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Gc 974.402 N434ce 1552898
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01094 6140
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofnewbury00incurr
7
PLUM ISLAND RIVER AND PARKER RIVER FROM OLD TOWN HILL.
HISTORY
OF
NEWBURY, MASS.
1635-1902
BY
JOHN J. CURRIER AUTHOR OF "Ould Newbury ": Historical and Biographical Sketches
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON DAMRELL & UPHAM 1902
1552898
TO MY WIFE A NATIVE OF NEWBURY AND A DESCENDANT OF HENRY LUNT ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THE TOWN THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
PREFACE.
ALTHOUGH Joshua Coffin prepared his history of New- bury, in 1845, with considerable care and minuteness, and George J. L. Colby, in the History of Essex County, in 1878, and Hon. William T. Davis, in a similar work, ten years later, published historical sketches of the town, the reader will find in the following pages some additional facts, with foot-notes and references for the convenience of those who wish to consult the authorities quoted.
My thanks are especially due to Sidney Perley, esq., of Salem, and to Mr. George F. Dow, secretary of the Essex Institute, for advice and assistance in preparing this volume for the press; to Mr. C. W. Ernst, of Boston, for valuable hints and suggestions in regard to the early postal service in Newbury ; to Rev. Rufus Emery, Capt. James O. Knapp, and Mr. Oliver B. Merrill, of Newburyport, for interesting genea- logical and historical facts ; and to Messrs. William Little and Isaac W. Little, of Newbury, for information obtained from town and parish records.
Many of the maps and illustrations in this volume are re- productions of old prints; but most of the views of local scenery were taken expressly for this work by Messrs. Ed-
6
PREFACE
ward E. Bartlett, William C. Thompson, and Selwyn C. Reed, photographers, of Newburyport.
I have been compelled to leave some of the minor events and incidents in the history of Newbury unnoticed, and have found it absolutely impossible to include valuable papers and documents, relating to the social and commercial life of New- buryport, without increasing the number of pages in this book beyond a reasonable limit. I hope, however, in a few years, to publish in a separate volume the history of Newburyport from its incorporation in 1764 to the present time.
JOHN J. CURRIER.
NEWBURYPORT, December 1, 1902.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
IAPTER
PAGE
I. THE EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS OF NEW ENGLAND, 13
II. THE SETTLEMENT AT PARKER RIVER, 1635-1645 28
III. THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER, 1645-1685 87
IV. THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER, 1685-1765 .
194
V. THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER, 1765-1902 269
VI. CHURCHES AND PASTORS 311
VII. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 395
VIII. HIGHWAYS
413
IX. FERRIES 431
X. POSTAL SERVICE 465
XI. COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS AND SHIP-BUILDING
475
XII. MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIAN WARS 493
XIII. FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 514
XIV. LOUISBOURG, CROWN POINT, AND QUEBEC 547
XV. REVOLUTIONARY WAR 58 1
XVI. SOLDIERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 600
XVII. THE EMBARGO AND THE WAR OF 1812 620
XVIII. WAR OF THE REBELLION 631
APPENDIX.
I. TOWN CLERKS
639
II. OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE KING 642
III. KENT'S ISLAND . 643
IV. RICHARD DUMMER 647 -
V. CART CREEK 653
VI. FIRST PARISH MEETING-HOUSE 654
VII. SECOND PARISH CHURCH 655
VIII. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
656
8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IX. WOODWELL'S SHIP-YARD
PA
6
X. MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS 659 661
XI. REVOLUTIONARY WAR
XII. PHYSICIANS IN NEWBURY FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN, IN 1635, TO THE INCORPORATION OF NEWBURYPORT, IN 1764 662
XIII. " PIERCE HOUSE AT THE UPER END OF CHANDLER'S LANE," 670
XIV. THE SEWALL HOUSE, NEAR " TRAYNEING GREEN " 672
XV. DEPUTIES TO THE GENERAL COURT 675
INDEX 689
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLUM ISLAND RIVER AND PARKER RIVER, Frontispiece PAGE
CAPT. JOHN SMITH 16
MAP OF THE SOUTH PART OF NEW ENGLAND, 1634 24
THE LOWER GREEN 37
THE BURYING GROUND
59
FAC-SIMILE TOWN OF NEWBURY RECORDS, 1638
63
MAP OF NEWBURY, MASS., 1640 83
OAK TREE IN "THE GERRISH PASTURE"
130
SAMUEL SEWALL
190
FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF " THE NEW HEAVEN UPON THE NEW EARTH" 192
MAP OF THE MERRIMACK RIVER, 1741 198
.. FREEHOLD LOT IN "THE UPPER WOODS" 211
NEWBURY MARSHES 221
DEPUTY GOVERNOR WILLIAM DUMMER 232
MAP OF NEWBURY - PARISH LINES - 1795 . 239
LANDING PLACE AT PINE ISLAND 263
ROCKS BRIDGE, FROM WEST NEWBURY 278 FIRE ENGINE, 1850 288
MAP OF NEWBURY - BOUNDARY LINES- 1902 308 FAC-SIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF "THE TEMPLE MEASURED," BY REV. JAMES NOYES 312
FAC-SIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF
"THE VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF
DANIEL," BY REV. THOMAS PARKER 323
FAC-SIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF A PAMPHLET ENTITLED "A LETTER TO MRS. ELIZABETH AVERY," BY REV. THOMAS PARKER 325
FAC-SIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF " MOSES AND AARON," BY REV. JAMES NOYES 326
IO
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
FAC-SIMILE OF INTRODUCTORY PAGE TO " MOSES AND AARON" 327
FAC-SIMILE OF DEDICATION TO " MOSES AND AARON" 329
FIRST PARISH MEETING-HOUSE 346
SECOND PARISH MEETING-HOUSE . 363
BYFIELD CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-HOUSE 367
FOURTH PARISH MEETING-HOUSE 380
SCHOOL-HOUSE ON " TRAYNEING GREEN "
409
STONE WALL ON HIGHWAY FROM PARKER RIVER TO "TRAYNEING GREEN " 414
BRIDGE OVER ARTICHOKE RIVER ON THE BRADFORD ROAD 423
FERRY ROUTES, CARR'S ISLAND, 1641, 1655 . 438
AMESBURY FERRY LANDING PLACE 440
MARCH'S FERRY LANDING PLACE
454
POST-RIDER, 1734
47I
STAGE-COACHES, 1793 - 473
STAGE-COACH, 1820 .
474
SHAPE AND RIG OF VESSELS, ISOO
487
BRIG "OLIVE " FROM A WATER COLOR SKETCH PAINTED IN 1819 . 490
509
CASCO FORT, 1713 .
525
MAP OF PORT ROYAL, 1744 .
532
MAP OF THE ISLAND OF CAPE BRETON, 1746
548
SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG, 1745
55I
BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE, 1755 .
558
LAKE GEORGE, TICONDEROGA, AND CROWN POINT 561
GENERAL JAMES WOLFE . 577 BRONZE TABLET 594
JOSHUA COFFIN 641
DR. JOHN CLARKE . 663
SEWALL HOUSE
673
KING PHILIP BY PAUL REVERE
HISTORY OF NEWBURY.
-
HISTORY OF NEWBURY.
CHAPTER I.
THE EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS OF NEW ENGLAND.
FOR more than a century after the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, that portion of the continent extend- ing from Newfoundland to Virginia was seldom visited by European explorers, and its rivers and harbors were practically unknown.
In 1602, Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, in a small ship called the " Concord," sailed from Falmouth, England, well supplied with men and provisions, intending to make a settle- ment in the New World between the fortieth and fiftieth degrees of north latitude. .
Instead of following the usual route by the Canary Islands and the West Indies, he steered directly across the Atlantic, and in seven weeks reached the coast of Maine, in all proba- bility, at or near the point of land now known as Cape Elizabeth. Following the coast in a southerly direction, he anchored at Cape Cod, within a league of the shore, where he found fish in abundance, and gave to that prominent head- land the name that it still bears. Continuing his voyage around the cape, he landed at the mouth of Buzzard's Bay ; and on an island of the Elizabeth group, now known as Cuttyhunk, he built a fortified house and attempted to plant a colony. A few weeks exposure to the hostility of the Indians, supple- mented by serious quarrels and dissensions among the men who were to remain in the new settlement, induced him to abandon the enterprise; and, loading his ship with sassafras root, cedar timber, furs, and other commodities, he re-em- barked his whole company, and returned to England. On his
13
14
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
arrival there July 23, 1602, great interest was awakened in the country he had visited ; and the merchants of Bristol raised the sum of one thousand pounds sterling for the purpose of sending out another exploring expedition.
April 10, 1603, Martin Pring, in command of two vessels, one fifty and the other twenty-six tons burthen, and a crew of forty-four men and boys, sailed from Milford Haven, and arrived at the mouth of the Penobscot river June seventh. Cruising along the coast to the southward, he entered Massa- chusetts Bay, and came to anchor in Plymouth harbor, seventeen years before the landing of the Pilgrims .* For six weeks he explored the woods in that neighborhood, where he found sassafras in abundance ; and, having loaded his vessels with that fragrant product of the forest, he returned to England, where he arrived October 2, 1603.
Sieur de Monts with Samuel de Champlain sailed from Havre de Grâce April 7, 1604, on a voyage of discovery, and landed on the shores of Nova Scotia May 8, 1604. Together they explored the bay of Fundy, entered and examined Annapolis harbor, and during the following winter found shelter on an island in St. Croix river, where they built a few rude houses and formed a temporary settlement. Con- tinuing their explorations the following summer, they sailed along the coast, and at sunset, July 15, 1605, were near Little Boar's head, with the Isles of Shoals directly east of them. They saw in the distance the dim outline of Cape Ann, whither they directed their course, and before morning came to anchor near its eastern extremity in sixteen fathoms of water. At an early hour the next day Champlain, with a few men taken from his ship's crew, went on shore to confer with the natives and obtain information needed in order to continue his voyage farther south. He drew a map of the coast along which he had sailed. The Indians added to the sketch an accurate outline of Massachusetts Bay, and also inserted the Merrimack river, which he had not seen, its mouth or entrance having been concealed by the low sand-hills of Plum island. t
.
* Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii., p. 174.
t Publications of the Prince Society, 1880. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, vol. i., p. 51.
15
EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS
Capt. George Weymouth sailed from Dartmouth, Eng- land, on Easter Sunday, May 15, 1605 ; and June 18 he an- chored.on the north side of the island of Monhegan, at the mouth of Penobscot bay, on the coast of Maine. He after- wards explored the Kennebec river, planting a cross at one of its upper reaches ; and, capturing five Indians, he took them by force with him to England on his return.
King James I. ordered in 1606 that the American territory claimed by England should hereafter be known as South Virginia from Cape Fear to the Potomac and North Virginia from the mouth of the Hudson to Newfoundland.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, having obtained from the king a patent, or grant, of the territory extending from the thirty- eighth to the forty-fifth degree north latitude, attempted to establish a permanent colony at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, now the Kennebec river. On the last day of May, 1607, two small vessels, under the command of Capt. George Pop- ham and Capt. Rawleigh Gilbert, were sent out with men and supplies to begin the new settlement. Early in the month of August following they reached the island of Monhegan, called by them the island of St. George. And there 1
Sondaye beinge the 9th of August, in the morninge the most part of our holl Company of both our shipes landed on this Illand, the wch we call St. Gerge's Illand whear the crosse standeth; and there we heard a sermon delyvred unto us by our preacher, gyuinge God thanks for our happy metinge and saffe aryvall into the Contry ; and so retorned abord aggain .*
The Rev. Richard Seymour, a minister of the Church of Eng- land, accompanied the expedition, and, undoubtedly, preached the sermon and read the prayers of this the first religious service conducted by a clergyman within the present limits of New England.
A favorable situation on the peninsula of Sabino, on the west bank of the Sagadahoc river, was selected as the site of the new colony. They built a church, a fort, a storehouse, and some dwellings. During the winter that followed Cap-
* Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii., p. 176.
AND
THE PO
PORTRAICTUER OF CAPTAY ADMIRALL OF NEW ENG
HLIWS NHOLA
These are the Lines that Shew the Face; but those That Thew thy Grace and Glory brighter bee: Thy Faire-Discoveries and Fowle - Overthrowes Of Salvages, much Civiliza by thees Beft Thew thy Spirit; and to it Glory (Wyn So,thou art Brafse without, but Golde Within If fo: in Brafse too fort smitho Acts to beare ) I fil thy Fame, to make Brafse steele out weare
(Thine, as thou art Virtues. John Panics. Heref:
17
EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS
tain Popham died, and their storehouse was destroyed by fire. In the spring, when a ship came out with supplies, the colonists, discouraged and disheartened by misfortunes and illness, decided to abandon the enterprise and return to Eng- land. Subsequently Sir Francis Popham, and others who were interested with him in the fur trade that had been established with the Indians, sent one or more vessels annu- ally to the coast of Maine, and for many years carried on a brisk trade.
In the month of April, 1614, Capt. John Smith, the fa- mous navigator, arrived at Monhegan with two small ships, intending to engage in whale-fishing there ; but, finding the conditions unfavorable, he decided to load his vessels for the homeward voyage with codfish and furs. Taking eight men in a small boat, he left the ships, with the rest of the party employed in catching and curing fish, while he cruised along the coast, collecting furs, from the mouth of the Penobscot to Cape Cod. He explored every island, headland, and harbor between the two points named, and made a map of the country, which he published, with his account of the voyage, in London in 1616. This map, although defective in many respects, gave the configuration of the coast with greater accuracy than any map issued from the press previous to that date. The coun- try known to the earlier voyagers as " Norumbega," " North Virginia," or "Canada," he called " New England," a name that it still bears .* To that group of rocky islands now called the Isles of Shoals he gave the name of Smith's Isles, and in his description of New England says, "Smith's Isles are a heape together, none neere them against Accomintycas." The prominent headland known as Cape Ann appears upon the map ; and on the northerly side of it, close to the shore, is an unnamed island that twenty years later the first settlers of Newbury named Plum Island.
In his description of this locality, Smith says : " There are many sands at the entrance of the Harbour [of " Angoan"
*" I took the description," he says, " of the coast as well by map as writing, and called it New England. At my humble suit, Charles, Prince of Wales, was pleased to confirm it by that title." Voyages of Capt. John Smith, republished in Massachusetts Historical Society Col- lections, vol. xxiii .. p. 20.
.
18
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
or "Aggawom," now Ipswich] and the worst is, it is em- bayed too farre from the deepe sea; here are many rising hills, and on their tops and descents are many corne fields and delightfull groues; on the East an Ile of two or three leagues in length [Plum Island] the one halfe plaine marish ground, fit for pasture or salt Ponds, with many faire high groues of mulbery trees and Gardens; there is also Okes, Pines, Walnuts and other wood to make this place an excel- lent habitation being a good and safe Harbour," from thence "doth stretch into the sea the faire head land " now called Cape Ann, "fronted with three isles," named "the three Turks heads."
Soon after the return of Capt. John Smith to England, new schemes of colonization were zealously advocated. As early as September, 1617, the Pilgrim exiles settled at Ley- den, Holland, commenced negotiations for liberty to plant a colony in America. November 11-21, 1620, the " May- flower " anchored in Provincetown harbor, Cape Cod; and December 11-21 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.
Meanwhile the king had granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others a patent covering the territory of North America between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of latitude ; and the gentlemen interested in this grant were incorporated as "the Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England in America." The settlement at Plymouth was included in this grant, and the colonists were subse- quently authorized and empowered by the council to take a certain quantity of land and set up a government there. Other portions of this vast territory, imperfectly described and incorrectly bounded, were conveyed to various individ- uals and corporations, which ultimately led to vexatious dis- putes and law-suits.
March 9, 1621-2, the president and council granted to Capt. John Mason, under the name of Mariana, "all the land lying along the Atlantic from Naumkeag River to the Merri- mack River, and extending back to the heads of those rivers, . to geather with the Great Isle or Island henceforth to . .
1
19
EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS
be called Isle Mason lying neere or before the Bay, Harbor or ye river Aggawom." *
This grant included nearly all the territory within the present limits of the county of Essex, but no settlements were made under it. The patent granted the colony of Mas- sachusetts Bay, several years later, covered the same, ter- ritory, and added to it the land lying between the Charles and the Naumkeag rivers.
On the tenth day of August, 1622, the Council for New England granted Capt. John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, jointly, all the land lying between the Merrimack and Sagadahoc (now Kennebec) rivers, extending sixty miles in- land and including all islands within five leagues of the shore. With the aid of several wealthy merchants of London a com- pany was organized, under the name of the Laconia Com- pany ; and plans were matured for the development of the country and the establishment of a fishing station at the mouth of the Piscataqua river. In the spring of 1623, David Thompson, a Scotchman, with a small company, com- menced a settlement there, and erected the first house at a place called Little Harbor.
Capt. Myles Standish, having been sent by the governor of Plymouth Colony " to buy provisions for the refreshing of the colony, returned with the same [July, 1623] accompanied with one Mr. David Tomson, a Scotchman, who also that spring began a plantation twenty-five leagues northeast from us, near Smith's Isles, at a place called Pascatoquack, where he liketh well." +
In 1626, Governor Bradford and Edward Winslow, with some others of Plymouth Colony, were at Little Harbor, and in company with Mr. Thompson visited the settlement at Monhegan, where they purchased from the colonists there, and from a French vessel wrecked near that island, various articles of merchandise valued at five hundred pounds.#
* Memoir Capt. John Mason, by Charles W. Tuttle, printed by the Prince Society, 1887, p. 173. Felt, in his History of Ipswich (p. 36) says that the great island mentioned in the grant to Captain Mason must have been the island now known as Plum Island.
t " Good Newes from New England," by Edward Winslow. Published in London in 1624. Reprinted in the "Chronicles of the Pilgrims," by Alexander Young, P. 350.
# Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation, printed by order of the General Court of Mas- sachusetts, pp. 251, 252.
.
20
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
At this time there were several small settlements scattered along the New England coast, and trade with the Indians was steadily increasing.
The catching and curing of fish furnished employment for a large number of men and ships. Capt. John Smith, in his account of " New Plimouth," published in 1624, says,
In 1620 six or seven ships went from the west of England to fish on the Northeastern coast of New England : in 1621 ten or twelve; in 1622 thirty-five ; in 1623 about forty ; and in 1624 fifty or more.
The Council for New England, desiring to increase the value of its property, decided to distribute to each of its share- holders a certain portion of its territory not otherwise dis- posed of. The region about Cape Ann, extending probably to the Merrimack river, fell to the lot of Lord Sheffield, who conveyed it by charter January 1, 1623-4, to Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow and their associates of Plymouth Colony, who were authorized to eject any person building or settling there without permission. *
Late in the autumn of 1624 a ship, " caled ye Charitie " arrived at Plymouth with a cargo of provisions and household supplies. She was hastily discharged and sent to Cape Ann, with some of the prominent planters of the colony, who were instructed to build a fishing stage there to be used in the catching and curing of fish.t ·
More than twelve months previous to that date, the Rev. John White, a Puritan minister of Dorchester, England, with some merchants and other gentlemen of that town, organized a company for the purpose of establishing a colony on the New England coast, where men engaged in fishing, when not other- wise employed, might cultivate the soil or carry on a lucrative trade with the Indians. Cape Ann was selected as a favor- able location for the new enterprise ; and in the autumn of 1623 fourteen men, from a vessel about to return to England with a full cargo of fish and furs, were landed at or near the present city of Gloucester, and left there to build during the
* Palfrey's History of New England, vol. i., p. 285.
t Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation, published by order of the General Court of Massachusetts. pp. 190, 202.
.
21
EARLY EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS
winter dwelling-houses, salt-works, and other structures required in the catching and curing of fish. In the spring of 1624 the same vessel arrived at Cape Ann with men and supplies sent out by the Dorchester Company for the en- couragement and support of the feeble colony. In the fall of that year, however, Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow having obtained a grant of all the land in that neighborhood, the planters of Plymouth decided to build a fishing stage there. In 1625 the officers and crew of a vessel sent out by the Dorchester Company, "getting ye starte of ye ships that came to the plantation, they tooke away their stage, & other necessary provisions that they [the Plymouth people] had made for fishing at Cap Anne ye year before, and would not restore ye same, excepte they would fight for it. But ye Govr sent some of ye planters to help ye fishermen to build a new one, and so let them keepe it."*
The Rev. William Hubbard, of Ipswich, in his History of New England, says that the Plymouth people built a fishing stage at Cape Ann in 1624; and when they went there in 1625, to cure fish, they found the stage occupied. Capt. Myles Standish demanded possession of the property but was met with a peremptory refusal.
The dispute grew to be very hot and high words were passed between them which might have ended in blows, if not in blood and slaughter, had not the prudence and moderation of Mr Roger Conant, at that time there present, and Mr Pierse's interposition, that lay just by with his ship, timely prevented. . .. A little chimney is soon fired ; so was the Plymouth captain, a man of very little stature, yet of very hot and angry temper. The fire of his passion soon kindled and blown up into a flame by hot words, might easily have consumed all, had it not been seasonably quenched.t
Subsequently Roger Conant, who had been living at Plym- outh, was employed as superintendent of the company at Cape Ann. He sent several cargoes of fish to England, but they were sold at prices barely sufficient to pay the wages of the seamen. He remained in charge of the enterprise for
* Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation, published by order of the General Court of Massachusetts, p. 237.
1 Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Second Series, vol. v., p. 110.
.
22
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
nearly twelve months. At the close of the year 1626 the Dorchester Company decided to sell its ships, abandon the new settlement, and pay for the transportation to England of all who desired to return. Roger Conant and a few of his friends remained, and the following year removed to Naum- keag, the site of the present city of Salem.
March 19, 1627-8, the Council for New England granted Sir Henry Roswell, John Endicott, and others a tract of land extending from a line three miles north of the Merrimack river to a line three miles south of the Charles river, and east and west from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. September 6, 1628, John Endicott with a small company landed at Naum- keag, where he found Roger Conant, and a few others who had come with him from Cape Ann, comfortably settled, and in- clined to resist any attempts to interfere with their rights or privileges. There was much ill feeling, but the questions in dispute were satisfactorily adjusted ; and in commemoration of the peaceful measures and methods adopted to bring about the reconciliation the place was called " Salem."
The following year a charter from the king confirmed the grant made to Sir Henry Roswell and his associates, and pro- vided that they and their successors should be and remain a corporation under the name of "the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England." A portion of the land conveyed by this charter had previously been granted to Capt. John Mason, and now forms a part of the State of New Hampshire. A long controversy in regard to the boun- dary-line, " three miles north of the Merrimac river," has only recently been settled by commissioners appointed by the chief executive officers of the two states mentioned.
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