WILLIAM DIXY, of Beuerly in New England, aged about 73 yeares, Testifieth that I came to New England & ariued in June 1629, at cape an, where wee found the signes of buildings & plantation work, & saw noe English people soe we sailed to the place now caled Salem, where we found Mr John Endecott, Governo & sundry inhabitants besides : : some of whom sd they had beene seruants to Dorchester company & had built at cape an sundry yeares before wee came ouer, when we came to dwell heare the Indians bid vs welcome & shewed themselues very glad that we came to dwell among them, and I vnderstood they had kindly entertained the English y' came hether before wee came, & the English & the Indians had a feild in comon fenced in together, & the Indians fled to shelter themselues, vnder the English oft times, Saying they were afraid of theire enemy Indians in the Contry: In perticuler I remember somtime after, wee ariued, the Agawam Indians, complained to Mr Endecott that they weare afraid of other Indians, caled as I take it, tarrateens, Hugh Browne was sent with others in a boate to agawam for the Indians releife, & at other times wee gaue our neighbour Indians, protection from theire enemy Indians. Taken vpon oath this 16th February, 1680: before me William IV. "16: 12mo.: 1680. HUMPHRY WOODBERYE, of Beuerly in New England, aged about 72 yeares. Testifieth, that when I liued in Sumersetshire in England, I remember that my father, John Woodberye, (since deceased) did about 56 yeares agoe remooue for new England, & I then traueled with him as farr as Dorchester, and I vnderstood that my said father came to New England by order of a company caled, Dorchester Company, (among whom Mr. White, of Dorchester in England, was an active instrument,) & that my father & the company with him brought cattle & other things, to Cape Ann, for plantation work, & built an house & kept theire cattell, & sett up fishing, & afterwards some of them remoued, to a neck of land, since called Salem: After about 3 yeares absence, my said father returned to England, & made vs acquainted with what settlement they had made in New England, & that he was sent back by some that Intended to setle a plantation about 3 leagues west of Cape Ann, to further this designe, after about halfe a year's stay in Ingland, my father returned to new England & brought me with him, wee ariued at the place now caled Salem, in or about the month of June 1628: where wee found seuerall persons that said they were seruants to the Dorchester company, & had built another house for them at Salem besides that at cape Ann The latter end of that sumer, 1628: John Endecott, Esq" came ouer gouerno declaring his power, from a company of pattentees in or about London: and that they had bought the houses boates and seruants, which belonged to the Dorchester Company & that he s Endecott had power to receiue them, which accordingly he did take possession of: When wee setled the Indians neuer then molested vs in our improuemen" or sitting downe, either on Salem or Beuerly sides of the ferry, but shewed themselues very glad of our company, & came & planted by vs, & often times came to vs for shelter, saying they were afraid of their enemy Indians vp in the contry & we did shelter them w" they fled to vs, & we had theire free leaue to build & plant where wee haue taken vp lands, the same yeare or the next after, wee came to Salem wee cutt hay for the cattell wee brought ouer, on that side of the ferry now caled Beuerly: & haue kept our possession there euer since, by cutting hay or thatch, or timber & boards & by laying out lotts for tillage, & then by peoples planting; & some time after, building and dwelling heere, where I with others haue liued about 40 yeares: In all this time of my being in New England I neuer heard that Mr. Mason, took possession heare, disbursted estate vpon or layd any claime, to this place of ours, saue the discourses of a claime within this yeare or two: The testimoney within written is taken vpon oath this 16: February, 1680 before William Browne & Bartholomew Gedney, Assistants." V. "GLOUCESTER, June 22d, 1854. J. WINGATE THORNTON, Esq. Dear Sir, On the north-west side of the outer harbor of Gloucester is a tract of land, containing about one hundred acres, more or less, which, in our early town-records, is called 'ffisherman's field.' It is mentioned by that name in a grant to Rev. Richard Blynman, one of the company who made the permanent settlement here in 1642. Commencing at the westerly end of the beach, on the north side of the harbor, it extends in a southerly direction, and on its westerly side is skirted by the main road to Manchester, which separates it from a range of hills. On the sea-ward side it has two coves, one of which is very small, formed by the projection of a rocky bluff into the harbor. This bluff is called Stage Head, and tradition affirms that this is the place where the operations of the first fishing company at Cape Ann were carried on. A breastwork was raised on this spot in the revolutionary war, and Stage Fort has been its general appellation for many years. I have met with nothing to show that this place might have derived its name from its improvement for a fishing stage at any later period in the history of the town, than that now under consideration. One of the objects of the fishing company just mentioned, was to combine fishing and agricultural employments; and for the latter no spot more favor able thanffisherman's field' could be found on our shores, as it is less rocky than any other tract of equal extent on the borders of the harbor. It was also convenient for their fishery. Many of the first settlers of Gloucester who resided at the harbor, received grants of land in 'ffisherman's field;' finding probably in its state of preparation for cultivation, a compensation for its inconvenient distance from their homes. It may be suggested that these grantors were fishermen, and that the spot derived its name from that circumstance; in answer to which it may be said, that none of them are known to have been of that occupation, while it is certain that the chief employment of most of the early settlers here was upon the soil, and not upon the sea. The records authorize an inference that many of them were employed in the forest and the ship-yard. Current tradition, then, and the names applied to that locality, leave no room for doubt in my mind, that 'ffisherman's field' was the spot occupied by the English at Cape Ann in 1624, and all who visit it may find an interesting subject of thought, in reflecting upon the care that nurtured and the heroism that defended the feeble germ there planted, through every stage of its growth to a vigorous and happy maturity. Yours, very truly, JOHN J. BABSON." |