First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts, 1635

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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 (Dead link July 2023)

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)

1. Walter Allen
2. Nathaniel Badger
3. Richard Badger
4. Giles Badger
5. Christopher Bartlet
6. Richard Bartlet
7. John Bartlet
8. Nicholas Batt
9. William Berry
10. Thomas Blumfield
11. John Bond
12. John Browne
13. Richard Browne
14. Thomas Browne
15. George Browne
16. Joseph Carter Possibly referring to this man?
17. John Cheney
18. John Clarke
19. Robert Coker
20. Thomas Coleman
21. Thomas Cromwel
22. Capt. John Cutting
23. Thomas Davis
24. Thomas Dow
25. Richard Dummer
26. Stephen Dummer
27. John Emery
28. Richard Fitts
29. William Franklin
30. John Fry
31. Samuel Gile I
32. John Goff
33. Capt Edmund Greenleaf
34. Thomas Hale
35. Nicholas Holt I
36. Abel Huse
37. John Hutchins
38. William Ilsley
39. John Kelly
40. Stephen Kent
41. Richard Kent II
42. Richard Knight
43. John Knight
44. Richard Littlehale I - *Updated: Two online references, is wife on My Heritage and he on FamilySearch
45. John Lowell
46. Percival Lowell
47. Henry Lunt & his wife, Anne Hills
48. John Merrill
49. John Miller
50. William Moody
51. William Morse '~• whose wife was the convicted 'witch' Elizabeth Morse, Witch of Newbury
52. Anthony Morse These brothers are on the MAP
53. John Musselwhite
54. Rev James Noyes
55. Nicholas Noyes
56. John Oliver
57. John Osgood
58. William Palmer
59. Henry Palmer
60. Rev Thomas Parker
61. Rev Joseph Peasley I
62. John Pemberton - Could this really be James Pemberton of Boston, made Freeman in Newbury?
63. Lt John Pike I
64. John Pike II
65. Francis Plumer
66. John Poor
67. Edward Rawson
68. Henry Rolfe
69. John Russ Sr
70. Samuel Scullard
71. Henry Sewall
72. Anthony Short **His father Henry Moses Short I also came over and buried in Newbury, perhaps that is the correct entry?
73. Henry Short
74. Thomas Silver, Sr
75. Thomas Smith
76. Anthony Somerby
77. Henry Somerby
78. John Spencer
79. Wid. (William) Stevens - could this really be Alice Atkins Stevens, Widow of John Stevens (d 1627)
80. Sgt John Stevens Son of Alice Atkins and John Stevens, noted above
81. John Swett
82. William Thomas
83. Daniel Thurston
84. Capt William Titcomb
85. Abraham Toppan
86. Henry Travers
87. Nathaniel Weare
88. Capt William White
89. John Woodbridge
90. Edward Woodman
91. Archelaus Woodman

External Links

1. Newbury - A Brief History
2. First Settlers of Newbury
3. The Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury - Essays & Articles (Dead link July 2023)
4. Currier, John J. History of Newbury MA 1635-1902. Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1902
5. Newbury, Massachusetts: An Historical Journey (Dead link July 2023)
6. Wikipedia
7. Official Town of Newbury Website
8. Stories from Newbury