Fowler House

As the first grantee of land within the present limits of Danvers, Governor Endicott has well been called the " father of the town." Of the many grants - several by the General Court and the rest by Salem - made to others during the first twentyfive or thirty years and within the Danvers of the past or today, the following, as indicated by name and place, may be enough to show how and by whom most of the land was covered ; John Humphrey, partly in South Danvers and partly in Lynnfield, with Humphrey's pond and its island; Thomas Read, on whose estate is now the fine residence, in Peabody, of the late Hon. Richard S. Rogers, and of his son, Jacob C. Rogers, Esq. ; Emanuel Downing, west of the Read grant ; and the celebrated Hugh Peters, north of the Plains and east of Frost-fish Brook. But Read, Downing and Peters returned to England and came not back. Grants were also made to Rev. Samuel Skelton (worthy associate pastor with Rev. Francis Higginson, of blessed memory, in the First church of Salem), "Skelton's Neck," afterward New Mills, and now Danversport, lying between Crane and Porter's rivers ; Francis Weston, a little distance west of the site of the First church ot Danvers ; Townsend Bishop, his house still standing west of the Plains and in Tapleyville, and noted as the home of Rebecca Nurse, sainted martyr of the witchcraft persecution : Richard Waterman, on the Wenham road leading from Putnamville, his habitation occupying the spot where lived the late Joel Wilkins ; and William Alford, Cherry Hill, on the Beverly side, sold to Henry Herrick. Weston, Bishop, Waterman, and Alford, however, were driven into exile on account of their obnoxious political and religious opinions. Grants also to Richard IngersoU, on the east side of Porter's river, o])i)osite Danversport ; Robert Cole, south of Felton's hill and including Proctor's corner in Peabody ; Ellas Stileman, north of Townsend Bishop ; Thomas Gardner, in the western part of the town ; Daniel Rea, near the northern line of the Plains ;Richard Hutchinson, Whipple's hill and land around it ; John Putnam and his three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel and John, along or near Beaver Brook, and in another direction from Hathorne hill to the Wenham line ; William Hathorne, who was greatly distinguished and who lived on Asylum hill, which his grant included ; Richard Davenport, also of great prominence and reputation, Davenj)ort hill, now Putnam's hill, in Putnamville ; Samuel Sharpe, at the Plains, later called Porter's Plains from John Porter, who was the next proprietor, though Judge Timothy Lindall early owned the northerly part ; Job Swinnerton, west of Townsend Bishop ; Robert (ioodell.

Passage source: Danvers, Massachusetts, published 1899.

Though this territory of Salem Village was substantially the same as that of North Danvers at a later time, or of Danvers in our own, yet the boundaries of the two were quite different. Thus Danvers now includes, as the Village did not, Endicott's Orchard Farm, Skelton's Neck or Danversport, and a considerable tract on the Beverly side of Porter's River, while a remote northwestern portion of the Village area, formerly known as the " Bellingham Grant" and constituting a large, scpiare and somewhat isolated projection, was afterward set off to Topsfield. Moreover, a certain section of the southwestern part of the Village was subsequently included in the town of South Danvers and now belongs to Peabody. At this time the Village population probably numbered somewhat more than five hundred.

Passage source: Danvers, Massachusetts, published 1899.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Danvers Town - 190,092 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.