Samuel Merrill, 1928, reprint 1983

Newbury in the Seventeenth Century - Chapter VI, pp55-65

Removal to the Merrimack

   The banks of Parker River proved an unfavorable site for the new settlement. The amount of good tillage land in that vicinity was insufficient, and many of the settlers urged a removal of their homes to the bank of the Merrimack, three miles distant. In 1642 commissioners were chosen to lay out and assign lots of land, at the edge of the present city of Newburyport, to the freeholders. John Merrill, Richard Knight, Anthony Short and John Emery were appointed a committee to make an inventory and appraisal of the land, improvements and stock of the several inhabitants. It was ordered that "eury house lott shall be ffoure acres," and four years were allowed for building new habitations and vacating the premises occupied at Parker River.

   Certain of the inhabitants vigorously opposed the projected removal, and appeal was made to the General Court, but differences were finally adjusted, and in 1646 and the following year the work of building, and clearing land for cultivation, was prosecuted with great zeal. The various homestead lots in the vicinity of Parker River thus reverted to the town. (*)

(*) On the opposite page the site of the original Newbury settlement and its neighborhood is shown. A poet's picture of Newbury is given by Whittier in his rhythmical verses, "The Prophecy of Samuel Sewall." Whittier's earliest American ancestors lived for a time in Newbury.

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