USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Notes on Wenham history, 1643-1943 > Part 2
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There is no evidence that a house was put on this grant or that it was rented as a farm before it passed into the hands of Henry Chickering the same year, 1637. Henry Chickering was also a Suffolk man and a fellow passenger of Felmingham on the Mary Ann. He came with his wife, Ann, a sister of the Rev. John Fiske, accompanied by two children. This 200-acre grant which Chickering secured from Felmingham seemed a desirable settlement, situated as it was next to his brother-in-law John Fiske, but neither this inducement nor the pleasant sermon of Hugh Peters was sufficient to induce him to settle here, and in 1640 we find him in Dedham.
Samuel Smith Grant. In the 1636 list of persons re- ceiving grants from Salem is one Mr. Smith, 150 acres. The following year this grant was confirmed; Mr. Smith was granted his One hundred and fifty acres beyond "the ould planters farmes."
In April, 1638, at a town meeting in Salem, "there was then granted to Samuel Smith 200 acres, being fifty more than the original 150 which were annulled.7
Samuel Smith seems to be the Mr. Smith of the two previous entries the boundaries of this 200 acres were later, in 1680 defined and recorded by the town of Wen- ham.8
Of Samuel Smith himself, very little is known; he is called a tanner, in one of the deeds of his grandsons, but in his inventory there is no evidence of this occupation. There is every evidence that he lived on the farm, until his death in 1642, and that he was a prosperous farmer. His inventory9 shows that out of the 234 acres of which he was possessed, he had broken up thirty three acres, his house was of several rooms, and with generous furnishings, including silver spoons and a beaker; in the few years he
6 Q. C. R., 1:19, 60.
7 Salem Grants, 9:9. Perley, 2:11.
8 W. T. R., 1: 52 : 4.
9 W. H. C., V. 4. Q. C. R., 1 : 47.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
had acquired a stock of cattle, seven cows, nine swine, four oxen, a mare and a colt and had a good stock of grain. All this he left to his wife, as long as she re- mained his widow, together with the unexpired terms of some "boyes."
John Fisk and Mrs. Fisk, his neighbors were with him when he died, John Fisk as friend as well as physician.
Evidence of his religious standing is lacking, but his gift to the town of ten acres on one side of the meeting house, shows that he was public spirited.10
Samuel Smith's widow very soon forfeited her interest in the farm by marrying Daniel Rumbull of Salem. From this time the son Thomas2 and son-in-law William Brown of Salem, whom his daughter Sarah had married, managed the farm. The son Thomas was a mariner, and his inter- ests in the farm, were purely for what he could get from it as income, so the larger part of the business of renting, and management, fell upon his brother-in-law William Brown. It was William Brown who brought suit11 against Capt. Fisk for fencing three acres which was part of James Smith eighty acres, which Samuel Smith had acquired.12
Thomas2 had two sons also mariners, Thomas3 and Sam- uel3 who inherited that part of the land still unsold, and continued their fathers policy of renting the land.
Samuel3 in 1679 sold13 his part to his brother Thomas3 ; the farm was then being carried on by Alex Maxey. Thomas now in complete possession sells14 eleven acres to Robert Symonds, blacksmith in 1685. Thomas3 died in 1692 and his widow married Thomas Clark of Boston and in 1695 she carried out Thomas wishes, and conveyed15 the land to Joseph Fowler and Zaccheus Goldsmith, the farm was then being carried on by Edmund Waldron and Zaccheus Goldsmith. With this conveyance the Smith grant of 1635, passed from the Smith family, who had held it for three generations, but had not been identified with the life of the town. It is interesting to note that
10 Will and Inventory, copy .- W. H. Col., V. 4.
11 Q. C. R., 7 : 7.
12 S. R. D., 6: 62.
13 S. R. D., 11: 4, 20, 162.
14 S. R. D., 2 : 12, 21.
15 S. R. D., 11, 34, 234. W. T. R., 1: 132.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
some hundred acres of that grant is still undivided, and is held as a farm by the Hon. James Reynolds.
The Dodge grant. In 1637 William Dodge and his brother Richard received large grants of land in that part of Salem which later became Beverly. William Dodge grant extended toward the Great Pond, and Richard Dodge grant extended along what is now Dodges Row in North Beverly, toward the present Wenham Neck; although their grants extended into the borders of Enon territory they were not residents of Enon at the time of the found- ing of the town.
These two brothers however, increased their holdings in a very short time, to still larger ones in Enon; the descendents of William pushed toward the Great Pond, while the sons of Richard spread toward the Neck, even into Ipswich. Richard1 the pioneer was interested in land and the working and acquiring land, unlike his brother William1 who added to these interests a deep concern in public affairs ; he was most active in public services to the town of Beverly.
Richard was a loyal supporter of the church, of which he became a member during Antipas Newman pastorate, and was also a promoter of education. 16 His inventory17 will show a most comfortable estate. William Dodge homestead18 was east of Cabot street, Richard Dodge home- stead was very near the divisional line19 if not on it, be- tween Beverly and Wenham.
John Fairfield received a grant of eighty acres, where of ten are meadow,20 in May 1640, and a few months later, 16-9-1640, bought eighteen acres of William Fisk21 a part of the original grant of Samuel Smith. Apparently it was on this land that he lived,22 and the farm in the west end he rented. In 1647 John Fairfield died, leaving
16 In 1653 he was the largest subscriber in Wenham to Har- vard College.
17 W. H. C., V. 4. E. R. D., 17 : 100. ยท
18 Old Planters, Beverly-Lapham, and Genealogy of Dodge Family.
19 Altercation as to boundary line .- Q. C. R., Vol. 7.
20 S. T. R .. 1: 94.
21 C. R., 2 : 263.
22 Map of the 18 acres, W. H. Col., Vol. 6: 21.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
a will which provided for his sons, who were then minors.23
His will and inventory show the original 'eighty acre grant, a comfortable well equipped farm home, and well tilled and productive land.24
Austin Killam grant. "Austin Killam was considered desirable to goe to New England." He was a Suffolk man and has been called a "measurer." In 1639, he was grant- ed 30 acres, but went to Dedham with his family. After eight years in Dedham, he removed to Wenham in 1648, and was immediately admitted to the church. The land closely identified with his early years in Wenham was Plainfields (site of old tavern, later the car-barns). He had accompanied Pastor Fisk to Chelmsford, but returned in a short time to Wenham. His will and inventory show him to have been a man of property, and watchful of his sons' welfare. 25
Joseph Batchelder grant. Feb. 1637-two acres of meadow and 20 acres.26 Joseph Batchelder sailed from England in 1636 with his wife, Elizabeth, one child and two servants. He was a tailor, but became a planter in the colony. He settled in Wenham territory, and became a prominent citizen in the town; he was the first repre- sentative from Wenham. He accompanied Pastor Fisk to Chelmsford.
John White grant. 1639, John White was received as an inhabitant of Salem and granted 60 acres near Mr. Smith's farm. John White lived in Wenham until the year 1652, when he removed to Lancaster with his family, leaving his son Thomas on the Wenham grant (identified as the land on Miles River, Walnut Road, later owned by Mr. David Pingree). In his will he declared that "in reference to his farm at Wenham it is his will that his daughter-in-law Ruth White, sometime wife to his late deceased son Thomas White, shall have and enjoy the said farme during her natural life." His youngest daughter Hannah was born in Wenham and moved with her father to Lancaster. She married John Divoll of Lancaster, who
23 Fairfield Genealogy.
24 W. H. Col .- Fairfields in Wenham, V. 6, 15.
25 Q. C. R .- W. H. C .- v. 4.
26 S. T. R .- 1: 94.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
was killed by the Indians Feb. 10, 1675. Hannah White was taken prisoner and later ransomed, marrying Samuel Lummus of Ipswich.
Several of those who had received grants, did not im- prove the land, but in a few short years sold their hold- ings to others. It was distinctly a neighborhood group, since several had been neighbors in England, living in the county of Suffolk, had crossed the ocean together on the Mary Ann; they were not only neighbors, but connected with one another by marriage. Some brought servants, who really were only apprentices, having had their passage paid in return for a certain number of years of service. After these years were worked out for the required time, these apprentices bought land, and became if their con- duct permitted, freeman with rights of commoners. Since often times the names of the servants were omitted in the passenger list, it is assumed, when these names are not found in the lists of those early ships, the individuals en- tered the country in this way.
Wenham people from Suffolk co.
Hon. William Brown from Brundish; married Sarah the daughter of Samuel Smith of Wenham : she became the great grandmother of Hon. Wm. Brown, who built the mansion opposite Cherry Hill, called Folly Hill.
Mr. John Fisk, from the parish of St. James.
Francis Chickering, who married the sister of John Fisk.
Austin Killam, from West Riding, York Shire Co. of Suffolk.
Francis Felmingham, from Brampton.
HUGH PETERS
HUGH PETERS
With each recurring anniversary of the settlement of Wenham is repeated the story of Hugh Peters' sermon by the Great Pond, told with varying statements as to his audience, and as to his reasons for coming.
May we suggest at this 300th anniversary, in the light of further study and research of this period, as it relates to Wenham, that the occasion of the gathering was to en- courage settlers to come here and that his audience was not made up of inhabitants but of prospective inhabitants whom Hugh Peters1 had gathered to the spot to view the land. He, himself, saw in the well-watered meadows, the abandoned Indian corn fields, a fair prospect for a settle- ment and sanctified the whole occasion by preaching from the appropriate text: "In Enon, neare Salim, for there is much water there."
Coincident with Hugh Peters' activity may be traced the first grants of 2000 acres of land to twenty families. It is interesting that one of these first grants was 200 acres to Rev. John Fiske, who had acted as Hugh Peters' assist- ant, and that this grant included the site of the gathering by the Great Pond.
1 Hugh Peters was, wrote Gov. Winthrop, "a man of great public spirit, and singular activity for all occasions."
"He raised money to set on foot the fishing business, that men might have things at hand at reasonable prices."-Col. Rec., Marginal Note. 1.279, Ibid, 11: 48.
He was an agent for the patentees of the Connecticut es- state raised money for more schools in Salem; one of the founders of Harvard College; undertook ship building, arbi- trated between magistrates; preached the importance of em- ploying women and children in winter; fearing idleness would be the ruin of both church and communities .- Perley, 1: 375.
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FIRST ATTEMPT TO FOUND A TOWN AT ENON
The attempt to found a town after the sermon of Hugh Peters, appears in the records of the General Court, Nov. 5, 1639.
"Whereas, the inhabitants of Salem have agreed to plant a village neare the ryver, which runneth to Ipswich, it is ordered that all the land neare their bounds between Salem and said River not belonging to any other towne or person, by any former grants, shall belong to said village."
This may be construed to mean either Topsfield or Enon, but in the light of the many grants about the great pond, it may well be Enon.
This was a period when fewer colonists were coming from England; by 1640 the rise of Cromwell gravely affected the growth of the Colony. Discontented men of wealth and influence, no longer turned to the new world, and leading men here were returning to England, which now seemed to give promise of offering them the privileges for which they had come to America.
Business in this colony, which in a decade had increased its population to 20,000, was at a stand still; the inhabit- ants with no market for the fish and furs were facing their first depression.
It was to the advantage of Salem to help people to be- come more self sufficient, Enon should grow, and become a taxable town; two of the largest land owners, living in Enon, Samuel Smith and John Fisk gave each ten acres from their farms on each side of the meeting house to induce the coming of small holdings: these 20 acres were divided into two acre lots.
The town of Salem to further increase the settlement, made grants of five and ten acres each, around the Great Pond, building up to 20 families owning land, which it was hoped would be developed as homes.
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Salisbury.
River
Merrimack
NEWBURY.
Atlantic Ocean.
Plum Island
ROWLEY.
ANDOVER.
IPSWICH.
GLOUCESTER.
WENHAM.
N
A
SALEM.
LYNN.
SCALE: I INCH = 8MILES.
MAP OF ESSEX COUNTY, 1643-Drawn by Sidney Perley Courtesy of Essex Institute
Haverhill.
Salisbury.
River
port
west
NEWBURY.
Newbury;v 1819.
Atlantic Ocean.
Grovelang
1850
ROWLEY,
Low-
: rence
4847
. N. Andover
Boxford
Rock-
ANDOVER.
IPSWICH
Port-
Essen
GLOUCESTER
Hamilton
1814
Middleit
1650
1793
1725
N
1648
Danversl
Beverly
1757
1668
Lynn.
field
Peabody 1567
SALE
head
LYNN.
Sausaus
SCALE: I INCH = AMILES.
Nahant
MAP OF ESSEX COUNTY, 1943, SHOWING DIVISIONS OF TOWNSHIPS AND DATES Drawn by R. L. Torrey. Wenham maintains its shape and boundaries, as of 1643
1844
1855
Tepskrald
Manchester 16H
SALEM.
Merrimack
Newbury-1764
Haverhill
Plum Island.
ENON BECOMES WENHAM
"At the general court of elections held at Boston ye tenth day of ye third month anno 1643-It is ordered that Enon shall be called Wennam, Wennam is granted to be a towne and send a deputy."1
This terse statement raising the little settlement to the responsibilities of a town, was made only six years after the first grants ; during those six years the scattered fami- lies cleared land, built homes, planted corn, set orchards, and much increased their store of cattle-a period of natural growth, unhampered by civil responsibility or restrictions.
True "they were no great company," as Johnson wrote the following year "the people live together in husbandry, and they are increased in cattle, and most of them live very well."
Samuel Smith who received his 200 acre grant in 1637, and died in 1641, left a will and inventory2, which showed 37 acres of tillable land, orchards and a house, out houses and furnishings of a house, of good size, having four beds.
This first town to be set off from Salem was no independ- ent, democratic community; it was of the pattern of the mother town of Salem, and beyond that-of the Massachu- setts Bay Colony, and beyond that-the old country Eng- land. It was a community in which the civil and reli- gious life were one, and controlled by those people, a frac- tion only of the population, who were members of the church body.
Such a type of limited franchise was an excellent breed- ing ground for the changes which in the centuries to come, developed and are developing a democracy.
At this time there was no understanding of democracy "if the people be governors, who shall be governed" said
1 Great Wenham and Little Wenham, two small villages in Suffolk County, England; a goodly number of the early settlers of Wenham came from this county .- W. H. Ms. Col., Vol. 5.
2 Copies of wills and inventories of early settlers. W. H. Ms. Col., Vol. 4A.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
John Cotton, and even Governor Winthrop, himself a seek- er for greater freedom, said that allowing it in Massachu- setts would be a breach of the fifth commandment.3
First ten years of the civic life of the town. The town was now the owner of 4000 acres of land and responsible for the families living upon another thousand acres; its riches were its land, its timber, its streams and rivers, combined with the power to regulate the lives of the in- habitants, as seemed to their best interests.
The very first entries4 in the town records, show that they, the townsmen, had a very keen sense of these duties.
First the town protected itself from undesirable inhabit- ants, by making strict regulations against strangers.
Then they set about increasing the number of inhabit- ants, by granting house lots of a few acres to desirable people, who would settle there.
For their safety, they offered a bounty of twenty shill- ings for killing a wolf, and the money for this bounty, was to be raised by a tax upon the town, our first tax law.
After regulating the cutting of lumber and the pasturing of cattle in the common pasture, the inhabitants seemed to return to the care of their land, since for the next nine years there is no record of a town meeting.
The General Court, however, exercised some rights, like the granting of licenses to keep the ordinaries.
The General Court also laid out a high way through Wenham to Ipswich5
3 John Winthrop, 2: 30, ed. by R. C. Winthrop.
4 W. T. R., 1 : 5, 4.
5 See Transportation, p. 36.
GREAT WENHAM CHURCH, SUFFOLK COUNTY, ENGLAND Dedicated to St. John. Built in the 13th century
LITTLE WENHAM HALL, SUFFOLK COUNTY, ENGLAND Built in the 13th century
FORMATION OF THE CHURCH .
The foundation of the town was not complete without a church. There was some good space of time, before they were gathered into a church body; John Fiske had lived amongst the families as teacher and physician, and a meet- ing house had been built, July 1, 1644-"near this date, a public assembly met at Wenham to witness the forma- tion of a church there. But the magistrate and elders in- vited to attend on the occasion, think that the candidates are not sufficiently prepared and they advise a postpone- ment of the service, which is accordingly done."1 Churches were not lightly formed, in those days, however after a second trial a few months later, on Oct. 8, 1644, a church is formed, and John Fiske is made pastor.2 "Thus was planted in the town called Wenham the twenty-fifth church of Christ in the Massachusetts government."3
The church on that October day comprised seven fami- lies, represented by men, with the exception of Joseph Batchelder's wife, making eight members in all. The fol- lowing month, November 17, wives were admitted, and a year later the membership had increased to nineteen.
Organization of the church body. Dec. 18, 1644 .- 18-8-1644 This first entry in the church diary kept by John Fisk records a meeting after the afternoon services, touching the setting in order the occasion of the meeting- after much agitation it was left to further consideration- but it was agreed-"that considering the paucity of ye numbers, a great trust was laid upon the members to at- tend all meetings"-it was later resolved to speak by way of teaching and prophecy, "as it seems ye scope of ys place."
1 Felt Ecclesiastical History, p. 529.
2 "The godly and Reverend Mr. John Fisk went hither with them. after first settling down as a planter among them, yet withal he became helpful in preaching the word to them when they were but few in number."-Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, p. 226.
3 Ibid.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
John Fisk was under no misapprehension, as to the lim- itations of the small group making up the church body.
Esdras Reade was chosen deacon at that meeting, "on trial," a wise precaution, as he was absent at the next meeting, tardy at the following, reasons for which he ex- plained in lengthy pages of testimony.
For the next ten years, hours of the church meetings were taken up with laborious testimony, as to their beliefs and petty charges against each others conduct ; all of this John Fisk patiently recorded in his diary,4 and there is no indication that he thought it all futile; however when the little jealousies of his flock were magnified into a crime he treated them as a crime.
John Fisk. John Fisk was another Suffolk man who received a grant of 200 acres for a farm in that part of Salem which became Wenham.
He left England with the desire of finding a home where there was freedom to worship as he thought right ; Cotton Mather compares the Rev. John to Paul and ex- pressed great admiration for his learning and preaching.5
He came on the Mary Ann in 1637 with his widowed mother, who died on the voyage, his wife, Ann Gipps, his brother William, and sister Martha.6 He brought letters of recommendation to Governor Winthrop and quickly as- sumed a responsible position in the town of Salem.
July 12, 1637,8 accepted as a townsman.
Nov. 2, 1637, made a freeman.
Feb. 24, 1638,9 there is granted to Mr. Fisk 150 acres of land for a farm. During the next year and a half Mr.
4 Mr. John Fisk kept a diary 1637-1675. It relates almost exclusively to church matters. This diary was found in Salem by Mr. David Pulsifer, probably from the effects of Mr. Samuel Fisk of Salem, the grandson of John Fisk. After the sale of Mr. Pulsifer's effects, the diary came into the possession of Dr. S. Green of the Mass. Historical So. which published ex- tracts from the notebook of John Fisk, in 1898. The town of Wenham in 1882 had a facsimile copy made by Mr. David Pul- sifer, which is now in possession of the town, and kept in the town safe .- Warrant W. T. R., 1882.
5 Mather's Magnalia, Ed. 1820, 1: 430, 433.
6 Perley, 1 : 429.
7 Mass. Hist. Col., 4 :6.
8 S. T. R., 1: 67.
9 S. T. R., 1. 59.
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
Fisk taught school, and assisted the Rev. Hugh Peters, who had become ill from his very arduous and varied du- ties. This was the time when Salem was contemplating the settlement at Enon, and apparently John Fisk felt he needed more land for his grant, and received 50 acres in addition, so now he was the owner of 200 acres and settled in Enon, living here for fifteen years as teacher, physician and pastor. It is as the first pastor of the church at Enon that he occupies an important place in the story of those early years, 1639-1655.
From his diary, that colorless account of church meet- ings, we get a picture of the man. But in the court rec- ords, the wills and deeds of the period, we get to know him as a trusted townsman and a helpful neighbor. He was rooted in his beliefs, and thoroughly believed in ser- mons and long ones, else he could not. have spelled his fel- low pastor on the voyage over by preaching two sermons a day. We have never quite understood why John Fisk walked off with the majority of his church to Chelmsford in 1655.
John Fisk had come to Wenham, with the fervid hope of developing an important settlement and church; the little settlement did not grow, and the church did not in- crease, so he was quite ready to consider another adventure.
On the 4th of the seventh month, 1654, he received a letter from the new plantation at Chelmsford, inviting him with the rest of his church to go to Chelmsford; a day was set to look over the place, and they went, and liked the situation, and what it offered in the way of land and opportunity. They came home and prepared to move, and when possible sold their land, so we have quite a change in ownership of land at this time. There were many arrangements that seemed to go wrong, some who had sold land redeemed it, but finally, whatever the trouble, it was adjusted, and on February 13, 1655, there was met at Chelmsford, the pastor and the engaged breth- ren of the Wenham church, seven in all - John Fisk, George Biam, Serg. Samuel Foster, Richard Goldsmith, Edward Kemp, Austin Killam, Esdras Read.
The departure of John Fisk with so large a part of the
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Notes on Wenham History, 1643-1943
church body made quite an upheaval in the small and struggling town.
The members of the church body left in Wenham, were still members of the church of John Fisk in Chelmsford ; when finally a pastor was secured, the members left in Wenham, including Austin Killam and Richard Gold- smith who had come back to Wenham, were dismissed.
"We freely doe dismiss you deer brethen."
Phineas Fisk, Austin Killam, Ja. Moulton, Wm. Geere, Jon Fisk, Richard Goldsmith and the children and sisters.
S. Killam, S. Moulton, S. Geere, S. Goldsmith, together with all your children in their minority. Signed John Fisk.
From this time until 1833 the affairs of the church and town are closely intermingled.
ADJUSTMENT AFTER THE CHURCH HAD LEFT
It seemed by Divine Providence, or was it still the hand of Hugh Peters, that Charles Gott, at this time bought land in Wenham, and came here to live, slipping at once into the place of leadership held by John Fisk.
Charles Gott was deacon of the church at Salem, a man of influence, both in council and action; to him had Hugh Peters left his business affairs when he returned to Eng- land. in 1640.
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