USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 7
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He removed to Haverhill in 1645, probably, and was there one of the early selectmen and a commissioner for the trial of small causes. He evidently returned to Newbury five or six years later. Nov. 12, 1650, there was granted or laid out to Thomas Hale "ten acres of Marsh in the neck over the great river which was formerly Stephen Kents" (Ipswich Deeds, book 1, leaf 227 (607).
April 6, 1651, there was "laid out to Thomas Hale one and one-half acres adjoining his own land in the neck over the great river, and bounded by the land of the said Thomas Hale on the west and north," etc. (Ipswich Deeds, book I, leaf 227 (607).
87
THOMAS IIALE, OF NEWBURY NECK
Jan. 15, 1652, Stephen Kent and wife Anne conveyed house, barn, and seventy acres of marsh and upland upon the neck on the south side of Newbury River in Newbury, now in the possession of Thomas Hale, and bounded by the river on the north, by creeks on the east and west, and the high- way on the south, to the said Thomas Hale, of Newbury, late of Haverhill, in exchange for a farm in Haverhill (Ipswich Deeds, book I, leaf 236 (629).
Oct. 19, 1652, "Thomas Hale yielded to the town one- half acre of his two acres over against his house, and the town granted to him in place of it one-half acre on the south side of his land next the highway" (Ipswich Deeds, book I, leaf 227 (607).
May 14, 1655, Thomas Hale acknowledged to have sold a freehold to Mr. William Thomas unto me, & desired me to record it in the Towne book,
ANTHONY SOMERBY.
In 1656 or 1657, Thomas Hale removed to Salem. Jan. 28, 1658, he bought of John Smith a house and one acre of land in Salem (Essex Deeds, book I, leaf 48). His name appears in the list of "glovers " in that town for the year 1659.
Dec. 12, 1660, Thomas Hale, Sr., of Salem, sold to his son Thomas Hale, of Newbury, all his houses and lands bought of Stephen Kent, Jan. 15, 1652 (Ipswich Deeds, book 2, leaf 215 (396 ).
In 1661, Thomas Hale, Sr., returned to Newbury, and during the remainder of his life lived in the old homestead with his son. In the ecclesiastical difficulties that disturbed the peace and quietness of the town from 1665 to 1670 his name appears as an active supporter of the Rev. Thomas Parker. He died Dec. 21, 1682. His widow, Thomasine, died Jan. 30, 1682-3. No will appears of record, nor any administration of his estate.
Thomas Hale2, son of Thomas Hale1, was probably born in England in 1633. He came with his parents to Newbury, and probably accompanied them to Salem in 1656. He mar-
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ried May 26, 1657, at Salem, Mary, daughter of Richard and Alice (Bosworth) Hutchinson.
In 1660 he received from his father a deed of the house and land on Newbury Neck. At a meeting of the town of Newbury held March 3, 1660-61, "there was granted unto Thomas Hale, Junior, twenty Rod of Land on the other side of the way by the Spring in the Neck, over the Great River, to set his house uppon, and for a Garden, to be laid out by the Lott layers," etc.
In the controversy between the Rev. Thomas Parker and Edward Woodman he evidently favored the Woodman party, and was adjudged by the General Court, May 29, 1671, to have been guilty of scandalous conduct, and was sentenced, with many others, to pay a fine of one noble, a sum equivalent to 6s. 8d.
May 16, 1682, Thomas Hale2, of Newbury Neck, "for love and affection to my son, Thomas Hale, grandchild of my father, Thomas Hale, senior, of Newbury, in consideration of marriage with Sarah, daughter of Ezekiel Northen of Row- ley," conveyed to the said son and grandchild one-half his lands and housings on said Newbury Neck, "in particular the west end of my now dwelling house, upon condition that my said son, Thomas, shall take care of my business and affairs to the best of his ability" (Ipswich Deeds, book 5, leaf 36).
The same day Thomas Hale2 conveyed to his son, Thomas3, the other half of the house and land, the deed to take effect at the decease of the grantor. He died Oct. 22, 1688, his widow surviving him for several years.
Thomas Hale3 was a man of immense size, and is said to have weighed over five hundred pounds, with a strong and sonorous voice that could be heard at a great distance. He was captain of the militia and justice of the peace. Judge Sewall opposed his appointment as justice in 1721, " because there are five in Newbury already, and he hath lately kept an ordinary and sold rum." Shortly before his death he re- moved to Rowley, and died there April 12, 1730. His will, dated April 6, 1730, and proved May 4, 1730, mentions son Thomas as having received a deed of the land in Newbury
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THOMAS HIALE, OF NEWBURY NECK
that he now dwells upon, and gives to his two sons, Daniel4 and Joshua+, all his "housing, lands, and meadows" in New- bury Neck, on condition that they pay to their mother yearly a certain number of bushels of Indian corn, barley, malt, rye, wheat, etc.
May 8, 1731, Daniel4 and wife Judith and Joshua4 and wife Hannah divided the lands given them by the will of their father in Newbury Neck (Essex Deeds, book 117, leaf 83).
By subsequent conveyances, by will and by deed, the prop- erty has passed into the possession of its present owners, Mr. Samuel B. Dunning and Mrs. Sarah Jane Churchill.
A portion of the old house is still standing. Recent re- pairs and alterations have materially changed its outward appearance ; but the house, as it was twenty-five or thirty years ago, has been reproduced by the half-tone process as an illustration of this sketch.
Within fifty years after the settlement of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, at least seven emigrants of the name of Hale settled within its territorial limits; but most of those who bear that surname in this vicinity can trace their an- cestry back to Thomas Hale, of Newbury Neck.
John2, the son of Thomas Hale1, was the ancestor of Moses Emery Hale, Esq., of Newburyport ; and from Thomas4, the great-grandson of Thomas1, descended the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hale, and his brothers, Moses L., Thomas, Josiah L., Ed- ward, Ebenezer, and Joshua, and his sister, Alice Little, wife of the Rev. John C. March.
Swett's March's Blue Anchor
Tavern
Muzzey's Lane
Steven Swett now Ilsly House
Abraham Toppan
Henry ~ Sewall
Tristram Coffin
Road
Meeting House
from
first
New Pond settlement
Woodbridge's Farm
at
Emery's Lane.
Way to Mill.
Parker
Rolfe's Lane,
Robert Morse.
Anthony Morse
River
John Spencer Farm.
House
Richard Brown
Spencer Farm.
Spencer Farm
N
Rev.Jas. Noyes
Noyes' Lane, or South Street. Sold to Henry Sewall 1660.
Sold to John Brownabout 1659 8 Inted to Henry Travers 1645 .
"TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND.
PEABODY LIBRARY 1852. PE ABODY, MAS S.
"TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND.
Six or seven years after the incorporation of the town of Newbury and the landing of the first settlers at Parker River the scarcity of tillage land in that vicinity and the desire to engage in commercial pursuits led a majority of the inhabitants to favor a removal to the banks of the Merri- mack River, two or three miles distant. The discussion and development of this plan, however, disclosed many serious difficulties. The removal of the meeting-house especially aroused a strong opposition ; and the final decision was not reached until January, 1646.
The following brief and incomplete statement, giving some of the details of the proposed plan, is taken from the first volume of the town records : -
Whereas the towne of Newbury, well weighing the streights they were in for want of plough ground, remoteness of the common, scarcity of fencing stuffe, and the like, did in the year 1642 grant a commission to Mr. Thomas Parker, Mr James Noyes, Mr John Woodbridge, Mr Edward Rawson, Mr. John Cutting, Mr. John Lowle, Mr. Edward Woodman, and Mr. John Clark, for removing, settleing, and disposeing of the inhabitants to such place as might in their judgements best tend to theyr enlargements, exchanging theyr lands, and making such orders as might bee in theyr judgements for the well ordering of the town's occasions and, as in their commission more largely appeareth, the said deputed men did order in their first meeting and appoint John Merrill, Richard Knight. Anthony Short, and John Emery to go to all the in- habitants of the towne, taking a true list of all the stock of each inhabi- tant, and make a true valuation of all their houses, improved land, and fences, that thereby a just rule might be made to proportion each inhabi- tant his portion of land about the new towne, and removing of the inhabitants there,
It was ordered at a meeting of the eight deputed men above men- tioned that each freeholder should have a house lott of foure akers. It
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was further ordered, in respect of the time for the inhabitants removeing from the place they now inhabit to that which is layd out and appointed for their new habitations, each inhabitant shall enjoy their house lotts foure years from the day of the date of this commission.
The New Pond, frequently mentioned in the grants made by the town at this time, was no doubt artificially formed for the purpose of providing a convenient supply of water for horses and cattle, and was probably designated “New Pond" in the records to distinguish it from the older one called " Frog Pond."
The first volume of the town records was for many years in a very dilapidated condition, and during that time was despoiled of many of its interesting historical facts. Prob- ably two hundred pages have been lost or destroyed through carelessness and neglect. Within two years, however, the scattered leaves of this torn and mutilated volume have been carefully repaired, rearranged, and rebound.
It is impossible to follow the details of the plan adopted in 1642, or determine the bounds and limits of the new settlement. Many of the grants made at that time were not recorded, or, if recorded, cannot now be identified ; but a map showing the four-acre lots between Chandler's Lane (now Federal Street) and Ordway's Lane (now Market Street), with subsequent transfers down to the year 1700, verified and confirmed by the records at the Registry of Deeds at Salem, has been prepared expressly for publication in this book, and will be found a few pages farther on.
The new town probably extended from "trayneing green " to the mouth of Artichoke River, and included all the ter- ritory between South Street (now Parker Street), Low Street, and Merrimack River.
April 10, 1644, there were laid out to John Emery, Jr., fourscore acres of upland near Artichoke River; and as early as 1652 Richard Bartlett and Christopher Bartlett were settled at Bartlett's Cove. Edward Rawson's, after- ward William Pillsbury's, house and farm were on the westerly side of the high road, near the head of Moody's Lane, now known as Woodland Street. It is probable that
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" TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND
all the desirable land between this farm and Daniel Pierce's farm, at the eastern end of training green, was laid out and apportioned among the freeholders of the town previous to Oct. 20, 1646.
In 1642, "the hill by the little pine swamp," between what is now Parker Street and Oak Hill Cemetery, was selected as the most convenient place for the new meeting-house ; but after a long controversy the location was changed to "a knowle of upland by Abraham Toppan's barne," as appears by the following record : -
At a towne meeting of the eight men, January second, 1646.
Wee, whose names are in the margent expressed (James Noyes, Edward Woodman, John Cutting, John Lowle, Richard Knight, and Henry Short), for the settleing the disturbances that yett remayne about the planting and setling the meeting house, that all men may cheerfully goe on to improve their lands at the new towne, doe determine that the meeting house shall be placed and sett up at or before, the twentieth of October next in, or upon, a knowle of upland by Abraham Toppan's barne within a six or sixteen rodd of this side of the gate posts that are sett up in the high way by the said Abraham Toppan's barne.
Edward Rawson contradicente this order.
A remonstrance, signed by Edmund Greenleaf, Daniel Thurston, Stephen Kent, and John Poore, was presented to the General Court, protesting against the removal of the meeting-house from the Lower Green, and is published in full in Coffin's History of Newbury, pages 44 to 46 inclusive. The decision of the commissioners, however, was allowed to stand as recorded ; and the meeting-house was soon after erected on land that is now used as a burying-ground near " the trayneing green."
During the next two or three months the settlement of the new town progressed with great rapidity. At a meeting of the eight commissioners, held in April, 1646, it was ordered : -
The time being too short to finish and perfectly record all the grants which have bin made by the eight men, that whatever Mr. Rawson shall record that himself or Richard Knight doth perfectly remember was granted to any inhabitant shall be by all, and is by all, hereby acknowl-
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edged to be authentick and legall as any other grant already recorded, so it be done within these six months.
Four years later an attempt was made to compel the in- habitants of the town to record all sales or exchanges of land with the town clerk, as will appear by the following order :-
Whereas, by multitude of grants, sales, and exchanges by occasion of the townes remouall haue been Exchanged by the towne, and sold and exchanged one with another, and by the neglect of some severall grants that have not been recorded, for the prevention of all such abuses and unnecessary trubles, which are apt to arise therefrom. It is ordered that all and every inhabitant of this towne, that either looke at their owne profit or peace of the towne, shall at their owne perill repaire to Richard Knight and procure him, with some one of the eight commis- sioners, in case their evidence be not cleare otherwise. to testify to the towne clarke each grant made to any of them, who shall be and hereby is impowered to record the same, and the party for whom such grant is to bee recorded shall pay to the towne clarke foure pence for each grant recording, and satisfy Richard Knight for his paines sixe pence : and the like course is to be taken with sales and exchanges that haue been made with the towne and now lyeth in comon, and that Richard Knight is chosen to bring in all such exchanges to the towne clarke to be re- corded, and, if he refuse to do it, the towne clarke shall make it Knowne to the orderers of the towne affaires.
Signed by MR. ED. RAWSON, MR. WILLIAM GERRISH, HEN : SHORT, RICH KNIGHT,
NICH: NOYES, JOHN PIKE, JUNR
Novemb 12th 1650.
The high road, along Merrimack Ridge, from Parker River, was probably in existence before the settlement of the new town, and undoubtedly extended in nearly a direct line to the road leading to Carr's ferry (now Jefferson Street), with an occasional turn to the right or to the left, in order to avoid impassable hills or steep ravines formed by the water- courses. The continuation of this way to Amesbury ferry landing was made by order of the town in 1668, as will more fully appear in the descriptive sketch of the map of the West Parish.
Dec. 13, 1686, the town appointed a committee to lay out
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" TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND
a way through "the plaines to Sergeant Emery's Mill," and also "a road four rods wide and no more from Artichoke river to Lowell's brook (now Brown's Spring), and thence to the Bradford line."
At first all the streets or ways leading from the high road to the Merrimack River were called lanes, and some of the earliest grants of land in the new town were bounded on the lane leading to Watts's cellar (now State Street). The ways or lanes in the vicinity of " trayneing green " and " new pond " were probably laid out at a very early date. Noyes' lane (now Parker Street) was in existence as early as 1646; and a kiln for burning lime was erected in 1697, by order of the town, at the lower end of Muzzey's Lane (now Marlborough Street). Rolfe's Lane, indicated on the map by dotted lines, was not laid out and accepted by the town until 1735, although it was evidently in use, as a private way, at a much earlier date. In 1710 the town chose a committee "to dis- course with Benjamin Rolfe about purchasing it, in order to make it a highway for the town's use." No further action appears to have been taken until March II, 1734-5, when the following order was entered upon the town records :-
Upon sending a petition signed by Col. Joseph Gerrish & others de- siring that ye lane which is on ye East side of ye traning green & running down by Henry Rolf, Esq. to Merrimack riuer may be made a town way for ye use of ye Town of Newbury, etc., The selectmen are desired to lay out the abovesaid lane for a town way & to measure ye length of said lane & ye bradth of it in several places & enter ye bradth of it in this return that it may be kept at its full bradth, & strictly inquire who are ye owners of sd land, & if ye owners of said land will accept of thirty pounds this day granted for said way in full satisfaction for said way. Then ye selectm are desired to se said way put on ye town records.
In the month of December following the selectmen re- ported as follows : -
We, the subscribers, being desired by the town of Newbury at their meeting March the 11th 1734-5 to lay out a lane called by the name of Rolfe's Lane for a town way according to the vote of said town as by record may appear, we have this 24th day of December, 1735, viewed
NEW POND ON "TRAYNEING GREEN."
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"TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND
said lane & laid it out for a town way, & measured said way or lane in several places, viz : we began at the easterly end of said lane next to Merrimack river and it measured one rod & eleven feet in breadth, & at the upper end of Samuel Rolfe's land two rods in breadth, & against Henry Rolfe, Esq.'s house, thirty feet in breadth, and against the land of said Rolfe,-bought of Samuel Rolfe,-it is about twenty two feet in breadth, and the rest of said way or lane is two rods in breadth until it comes within about four rods of the upper end of said way next to the green, & then it is about twenty seven feet in breadth, as said way is now fenced, & said Henry Rolfe, Esq., Mr. John Brown, William Brown, Richard Hale & Benjamin Pettingell have agreed to take the said thirty pounds which was granted by the inhabitants of said town at their meeting aforesaid in full satisfaction for said lane or way as by a deed or conveyance, under their hands & seals bearing even date herewith, may more fully appear.
Dated at Newbury, December the 24, 1735, as above said.
CHARLES PEIRCE, JOHN EMERY, JUNIOR, SAMUEL MARCH,
Selectmen, or Committee for said town of Newbury.
When the expedition for the capture of Quebec was deter- mined upon, in 1775, a detachment of troops under command of Colonel Benedict Arnold, numbering about one thousand men, marched from Boston, and arrived at Newbury on the afternoon of the 15th and the morning of the 16th of September.
A stone bowlder, suitably inscribed, has recently been placed opposite the spot where three companies of riflemen, under Captain Morgan, encamped at the corner of Rolfe's Lane on the easterly side of "Trayneing Green." The rest of the troops were lodged in the town house and in two un- occupied rope-walks in Newburyport. On the 19th of Sep- tember the whole force embarked on board ten transports, and set sail for the mouth of the Kennebec River.
The first meeting-house erected in the new town " upon a knowle of upland by Abraham Toppan's barne " was a small square building, roughly finished, with a gallery on the westerly side. In consequence of " divers complaints having been made from time to time of disorder in the meeting-
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house " the selectmen ordered Jan. 24, 1651, "that every householder, both men and women, shall sit in those seats that are appointed for them during their lives."
In 1654, an effort was made to procure a bell to announce the Sunday services, but final action was apparently delayed or postponed until the second meeting-house was built. Sept. 21, 1654, "it was ordered that the Townes men select shall forthwith Examine & require an account of the money or goods that hath bin gathered to purchas a bell in whose hands it is, & to make report to the towne."
In 1661, a new meeting-house was erected a few rods south of the old one, which was allowed to stand until the new edifice was ready for use. In June "the meeting-house was seated," the men and women being assigned seats in accord- ance with their social rank and condition. Into this new meeting-house Lydia Perkins, wife of Eliakim Wardwell, of Hampton, N.H., came naked in answer to repeated demands that she should appear and give reasons for her withdrawal and separation from the church. On the records of the court held at Salem is the following decree :-
May 5, 1663, Lydia Wardwell on her presentment for coming naked into Newbury Meeting house. The sentence of the court is that she shall be severely whipt and pay the costs and fees to the marshall of Hampton for bringing her. Costs, ten shillings; fees, two shillings and six pence.
This meeting-house was undoubtedly provided with a bell ; for Elizabeth Webster was sentenced by the court, in 1663, for taking a false oath, "to stand at the meeting house dore at Newbury the next lecture day from the ringing the first bell until the minister be ready to begin prayer, with a paper on her head, written in capitall letters,- FOR TAKING A FALSE OATH IN COURT." And in December, 1665, Anthony Morse, Sr., was appointed to keep the meeting-house in order and to ring the bell.
At a general meeting of the town held March 8, 1665, " It was ordered that such as would build a shelter for their horses by the meeting-house all along goodman Toppans
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"TRAYNEING GREEN" AND NEW POND
fence they shall have liberty, provided they do not make it above twelve foot wide."
Tradition asserts that this meeting-house was enclosed with a picket fence, with gates for the entrance of worship- pers. Horses tied near these gates would frequently ob- struct the way, to the great inconvenience of the congrega- tion accustomed to assemble there. In order to remove this cause of complaint, the selectmen prohibited the tying of horses outside the fence, whereupon, to the surprise of these worthy officials, they found the horses on the following Sun- day securely fastened inside the fence. Accordingly, the town ordered March, 1667-8, " that no horses shall be tyed within side or without side the fence," by the meeting-house, " under penalty of ... for each offence."
July 5, 1698, a committee was chosen to make arrange- ments for the building of a new meeting-house. A contract was made with " Serjeant Stephen Jaques," and the new edi- fice was completed in 1700. It was sixty feet in length, fifty feet in breadth, and twenty-four feet stud. "Long seats " were provided for the congregation generally, but a pew was built for the minister's wife by the pulpit stairs ; and permission was granted Colonel Daniel Pierce, Major Thomas Noyes, and other prominent members of the parish " to build pews on the lower floor for themselves and their families." In the roof above the timbers and rafters were plainly visible, while the gable windows projecting from either side gave light to the upper gallery where the young people were seated. Three hundred and thirteen persons were assigned seats in this new meeting-house.
Oct. 18, 1700, Colonel Daniel Pierce and Tristram Coffin, Esq., were authorized to procure a new bell " of about four hundred pounds weight "; and Jan. 4, 1706, the town " voted that the new bell be hanged in the turret of the meeting- house with all convenient speede. Also to take care that the bell be rung at nine of the clock every night, and that the day of the month be every night tolled."
In 1766, while the Rev. John Tucker was minister of the church and parish, a portion of the congregation became
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dissatisfied with his preaching, and finally organized a new society, and commenced the erection of a house of worship nearly opposite the one then standing. A committee of three was chosen to appear at the General Court and remon- strate against these proceedings. The house was raised and boarded, but never finished. On the ninth day of February, 1771, "in a violent storm of thunder, lightning, wind, and rain," it was blown from its foundations and levelled to the ground.
May 4, 1806, the Rev. John S. Popkin preached for the last time in the meeting-house, then more than a century old. It was taken down during the summer, and a new one built on nearly the same site, which was destroyed by fire on the night of Jan. 25, 1868.
The present edifice was erected during the summer of 1868 on the opposite side of the street, and the space occu- pied by the four preceding houses now forms a part of the old burying-ground in the First Parish of Newbury.
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