USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > The beginnings of Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > The beginnings of Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts > Part 2
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He had resolved to seek liberty in New England. The connection of Lord Brooke with Lord Say and Sele is commemorated by the town of Say- brook at the mouth of the Connecticut River, founded under their auspices.
Lord Say and Sele and the Earl of Lincoln were co-heirs of the Bar- ony of Say.
Mr. Richard Sadler was the first clerk of the writs for the town of Lynn, 1635. He returned to England in 1646, was ordained as a minister, installed at Ludlow, but was deposed during the Restoration. In addition to the 200 acres between the Ipswich and Bare Meadow rivers, he was granted "The rock by his house." This great ledge is at the junction of Walnut and Holyoke streets in West Lynn. On its summit Judge Newhall, Lynn's historian, built his stone mansion, and at its base in 1854, placed a tablet bearing Richard Sadler's name.
Mr. Thomas Willis was a representative from Lynn to the first Gen- eral Court in 1634, and a member of the Essex Court. His home was on Tower Hill, south of Sadler's Rock; called Willis' Hill first. He was one of the wealthiest of Lynn settlers, but went with two score more of its in- habitants to found Sandwich in Plymouth County. His honorary title of "Mr." was probably due to his being an English schoolmaster.
Robert Burnap was a proprietor in Roxbury in 1640. His son Isaac inherited half of a Salem farm from his father-in-law, and the Burnaps lived in that town until after 1647. In 1654, however, he mortgaged to Capt. Bridges his Reading homestead of 70 acres, east of Vernon st. and south of Lowell st., Wakefield. The Burnaps owned a great deal of land in Reading and for generations were very influential in its affairs. Rob- ert Sr. was a selectman for fourteen years, and much of the surveying was done by him and his sons. Joseph Burnet (Burnap), the founder of St. Mark's School in Southboro, was a descendant of Robert of Reading.
George Corwin was a wealthy merchant of Salem and captain of the military company there at the time of King Philip's War. A son, George, married a daughter of Gov. John Winthrop of Connecticut.
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Four Large Grants in the Bounds of Lynnfield
South of the Willis grant, which Isaac Hart bought, was 240 acres, granted in 1638 to Edward Tomlins, a brother-in-law of Isaac Hart. The latter bought this farm also in 1649. The Essex registry's record of this sale is as follows: "Capt. Edward Tomlins of London to Isaac Hart of Redding by Robert Bridges Attorney for £13 all his farme of 200 acres in the bounds of Linn which farme was given to Edward Tomlins by the Towne of Linn and in any meadow of said Tomlins within two miles of said farme." In 1661, Isaac Hart leased this farm to John Batchelder and his son David of Reading.
Edward Tomlins, Mrs. Hart and Mrs. Bridges all belonged to the Tomlins family. Edward Tomlins and Robert Bridges were representa- tives from Lynn for many years, the latter being its Speaker and also an Assistant. Both were members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Edward Tomlins came to New England with Thomas Parker; both aged 30; and both went to Lynn.
Grant to Edward Holyoke
South of the Isaac Hart farms in Lynnfield Center, north of Vernon Street was the large grant of "Mr. Edward Holliocke upland and medow 500 acres." His will dated 1660 says, "All my land in Linn and that land and medow in the Country neere Reding all was granted my son Elizur Holyoke when he married Mr. Pynchon's Daughter." In the inventory is listed, "A farme at Bever Dam neare Redding, £150.
Mr. Edward Holyoke was a representative from Lynn for nine terms and a member of the Essex Court. His family name is perpetuated by
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the mountain in the Connecticut valley, named in honor of his son Elizur Holyoke, of whom, a worthy writer said, "His whole life was devoted to the service of the people of the Connecticut Valley." He married a daugh- ter of Gov. Pynchon. Edward Holyoke, who was a president of Har- vard College was his grandson. Dr. Edward Holyoke of Salem who died at the age of one hundred years, and for whom the Holyoke Insur- ance Company of Salem is named, was a descendant of the Lynn immigrant. His home was on Sagamore Hill, at the north end of Lynn Beach, over- looking the harbor on the west, with a full view of Massachusetts Bay on the east. The hill is now covered by beautiful estates, and a great boulevard extends along the ocean front of its base.
The descendants of Mr. Edward Holyoke sold the farm to James Russell of Charlestown and his son set aside 90 acres for the poor of that town. It was later sold to Daniel and John Gowing. Upon the part of the Charlestown Farm on the south corner of Chestnut and Main streets is now located the beautiful estate of Mr. Charles Blood through which flows Beaver Dam Brook. Ensign Thomas Bancroft bought 60 acres east of the Gowing land which was in the center of Lynnfield Village. In a deed from James Russell to John Perkins of Topsfield is the statement that the Holy- oke farm (of 500 acres) "was for a considerable time improved by Thomas Bancroft."
Farm of Thomas Bancroft
A third large farm in the Lynn Fields was that of Ensign Thomas Ban- croft. Whether he purchased the 100 acres granted in 1638 to Widow Bancroft, his sister-in-law, has not yet been determined. She moved to Winsor, Conn., with her sons Thomas and John. Their marriages are recorded in the Enfield records. Recent research shows that the father of the Lynnfield Bancroft died in 1637 and his mother in 1639, and Newhall in his history of Lynn stated that he was among the arrivals of 1640. After stopping in Lynn, he went to Dedham, was married there in 1647, and moved to Saugus or Lynnfield in 1652. He testified in a disputed land
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case that in 1655 he leased a farm of Samuel Bennett within the limits of Saugus and his field and improved land are mentioned in the lay-out in 1660 of the old highway from Reading to Lynn through Woodville in Wakefield. When his lease expired, he moved to Lynnfield. His land there was on the south side of Main street opposite that of Mr. Holyoke, where now are the Town Hall, the railroad station and a golf course. In 1670 he bought 60 acres of land that was given to William Blott in 1644 by the Town of Reading. It is described in the Essex records as bounded northwest by Mr. Holyoke and northeast by Isaac Hart. He bought 20 of the 80 acres granted in 1638 by the Town of Lynn to Henry Collins. In 1678, Thomas Bancroft bought the Richard Longley lot of 40 acres which was the occasion of the suit in the Essex Court in 1660 when the three pages of old Lynn records were introduced as evidence that give us valuable in- formation concerning the distribution in 1638 of the Six Mile Grant. It had come into the possession of Francis Skerry of Salem and was des- cribed as being west of land formerly of Mr. Humphrey. Between 1673 and 1677 Ensign Bancroft and Capt. Jonathan Poole bought 100 acres of land between the Woburn line and what is now West street in Reading for Capt. Thomas, Jr., and Sarah Poole, who had been married in 1673. Here, near Fremont street one of the very first houses in the present town of Reading was built for the young couple.
Although Ensigne Bancroft lived in Lynnfield until his death in 1691, he was a leading member of the Reading church and was buried in the old Reading cemetery (Wakefield) .
Grant to Hon. John Humfrey
One of the largest and most interesting grants in the Lynn Fields was that of Mr. John Humfrey in South Lynnfield. It was not a part of the distribution of the Six Mile Grant of 1638, but was made to him by the General Court in 1634, after his arrival in Lynn. This farm extended for a mile or more in every direction from Lake Suntaug. The island in the lake was reserved as a place of refuge from attacks by Indians. Hon.
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John Humfrey was one of the six men who in 1628 bought of the Council in England, all that part of Massachusetts between three miles north of the Merrimack River and three miles south of the Charles River. He was elected Deputy Governor of the Colony, but not being ready to embark with Gov. Winthrop in 1630, Thomas Dudley was chosen in his place. His wife was Lady Susan, a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. The house of this nobleman, near Boston, England, was a center of Puritanism. An- other daughter, was the Lady Arabella, who came in 1630 with her hus- band, Isaac Johnson. Thomas Dudley was the Earl's steward, as was Simon Bradstreet. John Poole is said to have been attached to the Earl's house- hold, and one genealogist says that he was descended from the Earl's brother. John Poole and Thomas Dudley were two of the eight men who first settled Cambridge.
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Grants in Lynn Village, Now Wakefield
(Recorded in the Old Town Book of Lynn and in the Ancient Book of Lands and Ways of Reading.)
The grant to John Poole was 200 acres north of the Great Pond, part in Reading and part in Lynnfield. It lay east and west along the entire length of the present Bay State Road, and included the Deacon Wakefield farm, Camp Curtis Guild and the Cox farm. It was bequeathed to his son Capt. Jonathan, the valued commander in King Philip's War, and to his grandson Lieut. John. They built a saw-mill where the Saugus River crosses Vernon street. John Poole, senior, was one of the wealthiest and most enterprising promoters of the settlement in Lynn Village. In the year that it was incorporated, he was given the exclusive right to maintain a grist-mill on land where the Rattan Works lately stood, and his home- stead was nearby.
In 1632 he and Lieut. Gov. Dudley were among the first eight pro- prietors of Cambridge. He was in Lynn before 1638, his homestead being in North Saugus. It is strange that he neither joined the church nor held any public office in the village that he was active in planting.
Grant to Nicholas Browne
The record of this in the Book of Lands and Ways of Reading is as follows: "The 18th of the 12th month 1638. The Lands and Medows of Nicholas Browne as they ware given him by the town of Lynn and as they ware given him by the town of Reading and as he hath purchased them of other men.
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"Imprimis. The land given him as appears by Linntown Book in ye year 1638, two hundred and ten acres lying within the bounds of Reading and is Bounded on the east side of it with the great River (Saugus) ; on the south side with the land of Boniface Burton; on the west side of it with the Land of Lt. Thomas Marshall and Jeremiah Swain and on the north of it with the meadow commonly called the Wigwams."
"Also purchased of Mr. George Taylor of Lynn in 1642: four score and ten acres of Land now situate in the bounds of Reading and is Bounded with the Land of Capt. Richard Walker and John Pool and Zachariah Fitch on the east and west; and on the north by the Land of Hananiah Parker (in 1681, but not in 1642 as said Parker was then only four years of age) ; and on the south by the land of John Bachellor this is one thirty acres of it. Another thirty acres of it: bounded by land of Edward Taylor and John Bachellor on the north and south and the Great Pond on the west and on the east by the said thirty acres and Thomas Parker.
"The other thirty acres lying between Edward Taylor and Capt. Rich- ard Walker on the south and east and on the west by the Great Pond and on the north by the land of Nicholas Browne."
"Also purchased of Hugh Burt of Lynn the 30th of the first month in the year 1647 four score acres lying within the bounds of Reading-and is bounded by the land of Lt. Thomas Marshall on the east and by the land of John Poole on the north and by the Great Pond on the west and the land of said Nicholas Brown on the south." Hugh Burt had been granted 60 acres in 1638.
The home of Nicholas Brown was on land now owned by the Beebe Estate. His son Esq. John Brown, one of the most highly respected citi- zens in 'the whole history of Reading, was a magistrate, selectman, repre- sentative and captain. For many years his was the only name in Reading records, except that of the minister, to bear the honorable title of "Mister" or "Master."
In the Book of Lands and Ways is a record of a grant of "30 acres and ten to Zachary Fitch by the town of Lynn in 1638." This lot was on
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Salem st. (Wakefield), which was early known as "Fitch's Lane." The lot extended, as did many of the other lots on the "Pond Side," east to Vernon st., which bore the name of Lott End Road. Zachery Fitch was a freeman in Lynn in 1638; a deacon of the Reading church from 1645, and a se- lectman in 1649.
Grants to Boniface Burton, Richard Roolton, Edward Burcham and Thomas Parker.
Boniface Burton was granted 60 acres of the Six Mile Grant in 1638. He moved to Boston and his lot was laid out to his son in 1665. It is described in the Book of Lands and Ways as "three score acres lying in the Neck bounded northwest and southwest by John Poole, northeast by Nicho- las Brown and southeast by the River that flows down to the Iron Works (Saugus). Boniface Burton was the oldest man known to have lived in this part of New England. Several writers credit him with being 113 years of age. He died in 1669.
Richard Roolton was granted 60 acres in 1638. In the Essex Registry there is recorded the sale by him to Thomas Ervington of Lynn "for £14 of three score acres of ground lying in Reading." The location has not yet been ascertained.
Edward Burcham was granted 30 acres and ten in 1638 but he re- turned to England in 1656, and it was not laid out until 1682, when his son-in-law petitioned the General Court for redress. The General Court awarded him "40 acres in Reading between the Newhall lots and the old Robert Burnap lot according to the original grant of the Towne of Lynn." He was the Clerk of the Writs in Lynn from 1645.
Thomas Parker was granted 30 acres and ten in 1638. This lot was not more than fifty rods northeast of the present Town Hall in Wake- field. Proof of this is contained in a deed cited in Theodore Parker's "Family of John Parker of Lexington."
Thomas Parker came to Lynn in 1635 on the Susan and Ellen, from London. A fellow passenger was Sir Richard Saltonstall. The two families were related (See Waters English Gleanings). He was "won of the founda-
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tions of the church in Reading", and a selectman for five years. With deacons William Cowdrey and Thomas Kendall he was a commissioner to end small causes.
Grant to William Cowdrey
The grant of 60 acres made in 1638 to William Cowdrey is described in the Book of Lands and Ways of Reading as follows: "First, three score acres of upland that was given him by the Towne of Lynn and lyeth in the bounds of Reading and is bounded on the south with the lande of Mas. Samuell Haugh and John Gould and on the weste with the lande of Tho- mas Taylor and on the north with the lande of John Weyley and on the east with the lande of Mas. Samuell Haugh and Nathaniel Cowdrey."
"Given by the Towne of Redding in 1642, three Ackers of Meddow leying in the Mill Meddow bounded on east with the meddow of William Eaton and Samuel Walker and on the south with the meddow of Thomas Clark and on the weste with the land of Mas. Samuell Haugh and Samuel Duntton and on the north with the meddow of Thomas Parker."
"Given by the Towne of Redding in 1647 a parssell of land by the Water Mill upon the hill on the southeast of Samuell Dunton's house."
William Cowdrey was one of the founders of Lynn Village. During the six years between the land grant of 1638 and 1644 when it was incor- porated as Redding, there were he testified, "Many meetings and much correspondence necessary to promote its settlement." He was a deacon from the organization of the Reading church to the time of his death in 1687, a selectman from 1647 to 1680 except for two years, a representative for four terms and Clerk of the Writs from 1644 to 1687.
He was born in Weymouth, England, in 1602, sailed from South- ampton in 1630, and settled first in Lynn. His granddaughter Bethia Polley of Jamaica Plain was the wife of Ensign Nathaniel Parker, the earliest to settle near the present Reading Common.
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Grant to Thomas Marshall
Thomas Marshall was granted 30 acres and ten in 1638. In 1655, he borrowed £282 of Robert Bridges of Lynn, part of which he used to buy half of the Sadler grant, later sold to Capt. Walker. For security he gave a mortgage on 30 acres of upland "neare the late saw-mill in Reading, bound- ed north by the meadow of John Pool, eastly lands of Thomas Parker and Nathaniel Kirtland, south by Nicholas Brown and the Country highway." The saw-mill was on the Saugus River at Vernon St., on the line between Lynnfield and Reading, and was owned by John Pool. These 30 acres of upland appears to have been his grant of 1638.
He also pledged 16 acres "at or neere the dwelling of said Thomas Marshall having the land of Thomas Parker on the north side, land of John Pool on the east side, and the common highway on the south and west sides. Also 5 acres of meadow below the corn-mill, bounded north and east by John Pool, and south and west by John Smith. Also any houses, barns, orchards, gardens and cow-sheds." One of these lots and his house, appear to have been on the hill north of the present Town Hall in Wakefield, and the other piece below the corn-mill in the meadow.
Thomas Marshall sailed from London in the James in 1635 at the age of twenty-two. He was associated with Cowdrey, Poole, Walker, Browne and others, living west of Saugus Center, in the settlement of Lynn Village. In 1645 Sergt. Marshall was appointed a commissioner together with his neighbors Capt. Bridges and Capt. Walker to make a treaty with the French and Indians east of the Penebscot. He shared in the divisions of Reading lands in 1647 and 1652; after that date his name is connected with Lynn, where he owned the famous Anchor Tavern.
In 1653, when the bounds between Lynn and Lyn Village were settled, the Reading men appointed by the General Court were William Cowdrey, Capt. Richard Walker and Ensign Thomas Marshall.
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Grants to Richard Walker
Richard Walker's grant of 200 acres in 1638 was in compensation for his services on a committee appointed by the towne of Lynn, to "lay out the farmes." This grant was west of the present Newburyport Turn- pike in Saugus Center, south of one of the Adam Hawkes farms. His homestead, however, was on Elm St., (Wakefield) and it was given to him by the town of Reading in 1642, two years before its incorporation. It is described in the Book of Lands and Ways as "27 ackers of upland leying in the playne on the west side of the great pond, bounded on the north- west by Mathew Edwards and on the south with the highway and on the easte of the great pond." "There was also given to Capt. Walker at the same time a Neck of Upland Containing Tenn Ackers More or Less and Bounded on the Weste with the Land of Mas. Samuell Haugh and on the south with the Land of Mathew Edwards and on the east with the pond and on the north with a littell River that runs between the Beere neck and this land." "At the same time there was also given to Capt. Richard Walk- er a parsell of swampy meddow and it is Bounded with the great pond on the east and the heighway on the South and on the norewest with his one Land."
The Book of Lands and Ways also mentions the "Land of Capt. Rich- ard Walker that he Bought of Leutt. Thomas Marshall which is halfe of the two hundred Ackers that was some time Mas. Richard Sadlers." Also, 100 acres bought of Samuel Bennett bounded on the north by the great River that parts Lynn and Redding (Saugus) and on the south upon the meddow of John Hawke and on the northwest with the land of Zachery Fitts, Robert Burnap, and the meddow of Edward Taylor, John Person and Thomas Parker."
"Also Bowhet of Leutt. Thomas Marshall A Tenn Acker Lott that was sometime Tho Talmage of Lyn and is Bounded on the South with the farme of Nicholas Brown and on the weste with the land of Robert Burnap and on the north with the Wigwam Meddow. These lands made Captain Walker
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one of the largest proprietors of the new settlement. The great width and level surface of Elm St., Wakefield, near the Captain's homestead, indicate that it may have been the Town Training Field. In the early years of the town, Ken's Pond filled the space now occupied by Wakefield Common.
He was a neighbor of William Cowdrey. He and Lieut. Marshall were born in 1613, and both came to Lynn in 1635 with his brother Samuel Walker who also went to Reading, and afterwards was a deacon in the Wo- burn Church. Later these men became leaders in the promotion of Linn Village. He was its first representative to the General Court in 1648-'49 and one of its first selectmen in 1647 to '50.
The father of Richard and Samuel was that Richard Walker who coming to Lynn in 1630, settled west of the Saugus River, was a captain and a representative from Lynn, and was buried there on May 16, 1687, at the age of 95 years, according to Lewis the historian, but not found in any other authority. Judge Sewell in his diary says, "Monday, May 16, 1687, I go and visit Rev. Mr. Brock in Redding and to Salem. Capt. Walk- er a very aged planter is buried at Lin; a very good man." In the register of St. Mary's Church, Reading, Eng., there is recorded the baptism of a Richard Walker Feb. 14, 1690. As there was often a lack of accuracy in the reputed age of elderly persons, this Reading record may well be that of Capt. Richard, Sr. of Lynn.
Although the names Cowdrey and Parker are in the church register of Reading, there is no William Cowdrey nor Thomas Parker, nor that of any other early settler of Lynn Village. Charles I incorporated Reading in 1639, and it was a stronghold of Puritanism, surrendering to the par- liamentary troops in 1643, both dates being closely associated with the beginning of Reading in New England.
The name of Capt. Walker, Jr. does not appear in the tax lists of Reading after 1664 as he returned to North Saugus, and died there. His will was recorded in 1682.
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Grants to Mr. Edward Howell and Adam Hawks
Mr. Edward Howell's 500 acres, and the 100 acres granted to Adam Hawks, both in the Six Mile Grant of 1638, became the farms of Francis and John Smith.
Middlesex Registry. In 1646 Francis Smith bought 500 acres for £30 of Capt. Richard Walker and Lieut. Thomas Marshall, which had been granted by the town of Lynn to Mr. Edward Howell. It extended east from Smith Pond (now Crystal Lake) through the Woodville district for nearly a mile. In Vol. 7, p. 83 of Essex Records, Capt. Walker and Lieut. Marshall declare that the 500 acres sold to Francis Smith "are free of all manner of former bargains, gifts, grants, and sales from the beginning of the world to the day of the date thereof." Witnesses: Mas. Samuel Haugh and John Poole. It is described as "500 acres of upland and meadow in Redding bounded south by the common lands of Maulden; southeast by the common lands of the town of Boston; east by the land of Richard Rool- ton of Linn, and north by a little river, and the land of Thomas Clarke and Lieut. Thomas Marshall."
In 1652-3, this Howell farm was the head bounds of Lynn next to Redding and was, in 1682, the farm of Lieut. John Smith (Vol. 8 Essex Quarterly Court Record.)
In 1653, when the committee settled the bounds between Lynn and Lynn Village they mentioned "the east end of Mr. John Hawks farm, which is now Lieut. John Smith's farm and it is to be the bounds between the two towns."
Francis Smith was in Roxbury in 1630, a freeman in 1631, when 131 acres of farm land were granted to him. He was one of the first contribu- tors to establish the Roxbury Latin School. He lived for a while near the ferry in Chelsea. He was one of the first selectmen in Lynn Vil- lage, 1647-'49. He died in 1651. His son, Benjamin, married a daughter of the venerable Peter Palfrey of Salem whose last years were spent in the Smith household.
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Lieut. John Smith leased the Maverick Ferry and its farm, with houses, an inn, and stables in 1644. He was also granted 60 acres in Charlestown bounds and Malden.
Mass. Colonial Records II, p. 87. "Good man Smith of Winisiminet hath liberty to sell wine, and keep a house of common intertan'mt." It was customary for the magistrates in their journeys from Boston to Salem to keep their horses at the Ferry Farm. This ferry and the country way to Lynn and Salem were probably the first in New England. He probably moved to Reading about the time of his father's death, as he was a rep- resentative here from 1650 to 1660, and a lieutenant of the Reading com- pany from 1656.
His son, Deacon Francis, married Ruth Maverick, returned to Reading where he dwelt on his father's homestead. Anna Maverick, the mother of Ruth, died in Reading in 1697, and her grave stone is in the old cemetery in Wakefield. A daughter of Francis, senior, married Major Jeremiah Sweyne.
Grants in Saugus and in the Bounds of Lynn
Samuel Bennet was granted 60 acres. He later owned 600 acres south-east of the Howell farm. This was within the bounds of Saugus although it had been left common for the pasturage of cattle for both Lynn and Reading. In the settlement of a controversy, in 1681, between these towns as to Lynn's title to this farm, "Ensign Bancroft testified that in 1655 he had leased a part of it from Daniel Hutchins, who had bought it of Samuel Bennet, both men being inhabitants of Lynn." "John Gifford testi- fied that when he was an agent for the Iron Works, he bought six or eight thousand cords of standing wood which he took within a mile or so from where Bennett's house stood, from up Reading way so down to the Iron Works pond."
The farm of Capt. Richard Walker granted to him in 1638 was, as earlier stated, east of this Bennet land, and west of the Iron Works.
Thomas Dexter was a very early settler in Lynn, and received 350
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acres in 1638. His mansion near the old Iron Works in Saugus, built in 1636, has been carefully restored. He early built a mill and a weir on the Saugus River. He leased 600 acres west of the River as is recorded in the first deed of the Essex Registry 1639. He left Lynn, and became a pro- prietor of Sandwich in Plymouth Colony.
Grants to Mas. Samuel Whiting and Mas. Thomas Cobbet
Mas. Samuel Whiting and Mas. Thomas Cobbet, the two ministers of the Lynn Church, received grants of 200 acres each, probably near Saugus Center.
Mas. Whiting arrived in June 1636, but was not installed as minister until November as it was difficult to organize the church with only six members! He was a man of great earnestness, piety, and affability. The name of the town was changed from Saugus to Lynn as a compliment to Mas. Whiting, it being the name of his home in England.
The Rev. Thomas Cobbet arrived in May the next year, and became the colleague of Mas. Whiting. They labored in close friendship for eighteen years. The early ministers in New England were often graduates of the English Universities and highly respected. When town lands were divided, they always received a generous share.
Grants Not Yet Located
Other Lynn inhabitants received grants in 1638 that have not yet been located. Their family names are closely identified with the history of Reading and Lynnfield: namely, William Walton 60 acres, John Bout- well 60 acres, Thomas Townsend 60 acres, Thomas Newhall 30 acres, Christopher Foster 60 acres, George Burrall 200 acres, and William Knight 60 acres. A careful search in the county offices of Salem and Cambridge would doubtless result in locating many of these grants.
In the preceding pages, grants to one-third of the Lynn inhabitants have been located with varying degrees of accuracy. These cover more than eight of the thirteen square miles of the Six Mile Grant made by the
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General Court in 1638. There were many small grants of ten or twenty acres each that probably were disposed of without any record being made of the sale.
Conclusion
The foregoing records furnish a fairly definite account of the be- ginning of Reading and Lynnfield. Previous statements have often given wrong impressions: one is that Reading was formerly a part of Lynn; another, that Lynn was much larger before Reading and Lynnfield were settled; a third, that Reading was set off from Lynn and then incorporated.
The Colonial records tell a different story. Certain common lands of the Colony were granted to the inhabitants of Lynn in 1638/9, and they immediately distributed them and proceeded in the case of Lynn Village to make plans and carry out the instructions of the General Court for the planting of a new settlement.
Many writers have regretted the loss of the old Lynn records and state that we cannot know who were the first proprietors of Reading and Lynnfield lands, nor who were the leaders in promoting the new village. It is believed that these pages supply much of this valuable information.
But the most gratifying result of this study of County and Town records is that it establishes the fact that the planting of Reading was ac- cording to the usual and orderly policy of the Bay Colony followed in the settlement of many other communities and was not the result of a hap- hapzard gathering of families. A careful reading of these pages will show that much of the land granted was to persons of the highest character and of considerable influence in the Colony.
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