appreciated by few at the present time. And this can now be shown by means of the itemized inventories of estates that were carefully made, listing the contents of a house, room by room, and enabling us to visualize the interiors of the homes in which lived the pioneers of New England.

Among the early settlements made in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay was one at Agawam, now the town of Ipswich. The news had reached Boston that the French were pushing their settlements westward along the coast, bringing with them ’’divers priests and Jesuits,” which so alarmed the Governor and Council that it was decided to forestall the French and hasten the planting of new towns north of Boston. The first move was to send the Governor’s son John, with twelve others, to establish themselves at Agawam. There were no roads and so they sailed along the coast in a shallop and took possession of the town site

^Force’s Tracts, Washington, 1838.

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

9

in March, 1633. Their families and other settlers soon followed and the increase of population was such that in August, 1634, the Court of Assistants decreed that the place be called Ipswich, after old Ipswich in England, ''in acknowledgment of the great honor and kindness done to our people, who took shipping there.”

Three months later, in November, 1634, one John Dilling- ham arrived in Ipswich and the selectmen granted him six acres of land on which to build a house. He was from Leicestershire and with his wife and daughter had come over in the fleet with Winthrop in 1630, and remained in Boston until he removed to Ipswich. Life in the frontier settlement was too severe for him and he died during the next winter. On July 14, 1636, his widow, Sarah, made her "last will and testament” being in "perfect memory though my body be weake & sick” and a few days later she too was dead, leaving her orphaned daughter to be cared for by Richard Saltonstall and John Appleton, under the direc- tion of the Quarterly Court. And this was not at all diffi- cult for John Dillingham had left a "goodly estate,” for the times. This Dillingham home has been selected for analy- sis because it is one of the earliest estates in the Colony of which we have exact and detailed information, a number of documents relating to it having been preserved among the miscellaneous papers in the Massachusetts State Archives.* Moreover, it shows the furnishings and equip- ment of a settler living in a town of only two years growth from the wilderness.

The Dillingham homestead consisted of a house of two rooms and outbuildings with thirty acres of upland, sixty acres of meadow, i. e., grass land, and six acres of planting ground near the house, of which four acres were planted with corn. Apple trees and other fruits were fenced off in the garden. For livestock there was a mare, three cows, two steers, two heifers, four calves, and four pigs. There was an indentured servant, Thomas Downs, to help culti-

* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 15B, leaves 59-67.

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

vate the land and care for the stock, and a maid, Ann Towle, who not only helped with the housework but also worked in the fields. ''She hath been a faithful servant,’' wrote Richard Saltonstall, executor of the estate, "and though she was discharged by her mistress a little before her time was out, yet it may be borne by the estate, con- sidering her diligence.” Ann had come over in the ship Susan and Ellen, which arrived in April, 1635. Her pass- age cost £5.

The Dillinghams occupied a good social position in the youthful settlement but their two-room house did not con- tain any really fine furniture. The parlor was also used as a bedroom, a practice which was common everywhere in the seventeenth century. It had two bedsteads valued at £1. 6. 8. ; a cupboard, 10s.; a sea chest, 10s. ; two "joyned Chaires, ” 5s. ; a round table, 7s. ; a deske, 4s. ; and a band box, 2s. There was also a large nest of boxes valued £2. and a small nest of boxes worth only three shillings. The feather beds, boulsters, and pillows on each bed were valued at about twice as much as a bedstead and the coverlets averaged about £1. a piece. There were flaxen sheets for Mrs. Dillingham’s bed and coarse sheets for the beds of the maid and the indentured servant. A warming- pan bears silent testimony to the cold of the winter season. Another bedstead valued at only three shillings may have been in the garret and occupied by Ann Towle, the maid. A chest stood in the kitchen — more generally spoken of at that time as "the hall,” in accordance with the English usage— and two boxes, probably used for storage and also for seats. That was all the furniture listed in the kitchen that was considered of any value. The tables, stools, benches, shelving, or other furnishings seemingly neces- sary to housekeeping at that time either did not exist or were so crude in construction as to have little or no value in estimating the estate. We find five cushions, however, valued at fifteen shillings.

Mrs. Dillingham died possessed of a few really fine fur-

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

11

nishings — possibly treasured ancestral pieces — for she bequeathed a silver bowl to the wife of Richard Saltonstall, and to the wife of John Appleton she gave a silver porringer. It would be extremely interesting today to know what has become of these two pieces of Colonial silver. No other silver is mentioned but on shelving in the kitchen rested 40 1/2 pounds of pewter valued at £2. 14. 0. As a pewter plate of the time weighs nearly two pounds and a platter much more the supply of pewter for the table was not large. Wooden plates, trenchers, and bowls are not men- tioned, but there were twenty-five pewter saucers, six porringers, seven spoons, and five shillings worth of knives. As for table forks, they were practically unknown in the Colony at that time. Governor Winthrop brought over a fork in 1630, carefully preserved in a case, which is sup- posed to be the first and only table fork in the Colony in the earliest days of the settlements. Knives, spoons, and fingers, with plenty of napery, met the demands of table manners in the seventeenth century.

The large fireplace in the kitchen had its usual equip- ment of pothooks, fire shovel and tongs, gridiron, trivet, and bellows, and beside it was an old dark lantern valued at only two shillings. There were iron pots, kettles, skil- lets and ladles ; a brass pot and a mortar. There was a frying-pan with a hole in it and in a box were kept "bullets, hinges and other smale things.” Two beer vessels were listed ; a case of bottles, two jugs, three pans, a tray, and two baskets. Such was the simple equipment of the Dil- lingham kitchen. There were plenty of table-cloths and napkins but no curtains at any of the windows. If a broom were used it probably was made of birch twigs bound to- gether around a long handle. Candlesticks do not appear in the inventory and the only store of food mentioned (aside from twenty-one new cheeses valued at £2. 16. 0.) was seven bushels of rye, two firkins and a half of butter, a half bushel of malt, six pounds of raisins, and some spice. Our ancestors had a highly developed appreciation of the

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

value of condiments. In a Salem inventory at a somewhat later date appear salt, pepper, ginger, cloves, mace, cinna- mon, nutmegs, and allspice.

Mrs. Dillingham’s wearing apparel unfortunately is not listed item by item, but given a total value of £5. 8. 4. Her linen amounted to an almost equal sum. Some of her deceased husband’s clothing is included in the invertory, such as a coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, a suit of serge and a black suit of serge unmade, a jacket of cloth, and an old suit and cloak. Little Sara Dillingham, the orphaned child, when sent to school to goodwife Symonds was supplied with ’'a stuffe petticoat & waskote” and four ’'shifts with shewes” ; also a gown that cost £2. 10s. Per- haps after a time she may have been able to read and fully appreciate the books formerly in her loving father’s chest. They were : — "Perkins works in 3 volumes, Seaven Trea- tises bound in 2 volumes, the Spowse Royall, the bruised reade, & a little new testiment.”

By way of contrast let us glance at the inventory of the possessions of William GoogeofLynn, who died in 1646, ten years after Mrs. Dillingham had willed that her body be "decently buyried” and her child "religiously educated if God give it life.” Googe left a house and twelve acres of land and the total value of his possessions amounted to but £28. 11. 7, with debts of £4. 9. 7. He left a widow and three small children, and though dying in very lowly circumstances he may have known better times, for John Mascoll, the servant of Mr. Googe of Lynn, was fined in 1643, for neglecting the watch. The title of honor, "Mr.,” was used but sparingly in those early days and usually indicated a degree of social standing in the community.

Googe had been a soldier, for among his personal belong- ings at death were a sword and belt, a musket and bando- leers, and also gunpowder. One cow and four hogs com- prised his entire livestock, and five bushels of wheat, ten bushels of Indian corn, and flax in the bundle lay in the gar- ret of his house, which was frugally furnished with a chest.

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

13

a chair, an old chair, a stool, and a trunk. The family pro- bably slept on pallet beds made up on the floor, for bedding is listed but no bedsteads. They had a frying pan, a gridiron, a skillet, a posnet, an earthen pot, six spoons, and the following wooden ware, viz : ”3 wood trayes & 3 wood boules & 3 wood dishes ,1s. 9d.; one runlitt. Is.; paieles & tubs, 3s.” Two bags valued at two shillings bring to a close the list of the earthly possessions of William Googe of Lynn. When the inventory was brought into court it very properly gave the goods to the widow 'Tor the bring- ing up of her three small children.” So reads the record.

Doubtless there were many families in the Colony little better conditioned, judging from the relatively small num- ber of estates settled through the courts when compared with the deaths and estimated population.

Googe's house and twelve acres of land were valued at only £8. This must have been a very simple, thatch- roofed house of not more than two rooms, comparable with the outlying farmhouse of Jacob Perkins that was burned in Ipswich in 1668. And thereby hangs a tale. Master Perkins and his wife had gone to town one summer after- noon leaving the house in charge of Mehitable Brabrooke, a sixteen-year-old serving maid. We will let the ancient document in the court flies relate what happened.

"About 2 or 3 aclocke in the aftemoone she was taking tobacco in a pipe and went out of the house with her pipe and gott upon the oven on the outside & backside of the house (to looke if there were any hogs in the come) and she layed her right hand upon the thatch of the house (to stay herselfe) and with her left hand knocked out her pipe over her right arme upon the thatch on the eaves of the house (not thinking there had been any fire in the pipe) and imediately went downe into the come feild to drive out the hogs she saw in it, and as she was going toward the railes of the feild . . . she looked back, and saw a smoke upon her Mistress' house in the place where she had knocked out her pipe at which shee was much frighted.”*

* Essex County Quarterly Court Records, Vol. IV, pp. 56-57.

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The wife of a neighbor came running to the assistance of Mehitable and afterwards testified that when she reached the house she looked into both fireplaces and saw no ap- pearance of fire, only a few brands nearly dead under a great kettle hanging in the chimney. She also looked up into the chamber through the floor boards that lay very open on the side where the smoke was.

Could photographs more vividly picture the scene ? The thatch-roofed farmhouse had two rooms on the ground floor and a chimney with two fireplaces. An oven was built on the backside probably having an opening inside the kitchen fireplace in the usual manner. The house was of but one story judging from the low roof that the maid was able to reach when standing on the oven, and the floor of the chamber in the loft had wide cracks between the boards so that it was possible to look through from be- low and see the under side of the roof. In similar homes lived many a family in the early days in comparative com- fort.

As for the careless Mehitable, she was brought before the Quarterly Court on suspicion of wilfully setting the house on Are ; a serious offence, which as late as 1821, was the cause of the execution in Salem of a sixteen-year-old boy. Among those who deposed at her trial was a young man who said that as he and she were going into the meadow, before the fire, to make hay, she told him that her mistress was angry with her, but she had "'fitted her now’' for she had put a great toad into her kettle of milk. As it turned out the Court ordered Mehitable to be severely whipped and to pay £40 damages to her master Jacob Per- kins. It now seems incredible that a serving maid of 1668 could ever get together so large a sum of money.

The settlers in the New England Colonies, unless persons of wealth or possessed of large families, during the early years lived generally in houses having but one room and an entry-way on the ground floor. Above would be a chamber — sometimes only a garret. As the family in-

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

15

creased in size and became more prosperous another room would be added to the house on the other side of the entry and chimney, making the structure a so-called two-room house. Still later, with the need for more room, a leanto would be built on the back of the house, thereby supplying three additional rooms on the ground floor with a kitchen in the middle. The earlier kitchen would then become a living-room or "sitting room’' — in the New England phrase. This earlier kitchen was usually called "the hall” during the seventeenth century and in it centered the life of the family. It was the room where the food was cooked and eaten. There the family sat and there the indoor work was carried on. A loom sometimes occupied considerable space near a window and frequently a bed was made up in a corner, on which the father of the family slept, and there sometimes also he died.

The principal feature of this common room was its huge fireplace in which hung pots and kettles suspended by means of pot chains and trammels from the hardwood trammel-bar or lug-pole that rested on wooden cross bars and so bisected the wide flue in the chimney. These large fireplaces in the early days were sometimes called "chim- neys” in the vernacular of the time. They were generally as wide as eight feet and a ten foot opening is not unknown.

This cavernous opening was spanned by a wooden lintel — a stick of timber sometimes sixteen inches or more square, and when exposed to a roaring Are, piled high with logs, this became an element of danger, the charring wood smoldering all night and setting Are to the house. The trammel-bar in the flue also caught fire not infrequently and gave way, allowing the pots and kettles to fall to the hearth, bringing disaster to the dinner or to the curdling milk and sometimes to those seated near. A trammel stick in the house of Captain Denney gave way from this cause and a large kettle filled with wort* fell down and spilt the boiling liquid over four of his children who were

*Beer in the making.

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DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

sitting or lying on the hearth, some of them asleep, 'Vhich scalded them in so terrible a manner, that one died present- ly after, and another’s life is dispaired of” continues the record.

’’Here is good living for those who love good fires,” wrote Higginson in his '^New-Englands Plantation,” and under the spell of the glowing flames, the bare, whitewashed walls, the brown timbers and floor boards of the ceiling, the dress of pewter, and the simple furnishings of the room, enriched by the shadows, became a place full of cheer — a place where privation and homesickness might be forgotten in the glow of the bright firelight. On cold nights the short bench inside the fireplace was a chosen place and the set- tle, a long seat made of boards with a high back to keep off the draft, was drawn before the fire and here sat the older members of the family.

The larger kettles hanging in the fireplace, were of brass and copper and some of them were of prodigious size. Hot water was always to be had and these kettles also served for the daily cooking, the cheese-making, soap-boiling, and candle-dipping.

Much of the food of the average New Englander until comparatively recent times consisted of corn-meal, boiled meats and vegetables and stews. Every well-equipped household had its spits for roasting and many had gridirons, but the usual diet of the average family was ”hasty pud- ding,”— cornmeal mush and milk — varied by boiled meat or fish served in the center of a large pewter platter and surrounded by boiled vegetables. Baked beans and stewed beans appeared on the table several times every week in the year. Indian bannock, made by mixing corn meal with water and spreading it an inch thick on a small board placed at an incline before the fire and so baked, was a common form of bread. When mixed with rye meal it be- came brown bread and was baked in the brick oven with the beans and peas.

The brick oven was a feature of every chimney. Some-

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

17

times in early days it was built partly outside the house but so far as known the opening was always in the kitchen fireplace. To reach it the housewife must stoop below the oaken lintel and stand inside the fireplace, taking care that her woolen skirts did not come near the flames. To heat it for a baking, a fire was built inside, usually with specially prepared pine or birch wood that had been split and seasoned out of doors for a short time and then housed. The oven was hot enough when the black was burned off the top and the inside had become a uniform light color. The fire and ashes were then taken out by means of a peel — a long-handled, flat-bladed shovel made for the purpose — and when dusted out with a broom made of hemlock twigs it was ready for the brown bread, beans, peas, In- dian pudding, pies, and rye drop cakes which were made with rye meal, eggs and milk and baked directly on the bricks in the bottom of the oven. Potatoes and eggs were roasted in the ashes of the fireplace.

Between the years of 1635 and 1655, court records and inventories of estates in the Massachusetts Bay Colony mention the following articles of food :

Bacon, beef, butter, cheese, eggs, fowls, lamb, milk, mut- ton, pork, suet, veal, wild game, and cod, herring, macker- el, salmon and sturgeon.

Barley, beans, Indian beans, bran, cabbages, carrots, chaff, corn, English corn, Indian corn, hops, Indian meal, rye meal, oatmeal, oats, parsnips, pease, pumpions, rye, squashes, turnips and wheat.

Apples, berries, fruit, honey, raisins, sugar and vinegar.

Biscuit, blewlman, bread, cake, malt, salad oil, porridge, rye malt, yeast, salt and many kinds of spices.

Much of this food was raised on the farm and nearly every family had its garden. Such articles of food as were imported were usually obtained at the shops in the larger towns by barter, as money was scarce. In 1651, a farmer from the frontier town of Andover came through the woods to Salem in his cart bringing twelve bushels of rye. He

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stopped at a shop owned by George Corwin and from the daybook kept at the time and still carefully preserved, we learn that among other necessaries he carried home sugar for the goodwife and for the children— a doll and a bird whistle.

In the early years domestic animals were too valuable to be killed for meat but game was plentiful and was roast- ed by being trussed on iron spits resting on curved brack- ets on the backs of the andirons. This, of course, required constant turning to expose the roast on all sides in order to cook it evenly— a task frequently delegated to a child. A skillet would be placed beneath to catch the drippings. Sometimes a bird was suspended before the fire by a twist- ed cord that would slowly unwind and partly wind again, requiring some one in frequent attendance to twist the cord. Families of wealth possessed a "jack” to turn the spit. This was a mechanism fastened over the fireplace and con- nected with the spit by means of a pulley and cord. A heavy weight suspended by a cord which slowly unwound, sup- plied the power that turned the spit.

At night, on going to bed, the fire was carefully covered with ashes in order to keep it for the next day. This was called "raking up the fire.” If through poor judgment the fire didn’t keep some one would go to a near neighbor to borrow coals, or if this was inconvenient, resort was then had to the tinder box. Tinder was made by charring linen or cotton rags and the tinder box was kept in the niche on the inside of the fireplace, made by leaving out a couple of bricks.

In "the hall,” usually upon open shelves, but sometimes upon a dresser, was displayed the pride of the housewife, — the dress of pewter and lattin ware. "China dishes,” imported by the East India Company or made in Holland, were used sparingly during the early years of the colonies. There was much earthenware and stoneware bottles and jugs, but it was woodenware and pewter that were com- monly used. When Lionel Chute died in 1645 he bequea-

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19

thed his silver spoon to his son James.* It was the only piece of silver in the house. Of pewter he died possessed of fourteen dishes ''small and great,” eleven pewter salts, saucers and porringers, two pewter candlesticks and a pewter bottle. The widow Rebecca Bacon who died in Salem in 1655, left an estate of £195. 8. 6., v/hich included a well-furnished house. She had brass pots, skillets, candle- sticks, skimmers, a little brass pan, and an excellent supply of pewter including ”3 large pewter platters, 3 a size lesse, 3 more a size lesse, 3 more a size lesse,” having a total val- ue of £1. 16. She also had a pewter basin, six large pewter plates, and six lesser, nineteen pewter saucers, two fruit dishes, an old basin and a great plate, two candlesticks, one large salt and a small one, two porringers, a great fla- gon, one lesser, one quart, two pints and a half pint ; and an old porringer. She also left "1 silver duble salt, 6 silver spoones, wine cup & a dram cup of silver.”

Giles Badger of Newbury left to his young widow, a glass bowl, beaker, and jug valued at three shillings ; three sil- ver spoons valued at £1, and a good asssortment of pewter, including "a salt seller, a tunell and a great dowruff.” The household was also furnished with six wooden dishes and two wooden platters. In other inventories appear unusual items such as a pewter brim basin, pewter cullenders, pewter beer cups, pans, and mustard pots. Pewter tank- ards were common. There were new and old fashioned candlesticks. Pewter salts came in three sizes and the saucers were both small and large. In 1693, best London pewter plates cost the Boston shopkeepers 9 1/2 pence per pound in quantity.

The seventeenth century "hall” must have had little spare room for its daily occupants, for in addition to its table and chairs, its settle, stools and wash bench, the long ago inventories disclose such chattels as powdering tubs in which the salted meats were kept, the churn, barrels containing a great variety of things, keelers and buckets.

Probate Records of Essex County, Mass. Vol. I, p. 47.

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bucking tubs for washing, and the various implements used in spinning and weaving, washing and ironing, cock- ing and brewing, and the making of butter and cheese. In the chimney hung hams and bacon and suspended from the ceiling were strings of dried apples and hands of seed corn.

It is claimed by some that the floors were sanded. That certainly was true at a later period but there are strong elements of doubt as to the prevalence of this custom dur- ing the seventeenth century. Sand, however, was used freely with home-made soft soap, to scrub the floors which were always kept white and clean, and whenever an early house is restored or taken down sand is always found, sometimes in considerable quantity, where it has sifted down through the cracks between the floor boards. The downstairs rooms had double floors but the chamber floors were made of one thickness of boards with here and there a knothole and frequently with cracks between the boards through which the dust and dirt from above must have sifted down upon the heads of those seated at dinner or en- gaged in their daily tasks in the rooms below. Not only does the structural evidence show this to be true but a number of instances occur among the papers in Court files, where witnesses have deposed as to what they had seen and heard through the cracks in chamber floors. A grand- son of Governor Endecott once fell a victim of two gossip- ing sixteen-year old girls who had spent some time on their knees peeping through the cracks in a chamber floor. Capt. Richard More, the last survivor of the company on the "'Mayflower,” late in life kept a tavern in Salem. He was spied upon in this manner and eventually brought be- fore the justices of the Quarterly Court to answer for his evasion of the lav/ set forth and maintained at that time.

The parlor, called "the foreroom” at a later time, was the room where guests of station were received. The best bed hung with curtains and valance and covered with a rug, stood in a corner. In those days rugs were not used on

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

21

floors but as bed furnishings. Even the baby’s cradle had its rug. Carpets, likewise, were too fine for wooden floors and were used as table covers. Of bedsteads there were many kinds, — high and low, canopy, close, corded, half- headed, joined, side, standing, inlaid, and wainscott, and slipped under the higher bedsteads during the daytime, were trundle or ’’truckle” beds in which the children slept at night. Lionel Chute, the schoolmaster, had an ’’old darnkell coverlet” on his bed while some of his neighbors possessed branched and embroidered coverlets and several had coverlets made of tapestry.

Among the better families the parlor and chamber win- dows had curtains hung from rods. In the parlor stood one or more chests in which were stored the family clothing and bedding, for closets did not exist in the seventeenth cen- tury house. There were great chests and small chests, long boarded and great boarded chests, chests with a drawer, carved chests, wainscot chests, trunks, and boxes. A few stools and chairs, a looking glass, a small table, and perhaps a cupboard completed the furnishings of the well-supplied parlor. In Capt. George Corwin’s best room there were chairs with leather bottoms and straw bottoms, a clock val- ued at £2, a screen having five leaves, a napkin press, and a ’’Scriture or Spice box.” White calico curtains hung at his chamber windows and the maid had a ’’Calico Cuberd cloth” in her room. Parlor walls were whitewashed and bare of ornament. The first families owned a portrait or two in oils and here and there a map in unglazed frame decorated a wall. The Puritan character did not warm to the fine arts and austere living was the aim if not always the achievement of the time.

The chambers in the second story must have been cu- riously furnished rooms, containing a huddle of stores of all descriptions. Henry Short, the town clerk of Newbury, died in 1673 leaving a goodly estate valued at nearly £2000.* He owned a negro slave and his house was large and well

* Probate Records of Essex County, Mass., Vol. II, p. 348.

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furnished. There was an old parlor and a new parlor con- taining beds, chests, chairs, trunks, and boxes. In the chamber over the new parlor there was a good feather-bed and bed clothing but no bedstead. Wool and yarn were stored in this room together with boxes, tubs, some feath- ers, and miscellaneous "lumber” — the phrase of the period for odds and ends. The chamber over the kitchen, a com- fortable room of course, in winter, had its bed and bedding, also "5 hogsheds, 6 barrels, 5 Iron hoopes, a pair of stock- cards, meale trough & other lumber, a parcell of old Iron, a pike, a bed cord & other cordage.” Small wonder in such a clutter that the rooms frequently had other tenantry than the human occupants.

When Jasper Bankers arrived in Boston in 1680, the cap- tain of the packet took him to his sister's house where he lodged. "We were taken to a fine large chamber,” he writes, "but we were hardly in bed before we were shock- ingly bitten. I did not know the cause, but was not able to sleep. . . . My comrade who was very sleepy, fell asleep at first. He tumbled about very much ; but I did not sleep any the whole night. In the morning we saw how it was, and were astonished we should find such a room with such a lady.”*

With the present wide-spread belief in Puritan austerity of character, there is associated a conception of a simplicity of dress and manners. But the channels of information by which present day beliefs have been shaped usually have been ecclesiastical, and bias and convenient forget- fulness have been factors in outlining the composition of the picture. Human nature and human frailities were much the same in the seventeenth century as at the present time. In point of fact, our New England ancestors when viewed as a body, are found to have had standards of liv- ing far below those of today. The common speech was gross in the extreme. Crowded living led to familiarity. There was more drunkenness, profanity, loose living and

*Dankers, /(OMrwa/ of a Voyage to New York, Brooklyn, 1867.

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23

petty crime in proportion to the population than at the present time, and by no means did every one go to meeting on Sunday. The ministers controlled the lawmaking body and sumptuary laws were enacted which are enlightening. Because of "'newe and immodest fashions’" the wearing of silver, gold and silk laces, girdles and hat bands was pro- hibited. It was the fashion at that time to slash the sleeves so that a fabric of another color worn beneath would show in an ornamental manner through the slash. The minis- ters decreed that neither man nor woman should wear clothing with more than one slash on each sleeve and an- other on the back. ’’Cuttworks, inbroidered or needle worke capps, bands & rayles,” were forbidden.* Ruffs and beaver hats were prohibited, as was long hair. Binding or small edging laces might be used, but the making or selling of bone lace was penalized at the rate of five shillings per yard.

But this didn’t change human nature and although from time to time offenders were taken into court and punished, the wearing of fine clothing fashioned after the London mode continued and a few years later the ministers tried their hand again. Any kind of lace was anathema and '’no garment shalbee made with short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arme may bee discovered.” On the other hand, large sleeves were forbidden, so the maids and good- wives of the time must have been somewhat at a loss to know how lawfully to fashion their clothes.

The minister at Ipswich grew so ill-tempered over the ungodly state of the women in his town that he vented his spleen as follows : — "When I hear a nugiperous Gentle- dame inquire what dress the Queen is in this week, what the nudius tertian of the Court, I look at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome of nothing, fitter to be kickt, if she were of a kick- able substance than either honoured or humoured.”t

* Records of the Mass. Bay Colony, Vol. I, p. 126.

fWard, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam, London, 1647.

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The minister in the adjoining town, Rowley, actually cut off his nephew from his inheritance because he wore his hair long in the prevailing fashion. Later in the century the offense of wearing long hair was forgotten in the un- speakable sin of wearing wigs. The Great and General Court again took a hand and in 1675 condemned "the prac- tise of men’s wearing their own or other’s hair made into periwigs.” Judge Sev/all in his Diary alludes to the custom. In 1685 three persons were admitted to the Old South Church in Boston. "Two wore periwigs,” comments the Judge.

"1708, Aug. 20, Mr. Chievar died. The Wellfare of the Province was much upon his Spirit. He abominated Peri- wigs.”*

The Great and General Court at one time ordered that no person should smoke tobacco in public under a penalty of two shillings and six pence, nor in his own house with a relative or friend. But everybody smoked who wanted to, even the maids, and the repressive legislation in time met the usual fate of similar efforts to restrain individual lib- erty and manners.

It is sweet to fancy Priscilla at her spinning wheel wear- ing the coif and nun-like garb of the Puritan maiden of the poet and the artist. But the inventories of estates in the early years of the Colony, as well as at a later time, furnish evidence of a different character. The variety of fabrics listed is amazing and holds its own with the modern de- partment store. There are most of the well-known fabrics of today, such as calico, cambric, challis, flannel, lawn, linen, plush, serge, silk, velvet, and many others; and there are also names that sound strangely in modern ears, viz : cheney, darnex, dovdas, genting, inckle, lockrum, os- sembrike, pennistone, perpetuana, sempiternum, stammeii, and water paragon.

As for dress, — the women wore bonnets, caps, silk hoods, coifs, forehead cloths, ruffs, and whisks. Gowns, cloaks,

*Sewall's Diary, Vol. II, p. 231.

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25

mantles, and muffs are mentioned frequently ; as are many kinds of lace and even fans and veils. Shawls and scarfs were not unknown and there were gold, silver, and enam- elled rings. At least one woman possessed a mask, and stomachers were not uncommon. Tortoise shell combs appear ; all well-to-do persons wore gloves, and as for shoes — there were shoes with French heels, fall shoes, and those with silver buckles. Even shoe-strings appear in the in- ventories. There were silver, pewter, and steel buttons and those of gympe, thread, and silk.

Laboring men wore leather and coarse fabrics and for others there were suits, doublets, waistcoats and breeches. Trousers are mentioned ; also a cane and periwigs. Of caps and hats there were a number of kinds — felt, castor, demi-castor, and even straw. Capt. George Corwin, a Salem merchant, owned a cloth coat trimmed with silver lace, a velvet coat, a tabby doublet, an old fashioned Dutch satin doublet, four cloaks of various kinds, two pairs of golden topped gloves, one embroidered pair, and a pair with black fringe. He also took his walks abroad wearing silk stock- ings, with a hat encircled by a silver band and carrying a silver headed cane or a plate hilt rapier, according to fash- ion. He possessed two silver watches. Who shall say that the men and women of the New England colonies did not dress well and live well in the early days according to their means?

What was their conduct not only in their homes but in their relations with their neighbors ? Did they live peace- ably and work together in building up the settlements ? Did they set up in the wilderness domestic relations exact- ly like those they had abandoned over-seas ? It was a raw frontier country to which they came and it is apparent that at the outset they felt themselves to be transplanted Eng- lishmen. So far as possible they lived the lives to which they had been accustomed and they engrafted in their new homes the manners and customs of the generations behind them. Most of them fully recognized, however, that they

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were not to return ; that they had cut loose from the old home ties and it was not long before the necessities and limitations of frontier life brought about changed condi- tions in every direction. Politically, religiously and social- ly, they were in a different relation than formerly in the English parish life. Many of them, especially those some- what removed from the immediate supervision of magis- trate and minister, before long seem to have shown a ten- dency to follow the natural bent of the frontiersman to- ward independent thought and action. Their political leaders made laws restricting daily life and action and their religious leaders laid down rules for belief and conduct, that soon were repellent to many. Civil and clerical records are filled with instances showing an evasion of and even contempt for the laws and rules laid down by the leaders of their own choosing. Some of it doubtless was in the blood of the men who had come in search of a certain indi- vidual freedom of action, but much of it may be attributed to frontier conditions and primitive living. There were many indentured servants, and rough fishermen and sailors have always been unruly. Simple houses of but few rooms accommodating large families are not conducive to gentle speech or modesty of manner nor to a strict morality. The craving for land holding and the poorly defined and easily removed bounds naturally led to ill feeling, assault, defamation, and slander.

It has been stated frequently that in the olden times in New England every one was obliged to go to church. The size of the meeting houses, the isolated locations of many of the houses, the necessary care of the numerous young children, and the interesting side-lights on the manners of the time which may be found in the court papers, all go to show that the statement must not be taken literally. Ab- sence from meeting, breaking the Sabbath, carrying a bur- den on the Lord’s Day, condemning the church, condemn- ing the ministry, scandalous falling out on the Ix)rd’s Day, slandering the church, and other misdemeanors of a similar character were frequent.

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A curious instance of Sabbath breaking occurred at Hampton, N. H. in 1646. Aquila Chase and his wife and David Wheeler were presented at court for gathering pease on the Sabbath. They were admonished. The family tradition has it that Aquila returned from sea that morn- ing and his wife wishing to supply a delicacy for dinner, fell into grave error in thus pandering to his unsanctified appetite.

At the Feb. 29, 1648 session of the court held in Salem, eight cases were tried. A Gloucester man was fined for cursing, saying 'There are the brethern ; the devil scald them.” Four servants were fined for breaking the Sabbath by hunting and killing a raccoon in the time of the public exercise to the disturbance of the congregation. If the animal had taken to the deep woods instead of staying near the meeting house the servants might have had their fun without paying for it. Then came a Marblehead case — a man who had sailed his boat into the harbor loaded with hay that he had brought from Gloucester. This was on the Lord’s Day at the time when people were going to the morning exercises. He, too, was fined. Nicholas Pinion, who worked at the Saugus Iron Works, was presented for absence from meeting four Lord’s Days together, "spending his time drinking and prophanely,” and Nicholas Russell of the same locality was fined for spending a great part of one Lord’s Day with Pinion in drinking strong water and cursing Pinion’s wife thereby causing jealously in the fam- ily ; and the woman in question having broken her bond for good behavior, was ordered to be severely whipped. The other cases were for swearing, in which the above named lady was included ; for being disguised in drink ; and for living from his wife. And so the court ended.

Drunkenness was very common in the old days. Every family kept on hand a supply of liquor and wine, and cider was considered a necessity of daily living in the country, where it was served with each meal and also carried into the fields by the workers. It was stored in barrels in the

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cellar and the task of drawing the cider and putting it on the table usually fell to the younger members of the fam- ily. A man would often provide in his will for the comfort of his loving wife by setting aside for occupancy during her life, one half of his house, with a carefully specified number of bushels of rye, potatoes, turnips and other veg- etables ; the use of a horse with which to ride to meeting or elsewhere ; and lastly, the direction that annually she be provided with a certain number of barrels of cider, — some- times as many as eight.

Rev. Edward Holyoke, the President of Harvard College, was in the habit of laying in each year thirty or more bar- rels of cider as he had to provide for much entertaining. Late in the winter he would draw off part of his stock and into each barrel he would pour a bottle of spirit and a month later some of this blend would be bottled for use on special occasions.

As an example of life and manners in seventeenth cen- tury New England, the ministerial experiences of Topsfield may be cited. It is an inland town near Ipswich and was set- tled in 1639. The first minister was the Rev. William Perkins who had been a selectman and representative at Weymouth and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in Boston. Later he preached at Gloucester where one of his flock was presented at court for unbecoming speeches against Mr. Perkins, saying "if it were not for the law, shee would never come to the meeting, the teacher was so dead . . . affirming that the teacher was fitter to be a ladys chamberman than to be in the pulpit.”* He removed to Topsfield in 1656 and before long was collecting his salary through the courts. Some of his flock retaliated and brought him into court for drunkenness, when it appeared that he had stopped at the Malden ordinary and called for a cup of sack but goody Hill told him that he had had too much already and Master Perkins replied "if you think I am drunk let me see if I can not goe” and he went tottering

* Essex County Quarterly Court Records, Vol. I, p. 275.

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about the kitchen and said the house was so full of potts and kettles that he could hardly go.

In 1663 a meeting house was built in Topsfield, and the Rev. Thomas Gilbert, a Scotchman, supplanted Mr. Perkins. The new minister also had a love for good wine and after a time Mr. Perkins entered a complaint and it appears from the records that one sacrament day Mr. Gilbert entertained at dinner a number of the older men and women whose homes were distant from the meeting house. He possessed a golden cup and what was left of the sacramental wine was drunk at dinner, the cup being passed around the table at least twice, the minister drinking deeply with the not unusual result, for he forgot to give thanks and sang a psalm with lisping utterance. Mr. Gilbert was followed in his pastorate by the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, a Harvard graduate, who, during his eight years stay in Topsfield, be- came a familiar figure in the courts because of suits for non-payment of salary, for cursing and swearing, and for a damaging complaint for slander exhibiting much discredit- able testimony. Then came the Rev. Joseph Capen and during his pastorate of over forty years the town and church enjoyed a peaceful growth interrupted only by the witch- craft delusion of 1692 in which an attempt to appropriate land of Topsfield men played an important part.

But manners and crimes vary with the centuries as do dress and speech. In the year 1655, the following crimes were penalized in the courts of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: eavesdropping, meddling, neglecting work, naughty speech, profane dancing, kissing, making love without con- sent of friends, uncharitableness to a poor man in distress, carelessness about fire, wearing great boots, etc., and a few years later we find other strange misdemeanors, such as abusing a mother-in-law, wicked speeches against a son- in-law, kicking another in the street, leaving children alone in the house, pulling hair, riding behind two fellows at night (this was a girl, Lydia by name), sleeping in meeting and dissenting from the rest of the jury.

30

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

With such minute supervision of the daily life of the colonists it can readily be appreciated that it was an age for gossiping, meddlesome interference with individual life and liberty and that in the course of time nearly every one came before the courts as complainant, defendant or witness. There were few amusements or intellectual divisions and they could only dwell on the gossip and small doings of their immediate surroundings. But all the while there was underlying respect for law, religion and the rights of others. The fundamantal principals of human life were much the same as at the present day, and men and women lived together then as now and as they always will — with respect and love.

AN ACCOUNT OF SUPPLIES FURNISHED BY THE COMPANY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY TO REV. SAMUEL SKELTON, THE MINISTER AT SALEM.

The following account of food, fabrics, household supplies and equipment furnished by the Company of the Massa- chusetts Bay to Rev. Samuel Skelton, the first minister at Salem ; is of much economic interest. The emigrants sailed from London about the middle of April, 1629 and reached the harbor of Naumkeak (now Salem) on June 30th. Mr. Skelton died Aug. 2, 1634 and this accounting may have been made up after his death. It begins in 1629 at the time of the departure from England and covers an indeter- minate period. The increase of livestock over a period of five years is described and this seems to indicate the period of residence at Salem until his death.

It is enlightening to find that the Massachusetts Bay Company seems to have maintained a company shop at which supplies of all kinds might be obtained ; and it is a matter for comment that the minister’s family was supplied during the voyage and in the early days following the set- tlement, with such luxuries as powdered sugar, salad oil, Castile soap and almonds, not to mention, also, a variety of spices, such as pepper, cloves, mace, and nutmegs.

The original of this document may be seen in the Suffolk County Court Files, Volume I.

Other interesting lists of all kinds of materials sent over by the Company, may be found in the Company records printed by the Commonwealth in 1853 (Vol. I, pp. 23-37) and also by the American Antiquarian Society (Transactions, Vol. Ill, pp. 5-30e).

(31)

32

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

Coppie of An Accompte of monies M'' Skelton is Cred- itor viz.

An" 1629

Imprimis p so much w"*' should 1 haue bene paid him in England >- towards fitting him for y" voy'''^^ j Item for Charges att Tillbury, Cowes, & Plimoth, being wind bound Item p Twenty p Annum for 3 years is y" some of Item for on bushell of wheat flowe’’ Ite. for one bushell of oatmeale Ite. for one holland & 2 ordenary Cheess

Ite. for of powder sugar att Ite. for one Loafe Cont T att 1® 6^^

Ite. for one sugar Loafe Cont 5“ att r r p li.

Ite. 6“ of pepper Ite. Nutmeggs 4 oz Ite. one oz. of Clovs, & one oz. of mace Ite. fij/' of starch Ite. xij^' of Rice Ite. of Vntryed suett Ite. one gall of aquavite Ite. for one fiitch of Bacon Ite. Castle soape ix*' att 8^ p li Ite. frute viz Rasons Corrants & pruens

Ite. Safron ij oz

Ite. five qu of stronge water

Ite. Almonds ij“ at T 2^

Ite. XV*' of tryed suett at S'* p. li Ite. one gall of Sallert oyle Ite. vj** of Candles Ite. V geese & ix ducks

li. s. d. 20-00-00

02-10-00

60-00-00

00- 15-00 00-10-00

00-10-00

01- 03-09 00-10-06

00-07-11

00-12-00

00-01-08

00-02-00

00-01-03

00-06-00

00-03-00

00-03-08

00-14-00

00-06-00

00-14-00

00-05-00

00-08-00

00-02-04

00-10-00

00-06-00

00-03-00

00-08-00

An" 1630 Ite. xij** of Butter att 00 - 08 - 00

Ite. vj potts of Butter Cont. vij** p pott 01 - 08 - 00 Ite. ij Cheeses about x li a pc 00-11-08

Ite. half a firkin of butter of M'' Gibbs 00 - 17 - 06 Ite. one Third p^'t of a barrell of w* biskett 00-10-00

Ite. one pott of honey vij** wa^ att 00 -07-10

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

33

Ite. one pott of butte'' att

Ite. x“ of Corrants att

Ite. [ ] Bacon

Ite. one doz of Candles

Ite. ij Cheeses att vj"* p li

Ite. iij Cheeses att vij p. li

Ite. one porkett

Ite. xij*' of tryed suett

Ite. vj gees & xij ducks

Ite. vj po : of powder suger about 20'^

Ite. V po : of powder suger 18"^

Ite. x“ of Loaf suger Ite. Cloves & mace Ite. ij oz of Nutmeggs j® & Sinam'’ 16'^ Ite. workmens wadges for Cutting & bringing home wood against winter about

li. s. d.

00-03-00

00-05-00

00-10-00

00-08-00

00-11-03

00- 17-09

01- 05-00 00-08-00 00-14-00 00-10-00

00- 07-06

01- 00-00 00-01-00 00-02-04

03-00-00

Suma to“®

105-18-11

Item so much p"^ M'" Pearce"^ for provisions of meale, pease, Canvas, Carsey & etcr w^^ 3^'

5® 9'^ after 25^' Cent. & freight. I say p"^ the some of Ite. for 3 quarts of aquavite Ite. for X*' of Rice att 5"^

Ite. 10'* of Butt[er] att Ite. 4 Chees[es] att Ite. 10 peeces of pork Ite. more 20“ of Butter Ite. more 4 bushells Virginia Come Jte. soape 7" & vinege*" 4 galP 8" & lg‘

Ite. 2 pecke of w^ salte att

12-15-01

00-03-09

00- 04-02 00-06-08

01- 03-04 00-11-08 00-10-00

02- 00-00

00-17-00

00:03:00

Sumis 18-14-08

And on the other syde the totall some of 105 - 18 - 11

Suma to 124-13-07

*The master of the ship George Bonaventure in which Mr. Skelton came over.

34

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

Now ye Increase

The first yeare next after the receipte of the 2 heiffers, both the Calues miscaried, one about a quarter ould dyed, the other neare upon a yeare ould lost by the woolves.

The second yeare there was a heiffer Calfe and a bull Calfe, w'^" heiffer is now in my hands And the Bull Calfe IVT Skelton sould att one ye’' and three quarters ould for eight pounds.

ginning of winter weare both eaten with the woolves. Now since the three foresaid years, the next yeare after was Twoe bull Cal vs, and an heiffer Calfe, the springe be- fore M’’ Skeltons death.

And This yeare since was Three bull Calues Twoe wher- of are dead the one when it was about Twenty & twoe weeks ould, the other since winter did begin. Now for the keep- ing of the Catle w''^’ should haue beene att the Companyes Chardge, hath wholly lyen vpon vs.

The Therd yeare was

which the be-

M’’ Skeltons account w^^ the Companie

M’’ Skelton is D pr viz

li. s. d

14 yards of Dutch serge Rec’^ att 02 - 05 - 09

It. 17 yards of ffustian att It. 11 yards of w^ English ieans It. 12 yards of Red p petuana It. 12 yards of Greene say It. 12 yards of yellow say It 12 elns of lin [ torn ] men It. 14 elns Nouess [ torn ] llain It. 20 elns o[f loc] krum It. 20 elns stript [linsey] woolsye

It. [ ] yards [ torn ] buckrum It. one peece of Noridg serg It. 20 elns of Lockerum It. 15 yards of w^ fflannell It. 20 elns of Course Canvas It. one pound of whalbone

01-07-00

00- 13-09

01- 16-00 01-13-00 01-13-00

00- 14-00

01- 17-04 01-05-10 01-09-04 00-05-03

00- 15-00

01- 05-10 00-15-00

01 - 04 [torn] 0 [torn]

20-11-00

Item so much p*^ M’' Renell

p’^t of M’’ Pearce his bill, the some of 08 - 00 - 00

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

35

Item of Iron att 3"^ is It. one syth It. one fishing line

It. 30 pound ocum

It. W 2000 Nails p C.

It. ^ 600 Nails 10" p C.

It. 1 Reame of paper Item, borrowed of Cp. Endicot of y"" Comp. 7 yrds of bays att 2® 6" y" is

halfe a elne of ffustian att

It. 2 yards & half of yellow Carsey

3s 4d

li. s. d.

00-02-03

00-03-00

00-03-00

00-07-06

00-10-00

00-05-05

00-10-00

00-17-06

00-00-10

00-08-04

Suma To*'® St. 031 - 19 - 05

Ite. 2 gall of Metheglen

It. one Lethe"^ Jack

It. two Tubbs

It. one wooden hand boule

Ite. vinegar

It. 3 peuter botle® quarts It. one pinte peute"" botle Ite. one hatt

00-08-00 00-01 06

00-03-06

00-00-10

00-10-00

33-03-03

rec of M"' Winthrop Govern’’

Ite. 3 yMs of Cambrick

6 y’^ds & a h : of Loomeworke 2 Drinking homes 8 p*" of shoes for men 6 p’’ of gray stockings for men 6 p’’ of stockings for women 6 p’^ of stockings for children 10 y’’ds of Carsey Thred

2000 of pinnes 6 Alls

one webb of blew gartering 2 knots of Tape

AN INVOICE OF ENGLISH GOODS SHIPPED TO NEW ENGLAND ABOUT 1690.

In July, 1694, suit was brought in the Court at Boston, by John Caxy of London, England, against Joseph Mallenson of Boston, to whom the London merchant had consigned various goods for the Boston market, the shipment consist- ed of a great variety of clothing, fabrics, hardwear, imple- ments, kitchen utensils and pewter. Mallenson not having remitted for the goods, suit was bought and a copy of the invoice was presented at court and is still preserved among the Massachusetts State Archives. This document throws considerable light on the furnishings of the colonial home at that time and the prevailing scale of prices.

Invoice and Contents of Sundry Goods Laden on Board the good ship called the Friendship Capt. John Ware Co- mand"' bound from this Port of London for Boston in New England and goes consigned to M"" Joseph Mallenson for the proper Accompt & Risque of John Caxy.

One Large Fatt Felt & Castor hatts as viz^ N^'. 1.

N^". 1 3 doz : Boyes Felts Edged & Lin’d

at 14/ p doz:

£2.02.0

2.08.0

2.14.0 3.00.0

6.16.0 20.00.0

7.04.0

15.06.0

13.04.0

11.14.0

9.06.0

10.16.0

2 3 doz : ditto at 16 p doz :

3

4

5 4 doz : Mens felts at 34®

6 10 doz : ditto at 40® p doz :

7 3 doz : ditto at 48® p doz :

8 3 doz : Mens Carrolinas at 8/6 p ps 1 4 doz : Mens Castors at 5/6

2 3 doz: ditto at 6/6

3 2 doz: ditto at 7/9

4 2 doz : ditto at 9/

(36)

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

37

5 1 doz: ditto at 11/ 6.12.0

6 doz : Rubers at 15"* p doz : 0.07.6

6 doz : ditto at 2/6 p doz : 15.00.0

a Large Fatt Cost 12® 12.00.0

£112.16.6

One Small Case haire Powder, & Wash Balls No 1.

4 doz & halfe of Sweet haire Powder at 8'^ doz : 1.16.0

3 li of best Damask Powder at 3/ p li 0.09.0

7 gross Wash Balls at 8"^ p g® 2.16.0

a Case cost 2® 0.02.0

5.03.6

Two hh"^® Turnerie Ware 1 & 2 as viz^ & 7 bundles of Steel Shoe Sho veils & Spads N"" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

3 Pottle Tun Canns at 3.09.00

2 doz : Fine pint Tun Canns at 18.00.00

6 quart Tunn Canns at 06.00

3 Three pint Tunn Canns at 04.00

4 Snap Mouse Traps 01.00

4 Double fall Mouse Traps at 02.02

2 Single fall Mouse Traps at 01.04

2 Large Single fall Mouse Traps at 01.06

4 Wooden Ratt Traps with Springs at 05.00

1 doz : Punch Strainers Sett up 02.09

9 doz : 6 best Maple Treachers at 30/ p doz : 1.06.11

1 doz : Milk Trayes at 11.00

3 doz : Platters at 6/ 18.00

3 doz: hand Boles at 3/6 10.06

1 doz : Porridge Dishes at 11.04

2 doz : handle Boles at 8/p doz : 16.00

2 doz : Carved Spoons at 6^ p doz : 01.00

6 doz : Beer Tapps at 3^^ p doz : 01.06

5 gs 2 doz : plaine Spoons at 2/6 p gro. 12.11

l‘gs Course haire Cottons kom’d at 2/9 1.13.00

1 gs Midle hayre cottons kom’d at 3/3 1.19.00

6 doz : Large haire Strainers at 2/ p doz 12.00

3 doz : Small haire ditto at 18^ p doz 04.06

2 doz: Midle Bellows at 18/ p doz 1.16.00

1 doz: 6. Small ditto at 16/ p doz 1.04.00

1 doz : Sucking Bottles at 2® 12.00

1 doz : Large Ladles at T8 01.08

1 doz : Small ditto 01.00

38

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

12 doz : Steel Shod Shovells & Spads at 16/ 9.12.00

2 Cost 7^ each 14.00

25.03.10

One Case Lookeing Glasses N"" 3 as

N"" 1 6 Dressing Glasses 10 Inches in Sight at 5/ ps. 1.10.0

2 6 ditto at 6® ps 11 Inches in Sight 1.16.0

3 6 ditto at 7" ps 12 Inches in Sight 2.02.0

4 3 Glasses in Large Frames at 15/ ps 12 Inches 2.05.0

5 3 ditto at 18® ps 14 Inches in Sight 2.14.0

6 2 ditto at 22® ps 16 Inches in Sight 2.04.0

7 2 ditto at 28® ps 18 Inches in Sight 2.16.0

8 2 ditto at 35'' ps 20 Inches 3.10.0

A Case Cost 5® 05.0

19.02.0

One Case N"" 2 as viz^

1 2 Perriwiggs at 18® p ps 1.16.0

2 2 ditto at 2® 2.00.0

3 1 ditto at 25® 1.05.0

4 1 ditto at 30® 1.10.0

6.11.0

N'' 1 2 doz : Child, woll hose at 5® p doz : 10.0

2 2 doz : ditto at 6/8 13.4

3 1 doz : ditto at 8/ 08.0

4 1 doz : ditto at 10/ 10.0

5 2 doz: Womens Woll ditto at 9/6 19.0

6 2 doz : ditto at 10/6 1.01.0

7 1 doz ditto at 11/6 11.6

8 1 doz ditto at 13/6 13.6

9 1 doz ditto Mens Wool at 13/ 13.0

10 2 doz ditto at 15/6 1.11.0

112 doz ditto at 18/ 1.16.0

12 1 doz ditto at 20/ 1.00.0

13 1 doz ditto black at 22/ 1.02.0

14 1 doz Womens Worst ditto at 29/ 1.09.0

15 1 doz Mens Short Worst Mixt at 36/ 1.16.0

16 1 doz ditto at 38/ 1.18.0

17 1 doz ditto at 43/ 2.03.0

18 1 doz ditto black at 40/ 2.00.0

19 1 doz Mens Mixt Role at 45/ 2.05.0

20 1 doz ditto at 52/ p doz 2.12.0

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

39

21 1 doz ditto bla :	& blew at 52®	2.12.0
1 Case Cost	Cords 2/	02.0 28.05.4
Thirty One Quoiles of Cordage Con^ as vix"
1	3 Inch 1/4 qt	3.02.09
2 1 ditto	4 Inches	4.01.00
3 1 ditto	5 Inches	6.01.06
4 1 ditto	5 3/4 Inches	8.02.02
5 1 ditto	6	9.01.25
6 1 Quoile	3	2.03.25
7 1 Quoile	2 3/4	2.02.08
8 1 Quoile	2 1/4	1.03.13
9 1 Quoile	21/2	2.00.10
10 1 Quoile	21/2	2.00.12
11 1 Quoile	21/4	1.03.23
12 1 ditto	2 1/2	2.00.17
13 1 ditto	2 3/4	2.02.04
14 1 ditto	3 Inches	3.01.02
15 2 ditto	2	2.00.25
16 2 ditto	2	2.00.12
17 2 ditto	2	2.00.21
18 2 ditto	2	2.00.13
19 2 ditto	1 Inch 1/2	1.02.24
20 2 ditto	1 1/2	1.01.13
21 3 ditto	1 1/4	1.03.20
22 2 ditto	13/4	1.03.11
23 3 Quoiles	1 1/4	1.02.27
1 Cable	8 Inches 3/4	19.00.14
2	51/2	7.02.26
1 ditto	41/2	5.01.22
1 ditto	4 3/2	5.03.07
1 Quoile	2 3/4	2.01.11
1 Quoile	2 3/4	2.01.11
1 Quoile	2 1/4	1.01.08
or a Lyghter to carry it on board	15.00

One hh"* W 4 wro^ Brass & wro^ Iron worke as viz"*

12 brass Kettles q* 1 C. 0.4" at 15" p li 7.05.0

2 pr of 8 Square Monument Candlesticks 15.0

2 pr ditto at 6® 12.0

2 pr ditto at 5" lolo

2 pr ditto at 4® Os!o

2 pr ditto at 3/6 07.0

40

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

2 pr ditto at 3/	06.0
2 pr of 4 square ditto at 7/	14.0
2 pr of ditto at 6®	12.0
2 pr of Round ditto at 3/6	07.0
2 pr of ditto at 4®	08.0
2 pr ditto at 4® 6	09.0
2 pr ditto at 5/	10.0
2 pr ditto at 5/6	11.0
2 pr ditto at 6/6	13.0
6 doz : Iron Sp’’ Candlesticks at 5/6	1.13.0
2 Fine Mortars & Pestells at 4/	08.0
2 ditto at 4/6	09.0
2 ditto at 5/6	11.0
2 ditto at 7/3	14.6
1 doz. Flower Boxes	11.0
1 doz Pepper Boxes	06.0
5 doz Brass Snuffers at 7/6	1.17.6
6 Snuffers Stands at	10.6
4 Snuffers Panns at	04.8
1 doz : Beife Forkes	07.0
1 doz Grid. Irons w^"" 98 Ribbs	17.0
18 plaine Bellows	1.03.0
4 doz: Alkomy Spoons at 12/9	11.0
2 doz : ditto at 2/3	04.6
1 doz : Brass Extinguishers	03.0
6 brass Ladles at 6® 6"^	03.3
6 ditto at 9d	04.6
6 ditto at 14"^	07.0
6 Slices at 1^	03.6
6 ditto at 9	04.6
2 doz : brass Save-alls at 5® p doz	10.0
3 doz ditto at 4/	12.0
3 doz ditto at 3/6	10.6
2 doz ditto at 3/	06.0
1 doz dubble laggers	06.0
1 doz : ditto at	06.0
2 doz : Single ditto at 3® 9	07.6
2 doz : Small mincers at 7^	14.0
1 doz Large ditto at	15.6
1 doz Chopers	12.0
1 doz Cleavers	17.6
3 doz Small padlocks at 5® 6	16.6
2 doz : ditto at 6® p doz	12.0
2 doz : ditto at 7/9 p doz	15.6

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

41

1 doz ditto at 09.6

10 doz Scuers fraimes 16.6

2 doz : Small Sp\ Locks at 8® p doz 16.0

2 doz Duble Sp'* Locks at 17/ p doz 1.14.0

4 bundles Frying Pans 1 C. 1. 26" at 45/ 3.09.6

1 hh" Cost 6® 06.0

41.11.5

One Trunk N"" 1 Nothing butt Buttons as viz*'

N^. 1 12 gs Gimp Fallow Brest at 9" p gro 09.0

2 48 gs Gymp Fallow Coatt at 1.11" 2.04.0

3 34 baggs Coat Fillers q*' 136 gro : 18" p gro : 10.04.0

4 10 gross bla : haire best at 20" 16.8

5 10 baggs best Fillers Coats q^ 40 gro : at 23" 3.16.8

6 24 gross Silke browne best at 23" 2.06.0

7 13 baggs q^ 52 gross of Accor. Coats 2/6 p gs 6.10.0

8 12 gross bla: hayre Milo Coats 3/3" 1.19.0

9 20 gross Cutt haire Coats at 3/10 p gs 3.16.8

10 30 gross Large Silke Coats at 3/10 5.15.0

A Trunk & Cords Cost 15/ 15.0

38.12.0

One Large hh" N"" 3 q*' of Tinnerie Ware as viz*'

6 Lanthorns at 2® 3" p L	13.6
5 ditto at 21"	10.6
6 ditto at 18"	09.0
2 Large fish kettles & plates at 5®	10.0
2 Small ditto at 3®	06.0
2 doz Slices at 2/6	05.0
6 Large pastry panns at 22"	11.0
6 Small ditto at 14"	07.0
3 Setts Kettles at	1.01.0
3 doz : Pockett Graters at 2® p doz	06.0
3 doz ditto at 20"	05.0
1 doz Large Square pudding pans at 14®	14.0
1 doz ditto Small at 12"	12.0
6 paire of Snuffers & panns at 18" p	09.0
6 hanging Candlesticks at 12"	06.0
2 doz : Large Corringers at 4®	08.0
3 doz Midle ditto at 3®	09.0
2 doz : Small ditto at 2/	04.0
6 Large Funnells at 9" ps	04.6
2 doz quart ditto at 6/ p doz	12.0

42

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

2 doz pint ditto at 4/ p doz	08.0
2 doz ditto at 2/6	05.0
2 doz ditto at 2/	04.0
1 doz Large Sauce panns at 8‘‘ p ps	08.0
2 doz : quart ditto at 6"^ p ps	12.0
2 doz : point ditto at 4/6	09.0
2 doz : Flower Boxes at 3/6	07.0
2 doz : pepper boxes at 2/6	05.0
4 Large Dripping pans at 2/3	09.0
6 Sm^l ditto at 20'*	10.0
1 doz Quart potts at 6'* ps	06.0
2 doz : pint ditto at 4/ p doz	08.0
1 doz : Large Round Pudding panns 13'^	13.0
1 doz ditto Small at IL^	11.0
1 doz : Candlesticks at 6^* ps	06.0
6 Planish Candlesticks at	04.0
1 doz Casting Ladles at 4^* ps	04.0
1 doz : bread Graters at 7'* ps	07.0
1 doz : ditto at 4" ps	04.0
1 doz : Tinder boxes & at 8s	08.0
8 Candle Boxes at M'* ps	09.4
6 round Fish plates at 11'* ps	05.6
6 Cullendars at lb'* ps	08.0
1 doz halfe pint potts at 2^* ps	02.0
A Large Casque Cost 9®	09.0 18.04.4
One Bayle of Stuffs & N'’ 8 q* as viz^
N" 1 12 ps Worst. Fancies at 20®	12.00.0
2 3 Woollen Shades at 22® ps	3.00.0
3 6 playne Silke Crapes at 23/ ps	6.18.0
4 6 Stript Worst. Crapes at 23/	6.18.0
5 2 Strip’t Silke Crapes at 26/	2.12.0
6 4 Spotted Strip’t Silke Crapes at 26/	5.04.0
7 2 Sattin Strip’t Crapes at 28/	2.16.0
8 10 Strip’! Druggetts at 28/	14.00.0
9 3 Woollen Damask at 29®	4.07.0
10 6 Mixt Serges at 30/ 11 2 Strip’! ditto at 33®	9.00.0
3.oao
13 10 Silke Fancies at 36/ ps	18.00.0
14 6 Effigianes at 38/ ps	11.08.0
15 6 Silke Damaske at 46/	13.16.0
16 3 Strip’! Cambletts at 46®	6.18.0
17 1 Mock Calliminco at 3	3.00.0

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

43

18 1 Right ditto	4.00.0
19 3 Role ps Silke Fancies 37:37: 37 1/2
is 111 1/2 yd at 18‘"	8.07.3
20 1 ps Red Flannel 20)
21 1 ps Yello ditto q‘ 21) 1 1 a vd.? at U'^ 22 1 ps ditto q‘ 25)	6.08.4
23 1 ps white q* 44)
peices 92
A Coard & Canvis paper & packing	1.04.0
4 doz : of Course hose in ditto Bale
	146.14.7
One Drume Fatt 2 Containing Pewter as	viz*
12 Pottle Tankards at 3T0"^ ps	2.06.0
12 Quart ditto at 3®	1.16.0
24 Midle ditto at 2/6	3.00.0
24 Small ditto at 2/	2.08.0
12 doz : Large Poringers at 9-6"^ p. doz	5.14.0
12 doz : Small ditto at 8/	4.16.0
3 pr New-fashion’d Candlesticks at 4®	12.0
3 pr ditto at 3®	09.0
2 pr Round ditto at 2T0^^	05.8
a Fatt Cost	07.0
One Drume Fatt No 3 q^ more Pewter viz^
18 Large Chamber Potts at 2/10' ps	2.11.0
30 Middle ditto at 2® d'^	3.10.0
40 Small ditto at 2®	4.00.0
12 doz Alkney Spoons at 2/9	1.13.0
24 doz Powder ditto at 2/3‘^ p doz	2.14.0
12 Large Salts at 2'2 ps	1.06.0
24 Middle ditto at 20^ ps	2.00.0
48 Small ditto at 12^^ ps	2.08.0
18 Basons q^ 32 1/2 at 12^	1.12.6
2 doz : Sawcers at 9® p doz	18.0
4 doz Small ditto at 7' p doz	1.08.0
2 Pottle Wine Measure Potts at 5/6	11.0
6 Quart ditto at 2/8	16.0
6 Pint ditto Potts at 22*^ ps	11.0
6 halfe Pint ditto at 14^	07.0
6 Quartern ditto Potts at 9^ p ps	04.6
a ffat Cost 7'	07.0
One halfe Bareli Fatt N'’ 4 Con^ more pewter
N» A 78 Dishes q* 265" at 1/2	10.09.9 1/2
A ffat Cost 3®6	03.6
	£76.02.5 1/2

44

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

One Bayle of Lincy Woolsie Con^ 30 ps No 7 at 3B ps Canvis &c'

Two Large Bayles of Kersyes N'M : 5 viz^

N" A B

D

E

F

L

M

N

O

at 26® p ps. at 28® ps at 30®

at 35® at 37® at 38®

3 Browns)

1 Gray )

3 Browne)

1 Gray )

1 Browne)

3 Grays )

4 Browns at 3T 4 Browns at 32®

3 Browns)

2 Grays )

4 Browns)

2 Grays )

4 Browns)

2 Grays )

6 Browns at 39®

3 Browns)

2 Drabbs ) at 42®

1 Gray )

6 Honly Reds at 42®

2 Grays )

IDrabb )

3 Browns )

6 Nap’t )

3 Browns)

2 Grays ) at 58® ps 1 Drabb )

3 Browns)

3 Grays )

Canvis Cord Paper & packing 38® p bayk

at 43® ps

at 55® ps 20 yds Long

One Bayle of Cottons of Severall Coders viz^

6 White Cottons at 15/

6 White ditto at 20/

6 Red ditto)

5 Blew ditto)

5 Cloth Cullerd ditto) at 17® p ps 5 Ashe Cullerd ditto)

2 Yellow ditto)

46.10.0

1.07.0

47.17.0

5.04.0

5.12.0

6.00.0

6.04.0

6.08.0

10.10.0 11.02.0

11.08.0

11.14.0

12.12.0 12.12.0

25.16.0

14.08.0

16.10.0

3.16.0 159.16.0

4.10.0

6.00.0

19.11.0

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

45

4 Red ditto at 23® ps 4.12.0

1 Blew ditto at 24/ 1.04.0

Can vis & Packing 1.18.0

37.15.0

One hh*^ N"" 5 Con^ Sundry Lotts of Goods as Viz^

12 hogskin Saddles Stirrups, Leathers bridles,

Girts & Snaffels at 14® 8.08.0

N"" 18 li whited Browne Thread at 2/3 13.6

20 li ditto at 2/6 15.0

22 li ditto at 2/10 17.0

24 li ditto at 3/3 19.6

26 li ditto at 3/8 1.02.0

28 li ditto at 4® p li 1.04.0

4 : 15 3 li Nunns Thread at 6® 18.0

5 : 10 3 li ditto at 7® p li 1.01.0

6 : 10 3 li ditto at 8/ 1.04.0

8 : 10 1 li ditto at 10® p li 10.0

9: 10 Hi ditto at 12/ 12.0

12: 10 Hi ditto at 16/ 16.0

N® 1 6 doz best Brown Thread at 22® p doz 6.12.0

2 3 doz CulP ditto at 26/ p doz 3.08.0

3 4 doz : blew & Collerd Tape at 9/6 1.18.0

4 2 doz : blew & Collerd filletting at 13/6 1.07.0

5 1 doz : White filletting at 15 p 15.0

6 2 doz fine white Twist at 3/4^^ 06.8

7 2 doz Narrow Holland Tape at 7® p doz 14.0

8 2 doz broad ditto at 10/ p doz 1.00.0

9 3 Gross Cotton 6"^ Ribbin at 10® p gro 1.10.0

10 1 ps broad Strip’! 12"^ Ribbin at 4/6 04.6

11 2 doz Finns at 6/8 p doz 12.0

12 3 doz. ditto at 7/2 p doz 1.01.6

13 4 Mille Needles at 5/ p mille 1.00.0

14 2 Gross Womens Brass Thimbles at 5/6 11.0

15 6 doz : Mens Steel ditto at 7® p gs 03.6

16 6 doz. home Combs at 14"^ 07.0

17 6 doz : ditto at 18"^ 09.0

18 6 doz : ditto at 22"^ 11.0

19 2 doz Ivory Combs at 3/6 p doz 07.0

20 2 doz ditto at 6/8 12.0

21 Old Brass Curtaine Rings at 14^^ 07.0

22 2 doz. Small Inckhornes at 20^ 03.4

23 1 doz : Large ditto 02.9

24 1 doz Large Sands at 4® 04.0

46

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

25 2 gro : Tin brest Buttons 12^^ 02.0

26 6 gro : Large ditto at 15"^ 07.6

27 6 gro : ditto at 18"^ p gro 09.0

28 2 gro: Ell Thread Laces at 2/4 04.8

29 2 gro : ditto &1/2 at 3/8 06.0

30 1 gro : ditto Silke 2 yd® at 30® 1.10.0

1 hhd Cost 5/ 05.0

Trunk N"" 2

31 6 gro : Large White Wastcoat Buttons

at 15^ 07.6

32 6 gro : fine Small ditto at 18*^ 09.0

33 2 gro : gilt sleeve buttons at 3/4 06.8

34 1 doz: bla : Velvitt Markes lin’d 14.0

35 1 doz : best ditto at 15/ 15.0

36 1 doz : best ditto lin’d Silke at 22® 1.02.0

37 1 doz : Callico quilted Caps at 9® 09.0

38 1 doz : Holland ditto at 12/ p doz 12.0

39 18 yds Grey Lace at 3^ 04.6

40 20 yds ditto at 4^ p yd 06,8

41 33 yds ditto at 4^ 1/2 12.4 1/2

42 15 yds ditto at 5^^ p yd 06.3

43 12 yds ditto at 6^ 06.0

44 16 yds ditto at 10.8

45 34 yds bla: Silke bone Lace at 5d 1/2 p yd 15.7

46 42 yds ditto at 7d 1/2 1.06.3

47 24 yds ditto at 12d 1.04.0

48 16 yds ditto at 13d 17.4

49 18 yds ditto at 14d 1.01.0

50 2 Gro: Silke Bindins at 18/6 p gro: 1.17.0

51 2 Gro : Silke Galunes at 18/ 1.16.0

52 1 gro : Narrow : Black Silk purle for Tippett 05.0

53 2 gro: Brord ditto at 14® p gro: 1.08.0

54 1 gro : White, Thready brord gause purle

at 10/6 10.6

55 2 doz : black & White Net Gause at 11/ p doz. 1.02.0

56 1 doz : black Mourning gause at 12.0

57 1 doz : White ditto at 12® 12.0

58 2 doz : White Thread gause at 12/ 1.04.0

59 2 doz : black Silke ditto at 13/ 1.06.0

60 3 doz : Women Silke Girdles Buckles 6/ 18.0

61 2 doz: Long ditto Copper Tassel Is at 3/9 07.6

62 1 doz: Rich Silke & Silver Tassle ditto 12/ 12.0

63 1 doz : best ditto at 15® 15.0

64 1 doz : Romall handkerchiffs at 16® p doz 16.0

IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 47

65 1 doz : Silke ditto at 20® p doz 1.00.0

66 1 doz : best Large ditto at 23® 1.03.0

67 4 doz : black Moyhaire ring at 6/ 1.04.0

68 4 doz : Deep ditto at 7® p doz 1.08.0

69 2 doz : Copper CulP’ & purled ditto at 6/ p doz 12.0

70 4 doz : Cullr Mixt ditto at T 1.08.0

71 4 doz : Cloth Culler : bla : & Scarlett

ditto at 8/ 12.0

72 2 doz : Deep bla : Duble ditto at 9"6 19.0

73 18 doz : Nar : fringe to Sett on ye Top

of Fringe 20^ 1.10.0

74 18 yds White Corded Thred fringe at 10*^ yd 15.0

75 13 oz. 1/2 bla: bella. Silke fringe at 25^ 1.02.6

76 27 oz : best Nar : & Deep ditto at 21^ 2.07.3

77 12 oz : Copper CulF Nar : & Deep ditto at 22*^ 1.02.0

78 18 oz : 1/16 d^" & white Nar: & deep

Mixtd. 2^ 1.16.1 1/2

79 21 oz 1/2 Clo: CulF blew & white Nar

& Deep 2 1/2^ 2.08.4

80 21 oz 1/2 Clo: CulF green & white corded

d° 2/4d 2.10.2

81 17 oz: 1/4 3/16 bla: Corded ditto at 2/

pdoz 1.14.101/2

82 1 gro 1/2 Silke bread to Sett at Bottom

of fringe 14® 1.01.0

83 5 ps ferrett 6"* Ribbon at T ps 1.15.0

84 1 gro: bla: 1‘^Taffety Ribbon at T 07.0

85 2 gro : ditto 2^ ditto at 16 p gro 1.12.0

86 12 ps Dutch 7/4 Ribbins for binding

Drowls 20^ 1.00.0

87 4 ps 6^ Taffety Ribbon at 5/ 1.00.0

88 4 ps 8*^ ditto at 9 ps 1.16.0

89 1 ps 10^^ ditto at 11.0

90 lpsl2d ditto 13.0

91 4 ps Double Love Ribben 6^^at 6/ 1.04.0

92 2 ps 8^^ ditto at 8 16.0

93 1 pslO^ ditto at (?) 09.6

94 2 ps white Span. 6"^ ditto at 8/6 17.0

95 1 ps ditto 8*^ at 10 10.0

96 3 doz : Sattin Stripes 8^ Ribbon at 6® 18.0

97 2 doz Cloth CulF & purple Figur'd 10^

ditto 8® 16.0

98 2 doz: blew & Green 12^^ ditto at 11® 1.02.0

99 2 doz Copper Cullr'd & bla : 14^ ditto at 13® 1.06.0

100 81i Clo : CulF Silke w'"^ a Little bla : at 17/6 7.00.0

48

DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND

101 1 Childs Peake at 6/ 06.0

102 1 Womans Laced head dress at 10" 10.0

103 1 ditto Laced at 13/ 13.0

104 1 Alamode Drowle Trim’d at 2" bla purl 02.0

105 1 Tippett ditto at 2/4"* 02.4

106 1 Best ditto at 6/8 Laced bla : Silk ? 06.0

107 2 doz : New fashon’d Peake Wyers at 18d

p doz 03.0

108 2 doz : Cornitt Wyers ditto at 2/ p doz 04.0

109 4 doz : Comode Wyers ditto at 4/ p doz 16.0

110 17 Roles at 5d p ps 07.1

111 4 doz New Fason’d pass Wyers at 10" 03.4

112 1 gro: Strip’d Worsted at 9" p gro 09.0

a Trunke & Coards Cost 12/ 12.0

59.18.0

One Bayle of Linning Cloth N"" 3 Cont as viz^

20	40:2	19:2	20	39	330:2
20	39:2	39:2	17	18	394
19:2	40:	39	20	20	435
19:	19:2	20	19:2	20	313:2
19:2	19	19:2	19:2	40	392
20:2	20	19:2	19:	19:2	1864:2
17	20	62	40	40:	932:1
20	38:2	60	19:2	19:2
19	40	38	19:2	39:2
37	20	20	19:2	20:
19	19	19:2	20	19:2
20	19	20	18:2	39:2
19	19	19:2	20:2	19:2
24	19	19:2	20:2	19:
40	19	19:2	19:2	19
330:2	394	435	313:2	392
Is 932 Ells 1/4 of Kamells cloth at 6^* p ell	23.6.0
85 50	60 86	69 43	73 68	78 101	42
42 43	49 78	77 44	91 is 1129 of
Brown Oxenbrigs at 50“	p Role 1500
ells to a Role at 8“ p ell			37.12.8
					60.18.8

£1127.17.7

PAET or TOPSFIELB

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HOUSE BUILT BY NATHANIEL HOOD ABOUT 1712 Burned June 25, 1859. From a crayon drawing, made about 1860, by Miss Sarah E. Bixby and now owned by Henry A. Bixby of Ayer, Mass.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

By Sidney Perley

following account of houses and lands in Topsfield

I includes a triangular area in the northerly part of the town lying between the boundary lines of the towns of Boxford and Ipswich and extending as far south as the corner of Ipswich and Haverhill streets. The ac- companying maps show the partition lines of ownership in 1700, 1750 and 1800, and the subject divisions in the text are numbered to correspond with the numbers on the 1800 map.

Asa Perley Lot (1).

This triangular lot of land was a part of the homestead of Lt. Thomas Perley of Boxford, who bought the land of Richard Dole of Newbury in 1676. Lieutenant Perley died Sept. 24, 1709, having devised the lot to his son Thomas Perley. The latter, Capt. Thomas Perley, conveyed an un- de vided half of it to his son Maj. Asa Perley of Boxford, husbandman, July 16, 1743.^ Captain Perley died, possessed of the other half of it, Nov. 13, 1745, having devised it to his son Asa. Major Perley owned the entire lot in 1800.

Andover Road (2).

This highway was laid out by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1653, as a ''common highway.'" The return of the committee appointed to lay it out is dated May 18, 1653, and describes that part of it which is included in Topsfield bounds, beginning at the "Five Mile pond" in Boxford, as "leading on the southwest of a pond called Fiue mile Pond,

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 86, leaf 24.

(49)

50

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

& then contynuinge the cartway vnto a pond called M’’ Bakers Pond, leaning the pond on the south, & so passinge oner a little strip of meddow, & so as the cart way to M'' Winthrops playne, & so still the cartway on the south side of Capt Turners hill, & from thence the beaten way to Ip-

swich.”2

Pye Brook Lane (3).

This is a very old way, and is supposed to have been laid out as a highway. It began at the Andover road at this, its northeastern end, and ran southwesterly, crossing West street a few rods northerly of the Janes’ house, to a point on the Topsfield road southerly of the residence of the late Samuel Andrews, in Boxford.

The quarter of an acre of land by Thomas Perley, jr., of Boxford, yeoman, to Nathaniel Hood of Topsfield, cordwain- er, Nov. 6, 1728, being a strip one and one-half rods wide, extending southerly from the country road that leadeth from Andover to Ipswich to the Boxford line, and bounded westerly on the land of the grantor, was probably this part of the lane, and the beginning of its existence as a thorough- fare.3

Humphrey Perley House (4).

The house of Humphrey Perley stood on the Ipswich line, only a corner of it being in Topsfield. The title to the land is like that of the Asa Perley Lot Israel Hale owned the land June 6, 1840, when he conveyed this lot to Humphrey Perley of Boxford.^ Mr. Perley built a house upon it in the spring of 1843, and lived there from the time of his marriage in 1844 to 1857, when he removed to Boxford. After that time, the house was let to various tenants. When it was occupied by Miss Julia Bixby, on a windy day, Sat- urday, May 12, 1866, it was destroyed by fire. The follow- ing account of the fire, which was published in the Salem

-Records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, volume III, page 305.

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 51, leaf 150.

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 337, leaf 297.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

51

Register of May 17th following, states that it was burned on Sunday : —

'Tire in Topsfield. On Sunday afternoon last, a one and a half story house in the north part of the town near Ipswich line, owned by Mr. Humphrey Perley, and occupied by Miss Julia Bixby, took fire and was totally consumed. The origin of the fire is supposed to have been caused by sparks from the chimney which caught on the roof. There being no engine in the town, and the wind blowing quite fresh, it was found impossible to save the building, but the household effects were mostly saved. W e understand there was an insurance on the property, but at which office or amount we were unable to ascertain. M”

Mr. Perley owned the house at the time of the fire. The cellar has since remained uncovered.

Benjamin Bixby House (5).

This lot was common land of Topsfield until Jan. 28, 1707-8, when the town of Topsfield "agreed to sell John Prichitt Jun"" half an Acre of Land on y® North Side of Ips- which Road a littell aboue his shop,” and it was laid out March 6, following. Mr. Pritchett was a joiner, and con- veyed the lot to Francis Leathe of Boston, husbandman, Jan. 23, 1711.^ Mr. Leathe removed to Woburn, and con- veyed the lot to Nathaniel Hood of Lynn, cordwainer, Feb. 26, 1712.® Mr. Hood removed to Topsfield, and built a house upon the lot. Mr. Hood conveyed the house and lot and the barn upon it to his son Nathan Hood of Topsfield, housewright, Jan. 19, 1733.'^ Nathan Hood conveyed the eastern half of the house and lot to his father, Nathaniel Hood, May 15, 1735,® but reserved a shop he had erected nearly in front of the house near the road. This shop was standing there a century and a half later, but is now gone. Nathaniel Hood conveyed his part of the house and land to his son Nathaniel Hood, jr., of Topsfield, house carpenter,

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 22, leaf 221.

®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 25, leaf 174.

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 69, leaf 51.

*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 70, leaf 134.

52

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Jan. 28, 1740.^ Nathaniel Hood, jr., conveyed that part of the lot and "double house,” which he owned, to Richard Marshall and Richard Marshall, jr., both of Topsheld, hus- bandmen, March 18, 1747 ; and the grantees reconveyed the property to him Dec. 13, 1748.^^ Mr. Hood conveyed it to Samuel Perley of Ipswich, yeoman, and Amos Hoed of 'Topsfield, tailor, Feb. 19, 1749.^^ Amos Hood removed to Biddeford, and Samuel Perley and himself conveyed the same property to Nathan Hood, who owned the other por- tion of the land and buildings, June 12, 1751. Nathan Hood continued to live here until he sold the land and build- ings thereon to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, cordwainer, March 26, 1785.^^ Mr. Bixby lived here, and died in Feb- ruary, 1830. The place then came into the possession of his son Capt. Daniel Bixby, who lived here, and died June 24, 1836. The estate then came into the possession of his son Elbridge Sumner Bixby. The latter built, the next year, a new house near the street, which was later knov/n as the Clapp or Cotton house. The old house remained vacant more or less of the subsequent years of its existence, perhaps always until it was destroyed by fire. Mr. Bixby conveyed the lot and houses to Asa Pingree of Topsfield, gentleman. May 8, 1838 ; and Mr. Pingree conveyed the same property to Isaac P. Clapp of Malden March 27, 1855.^® Mr. Clapp lived in the nev/ house.

The old house was burned about midnight, Sunday, June 25, 1859. It was set on fire by Joseph Hale, jr., of Boxford, in order to draw away from the latter’s house his uncle Isaac Hale, who lived just over the town line in Boxford at the great elm tree, that the incendiary might rob the house which then contained considerable money. Mr. Hale went

®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 81, leaf 108.

^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 91, leaf 144.

“Essex Registry of Deeds, book 94, leaf 222.

^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 96, leaf 147.

i^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 99, leaf 45.

“Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

“Essex Registry of Deeds, book 306, leaf 224.

“Essex Registry of Deeds, book 513, leaf 112.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

53

to the fire but took with him the money ; so all that was stolen was Mrs. Hale’s gold watch. The v/atch had been purchased at the jewelry store of Palmer, Batchelder & Co. in Boston, and Mr. Kale immediately notified the firm of the theft. Strange to say the firm had hardly received the notification from Mr. Hale when the thief entered and wanted to dispose of the watch. It was a slight matter to arrest, try and imprison the thief.

The following account of the fire appeared in the Salem Gazette, in its issue of the following Tuesday.

Boxford. — On Sunday evening, an old and unoccupied dwelling house, near the lx)rders of Topsfield, belonging to Mr. Isaac Clapp, was set on fire and consumed. Mr. Isaac Hale who lives near, while on the way to the fire, was sud- denly seized with the suspicion that the house might have been set, in order to draw him away from his home and rob his own home of either money or other valuables. He accordingly returned and took his money, but forgot a gold watch owned by his wife, and then went back to the fire. After a time his wife, who was also present at the fire, re- turned home to get her husband’s coat. When she arrived at the house, a man suddenly left it and ran across the plain, hiding behind some bushes. She at once informed a man who was passing, of this fact, and he pursued the suspect- ed person, causing him to leave his place of concealment and effect his escape. Upon entering the house her gold watch was missing, having probably been stolen by the man who was seen to leave the house.

About two weeks since, a shoemaker’s shop was broken into and robbed of shoes, and it is believed this robbery was perpetrated by the same party who set the building of Mr. Clapp on fire, and robbed the house of Mr. Kale.

The Salem Register, in its issue of Thursday of that week, contains the following article about the fire : —

Topsfield. On Sunday night 26th, about 12 o’clock, an unoccupied dwelling house in Topsfield near the Boxford line, belonging to Asa Pingree, Esq., was discovered to be on fire, and an alarm was given in the neighborhood. Mr. Isaac Hale, who resides in the neighborhood, and his family left their house for a short time to witness the confiagra-

54

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

tion, and during their absence a gold watch was stolen therefrom. The watch was soon after offered for sale in Boston and recovered and the affair is now in the hands of the police.

The picture of the old house on the opposite page was painted from memory, the next year after the fire, by Sa- rah E. Bixby, daughter of Elbridge Sumner Bixby, who was born here. The original painting is now owned by her cousin, Henry A. Bixby of Ayer.

Mr. Clapp manufactured cigars in the front lower rooms of the new house for a number of years about 1875, from tobacco he grew on the plain south of the house. Mr. Clapp conveyed the house and lot to Elbridge Clapp of Quincy May 20, 1861 ; but continued to live here until about 1880, when he removed to Ipswich. Elbridge Clapp conveyed the estate to Mrs. Mary E. Slack of Wakefield June 6, 1878;^^ and she reconveyed it to him Nov. 25, 1878.^^ Mr. Clapp conveyed the estate to Charles G. Cotton of Lynn April 27, 1880 ; and Mr. Cotton and his wife’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Blethen, lived here. Mr. Cotton conveyed the house and lot to Charles W. Steele of Ipswich June 30, 1906;^^ and Mr. Steele lived here. He conveyed the same estate to Johnson L. Walker of Boston Feb. 9, 1909.^“

Float Meadow (6).

This was called Float meadow as early as 1720. Capt. Thomas Baker of Topsfield owned it in 1669.“^ He died March 18, 1717-8, having devised his lands in Topsfield and Boxford to his son Capt. Thomas Baker of Topsfield. Capt. Baker died in September, 1725. His son Thomas Baker of Topsfield, gentleman, quitclaimed his interest in the lot to

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 625, leaf 208.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1000, leaf 174.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1010, leaf 79.

2®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1037, leaf 251.

2^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1829, page 575.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1954, page 94.

^qpswich Registry of Deeds, book 3, page 166 (124).

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

55

the latter’s brother John Baker of Topsfield, yeoman, June 18, 1752.“^^ His daughter Priscilla, wife of Tarrant Putnam of Sutton, released her interest in his estate to her brother John Baker, then of Boxford, yeoman, Nov. 7, 1753.^^ John Baker returned to Topsfield, and sold the lot to Rev. John Emerson of Topsfield Nov. 20, 1754.^® Mr. Emerson died in 1774, having in his will devised the residue of his estate to his son Thomas Emerson, who owned the lot in 1800.

Benjamin Bixby Lot (7).

This was common land until June 29, 1722, when the com- mittee of common lands in Topsfield conveyed it to Ivory Hovey of Topsfield.^^ Thomas Baker of Topsfield, yeoman, apparently claimed the lot; and Feb. 8, 1724-5, for ten pounds, released his interest in it to Ivory Hovey of Topsfield, hus- bandman.^® Mr. Hovey was a yeoman, and, for twenty pounds, conveyed this lot, ’’at a place called y® sluice,” to Nathaniel Hood of Topsfield, shoemaker, June 1, 1727.^® Mr. Hood conveyed it to Nathan Hood of Topsfield, housewright, June 19, 1733 and Nathan Hood conveyed one-half of it to his father Nathaniel Hood of Topsfield, cordwainer. May 15, 1735.®^ N athaniel Hood of T opsfield , cordwainer, conveyed

to his son Nathaniel Hood one-half of it Jan. 28, 1740 and Nathaniel Hood of Topsfield, housewright, conveyed the lot to Nathan Hood of Topsfield, joiner, April 20, 1747.®® Mr. Hood conveyed it to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, cordwainer, March 26, 1785 ;®^ and Mr. Bixby owned it in 1800.

Poplar Meadow (8).

This piece of meadow was owned by Capt. Thomas Baker

2^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 100, leaf 9.

2^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 100, leaf 10.

-®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 100, leaf 229.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 39, leaf 246.

2®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 48, leaf 21.

2^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 59, leaf 60.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 69, leaf 51.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 70, leaf 134.

^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 81, leaf 108.

^■^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 102, leaf 136.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

56

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

of Topsfield, gentleman, in 1722, and perhaps in 1700. He conveyed it to Ivory Hovey of Topsfield, husbandman, Aug. 5, 1725.^'^

It belonged to Nathan Hood in 1754 and 1768, and he probably conveyed it to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, cord- wainer, March 26, 1785.^^ Mr. Bixby owned it in 1800.

Benjamin Bixby Lot (9).

This lot w^as granted by the commoners of Topsfield to Ivory Hovey Sept. 24, 1722 ; and it belonged to Nathan Hood in 1754 and 1768. Mr. Hood probably conveyed it to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, cordv/ainer, March 26, 1785 f and Mr. Bixby owned it in 1800.

Jacob Smith Lot (10).

That part of this lot lying northerly and easterly of the dashes was granted by the commoners of Topsfield to John Hovey Sept. 24, 1722. That part lying southerly and west- erly of the dashes w^as at that time common land. Ivory Hovey of Topsfield owned the entire lot in 1725 ; and con- veyed it to Ephraim Kimball of Boxford, yeoman, Dec. 12, 1734.^^ Mr. Kimball died in the autumn of 1752, having de- vised it to his son Thomas Kimball of Boxford, yeoman. Thomas Kimball conveyed it to Elias Smith of Boxford, yeoman, March 3, 1768 and Elias Smith conveyed it to John Smith and Richard Peabody, both of Boxford, husband- man, Feb. 1, 1769.^® These grantees reconveyed it to Mr. Smith April 7, 1773.^'

There is on record a deed of this land from Asa Gould of Topsfield, yeoman, to William Eastie of Topsfield, yeo- man, dated May 17, 1782 f and another from Mr. Gould to

"^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 48, leaf 22.

^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

^'^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 91, leaf 183.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 122.

^•’Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 123.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 132, leaf 237.

^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 139, leaf 198.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

57

Benjamin Porter, jr., of Boxford, yeoman, dated May 8, 1783.^^ Jacob Smith appears as its owner in 1791 and 1800.

Jacob Smith Lot (11).

This lot belonged to Ephraim Kimball of Boxford, yeo- man, in 1734. He died in the autumn of 1752, having de- vised it in his will to his son Thomas Kimball of Boxford, yeoman. Thomas Kimball conveyed it to Elias Smith of Boxford, yeoman, March 3, 1768 and Mr. Smith conveyed it to John Smith and Richard Peabody, both of Boxford, husbandmen, Feb. 1, 1769.^^ These grantees reconveyed it to Elias Smith April 7, 1773.“^® The lot belonged to Jacob Smith in 1791 and 1800.

West Street (11a).

This was a well-trodden way for some fifty years before it was formally laid out by the town and accepted March 5, 1772. It was a way subject to gates, and was accepted by the county court, two rods wide, July 13, 1773. It was altered Sept. 27, 1774. The petitioners to the county court for the laying out of this road, in 1773, speak of it as a way heretofore improved on sufferance for a number of years from the road which leads from Ipswich to Andover to Hale’s saw mill in Boxford, and then to Capt. Thomas Ba- ker’s stream towards Isaac Peabody’s mills; that said way is often stopped up by the owners of the land and the pe- titioners are prevented from passing over it.

There was an old gate, called "'Captain Boardman’s old gate,” across the road at the Haverhill street end in 1778.

This was called the new county road to head of Bare Hill lots, in 1778 ; the road to Boxford, in 1779 ; the county road, in 1784 ; the road that leads from Topsfield to Boxford, in 1784 ; the Boxford road, in 1867 ; later the Gunnison or Ridge road ; and now West street for a number of years.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 142, leaf 64.

•^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 122.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 123.

^''Essex Registry of Deeds, book 132, leaf 237.

58

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Stephen Perley Lot (12).

This land belonged to Serg. John Hovey, sr., of Topsfield, yeoman, in 1700 ; and he gave it by deed to his son Capt. Ivory Hovey of Topsfield, March 14, 1717-8.^^ Sergeant Hovey died March 29, 1718, having in his will confirmed the gift. Captain Plovey died Jan. 21, 1751, having in his will devised the lot to his son Aaron Hovey of Topsfield, yeomian. May 4 following, Aaron Hovey died, and in the division of his estate, March 18, 1765, this lot was assigned to his son Ste- phen Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman. Stephen Hovey, for one hundred and twenty-one pounds, conveyed it to Joseph Per- kins of Topsfield, yeoman. May 3, 1765.^® Mr. Perkins be- came a cordwainer, and conveyed the lot to Stephen Perley and Jeremiah Perley, both of Rowley, yeomen. May 1, 1781.^^ Jeremiah Perley died June 3, 1784 ; and his interest was probably released to his brother Stephen Perley, who owned the lot in 1800.

Stephen Perley House (13).

This lot belonged to John Hovey of Topsfield in 1700. He died May 31, 1751, having in his will devised it to his daught- er Susanna Scales, wife of Rev. James Scales, providing she lived upon it, otherwise it was to go to her brother Joseph Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman. She did not live there, and so it becam.e the property of Joseph Hovey. Mr. Hovey conveyed it to Simon Bradstreet of Topsfield, laborer, March 10, 1758 and Mr. Bradstreet becam.e a yeoman, and for forty-two pounds, nine shillings and four pence, he conveyed the lot to John Clough of Topsfield, husbandman, Feb. 18, 1766.®^ Mr. Clough conveyed it to Joseph Perkins of Tops- field, cordwainer, Nov. 6, 1767.^‘^ Mr. Perkins built a two story house and barn thereon ; and conveyed the estate to

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 33, leaf 229.

^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 115, leaf 223.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 138, leaf 209.

^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, leaf 186.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 117, leaf 231.

•'•^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 117, leaf 231.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

59

Stephen Parley and Jeremiah Parley, both of Rowley, yeo- men, May 1, 1781/'^ Jeremiah Parley, while assisting in raising a barn for Thomas Emerson, June 3, 1784, fell with a part of the frame, and his head struck a stone on the ground. His skull was fractured, and he died a few hours later. His interest in this property was probably released soon after to his brother Stephen Parley. Stephen Parley died Feb. 16, 1839, at the age of ninety-one, and the home- stead became the property of his nephew and namesake Stephen Parley, who owned and occupied the premises un- til a few months before the house was destroyed by fire in 1867.

Benjamin Bixby Lot (14).

John Pritchet of Topsfield, yeoman, probably owned this lot in 1700, and conveyed it to his son John Pritchett of Topsheid, June 26, 1705.^ The grantee, who was a joiner, conveyed it to Francis Lathe of Boston, husbandman, Jan. 23, 1711.^^ Mr. Lathe removed to Woburn, and conveyed the lot to Nathaniel Hood of Lynn, cordwainer, Feb. 26, 1712.^® Nathaniel Hood, jr., of Topsfield, house carpenter, conveyed one-half of seven acres of the lot to his son Nath- an Hood of Topsfield, joiner. May 1, 1741.^^

Nathaniel Hood, jr., of Topsfield, housewright, conveyed that part of this lot lying easterly of the dashes to Richard Marshall of Topsfield, husbandman, and Richard Marshall, jr., of Topsfield March 18, 1747 and these grantees recon- veyed it to the grantor Dec. 13, 1748.'^^ There was an or- chard upon this part of the lot, and Mr. Hood conveyed the land and orchard to Samuel Perley of Ipswich, yeoman, and Amos Hood of Topsfield, tailor, Feb. 19, 1749.^^^ These

■'^^’Essex Registry of Deeds, book 138, leaf 209.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 19, leaf 2.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 22, leaf 221.

•'^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 25, leaf 174.

^'Essex Registry of Deeds, book 84, leaf 21.

5*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 91, leaf 144.

'■^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 94, leaf 222.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 96, leaf 147.

60

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

grantees, Amos Hood having removed to Biddeford, con- veyed the land and orchard to Nathan Hood of Topsfield, housewright, June 12, 1751.^^

The remainder of the lot probably descended to Nathan Hood upon the decease of his father. Nathan Hoed of Tops- field, housewright, conveyed the entire lotto Benjamin Bix- by of Boxford, cordwainer, March 26, 1785;®^ and Mr. Bix- by owned it in 1800.

Feb. 9, 1909, Charles W. Steele of Topsfield, who then owned this lot, conveyed it to Johnson V/alker of Boston and Mr. Walker erected a fine, large bungalow upon the lot.

John Hood House (15).

William Pritchet owned this lot of land and the house thereon, in which he lived, in the winter of 1668-9. He re- moved to Brookfield, and was killed by the Indians, Aug. 3, 1675. His son John Pritchet of Topsfield, yeoman, inherited the estate, and conveyed the lot and one-half of the house and barn to his son John Pritchet of Topsfield, June 26, 1705.^ John Pritchett, jr., conveyed a part of this estate to Francis Lathe of Boston, husbandman, Jan. 23, 1710-1.®’ Mr. Leath removed to Woburn, and conveyed it to Nathaniel Hood of Lynn, cordwainer, Feb. 26, 1712-3.®®

John Pritcherd of Topsfield, yeoman, in consideration of love, conveyed to his son John Pritcherd of Topsfield, join- er, that part of this lot lying northeasterly of the dashes, with that part of the house which the grantee had built, the line running through the house betvvxen the old and new houses. May 22, 1730.®' John Pritchard, jr., of Tops- field, joiner, conveyed to Jeremiah Perley of Boxford, yeo- man, this part of the lot, ''with the house I lately built stand-

‘^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 99, leaf 45.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

'®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1954, page 94.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 19, page 2.

^"^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 22, leaf 221.

•^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 25, leaf 174.

‘^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 56, leaf 255.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

61

ing thereon/' June 8, 1730/^ Mr. Perley conveyed it with the house, for one hundred pounds, to Zacheus Gould of Topsheld, gentleman, Jan. 1, 1735-6 and Mr. Gould, then of Topsfield, husbandman, conveyed the new part of the house and the land to William Redington of Topsfield, black- smith, April 14, 1737.'^® Nathan Hood and Nathaniel Hood, jr., both of Topsfield, housewrights, conveyed the same to Mr. Redington in 1747."^^

John Hood owned this property in 1758; and died possessed of the whole lot, Oct. 10, 1805. In his will, he gave to his wife Mary the improvement of one-half of his lands and buildings, and devised the remainder to his son John. John Hood, the son, died July 19, 1836, and the estate descended to his son John. The latter conveyed the dwelling house and land under and adjoining to his son Wesley de la Fletcher Hood of Boxford, gentleman, June 25, 1851, reserv- ing to the grantor’s sisters, Mary Hood and Lucy Hood, the right to occupy the west room and west bedroom on the lower floor of the dwelling house and to use the kitchen and oven in common and part of the cellar while they remained unmarried and no longer.^^ Captain Hood died March 22, 1852, and the place descended to his son Salmon D. Hood. The latter lived here and possessed the house and lot until his decease, Feb. 18, 1908. In his will, he devised the place to his son Ralph D. Hood of Haverhill. The house is one- story in height and is forty feet long and twenty-five feet wide.

Mary Hubbard Lot (16).

William Pritchet owned this lot of land until his death, in 1675, when it descended to his son John Pritchett of Tops- field, yeoman. The latter died Feb. 7, 1730-1, and the estate

f’^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 68, leaf 105.

‘^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 71, leaf 45.

^"Essex Registry of Deeds, book 74, leaf 162.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 90, leaf 129.

'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 446, leaf 308. See also deed of Charles H. Adams of Danvers, assignee of Salmon D. Hood, an insolvent debtor, to Perthena C. Hood, the latter’s wife, March 26, 1866. — Essex Registry of Deeds, book 700, leaf 31.

62

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

descended to his son John Pritchett of Topsfield, yeoman, who built a house and barn thereon. He conveyed the land and buildings to John Gould of Boxford, yeoman, Oct. 14, 1735.'^^ This was probably in mortgage, as Mr. Pritchett conveyed a part of the land to John Fowler of Ipswich, yeo- man, Jan. 31, 1735-6.'^^ Mr. Fowler had taken an acre of this lot and the barn on execution against Mr. Pritchett and William Redington of Topsfield, blacksmith, had obtained the rest on execution against Mr. Pritchett ; and Mr. Fowl- er conveyed his part to Mr. Redington, April 29, 1737.'^®

Mr. Redington died in 1746, and to his widov/ Elizabeth was assigned as a part of her dower the east lower room in the dwelling house and the west part of the cellar and the southwest end of the barn as far as the brick posts near the middle of the bay, and the north end of the shops, that is, the oldest building belonging to the shop. As adminis- tratrix of his estate, she conveyed the eastern part of the lot to John Hood of Topsfield, house carpenter, Feb. 2, 1747.'® She died, ''an aged woman,” Jan. 31, 1772. Apparently, the house w^as gone soon afterward.

The lot belonged to Mary Hubbard in 1785, and probably in 1800.

Benjamin Bixby Lot (17).

That part of this lot lying westerly of the brook was owned by Daniel Clarke very early. He conveyed it to Francis Urselton of Topsfield, who probably built a dwelling house thereon. He mortgaged the house and land to John Godfrey of Andover, Feb. 17, 1658 f and Mr. Godfrey conveyed the mortgage to William Pritchett of Ipswich, Nov. 16, 1660.'^'^ Mr. Godfrey had probably foreclosed the mortgage, as it was called Godfrey’s farm. Mr. Pritchett removed to Brookfield, and was killed by the Indians, Aug. 3, 1675. This

^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 70, leaf 46.

'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 72, leaf 102.

^''‘Essex Registry of Deeds, book 74, leaf 81.

^^ssex Registry of Deeds, book 94, leaf 224.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1, leaf 217.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2, leaf 11.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

63

estate descended to his son John Pritchett of Topsfield, husbandman. He conveyed one-half of it to his son John Pritchett of Topsfield, June 26, 1703 and the latter mort- gaged it to Francis Lathe of Charlestown, husbandman, Feb. 23, 1711-2.*^® Mr. Lathe removed to Woburn, and con- veyed this land to Nathaniel Hood of Lynn, cordwainer, Feb. 26, 1712.^^ Mr. Hood conveyed one-half of it to his son Nathan Hood of Topsfield, housewright, Jan. 19, 1733 f and one-half of it to his father Nathaniel Hood, May 15, 1735.‘’^ The latter reconveyed his interest to his son Na- thaniel Hood, Jan. 28, 1740.^ Samuel Waldo of Boston, merchant, conveyed one-half of it to Nathan Hood of Tops- field, housewright, June 9, 1743 and Mr. Hood conveyed it to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, cordwainer, March 26, 1785.'® Mr. Bixby owned it in 1800.

John Pritchard of Topsfield, joiner, conveyed to William Reddington of Topsfield, blacksmith, some land in the south- western part of this lot, which he had of the town, May 2, 1743.''

Benjamin Bixby Lot (18).

This lot of meadow land was owned by Thomas Baker of Topsfield, yeoman, June 15, 1696, when he conveyed it to John Pritchett of Topsfield." This was probably included in the conveyance from John Pritchett and others down, to Nathan Hood of Topsfield, housewright, who conveyed one- half of it to Benjamin Bixby of Boxford, March 26, 1785 f and he owned it in 1800.

^'*Essex Registry of Deeds, book 19, leaf 2.

®*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 25, leaf 83.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 25, leaf 175.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 69, leaf 51.

*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 70, leaf 134.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 81, leaf 108.

*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 84, leaf 249.

^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

^’'Essex Registry of Deeds, book 85, leaf 110.

®*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 11, leaf 222.

^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 12.

64

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Ivory Hovey House (19).

This land was granted by the townsmen of Ipswich to Richard Lumkin, and belonged to his widow in 1653. It in- cluded four acres of meadow, v/hich he conveyed to Mr. Gardner, and the meadow belonged to Mr. Baker in 1660. This meadow was perhaps two and one-half acres of mead- ow late in the tenure of William Pritchett of Topsfield, which was conveyed by Edmund Batter of Salem, merchant, for five pounds, to Thomas Baker of Topsfield, yeoman, Feb. 22, 1670-1,''^^ one-half of which Mr. Baker conveyed to John How of Topsfield, yeoman, on the same day and the three acres on the southwest side of Pye brook, which Thomas Baker of Ipswich, yeoman, conveyed, for ten pounds, to Ivo- ry Hovey of Topsfield, husbandman, Feb. 8, 1724-5.'^^'^ Sarah Stone, wife of Dea. Simon Stone of Watertown, for thirty pounds, conveyed this lot of land to Daniel Hovey, sr., of Ipswich, yeoman, June 12, 1660.^^ Mr. Hovey built a house upon this lot near its southern corner, before 1663, and lived here until 1668, when he became a member of the little col- ony at Quabog, now Brookfield. After his removal, his son John lived in the house, and his father conveyed the estate to him June 13, 1671.^^ John Hovey conveyed to his son Ivory Hovey, thirty-two acres of this land, the southwesterly corner being "bounded by the brook at the bridge near the west end of my dwelling house, the southerly line runs straight to the south corner of an old cellar where my dwell- ing house formerly stood,” Jan. 13, 1709-10.^^ John Hovey conveyed to Ivory Hovey the remainder of the farm, with the dwelling house and barn, March 14, 1717-8,^^ fifteen days before the death of the grantor. Capt. Ivory Hovey lived here, and died Jan. 21, 1759, having in his will devised the farm, with the house and barn thereon, to his son Aaron.

st'Essex Registry of Deeds, book 3, leaf 107.

®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 3, leaf 108.

^2Essex Registry of Deeds, book 48, leaf 21.

^^Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 1, page 239.

^Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 4, page 114.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 22, leaf 117.

®®Essex Registry of Deeds, leaf 33, book 229.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

65

Aaron Hovey lived here, and died May 4, 1759. His one hundred and fifty acres of land and the buildings were then apprised at five hundred and thirty-three pounds, six shill- ings and eight pence, and in the division of the estate was assigned to his eldest son Stephen. Aaron Hovey left a widow, Sarah (Perley), and seven young children, the eld- est being Stephen who was seventeen, and the youngest was only two years of age. She was a woman of strong mind and heart, and kept her family together. Her second child, Moses, became a soldier in the expedition against Canada in 1760, and returned home in November of that year sick of the small pox. Removing her aged mother and her large family of children elsewhere, she took care of him herself. He died, and she also became sick with the dread disease. She recovered and lived until 1792, when she died at the age of seventy-two. Stephen Hovey was a yeoman, and removed about 1768 to Maugerville, on the St. John river, in New Brunswick (then a part of Nova Scotia), and died before 1783. His daughter Sarah Orcutt of Penob- scot, Me., and her husband Malachi Orcutt conveyed to John Tibbets of Bangor, Me., her interest in her father’s estate, July 23, 1793 f and Mr. Tibbets conveyed the same interest to Mrs. Orcutt’s surviving uncles and aunts. Ivory Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman, Timothy Emerson and Joseph Hood, both of Hollis, N. H., yeomen. Sept. 10, 1793.^® Ivory Hovey owned the place in 1816, and he died Oct. 3, 1816. The property was bought by Billy and Joseph Emerson and rented to Timothy Emerson and Solomon Emerson, who were the last occupants of the house.

The first house on this lot was gone in 1709, and the sec- ond house, which stood near the original site, was built by John Hovey about 1700. The new one was about forty feet long and twenty-six feet wide and two stories in height, and faced the south. The front door was in the middle. Ivory Hovey died Oct. 3, 1816, and the estate was bought by Billy

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 157, leaf 55.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 157, leaf 56.

66

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

and Joseph Emerson, and subsequently occupied by tenants. In the winter of 1820-1, it was occupied downstairs by Tim- othy Emerson and upstairs by his brother Solomon Emerson. On the night of Jan. 2, 1821, the house caught fire from an oven and was destroyed.

The following account of this fire and the appeal follow- ing appeared in the Salem Gazette, in its issue of Jan. 9, 1821

Fire! — On Tuesday night last, a house in Topsfield, oc- cupied by Messrs. Timothy and Solomon Emerson, was de- stroyed by fire, caught from an oven which had been heated the preceding afternoon, and they with their families nar- rowly escaped perishing in the flames. More particulars are given in a piece, signed by T. Emerson, and inserted below.

An Appeal to the Benevolent.

FRIENDS OF HUMANITY!

On the night of the 2d inst. the house in which I lived was demolished by fire, and all the provisions which by hard labour I had laid up, and which would have comfort- ably supported my family through the winter, were de- stroyed, with the principal part of the furniture and nearly all the clothing. I am now, with my wife and five children, deprived of a house and the necessaries of life. I am re- luctant to ask your aid, but am compelled to it by dire ne- cessity ; and whatever your benevolent feelings may prompt you to bestow, I do assure you will be gratefully received. But to return to the distresses and cries of my family ; these make me shudder while I write : they being taken out of their bed, and hove out into the snow, and nothing on but their linen, and I nothing on but my trowsers. I froze my loes and fingers, trying to keep my children from freezing. My brother, who lived in the chamber over me, did but es- cape with his life, being stifled with smoke. My brother, having an old lady blind and helpless, was obliged to carry her half a mile to the first house. The house caught by the oven, it being heat that afternoon. I was in my bed, being first accosted by the smoke in the room, sprang from my bed, opening the doors, and the fire burst immediately into

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

67

the room. I was obliged to get my family out as soon as possible. This was on T uesday night the 2d day of January, 1821.

Timothy Emerson, Topsfield.

The following account of this fire was published in the Salem Register, in its issue of Jan. 10, 1821

Fire !

A dwelling-house in Topsfield, occupied by Messrs. Tim- othy & Solomon Emerson, was destroyed by fire about mid- night of the 2d inst. with the principal part of their furni- ture, provisions, and cloathing, the family barely escaping with their lives. The fire caught from an oven which had been heated the preceding afternoon. Mr. Timothy Emer- son has appealed to the benevolence of the public for assist- ance under the severe loss he has sustained — having with a wife and five children been deprived of a home and the necessaries of life by this disaster. We trust his appeal will not be in vain.

The schoolhouse which stood near the meeting house on Topsfield Common, and was built in 1795, was sold, in 1845» to William G. Lake, who sold it to Asa Pingree of Topsfield. The latter removed it to this farm, which he then owned, and remodeled it into a dwelling house, adding a brick base- ment kitchen. It was successively occupied by Daniel Spill- er and William Blanchard. Asa Pingree conveyed the house and land to Elizabeth Deland, wife of Benjamin De- land, of Topsfield, Oct. 4, 1859.^^ Mr. and Mrs. Deland and their family lived there, and Mrs. Deland died Jan. 14, 1901. In her will, she devised the house and land under and around it to her son Silas E. Deland who owned and occupied it until his death in 1922. Otto E. Lake now owns the property.

Thomas Emerson Lot (20).

This was common land in 1657. That part of this lot ly- ing northwesterly of the dashes was owned by Robert An- drews in 1660, and by John Andrews of Boxford, July 22, 1718, when, for one hundred pounds, he conveyed it to John

*^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 595, leaf 57.

68

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Hovey of Topsfield.^^ Mr. Hovey died May 31, 1 751, hav- ing devised the land to his son Joseph Hovey. The latter removed to Harvard, where he was a yeoman, and, for forty- six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, he conveyed it to Abraham Hobbs of Topsfield, miller, June 5, 1766.^"^ Mr. Hobbs became a yeoman, and for a similar considera- tion, conveyed it to Stephen Adams of Topsfield, yeoman. May 8, 1767.''^

That part of the lot lying southwesterly of the dashes was owned by Ephraim Dorman in 1668. He conveyed this part of the lot to his son Jacob Dorman, Sept. 2, 1718.^^^ Jacob Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed the land to Stephen Adams of Rowley, housewright, and his wife Susannah, Jan. 27, 1761 and Mr. and Mrs. Adams, who had removed to Topsfield, reconveyed the premises to Mr. Dorman, April 6, 1763.^®^ The next day, Mr. Dorman conveyed the land to Benjamin Adams of Rowley, yeoman and Mr. Adams conveyed it to Stephen Adams of Topsfield, March 21, 1765.^^

Stephen Adams conveyed the entire lot to Asa Cree of Topsfield, yeoman, April 22, 1776;^^^ and Mr. Cree conveyed it to Thomas Emerson of Topsfield, yeoman, April 10, 1777 108 Emerson owned it in 1800.

Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman Lot (21).

That part of this lot lying northwesterly of the dashes was common land in 1660 ; and owned by Serg. John Hovey in 1696. John Hovey, sr., of Topsfield, husbandman, in con- sideration of love, conveyed it to his son John Hovey, jr., of Topsfield March 14, 1717-8.^®^ The deed states that this part of the lot consisted of upland, swamp and meadow

^"^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 38, leaf 16.

*®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 128, leaf 280.

^•^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 128, leaf 96.

*”^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 35, page 68.

^®*Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, page 178.

^®*'’Essex Registry of Deeds, book 111, leaf 130.

^"*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 259.

^^’^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 141, leaf 134.

^‘^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 139, leaf 17.

‘‘‘^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 38, leaf 10.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

69

land, lying somewhat like a new moon, and that it had been improved by the grantee since the latter’s marriage (Oct. 1, 1692).

The remainder of the lot was apparently owned by The- ophilus Shatswell very early. When he was of Haverill, March 6, 1653, for fifteen pounds, he conveyed it to Thomas Dorman of Topsfield.^^*^ It was in the occupation of Robert Andrews in 1657; and, July 22, 1718, the southwestern part of it was conveyed by John Andrews of Boxford to John Hovey of Topsfield,^^^ the remainder of the lot having pre- viously been sold by said John Andrews to said John Hovey

John Hovey had apparently built a house upon the east- ern part of this lot before his marriage in 1692. Mr. Hovey died May 31, 1751, having in his will devised this land and the buildings to his son Joseph. In 1771, there were two dwelling houses and a barn on the premises.”^ Joseph Hovey was a yeoman, and conveyed this farm with the buildings thereon to Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman, both of Topsfield, yeomen, April 1, 1766,^^^ and removed to Har- vard. They owned the estate in 1800.

How much longer the house stood is unknown to the writer. There are two cellars there, about four hundred feet apart, each indicating a house of large size, and facing the south. Of the second house, nothing is known except the cellar which was well stoned and is in fine condition.

Ephraim Dorman and Joseph Dorman House (22).

The northern part of this lot of land belonged to Mathias Corwin in 1650 and 1653 ; and Mr. George Corwin of Salem sold it to Evan Morice of Topsfield, husbandman. Mr. Morice conveyed it to Thomas Dorman of Topsfield, Dec. 22, 1657 and Mr. Dorman probably built the house which stood very early upon this lot, where its site is marked up-

^'®Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 2, page 90.

‘“Essex Registry of Deeds, book 38, page 16.

“^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 110, leaf 70.

“^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 122, leaf 80.

‘“Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 2, page 48.

70

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

on the map. The remainder of the lot was granted by the town of Ipswich to Thomas Dorman about 1650. Thomas Dorman died April 25, 1676, having in his will devised this real estate to his son Ephraim. Ephraim Dorman conveyed the land and buildings to his son Joseph Dorman of Tops- field, Sept. 2, 1718.^^^ Joseph Dorman probably built the house known in recent years as the Asa Bixby house. Row- ley street having been laid out the previous year. This was a large two-story house, with an ell midway on its back- side. The old house undoubtedly disappeared soon after- ward. Lt. Joseph Dorman died April 17, 1753, having in his will devised one-third of his estate to his wife Abigail and the remainder to his sons, Nathaniel and Ephraim. She died, ’'an aged woman,’' Dec. 9, 1773 ; and the place from that time belonged to the two sons. Nathaniel Dor- man died Oct. 13, 1776; and his only son Joseph Dorman inherited his father’s interest in the estate. Maj. Joseph Dorman died May 27, 1812, having in his will devised all his estate to his wife Phebe. Ephraim Dorman died suddenly in his chair Jan. 13, 1818, having in his will devised his es- tate to Phebe Dorman, widow of his nephew Joseph Dor- man. Thus Mrs. Phebe Dorman became the sole owner of this land and the buildings. Mrs. Dorman removed to Woburn, and conveyed to Jonas Meriam of Topsfield, gen- tleman, this, the "ancient Dorman farm,” May 25, 1821.^^® Mr. Merriam conveyed it to Asa Bixby of Ipswich, gentle- man, June 25, 1822.^^’ Mr. Bixby removed to this farm and became a yeoman ; and conveyed the estate to David Towne of Topsfield, yeoman, July 24, 1830.^^® Mr. Towne recon- veyed it to Capt. Asa Bixby and his wife Eleanor, April 15, 1837.^^^ Captain Bixby lived here, carrying on the farm and shoe making until his death, which occurred June 13, 1858. His wife Eleanor survived him and died Dec. 20, 1868.

^^■^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 35, leaf 69.

’^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 233, leaf 222.

”^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 230, leaf 44.

'^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 257, leaf 141.

“^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 299, leaf 39.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

71

They left six children, Hasket G., Benjamin, Ellen, Louisa, Asa B. and Sophia A. Hasket G. Bixby lived in Topsfield, and conveyed his interest in his father’s estate to Louisa Horris (wife of Michael), Sophia A. Bixby, singlewoman, and Asa B. Bixby, shoemaker, all of Topsfield, Aug. 29, 1865.^'^® Mr. Bixby also conveyed his interest in his mother’s estate to the same grantees, Oct. 19, 1868.^^^ Benjamin Bix- by conveyed his interest in his parents’ estate to his sister Louisa Horace, May 16, 1871.^^^ Ellen H. Bixby was a tailor- ess, and died in Topsfield, Aug. 7, 1881. Her heirs, Benja- min Bixby, Asa B. Bixby, Louisa Horace, all of Topsfield, H. Almira, Emily, Abby, Eliza Dustin, all of Boston, and Charles W., of Danvers, children of Hasket G. Bixby, de- ceased, conveyed their interests in her estate to Sophia A. Bixby of Topsfield, Oct. 5, 1881.^^^ Asa B. Bixby died June 29, 1884 ; and Salmon D. Hood, the administrator of his es- tate, conveyed his interest in this estate to his sister Mrs. Louisa Horace, Oct. 27, 1885.^'^^ Sophia A. Bixby went to Sharon to live with her sister Mrs. Horace and died there Feb. 2, 1900. Miss Ellen J. Horace, daughter of Mrs. Louisa Horace, the administratrix of Miss Bixby’s estate, conveyed the interest of Miss Bixby in the estate to Stephen J. Con- nolly, Gregory P. Connolly and Thomas D. Connolly, all of Beverly, June 11, 1901.^^® Mrs. Horace conveyed her part of the estate to the same grantees on the same day and they still own the property.

The house fronted southerly. As late as 1860 the front sitting room floor was kept sanded. The barn stood across the road and near it was a small shoe shop. After the farm was purchased by the Connolly brothers the house was oc- cupied by fifteen Italians who worked for the owners. The

^^*^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 689, leaf 264.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 777, leaf 168.

^-^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 829, leaf 106.

^-•‘^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1111, leaf 5.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1160, leaf 256.

’^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1650, leaf 409.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1650, leaf 411.

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

house was destroyed by fire on Sunday, May 8, 1904, hav- ing caught fire, it was supposed, from a spark from the chimney. The alarm was given in the village at about eleven o’clock and the hook and ladder truck and extin- guishers were taken to the place. When the village fire department arrived the fire was beyond control. Soon after, the owmers of the estate removed to the site the Merriam- Williams house, from Main Street, Topsfield. At present it is unoccupied.

Haverhill Street (23).

A new road from a knoll on the northerly side of Pine plain on the old road to a corner of the barn of Capt. Daniel Bixby on the Andover road was laid out Dec. 1, 1835. The distance was one hundred and eighty-seven rods, and its course north forty-eight degrees and forty minutes west. The southern part of it was to straighten the old road and the northern portion was a new section to make the way more direct and correspondingly shorter.

William Moneys House (24).

This land belonged to Capt. John Andrews in 1722 and to John Hovey in 1747. Joseph Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman, for fifteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence conveyed the lot to Samuel Tapley of Topsfield, husbandman, April 7, 1756.^^^ Samuel Tapley died in the war in 1756 ; and his widow, Abial Tapley, and Samuel Tapley, ”now resident in Topsfield, but an inhabitant of St. John, Nova Scotia,” yeo- man, for twenty-nine pounds, six shillings and eight pence, conveyed to Joshua Balch of Boxford, cordwainer, the house, barn and land, Aug. 22, 1765.^^® William Munies owned the land in 1783. The house was small, being one-story in height, and belonged to and occupied by William Moneys in 1798. The house, barn and land was conveyed by Wil- liam Moneys of Salem, yeoman, to John Ray, jr., of Tops-

'"'Essex Registry of Deeds, book 103, leaf 239.

'-^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 121, leaf 51.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

73

field, trader, June 24, 1823J^''^ The house was destroyed by fire a few years later.

Parker Brown Lot (25).

The northerly portion of this lot was owned by Capt. John Andrews of Boxford, gentleman, April 8, 1725, when he con- veyed it to Joshua Andrews of Boxford.^^® Joshua Andrews was a yeoman, and conveyed this part of the lot to John Symonds, jr., of Boxford, husbandman, April 13, 1747.^^^ Mr. Symonds removed to Holden, and, for fourteen pounds, fourteen shillings and eight pence, conveyed this part of the lot to Alexander Tapley of Topsheld, housewright. Sept. 8, 1763.'^^

The southerly portion of this lot belonged to Oliver An- drews of Boxford, husbandman, March 30, 1747, when, for twenty-five pounds, he conveyed it to Ephraim Kimball of Boxford, yeoman.^^^ See deed of Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman, of Topsfield, yeomen, to Joseph Brown of Boxford, yeoman, April 4, 1776.^^'^

Asa Gould of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed this lot to Ben- jamin Porter, jr., of Boxford, yeoman. May 18, 1783 and Mr. Porter conveyed it to Samuel Brown of Boxford, yeo- man, Feb. 30, 1784.^^^ Mr. Brown died Aug. 13, 1797; and Thomas Perley, administrator of his estate, conveyed the lot to his son Parker Brown of Danvers, yeoman. Sept. 27, 1798.''^

Samuel Brown had built a causeway from the highway into this peat meadow, and laid it out into small lots. He conveyed one acre of it to Thomas Perkins of Salem, mar- iner, May 21, 1793.^^^ He also sold half an acre to Roger

i29Essex Registry of Deeds, book 234, leaf 137.

i^oipswich Registry of Deeds, book 45, page 241.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, page 106.

^^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 114, leaf 93.

i^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 91, leaf 171.

i^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, page 38.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 142, leaf 64.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 163, leaf 239.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 155, leaf 256.

74

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Balch of Topsfield, yeoman, Aug. 27, 1796.^^® Other lots were sold after 1800.

Clarissa Perley Lot (26).

John Baker of Boxford, yeoman, conveyed this lot of land, with the buildings thereon, to Joseph Brown, cordwainer, and John Balch, yeoman, both of Topsfield, Dec. 5, 1753;^^^ and Jan. 20, 1756, the grantees divided it, the southern part of it being assigned to Joseph Brown.^^® Mr. Balch of Tops- field, tanner, conveyed his part to Joseph Brown, who owned the other part, April 10, 1760.^^® Mr. Brown owned it in 1783. The latter died Aug. 13, 1797, and the estate descend- ed to his youngest child, Clarissa, wife of Solomon Perley. Mr. and Mrs. Perley lived here, the old house, which was there as early as 1753, being just within the Boxford town line. Mr. Perley died in 1866. Mrs. Perley survived him, and with her bachelor son, Parker Brown Perley, lived in the old house until 1868, when Mr. Perley built a new house a few feet southerly of the old one, and just within the Tops- field line. They moved into the new house, and the old one was never again occupied as a home. An addition was made to the house in 1901. "Aunt Clary” died April 11, 1881, and her son continued to live there alone practically until his death, Nov. 10, 1893. In his will, Mr. Perley de- vised this estate to Walter S. Gould of Danvers; and Mr. Gould conveyed it to Arthur W. Phillips of Salem, April 15, 1897.^^^ Mr. Phillips lived here, and died May 13, 1906, leav- ing widow Ada M. Phillips and one child, Percy F. Phillips. Mrs. Phillips married Walter Farnham of Beverly, and with her son Percy F. Phillips conveyed the house and land to Richard Wheatland of Topsfield, April 17, 1914.^^

Jacob Kimball Lot (27).

This lot of land was owned by Ephraim Dorman in 1668 ;

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 161, page 60.

^•"^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 103, page 260.

^^^'Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 283.

’^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1510, leaf 188.

^<2Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2256, leaf 64.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

75

and he conveyed it to his son Jacob Dorman, Sept. 2, 1718.^^" Jacob Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed it to Stephen Adams of Rowley, house wright, and his wife Susannah (daughter of the grantor), Jan. 27, 1761 and Mr. Adams, who had removed to Bradford and become a yeoman, with his wife Susannah, conveyed the lot to Jacob Kimball of Topsheld, blacksmith, July 7, 1778.^^® Mr. Kimball owned it in 1800.

Thomas Emerson House (28).

This lot of land was owned by Ephraim Dorman in 1668. There was a house then upon the lot in which Mr. Dorman lived. He conveyed the land and house to his son Jacob Dorman, Sept. 2, 1718,^^® except ''the new end of my house that Mr. Tilton set up which I reserve.” Jacob Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed the same to Stephen Adams of Rowley, housewright, and his wife Susannah (daughter of the grantor) Jan. 27, 1761 and Mr. and Mrs. Adams re- moved to this farm. They reconveyed the premises to Ja- cob Dorman, April 6, 1763 and the next day Mr. Dorman conveyed the same to Benjamin Adams of Rowley, yeoman. Benjamin Adams conveyed the estate to Stephen Adams of Topsfield, yeoman, April 22, 1776 and Stephen Adams conveyed the house and land to Asa Cree of Topsfield, yeo- man, on the same day. Mr. Cree conveyed the same to Nathaniel Tyler of Topsfield, yeoman, March 27, 1777 and Mr. Tyler lived here until he conveyed the place to Jesse Tyler of Methuen, yeoman, Sept. 9, 1780.^'^^ Jesse Tyler re- moved to Topsfield ; and conveyed the estate to William Webber of Methuen, yeoman, July 2, 1781.^’^^ Mr. Webber

’^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 35, leaf 68.

^‘‘^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, leaf 178.

^■‘^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 139, leaf 60.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 35, leaf 68.

*^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, leaf 178.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 111, leaf 130.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 126, leaf 259.

^■^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 141, leaf 134.

^®*Essex Registry of Deeds, book 138, leaf 180.

^"^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 138, leaf 225.

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

reconveyed it to Jesse Tyler, April 1, 1783;^^" and on the same day Mr. Tyler conveyed it to Thomas Emerson of Topsfield, gentleman.^’’^'^ In 1798, the house was occupied by John LeFavor and Stephen Cree. Mr. Emerson died May 9, 1813, having in his will devised the estate to his sons Billy and Joseph. In 1821, the house was occupied by Stephen Cree, and later by the Gallop family for some years. Joseph Emerson died May 28, 1826 ; and in the partition of his real estate, Nov. 30, 1827, this house and lot were assigned to Billy Emerson. Billy Emerson mortgaged this estate to Nehemiah Cleaveland, esquire, and Moses V/ildes, black- smith, both of Topsfield, Sept. 2, 1830.^^^ Mr. Emierson died Oct. 29, 1835, insolvent ; and the mortgage was apparently foreclosed. The house was two-story in height; and was occupied by Samuel Phillips in 1830. The last occupants were Cyrus Kneeland and his family who probably lived here from 1832 to 1836. The house was then taken down by Samuel Clark.

John Batchelder and Joseph Batchelder House (29).

John Baker of Ipswich, for love, conveyed to his son Thcmi- as Baker this farm, farm house, barns, orchards, etc., Feb. 20, 1661.^”^ It is said that the two-story house recently upon the premises was built by Capt. Thomas Baker about 1710 ; and that he was living in it in 1715. Captain Baker died March 18, 1717-8, having in his will devised his real estate to his son Thomas. Capt. Thomas Baker, the son, died in September, 1725, and this place was inherited by his eldest son ThomLas. Capt. Thomas Baker, the son, died Sept. 16, 1777, and this farm was inherited by his son John Baker of Topsheld, gentleman. John Baker conveyed one-half of that part of this lot lying northerly and easterly of the dashes to John Batchelder, jr., cordwainer, and one-half to Thomas Fos- ter of Rowley, yeom»an, by separate deeds, March 2, 1795.^’^'

^■^"Essex Registry of Deeds, book 141, leaf 81.

^•’^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 140, leaf 247.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 257, leaf 198.

’'^qpswich Registry of Deeds, book 2, page 52.

^■^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 159, leaf 47.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

77

John Baker of Topsfield, gentleman, conve^^ed that part of this lot lying southerly and westerly of the dashes to Thomas Foster of Topsfield, yeoman, Jan. 14, 1796 and Mr. Foster conveyed it to Joseph Batchelder of Topsfield, yeoman, Feb. 22, 1797.^"*'^ Joseph Batchelder conveyed one- half of that part of the lot lying southerly and westerly of the dashes to his brother John Batchelder, jr., of Topsfield, yeoman. May 22, 1798.^^^

Mr. Foster conveyed his one-half of that part of the lot lying northerly and easterly of the dashes to Joseph Batch- elder of Topsfield, yeoman, Feb. 22, 1797.^^*'^

John Batchelder died Sept. 20, 1845 ; and Silas Lake, black- smith, and wife Phebe B., in her right, and Henry Janes, cordwainer, and v/ife Anne B., in her right, conveyed to Joseph W. Batchelder of Topsfield, gentleman, all the real estate of their father John Batchelder, deceased, March 25, 1846.^^^ Capt. Joseph Batchelder died March 12, 1853 ; hav- ing in his will devised his real estate to his three sons Amos Batchelder, John Batchelder and Joseph Batchelder. Amos Batchelder of Middleton, John Batchelder of Lynn and Joseph W. Batchelder of Topsfield, for thirty-three hundred dollars, conveyed the farm to James P. Chandler of Salem, April 11, 1866.^‘^‘-^ Mr. Chandler lived here until Jan. 2, 1874, when he conveyed the place to Joseph W. Lindsay and Philip B. Lindsay, both of Marblehead.^®^ Messrs. Joseph V\f . Lind- say and Philip B. Lindsay conveyed the same estate to Ben- jamin J. Walton of Boston, Dec. 20, 1880 and Walton lived

here until Jan. 5, 1889, when he reconveyed the estate to Joseph W. Lindsay and Philip B. Lindsay of Marblehead.^®"' Messrs. Joseph W. Lindsay and Philip B. Lindsay conveyed the estate to Henry A. Jones of Topsfield, April 7, 1890;^®®

i''''^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 159, leaf 247.

••■’^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 161, leaf 220.

^‘^''Essex Registry of Deeds, book 165, leaf 234.

i^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 365, leaf 88.

^‘"■'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 700, leaf 208.

^®®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 895, leaf 281.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1050, leaf 95.

^''^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1273, page 536.

^‘^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1273, page 549.

78

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

and Mr. Jones conveyed it to Algernon S. Cram of Lynn, March 17, 1891.^®^ Mr. Cram conveyed it to George P. Cros- by of Saugus, Nov. 5, 1902 and Mr. Crosby conveyed it to Hannah G. Thomas, wife of Elmer B. Thomas of Peabody Nov. 22, 1911.^^^ Mrs. Thomas still owns the estate.

The Phillips House (29-2).

Timothy M. Phillips of Topsfield, carpenter, bought a part of this lot in the spring of 1855 and immediately built the one story house now standing thereon. He lived here until his death, which occurred March 22, 1877. In his will, he devised his real estate to his wife Adeline G. Phillips for her life, with power of sale and the remainder to his children, viz. : Erwin T. Phillips of Topsheld, Addie J. Per- kins, wife of David P. Perkins of Topsfield, and Arthur W. Phillips and John W. Phillips, both of Linebrook parish, Ip- swich. The widow died July 5,1892; her son Erwin T. Phillips died in Hamilton, Jan. 31, 1906 ; and her son Arthur W. Phillips died May 13, 1906. The surviving son, John W. Phillips, and daughter, Addie J. Perkins, and the widows and children of the deceased sons, viz. : Ruth G. Phillips, widow, William H. Herring and wife Mabel E. Herring, H. Walter Gilman and wife Bessie R. Gilman, Sidney M. Phil- lips, singleman, Addie J. Perkins, widow, Grace R. Perkins, Mary A. Perkins and Alice E. Perkins, single ladies, Ada M. Phillips, widow, Percy F. Phillips, singleman, John W. Phil- lips and wife Ida M. Phillips, all of Topsfield, conveyed this house and land to Arthur F. Perkins of Topsfield Aug. 29, 1906.^^^ Mr. Perkins now owns and occupies the homestead.

The Gould House (29-3).

The one-story house standing on the Haverhill street end of this lot, opposite West street, was built by Frank L. Gould

^®’Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1304, page 47.

^‘'“^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1690, page 122.

^®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2119, page 271.

^''^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 516, leaf 220.

^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1839, page 112.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

79

in 1901. He has owned and occupied the house ever since that date.

Ezekiel Potter Lot (30).

This lot was owned by Matthias Corwin, and subsequent- ly by George Corwin. Samuel Cur wen, esquire, of Salem, for eight pounds and ten shillings, conveyed it to Ezekiel Potter of Ipswich, yeoman, June 9, 1769.^^^ Mr. Potter owned the lot in 1800.

John Merriam House (31).

That part of this lot of land lying northwesterly of the dashes belonged to John Baker of Ipswich, Feb. 20, 1661, when, for love, he conveyed it to his son Thomas Baker Capt. Thomas Baker died March, 18, 1717-8, having in his will devised his real estate to his son Thomas.

That part of this lot lying southeasterly of the dashes was granted by the committee of the proprietors of the common lands in Topsfield, for seventeen pounds, to Thomas Baker of Topsfield, June 9, 1722.'^^

Capt. Thomas Baker thus became the owner of the entire lot. He died in September, 1725 ; and the lot was inherited by his eldest son Thomas. Capt. Thomas Baker, the son, died Sept. 16, 1777, and this lot was inherited by his son John Baker. John Baker of Topsfield, gentleman, conveyed it to Thomas Foster of Topsfield, yeoman, Jan. 14, 1796;^'" and, for two hundred dollars, Mr. Foster conveyed it to Dr. John Merriam of Topsfield, Feb. 11, 1796.^^® Doctor Mer- riam immediately built the two-story now standing thereon, in the crutch of the roads. The ell was added in 1828. Doctor Merriam died Nov. 21, 1817 ; having in his will given to his daughter Almira Merriam the use of the front east room in the house, and all the rest of his real estate to his son Frederic Jones Merriam of Topsfield, yeoman.'^^ Fred-

^’'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 127, leaf 143.

^^^Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 2, page 52.

^’■^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 40, leaf 254.

i^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 159, leaf 247.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 172, leaf 30.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 251, leaf 207.

80

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

eric J. Merriam mortgaged the premises to Jacob Towne, jr., esquire, and Moses Wildes, yeoman, both of Topsfield, Jan. 5, 1829. Both mortgagees died, and possession was given by Mr. Merriam to Moses Wildes, executor of the will of Moses Wildes, and Jacob P. Towne, administrator of the estate of Jacob Towne, March 29, 1841.^^® Mr. Merriam died March 26, 1843 ; and Moses Wildes and Jacob P. Towne, both of Topsfield, gentlemen, conveyed to Martha Merriam of Topsfield, widow, a life estate in the new part of this house and part of the cellar, etc., and after her decease all to be the absolute property of Dr. Royal A. Merriam, as in an unrecorded deed to him, dated March 27, 1845, which is also the date of this conveyance.^^^ Doctor Merriam con- veyed this house and lot to Samuel Todd of Topsfield, yeo- man, Feb. 14, 1856.^^^ Mr. Todd died June 5, 1893, intestate, leaving no widow, and children : Susan C. Dodge, Clara T. Spofford, wife of Frank M. Spofford, of Danvers, and Hattie E. Todd of Topsfield. The buildings and five acres of land were then valued at seventeen hundred dollars. The estate is still a part of Mr. Todd’s estate.

The Ellard FIouse (31-2).

The one-story house of Mrs. Ellen Ellard v/as built by Jewett Pingree, about 1845, on the Lavalette farm in Line- brook parish, Ipswich ; and, in 1874, it was removed to this lot and remodeled into a dwelling house by Jacob Foster for Joshua Conroad of Topsfield, who had bought this land.^^^ Mr. Conroad conveyed the land and dwelling house to Ellen Ellard, wife of George Ellard, of Topsfield, June 2, 1875;^^^ and Mrs. Ellard has lived there ever since.

The White House (31-3).

This one-story house was built by John H. Potter in 1873, on land he had bought. It was occupied for many years by

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 323, leaf 297.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 353, leaf 276.

^^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 527, leaf 45.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 907, leaf 111.

i82Essex Registry of Deeds, book 929, leaf 160.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

81

Benjamin F. Deland. The place was sold on execution against Mr. Potter to William B. Kimball of Topsfield, the judgment creditor, March 5, 1881.^^ Mr. Kimball died Sept. 17, 1888, intestate ; leaving a widow, Mary S. Kimball, and children, Mary E. Kimball, William B. Kimball, Fred S. Kimball and Paul R. Kimball. Frederick S. Kimball of Topsfield conveyed to Mary S. Kimball of Topsfield all his interest in the estate of his father Jan. 10, 1894.^®^ Paul R. Kimball of Topsfield conveyed to Mary S. Kimball of Tops- field all his interest in the estate of his father, April 22, 1897.^^^ Mr. KimbalFs widow, Mary S. Kimball, and her daughter Mary E. Kimball, single woman, both of Topsfield, conveyed this lot of land and the house to Henry R. White of Tops- field, April 22, 1897.^^® Mr. White died Nov. 21, 1910, intes- tate, leaving widow, Mary E. White, and children : James H. White of New Hampshire, Clarence White of California, Manley A. White of Topsfield, Temperance White of Cali- fornia, Susanna Carr of Annapolis, N. S., and Wealthy White of Northfield, N. S. The house was destroyed by fire Nov. 19, 1916.

The Ford House (31-4).

Mrs. Isabel Ford, v/ife of Howard Ford of Topsfield bought this lot of land Sept. 30, 1904 and built the present house thereon in 1907.

The Carmody House (31-5)

This one-story house was about the last building to be removed from ”the colleges.’' It was a shoe shop standing in the locusts, and belonged to the estate of Daniel Averill, jr. Nehemiah Perkins, the administrator of the estate of Mr. Averill, sold it to Cyrus Peabody about 1845-6, and he removed it to his home at the Dodd place, in Springville. After it was used as a shop in that new location for several

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1054, leaf 17.

^®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1402, page 393.

*®^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1510, page 498.

^®®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1510, page 494.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1146, leaf 24.

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

years it was sold to Salmon D. Hood, who removed it to his home at Hood’s pond. After remaining there for sev- eral years, and used as a shoemaker’s shop, it was purchased by George H. Shepard of Salem and removed to this lot which he had bought Aug. 8, 1884. An addition was made to it at that time. Mr. Shepard conveyed it to Charles Carmody of Topsfield, May 22, 1888.^^ Mr. Carmody died Dec. 1, 1913 ; and Guy C. Richards of Beverly, the admin- istrator of his estate, conveyed the house and land to Lucy E. Clay, wife of George W. Clay of Topsfield, for five hun- dred and fifty-doilars, April 7, 1914.^®^^

Ephraim Dorman and Joseph Dorman Lot (32).

This lot of land was lot numbered one in the division of the Winthrop Hills common lands in 1723, being laid out to Joseph Dorman. It became a part of his adjoining farm. Lieutenant Dorman died April 17, 1753, having devised one- third of his estate to his wife Abigail and the remainder to his sons Nathaniel and Ephraim. She died Dec. 9, 1773 ; and from that time the land belonged to the two sons. Nath- aniel Dorman died Oct. 13, 1776 ; and his only son, Joseph, inherited the deceased’s half of the premises. So that in 1800 the owners of this lot were Ephraim Dorman and his nephew Joseph Dorman.

The Perley House (32-1).

This was originally a barn which was built by John Perley of Ipswich about 1835, near the farm of Nathan Dodge in Linebrook parish, in Ipswich. Mr. Perley purchased its present site in Topsfield, Dec. 31, 1835,^^® and removed the barn thereto, remodeling it into a dwelling house. He lived in it, and died Jan. 4, 1880. He was found dead, having lived alone for several years. His daughter Lydia A. Bix- by of Haverhill inherited the property. She became insane, and her guardian, Salmon D. Hood, conveyed the estate to

^^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1224, page 321.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2252, page 176.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 328, leaf 98.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

83

her son John P. Bixby of Middleton, Sept. 3, 1892.^^^ Mr. Bixby conveyed it to Millard F. Day of Ipswich five days later.^^- Mr. Day removed to this house, and, for three hun- dred dollars, conveyed the property to Orrie M. Hills of Ip- swich, Nov. 18, 1893.^^^ Mr. Hills reconveyed it to Mr. Day Sept. 4, 1894 and Mr. Day conveyed it to Rosan K. Day of Topsheld, April 20, 1899.^^^ Mrs. Day, for six hundred dollars, conveyed it to Stephen J. Connolly, Gregory P. Con- nolly and Thomas D. Connolly, all of Beverly, Nov. 30, 1904.^^®

William Rogers Lot (33).

This lot was number two of the Winthrop Hills division of the common lands, and was laid out to Deborah Dorman, widow of Thomas Dorman, in his right, about 1723. Jesse Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, released the lot to Deborah Dorman, widow of Thomas Dorman, and Deborah Dorman, jr., daughter of said Thomas Dorman, Feb. 19, 1723-4.^^^ The daughter Deborah Dorman married William Rogers, and died July 22, 1744, leaving a daughter Elizabeth. Wid- ow Deborah Dorman died March 22, 1750, having in her will given the residue of her estate to her granddaughter Eliza- beth Rogers. Miss Rogers probably conveyed this lot to her brother or father William Rogers who is called its owner in 1754. A writ against Mr. Rogers was brought by Nathaniel Balston, Esq., and wife Eunice ; and in satisfaction of the judgment secured therein, this lot was assigned to the judg- ment creditor April 23, 1755.^^^*® Mr. Rogers probably owned this lot until 1800.

Nathaniel Perkins Averill Lot (34).

This lot was a part of the common lands of Topsfield known as the Winthrop Hills division, and was lot num-

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1354, page 524.

i^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1354, page 526.

i^-^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1395, page 304.

i^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1423, page 350.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1575, page 530.

^^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1762, page 391.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 43, leaf 86.

^^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 102, leaf 254.

84

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

bered three, being laid out to Joseph Boardman about 1723. Joseph Borman of Topsfield, housewright, for two hundred pounds, conveyed it to his two daughters Abigail Cum- mings and Hannah Perkins, Feb. 28, 1735-6.^®^ Israel Cum- mings of Ipswich and wife Abigail, Jacob Perkins and wife Hannah and Prudence Bordman of Topsfield, daughters and widow respectively of the deceased, conveyed it to Elisha Cummings of Topsfield, yeoman, Dec. — , 1742.^®^^ Mr. Cummings, for fifty pounds, conveyed it to William Rogers of Topsfield, Jan. 11, 1743-4.^^^ Mr. Rogers was a bricklayer; and with Samuel Rogers of Marblehead, innholder, was sued in court by Francis Cabot of Salem, merchant, who recovered judgment, and in satisfaction thereof this lot was set off to him April 23, 1755.^^^ Mr. Cabot conveyed it to Nathaniel Browne of Wenham, gentleman, April 4, 1757 and Mr. Browne conveyed it to Samuel Smith of Topsfield, yeoman, April 10, 1764.^^^ Mr. Smith conveyed the lot to Asahel Smith of Derryfield, N. H., cooper, March 24, 1786 and Asahel Smith conveyed it to Nathaniel Perkins Averill of Topsfield, yeoman, March 15, 1791.^®® Mr. Averill owned it in 1800.

Ephraim Dorman and Joseph Dorman Lot (35).

That part of this lot lying westerly of the dashes was lot numbered four in the Winthrop Hills division of the com- mon lands in Topsfield, was laid out to Joseph Cummings of Topsfield, yeoman, about 1723. Mr. Cummings conveyed it to Joseph Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, Aug. 16, 1723.^^^

That part of this lot lying between the dashes was lot numbered five in the Winthrop Hills division of the common lands, and was laid out to Dea. John Howlett about 1723.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 78, leaf 194.

2®°Essex Registry of Deeds, book 84, leaf 85.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 86, leaf 45.

2*^2Essex Registry of Deeds, book 105, leaf 3.

2°®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 106, leaf 13.

^o^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 144, leaf 105.

^'^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 145, leaf 192.

^‘^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 152, leaf 224.

2°^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 49, leaf 140.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

85

This lot came into the hands of Jacob Peabody of Topsfield, husbandman, who conveyed it to Joseph Dorman, Nov. 29, 1733.2®'

That part of this lot lying easterly of the dashes was lot numbered six in the Winthrop Hills division of the common lands, and was laid out to Jacob Peabody of Topsfield, hus- bandman, about 1723. Mr. Peabody conveyed it to Joseph Dorman, Nov. 29, 1733.^^^^

Thus Joseph Dorman became the owner of the entire lot. Lieutenant Dorman died April 17, 1753, having devised one- third of his estate to his wife Abigail and the remainder to his sons, Nathaniel and Ephraim. She died Dec. 9, 1773 ; and the lot from that time belonged to the two sons. Na- thaniel Dorman died Oct. 13, 1776, and his only son Joseph Dorman inherited his father’s interest in the estate. Eph- raim Dorman and his nephew Joseph Dorman owed the lot together in 1800.

Estate of Stephen Foster Lot (36).

This lot of land was lot numbered seven in the Winthrop Hills division of common lands in Topsfield ; and was laid out to Capt. Tobijah Perkins about 1723. Captain Perkins, for ninety-two pounds, conveyed it to Stephen Foster of Topsfield, yeoman. May 10, 1757.^®^ Deacon Foster died Jan. 7, 1781 ; and the title to this lot remained in his estate prob- ably in 1800.

Ephraim Dorman and Joseph Dorman Lot (37).

This lot constitutes the lot of common land lying north- westerly of the Winthrop Hills division lots, and was laid out about 1723. In this ’’second” division the lots were numbered from the northeasterly side, from one to eight.

Lot one was laid out to Capt. Tobijah Perkins of Topsfield; and, for eleven pounds, he conveyed it to John Hovey of Topsfield, Dec. 2, 1724.'^^® Mr. Hovey died May 31, 1751,

2P"^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 69, leaf 197.

2o^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 109, leaf 16.

2^°Essex Registry of Deeds, book 121, leaf 114.

86

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

having devised this lot to his son Joseph. Joseph Hovey lived in Topsfield, being a yeoman, and conveyed it to Nath- aniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman of Topsfield, yeomen, April 1, 1766.2^'

Lot two was laid out to Dea. John Howlet. Jacob Peabody of Topsfield conveyed it to John Hovey of Topsfield, May 1, 1724.^^'“^ Mr. Hovey died May 31, 1751, having devised this lot to his son Joseph. Joseph Hovey lived in Topsfield, being a yeoman, and conveyed it to Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman of Topsfield, yeomen, April 1, 1766.^^^

Lot three was laid out to Joseph Cummings of Topsfield, yeoman ; and he conveyed it to Joseph Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, Aug. 16, 1723. Lieutenant Dorman died April 17, 1753, having devised one third of his estate to his wife Abi- gail and the remainder to his sons Nathaniel and Ephraim. She died Dec. 9, 1773 ; and the lot from that time belonged to the two sons.

Lot four was laid out to Joseph Borman. Joseph Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed it to Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, April 1, 1766.'“^^^

Lot five was laid out to ye widow Deborah Dorman, in right of her husband Thomas Dorman, deceased. Jesse Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, released it to Deborah Dor- man, widow of Thomas Dorman, and Deborah Dorman, jr., daughter of said Thomas Dorman, Feb. 19, 1723-4.^^^ Deb- orah Dorman, sr., and Deborah Dorman, jr., of Topsfield, for fourteen pounds and seven shillings, conveyed it to Joseph Hovey of Topsfield, yeoman, April 12, 1729.^^^ Mr. Hovey conveyed it to Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dor- man, both of Topsfield, yeomen, April 1, 1766.^^^

Lot six was laid out to Jacob Peabody of Topsfield, yeo- man; and he conveyed it to Joseph Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, April 23, 1724.^^® Lieutenant Dorman died April

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 122, leaf 80.

2^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 49, leaf 140.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 43, leaf 86.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 121, leaf 115.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 122, leaf 80.

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

87

17, 1753, having devised one-third of his estate to his wife Abigail and the remainder to his sons Nathaniel and Eph- raim. She died Dec. 9, 1773 ; and the lot from that time belonged to the two sons.

Lot seven was laid out to Joseph Dorman. Lieutenant Dorman died April 17, 1753, having devised one-third of his estate to his wife Abigail and the remainder to his sons Na- thaniel and Ephraim. She died Dec. 9, 1773 ; and the lot from that time belonged to the two sons.

Lot eight was laid out to John Hovey. Mr. Hovey died May 31, 1751, having devised it to his son Joseph. Joseph Hovey probably conveyed the lot to Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman of Topsfield, yeomen, in or before 1766.

Nathaniel Dorman and Ephraim Dorman became the owners of the entire lot. Nathaniel Dorman died Oct. 13, 1776 ; and his only son Joseph inherited his father’s interest in the estate. Ephraim Dorman and his nephew Joseph Dorman owned the lot together in 1800.^^^

Nathaniel Perkins Averill House (38)

This lot of land was the property of Thomas Dorman in 1690, when he is said to have built the ancient house which formerly stood upon this lot, partly on the site of Mr. Frame’s house. William Rogers of Topsfield, bricklayer, owned the lot and the house and barn in 1755. Samuel Smith of Topsfield, gentleman, for two hundred and fifty pounds, conveyed to Asahel Smith of Derryfield, N. H., cooper, one- half of seventy-five acres of land in Topsfield, with the dwelling house and barn thereon, March 24, 1786.^^^ Asa- hel Smith was the grandfather of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, and here was born his son Joseph, father of the prophet. Asahel Smith of Topsfield, cooper, for two hund- red and seventy pounds, conveyed this house and barn and land to Nathaniel Perkins Averill of Topsfield, yeoman, March 15, 1791 and removed to New Hampshire. In

2^^"Essex Registry of Deeds, book 49, leaf 141.

2i^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 103, leaf 30.

2^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book' 145, leaf 192.

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1798, the barn then standing upon the estate measured fifty-two by thirty feet ; and the house was two-story in height, measured about forty by twenty feet and had only nine windows which contained thirty-one square feet of glass. The house was then occupied by the owner. Mr. Aver ill conveyed the estate to Stephen Averill of Topsfield, cordwainer, the grantor still occupying the premises, Dec. 17, 1814.^^*^ Stephen Averill conveyed the house and land to Jacob Peabody of Topsfield, miller, April 5, 1817 and Mr. Peabody, then of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed the same to Nathan Dane, Esq., of Beverly, July 16, 1821.*-^^ Mr. Dane conveyed the estate to Samuel Bradstreet and Samuel Gould of Topsfield, June 16, 1831 and Samuel Gould and Thomas

Averill and Charles Gould, as assignees of said Samuel Gould, all of Topsfield, conveyed the same to Lydia Lord of Salem, widow, April 30, 1842.^*-^ Mrs. Lord married L. Will- Ham Wiihr ; and Mr. and Mrs. Wiihr, of Salem, conveyed the same estate to Thomas G. Boardman of Topsfield, Oct. 31, 1864.^^^ Charles H. Adams of Danvers, deputy-sheriff, on execution against Mr. Boardman, conveyed the estate to Alfred McKenzie of Peabody, Dec. 13, 1872 and Mr. McKenzie conveyed it to John Boardman of Topsfield and wife Louisa, May 30, 1874.'^^® Mr. and Mrs. Boardman con- veyed the land and buildings to Francis C. Frame of Tops- field, June 22, 1876.^^^ Mr. Frame removed the old house immediately, and built the present one-story house upon the site, the carpenter being Albert Chesley.

Ezekiel Potter Lot (39).

Ezekiel Potter of Ipswich, yeom.an, conveyed to his eldest son Ezekiel Potter, jr., of Ipswich, husbandman, this lot of

2i9Essex Registry of Deeds, book 152, leaf 224.

22^’Essex Registry of Deeds, book 215, leaf 2.

22^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 226, leaf 205.

^‘“^-Essex Registry of Deeds, book 226, leaf 10.

2^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 331, leaf 94.

22^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 676, leaf 66.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 869, leaf 248.

2^®Essex Registry of Deeds, book 905, leaf 214.

22^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 957, leaf 103.

THE DORMAN SMITH HOUSE Built in 1690, Taken down in 1875. The birthplace of Joseph Smith, father of the Mormon Prophet,

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

89

woodland in Topsfield, June 4, 1770;^^® and the son owned it in 1800.

Jacob Symonds House (40).

That part of this lot of land lying westerly of the dashes was a portion of the five hundred acres of land granted by the town of Ipswich to Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, gentle- man, in 1637, the entire farm being known as "Ollivers.”^^^ Mr. Symonds, for thirty pounds, conveyed to Thomas Dor- man one hundred of its acres, both upland and meadow, May 1, 1651.^^^ Mr. Symonds died in 1670 (6?), having de- vised this lot to his son Thomas. Thomas Dorman, the son, conveyed one-half of it, for love, to his son Jesse Dor- man, March 14, 1706-7; and the other half to him May 26, 1713.^^^ Jesse Dorman married late in the autumn of 1707, and he had probably built, the preceding summer, the an- cient two-story house now standing on this farm. Jesse’s mother, Judith Dorman, released the land and buildings to him Dec. 3, 1723.^^^ Jesse Dorman of Topsfield, yeoman, conveyed this house and land to Thomas Symonds of Box- ford, husbandman, July 28, 1740.^^^

That part of this lot lying easterly of the dashes was a part of the five hundred acres granted by the town of Ips- wich to Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, gentlemen, in 1637, known in the whole as "Ollivers.”^^^ He conveyed a large portion of it to Lt. Francis Peabody before 1651. Lieuten- ant Peabody died Feb. 19, 1697-8, having devised this land to his son Isaac. Isaac Peabody died in 1727, having devised it to his son Isaac. Isaac Peabody died unmarried, Jan. 13, 1739 ; and his brothers and sisters, Francis Peabody of Mid- dleton, yeoman, Nathan Peabody, yeoman, Daniel Redding- ton, yeoman, and wife Philadelphia, all of Topsfield, and

22s^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 144, leaf 246.

229Ipswich Registry of Deeds, book 1, page 13.

23oipswich Registry of Deeds, book 2, page 250.

23iEssex Registry of Deeds, book 19, leaf 52.

232Essex Registry of Deeds, book 26, leaf 166.

23^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 42, leaf 36.

234Essex Registry of Deeds, book 79, leaf 147 ; book 100, leaf 56.

90

TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

Mary Jarvis of Boston, widow, and Estes Peabody of Killing- ly Conn., conveyed their interest in this lot to John Batchel- der of Wenham, mason. May 21, 1739 and on the same day Ephraim Wildes of Topsfield, yeoman, released his wife Hephzibah's one-ninth interest in the premises to Mr. Bat- chelder. Mr. Batchelder, of Topsfield, mason, for sixty- nine pounds, eleven shillings and nine pence, conveyed this lot to Thomas Symonds of Topsfield, husbandman. Sept. 5,

1741 236

Thus the entire lot came into the hands of Mr. Symonds. He lived here and died Jan. 10, 1791, having in his will given to his wife Anna the use of the lower room in the east end of the house and devised the remainder of his estate to his son Jacob Symonds. The homestead then contained eighty- two acres of land, and with the buildings was valued at three hundred and seven pounds and ten shillings.^^ Jacob Symonds lived here and carried on the farm. He died Jan. 22, 1801, when the dwelling house, barn and land were val- ued at seventeen hundred dollars. His widow, Susanna (Bishop) Symonds, died Jan. 21, 1842, having continued to live there, with her daughter Betsey and perhaps others of the family. Mr. Symonds' son Thomas Symonds of Dan- vers, cordwainer, for two hundred and fifty dollars, con- veyed to Jacob Symonds of Topsfield, yeoman, his interest in the dwelling house, barn and farm April 1, 1811.^^^

Betsey Symonds was a weaver, and this was the last house in Topsfield in which a hand loom was used. In the west room in this house is the largest fireplace remaining in any house in Topsfield, being nine feet long, six feet high and four and one-half feet deep. It has a brick oven on either side of the fireplace behind the fire ; and also a ledge or shelf eight inches wide, twelve inches high and nine in- ches deep, on which was kept the tinder box, etc.

^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 78, leaf 222.

23«Essex Registry of Deeds, book 78, leaf 223.

23^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 84, leaf 80.

2^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 227, leaf 123.

THE DORMAN-SYMONDS HOUSE Built about 1706

«

. mi

5*

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- 1-

\

1

i

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

91

Elizabeth Symonds of Topsfield, singlewoman, conveyed to Augustine S. Peabody of Topsfield, her interest in the estate of her father, Jacob Symonds, Nov. 22, Mr.

Peabody and his wife Helena, who was a daughter of Han- nah (Symonds) Dodge, conveyed the ancient house and the land under and adjoining to James A. Henderson of Tops- field, March 29, Mr. Henderson removed to George- town, and conveyed this house and land to Laura A. Ellison of Lynn, June 10, 1898.“^^^ Laura A. Ellison of Topsfield conveyed the same property to Euphemia M. Ellison of Topsfield, May 12, 1903.^^^

The Osgood House (40-1).

On this lot standing on the other side of the lane, was formerly William Fears’ carpenter shop which stood near what is now the Thomas J. Kneeland house on Main street. In 1847-8, it was moved to this site and remodeled into a one-story dwelling house for Augustine S. Peabody. Mr. and Mrs. Peabody conveyed this little house and the land under and adjoining to Henry B. Osgood of Northbridge, Mass., May 9, 1883.^^* Mr. Osgood lived here, and died Aug. 1, 1892. The title to the property descended to his only child, Deborah Lang Osgood. She became insane, and her guardian, George L. Gleason of Topsfield, conveyed it to George R. Grantham of Danvers, Jan. 14, 1914.^^^

Nathaniel Foster House (41).

This lot of land belonged to Lt. Francis Peabody of Tops- field as early as 1680. His son Jacob Peabody lived in a little house thereon as early as his marriage in 1686 ; and Jacob Peabody died Nov. 24, 1689, at the age of only twenty- five. Lt. Francis Peabody died Feb. 19, 1697-8, having de- vised this land together with the house in which his father

2'^'^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 787, leaf 228.

2^°Essex Registry of Deeds, book 927, leaf 132.

24^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1550, page 444.

242Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1707, page 12.

24^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 1112, leaf 47.

^^^Essex Registry of Deeds, book 2244, page 541.

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TOPSFIELD HOUSES AND LANDS

had lived to Jacob's son Joseph. At the time of the decease of his grandfather, Jacob Peabody was only eight years of age, and his widowed mother (who had married Thomas Perley of Boxford, Jan. 14, 1695-6) with her family continued to live here. Jacob Peabody married at the age of twenty- two, in 1712, and lived here, carrying on the farm. He conveyed an undivided half of the buildings and land (one hundred and twenty acres) to his son-in-law Stephen Foster, of Ipswich, husbandman, March 26, 1745.^^'^ Dea. Jacob Peabody died here July 24, 1749 ; and the title to the re- mainder of the estate descended to his son. Dr. Jacob Pea- body of Leominster, and his daughter Rebecca, wife of Stephen Foster. Doctor Peabody released his interest in the estate to his brother-in-law Stephen Foster, who lived here. Sept. 21, 1749.'^^® Stephen Foster apparently made an addition to the house ; and died Jan. 15, 1781. His daughter Abigail and her husband, Philemon Perkins of New Boston, N. H., tailor, released their interest in the estate of the de- ceased to her brother Stephen Foster of Topsfield, yeoman, Oct. 25, 1781.^^^ Elizabeth Peabody of Brentwood, N. H., ad- ministratrix of the estate of her husband Thomas Peabody, and guardian of Elizabeth Peabody, her only surviving daughter, released to Stephen Foster the interest of Eliza- beth in the estate of her great-grandfather Jacob Peabody, deceased, in the estate of her great-aunt Priscilla Peabody, deceased, and in the estate of her great-grandmother Rebecca Peabody, late of Topsfield, deceased, her title having come through her father Thom.as Peabody, co-heir with others to Dr. Jacob Peabody of Leominster, son of said Jacob and Rebecca and brother of said Priscilla, Oct. 10, 1782 and on the same day Nathaniel Peabody, Esq., of Atkinson, N. H., and Lemuel Johnson, husbandman, and wife Susannah, and Nathaniel Webber and wife Rebecca, all of London- derry, N. H., conveyed to Mr. Foster their interest in the

245Essex Registry of Deeds, book 97, leaf 127.

246Essex Registry of Deeds, book 97, leaf 126.