bark, or girdle any tree on the north or northwest side of any house or house lot in the town, within eighty rods thereof, upon the penalty of 5s. for every tree so fell, lopped, or girdled, contrary to this order. For the preservation of firewood, Ordered: That no tree be cut for fire wood within one and an half miles of the town, unless the same be taken away, or the wood (body and all) cut and set up within six days, on penalty of 10s., brushwood excepted. The next preceding order is not to be infringed by this. Thomas Tenney, Thomas Leaver, John Burbank, and John Boynton, were chosen to see to the execution of this order. Ordered That no post and rail stuff be sold out of town, on penalty of 10s. per hundred. No grass to be cut on common land, but by consent of the selectmen. On the 16th day of April, 1668, the town passed an order, directing the town brook to be cleared out, three feet wide and two feet deep, and so kept. Beginning at Jonathan Jackson's land on Bradford Street, and so through Jachin Reyner's land downward, till the brooks meet, and thence downward, till the brook enters Satchwell's meadow; and from Edward Hazen's bridge in his swamp [Town's End bridge] downward, to the other brook; the last to be two feet wide and two deep. Where the brooks cross the streets, they are to be kept clear by common day's work. If any neglect to open the brook, as aforesaid, through their lands, they were to forfeit 1s. per rod per month. The work to be done by the 20th of June, 1668. No man was allowed to stop the water in the brook to rot hemp or flax. Penalty for cutting down trees in the town streets, increased to 15s. The by-laws and orders, adopted by the town, were valid only for the current year in which they were made, unless the town, at their annual meeting, should by a vote extend them from year to year, and this the town did. Most of the before written by-laws and orders, with others now on record in the town books, were continued in force until after the year 1690, and some of them until after 1700. The order prohibiting the cutting of grass upon common land, without consent of the selectmen; the order to prevent the town streets from being encumbered with wood, carts, &c.; the order relating to keeping the town brook clear; the order relating to giving in an invoice of ratable property; and the order prohibiting the town from disposing of any lands, but at their third meeting, were longest continued in force. From the settlement of the town, to the year 1700, the following named male heads of families, with their families, became residents in the town, as appears by reference to the Record of Births, each of which have one or more children entered thereon. The first child of each as entered upon said Record, was born in the year affixed to each name below; viz. 146 Charles Brown, James Calif, James Canada, Simon Chapman, James Chute, Richard Clark, Isaac Colby, Tobiah Colman, Cornelius Davis, William Duty, HISTORY OF ROWLEY. Jeremiah Elsworth, William Foster, Benjamin Gage, Thomas Gage, E Benjamin Guttridge (Goodrich,) Thomas Hardy, Leonard Harriman, Joseph Horsley, William Hutchins, John Johnson, Richard Langhorn, William Lyon, Ezekiel Northend, Rev. Edward Payson, ordained, 1648 1644 1681 1667 1693 1644 1677 1668 1699 1687 1659 1661 1666 1698 1688 1688 1666 1650 1651 1655 1655 1672 1666 1656 1664 1667 1649 1675 1695 1697 1677 1649 1682 Of the sixty first settlers who had each a house lot, it is not known that more than eighteen have male descendants, now living in Rowley or Georgetown ; a few others have male descendants in Bradford. Of the sixteen who afterwards moved into town and had house lots, six only have male descendants now in Rowley or Georgetown. Of the seventy-nine whose names are mentioned above, fifteen have male descendants now in Rowley or George town. In 1643, (says Winthrop,) "our supplies from England failing much, men began to look about them, and fell to a manufacture of cotton, whereof we had store from Barbadoes, and of hemp and flax, wherein Rowley, to their great commendation, exceeded all other towns." * As early as 1643, John Pearson, a clothier, moved into Rowley, and erects the first fulling mill in New England. A cedar tenter post, which, with other gearing for the mill, was brought out of England, was, about thirty years since, standing, and all that part above ground, perfectly sound; since that time it has been worked into rules, some of which have been deposited in various antiquarian rooms, as a relic of early times, one of which rules is upon the writer's table while penning this paragraph, wrought from said post by his own hand. Johnson, † in his "Wonder-working Providence," speaking of the first settlers of Rowley, says "they consisted of * See Mills. Edward Johnson, one of the first settlers of Woburn. |