TITCOMB, LOWEL FIRST SETTLERS OF NEWBURY

First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts, 1635

« Back to Projects Dashboard

NEWBURY WAS FIRST ESTABLISHED AS A FARMING COMMUNITY, NEWBURYPORT WAS THE MARITIME AREA. V.B.

6 May 1635

Quascacunquen is allowed by the Court to be a plantation ... and shall hereafter be called NEWBURY Background

from http://www.newbury375.org/earlysettlement.htm, quoting from The League of Women Voters

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY In 1633, Thomas Parker and James Noyes, both nonconformist ministers, with a like-minded group of British subjects, decided to emigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the sanction of the Council of New England at Whitehall. At the same time, Richard and Stephen Dummer, Richard Saltonstall, and Henry Sewall and others in Wiltshire had organized a company to establish a stock-raising plantation in the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of the high prices in England for horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. These men persuaded Parker and his group to join them. Most of these emigrants arrived at Ipswich (then Agawam) and spent the winter of 1634 there before moving farther east. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was then extending its inhabited frontier as far as possible as a bulwark against the "Papist French."

THE LANDING In May of 1635, this small group of immigrants rowed shallops to the mouth of the Parker River (then Quascacunquen) and landed on the north shore east of the present Parker River bridge, at a spot now marked by a commemorative boulder. All was wilderness about them, and the settlers spent the first summer clearing land, building shelters, raising crops, and gathering the natural bounty of fish and berries for the winter. Each man was allotted land for a house, with a planting lot and salt meadow, the size depending on the amount of money the individual or family had invested in the venture. Mr. Dummer and his group had the largest acreage, more than a thousand acres, up river near the falls for their stock raising. Mr. Dummer was granted the right to erect a sawmill on the Newbury falls, and was given fifty acres of woodland to supply the mill. He was allowed to grind corn if he would grind "all the grain the residents might bring him." Later there were two mills in this area, one of which continued operation into the 1980s.

The First Settlers

from http://newbury.essexcountyma.net/history.htm

The settlers of Newbury were much like those of much of what is now northern Essex county. They were not religious enthusiasts or pilgrims who fled from religious persecution in England. They were substantial, law abiding, loyal English tradesmen, of that staunch middle class that was the backbone of England.

Those that settled Newbury came at different times and on different ships, between the end of April, 1634 and July, 1635 ... On May 6, 1635, before the settlers had moved from Ipswich to Newbury, the House of Deputies passed a resolution that Quascacunquen was to be established as a plantation and its name was to be changed to Newbury. So Newbury was named before the first settlers arrived, interestingly Thomas Parker had taught school in Newbury, Berkshire, England before coming to America.

There is no record of how many families arrived in the first year. Houses were erected on both sides of the Parker River. The principal settlement was around the meeting house on the lower green. The first church in Newbury could not have been formed before June, as some of those recorded at its formation are not recorded as having arrived until June.

In the division of land the first settlers recognized the scripture rule, "to him that hath shall be given," and the wealth of each grantee can be estimated by the number of acres given him.

The reason for establishing Newbury, as stated above, was not in fleeing from religious persecution but to utilize vacant lands and to establish a profitable business for the members of a stock-raising company.

Founders

This listing was extracted by Joshua Coffin from the proprietor's book of records, folio forty-four. The record is dated December 1642 and is the first known list of the first Settlers of Newbury. (2)

Walter Allen

Nathaniel Badger

Richard Badger

Giles Badger

Christopher Bartlet

Richard Bartlet

John Bartlet

Nicholas Batt

William Berry

Thomas Blumfield

John Bond

Mr. John Browne

Richard Browne

Thomas Browne

George Browne

Joseph Carter

John Cheney

Mr. John Clarke

Robert Coker

Thomas Coleman

Thomas Cromwel

Mr. John Cutting

Thomas Davis

Thomas Dow

Mr. Richard Dummer

Mr. Stephen Dummer

John Emery

Richard Fitts

William Franklin

John Fry

Samuel Gile

John Goff

Mr. Edmund Greenleaf

Thomas Hale

Nicholas Holt

Abel Huse

John Hutchins

William Ilsley

John Kelly

Stephen Kent

Richard Kent, Jr

Richard Knight

John Knight

Richard Littlehale

Mr. John Lowle

Mr. Percival Lowle

Henry Lunt

John Merrill

Mr. John Miller

William Moody

William Mors

Anthony Morss

John Musselwhite

Mr. James Noyes

Nicholas Noyes

Mrs. John Oliver

John Osgood

William Palmer

Henry Palmer

Mr. Thomas Parker

Joseph Peasley

John Pemberton

John Pike Jr

John Pike, Sr

Francis Plumer

John Poor

Mr. Edward Rawson

Henry Rolfe

John Russ

Samuel Scullard

Mr. Henry Sewall

Anthony Short

Henry Short

Thomas Silver

Thomas Smith

Anthony Somerby

Henry Somerby

Mr. John Spencer

Wid. (William) Stevens

John Stevens

John Swett

William Thomas

Daniel Thurston

William Titcomb

Abraham Toppan

Henry Travers

Nathaniel Weare

William White

Mr. John Woodbridge

Mr. Edward Woodman

Archelaus Woodman

External Links

NEWBURY - A Brief History

First Settlers of Newbury

The Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury - Essays & Articles

Currier, John J. History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902. Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1902. online

Newbury, Massachusetts: An Historical Journey

Wikipedia