Life in the Salisbury Settlement
Royal Feltner

In 1627, a group of wealthy men in England formed a company called the Massachuetts Bay Company and petitioned the King for a land grant northeast of The Plymouth Company area. All the land from about twenty miles south of the present city of Boston to the Canadian border was given to them. The company persuaded about a thousand people to come to the new land. These people had many skills that were needed to build communities in the new land. They also brought their animals with them. They landed at Salem. Hordes of people kept coming until other areas began to be settled. From a thousand people, one third died of illiness, one third got discouraged and returned to England, leaving the remainder to build the settlements. They were expected to make a profit for the company and they were taxed accordingly. The original settlers were called freemen and from this group, a council and a moderator was selected. They had authority over everything that took place. Nothing could be done without their permission. Three men, called Prudential  men, were appointed by the council enforced the rules.  Historians have written that without this authority, the settlements may not have survived.

The first thing on the agenda was to decide boundries for the new settlement. Two men were selected to make six miles west of the Powow river and to what is now Hampton. A division of land with a certain section for each family and regulations came next. No one could cut a tree without permission, fences could only be built a certain height, oak trees were used for staves, yellow pine trees for making pitch, and etc. Any violation of these rules could result in a fine.

A date was given for the family to have the land cleared, a house built, and land to till. If this were not done by this time, they could lose title to the property. Every household was taxed a certain amount. A person would be designated to build a safe-house; one where all the settlers could get to in case of an Indian attack. Every freeman had to attend all the council meetings and were seated in seats designated by the moderator. If a freeman wished to speak, he had to stand up and take off his hat. A meeting house was erected for council meetings and for worship. The minister was picked by the freemen and attendance by every person was mandatory or he would be very heavily fined. No one had any hard money so all payment to the town were usually paid in goods. The laws were Puritan laws taken from the Old Testament with no dissent. Banishment was the punishmment for dissenters.

Every household was required to develope salt peter for use as gunpowder. Almost all crops included flax to be used as oil for wagon wheels. Potatoes was unknown in the colonies. For a short period of time after arrival, the Indians were mostly friendly, but soon they began to attack them. Wolves were their greatest danger to livestock and there was always a bounty on them.

Houses and furniture were made out of hand hewn logs and fences by split rails. A year later, permission was granted for a sawmill to built on what was called the Back River. It didn't take much water to run a sawmill. Now houses other than log houses could be built and staves could be cut for barrels to be shipped to the West Indies for goods or currency. Stave making was the main industry because oak trees were plentiful and could be easily shipped and exchanged for needy goods. The owner of the sawmill could only cut as many as allowed by the council and certain portions were given to the town as taxes. Strict records were kept of the staves and a stave inspector was appointed.

When new families arrived in the settlement, it was decided if they would be of benefit to the town and would be permament residents, land would be granted to them. They had to live in the settlement for a certain amount of time and be voted in before they could become a townsmen. When the town had a certain number of settlers, some families were given orders to sell thier property and move to make another settlement.  For the first twenty years, enough people were arriving from England to make it easy for the settlements to grow, but suddenly imigration came to a standstill and the settlers could only populate the settlement within themselves.

Life was not easy for these settlers. If they were able to escape from frequent Indian attacks, and their livestock were not killed by wolves, and survived dreadful epidemics that wiped out entires familes, then life was bearable. Two room log cabins with very little heat and eight children to feed with very little food was not conducive to survival, but somehow they did. A lot of early settlers were not willing to take a chance and returned to England. When a settlement reached to fifty families, a school had to be built.

By 1638, Salisbury had enough settlers to become a town. People were also settling what is now New Hampshire. Hampton, original name was Plantation of Winnacunnet, was originally chartered by the General Court of Massachuetts. This included the towns of Seabrook, Kensington, Danville, Kingston, East Kingston, Sandown, North Hampton, and Hampton Falls.

Roads were laid out fom Salisbury to Hampton and from Salisbury to Pantucket which later became Haverhill. These roads were only a few feet wide and every man had to participate in building them. Within two years, a second sawmill and a gristmill were built on the eastern side of the Powow River and with the second sawmill in operation vessels, or ferries were constructed. Homes were now being built with lumber. Nails had to be forged by hand and it took many man-hours to forge enough nails to build a house.

People started to settle down in this area. They soon asked permission to have a minister come to their area because it was too dangerous for them to come to the meeting house. This was especially hard on them for they had to ride horse back through the woods in fear of their lives from Indian attacks and some did not make it. Permission was denied and these settlers still had to attend. These orders were carried out at church and town meetings at the regular meeting house. They wanted to separate themselves from Salisbury proper, but the governor"s council would not allow it.

Whenever a town grew a certain number of families, it was required for some of the families to move and to settle another area. In 1642, ten families were order to move to the west side of the river. Even after several orders for them to move, they refused to do so. Finally, in 1644, John Haddon moved and John Hoyt followed in 1647. By 1654, eighteen families had moved. Whenever a settlement grew to where it could afford a minister and a meeting house, it could ask for permission from the state to become a town. Amesbury was able to do so and it became The New Town.   A member from each settlement was appointed to represent the settlement to the governor in Boston. The governor was elected by the people. This was the begining of a demoracy. Town hall meetings are still held whenever needed in New England.

These two settlements were typical as to what was taking place throughout New England.