Chapter 2

The first we know positively of the lot in question as being John Procter's is through the record of an action which he brought at the County Court, in 1685, against Steven Fish for nine pounds ten shillings due for rent. Procter was nonsuited. Fish at the same time sued Procter for non delivery of land hired of him by lease March 1st, 1681, (1681-2). The jury found for a delivery of the land according to the lease.

In 1689 John Procter "for my love and parental affection unto my beloved wife Elizabeth Procter and all her children" conveys to certain trustees for their benefit "all my estate for their supply and maintenance and make over and give to them my house and land lying in Salem bounds containing fifteen acres, more or less, bounded with ye land of Anthony Needham northwest and east southerly[D] and south and west with ye common road or highway in part and partly alsoe with land of John Marsh and some land of Thomas Gardner Sen. that comes within the highway." The last words in this description are puzzling and perhaps indicate that the road at the westerly end of the lot ran further to the south than it does to-day.

[Footnote D: This probably refers to the way which Needham had to his land over the western end of the lot lying next east of the Procter lot.]

The next information is obtained from a deposition by Anthony Needham, Thomas Gould and Isaac Needham, in 1730, taken "in perpetuam rei memoriam" and recorded in the Registry, Book 54, Leaf 246, as follows:--They testify that "they very well knew that Mr. John Procter late of Salem, deceased, possessed in his own right for several years before and untill ninety two[E] a certain tract of land situate in Salem aforesaid containing about 15 acres, butting easterly on land now in ye possession of Jonathan Flint, southerly and southwesterly on the highway leading to Joseph Popes,[F] northwesterly and northerly on land of the deponent Thomas Gould and northeasterly on land of Thomas Needham. That the said John Procter had a house upon the abovesaid land which he leased to one Stephen Fish[G] since let to one Lincoln and to one Bates, who improved it under and in right of the said John Procter. That Benjamin Procter son of the said John Procter possessed and improved ye above described parcel of land from the year 1692 untill his decease which happened about fourteen years since. That Mary the widow of said Benjamin Procter and her son John Procter have possessed and improved the same right from the time of his decease untill this day." The deposition is dated Jan. 7, 1730. The name of "Bates pasture" applied to the Philip H. Saunders place in the deed from Marsh, in 1863, suggests the thought that it may have been derived from the Bates mentioned in the deposition as one of the tenants of the John Procter house.

[Footnote E: 1692.]

[Footnote F: Now Lowell Street.]

[Footnote G: See above, the suit against Fish for rent.]

It only remains to trace the title of the John Procter lot to the present time. It appears from various deeds and other records that the title descended from John Procter to his son Benjamin, and then to his son John, the grandson of the first named John Procter. From him it passed to his son Benjamin, and then to this Benjamin's sons, James and Francis Procter. Francis gave a deed of it to James April 19, 1802. Desire Procter, widow and administratrix of James Procter, conveyed it to Zachariah King Aug. 9, 1811, describing it as "a certain piece of land called the upper pasture situate in said Danvers containing sixteen acres, be the same more or less, and is bounded as follows, viz.--southerly on the highway, northwesterly and northerly on land of John Gardner, Jr., northeasterly on land of Ezekiel Marsh, and southeasterly on land of the said Zachariah King to the bound first mentioned." Zachariah King conveyed the same to his daughter, Desire Procter of Danvers, widow, Feb. 18, 1818.

From Desire Procter the title descended to Rebecca P. Osborne, her granddaughter, and others who, in 1889, conveyed the lot to Harriet A. Walcott, wife of John G. Walcott, the description being as follows:--"a parcel of land in that part of Peabody called West Peabody, containing about seventeen acres and two fourths and formerly called the Upper Pasture, bounded southwesterly by Lowell Street about ninety two rods and eleven links, northwesterly by land of Walcott, formerly of John Gardner, about thirty eight rods, northeasterly by land of Walcott, formerly of Gardner, and by land of Philip Marsh, formerly of Ezekiel Marsh, about seventy six rods and nineteen links, southeasterly by other land of the grantors, formerly of Zachariah King, about seventeen rods and fourteen links."

John G. Walcott and Harriet A. Walcott, wife, conveyed the same to Mary E. Collins, wife of William F. M. Collins, by deed dated June 27, 1898.

INDEX.

Bacon, Rebecca, 12 " William, 11

Bates, ----, 16

Bates pasture, 5, 16

Bradstreet, Symon, 12, 13

Brown, Daniel, 13

Burial in shallow graves, 7 " removal of bodies for, 7

Colcord place (now Wyman), 4

Cole, Robert, 10

Collins, Mary E., 17 " William F. M., 17

Danvers, Mrs. H. B. Mansfield of, 4 " land in, 16 " Desire Procter of, 17

Dennis, John D., 6, 9, 10

Downing, Charles, 8 " Emanuel, 3, 8, 10, 13 " George, Sir, 3, 8

Downing Farm, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Felton, Daniel H., 5, 6 " Nathaniel, 10, 11, 12, 14

Felton's Hill, 5

Fish, Steven or Stephen, 15, 16

Flint, Jonathan, 13, 16 " Nathaniel, 11

Flint pasture, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14

Gallows Hill, Salem, 7

Gardner, Betsey, 5 " Hannah (married Higginson), 13 " John, 6, 17 " John, Jr., 17 " Samuel, 13 " Thomas, 6, 11, 15

Gould, George, 6 " Thomas, 6, 14, 15, 16

Herod, John, 14

Higginson, Hannah (daughter of Samuel Gardner), 9, 13 " John, 3d., 9, 13

Ipswich, land in, owned by John Procter, 8

Jacobs, ----, Mrs., account of the Procter tradition, 4, 6 " Daniel, 13 " John, 13

Jacobs house and farm (now Wyman), 4, 5, 6

King, Zachariah, 9, 13, 16, 17

Lincoln, ----, 16

Lowell Street, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17

Mansfield, Hannah B., account of the Procter tradition, 4, 5, 6

Marble, Samuel, 13

Marsh, Ezekiel, 5, 17 " James, account of the Procter tradition, 4, 5, 6 " James, to Philip H. Saunders, 5, 16 " John, 5, 12, 14, 15 " Philip, 17 " Zachariah, 12, 14

Marsh pasture, 4, 5, 6

Massey, Jeffry, 11

Morey (or Morrey, More), Roger, 10, 11, 12

Morey's Bound, 11, 13

Munroe, ----, Mrs. Jacobs (Munroe) mentioned, 4

Needham, Ann, wife of Anthony (formerly Potter), 11 " Anthony, Sen., 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 " Anthony, Jun., 4 " Isaac, 15 " Thomas, 16

Needham Homestead, 3, 4, 5

Newburyport Turnpike (or Newbury Street), 5

Nourse, Rebecca, monument to, 7

Osborn, Elizabeth C., Mrs., Librarian of Peabody Hist. Soc., 4

Osborne, Rebecca P., 17

Peabody, 7, 17

Peabody Historical Society, 3, 4

Pope, Joseph, 11, 12, 16

Potter, Ann, 11 " Humphrey, 11 " Thomas, 11

Procter, Benjamin, 13, 16 " Desire, 13, 16, 17 " Elizabeth, imprisonment of, 8, 15 " Francis, 16 " James, 16 " John, tenant of Downing Farm, 3, 12, 14 " " house and land of, in Salem, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16 " " land of, in Ipswich and Salem, 8 " " place of burial of, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 " " monument in memory of, 7 " " imprisonment of, 8 " " Thorndike Procter, son of, 8 " " Daniel H. Felton, descendant of, 5 " John, grandson of John, 16 " Joseph, 14, 15 " Mary, widow of Benjamin, 16 " Thorndike, son of John, 8, 13

Procter Tomb, 8

Procter Well, 9

Putnam, ----, land of, 11

Salem, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16

Salem Country Club, 8

Salem Court, 12

Salem Village, 3

Saunders, Philip H., 4, 5, 6, 9, 16

Southwick, Daniel, 9, 13 " Lawrence, 9, 13

Summit Street, in Peabody, 7

Upham, Charles W., 3

Upton, Mary, 14

Walcott, Harriet A., 17 " John Gardner, 6, 17 " " " Jun., 6, 9, 14

West Peabody, 3, 4, 17

White, ----, house of, 6

Williams, Roger, 10

Witchcraft tragedy, 3

Wyman, ----, house and farm of, (formerly of Jacobs), 4, 5, 11

+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Notes: | | | | Page 16: Added missing period. ("ye land now in ye occupation | | of John Procter.") | | | | Page 16: Changed "eight-acre" to "eight acre" for consistency. | | ("to have been the eight acre lot referred to above") | | | | Page 18: Changed "See, above," to "See above," in Footnote G. | | | | Index: Added three missing commas to entries. | | | | Index: Changed 11 to 12 in page reference for Rebecca Bacon. | | | | Index: Changed "Massey, Jeffrey" to "Massey, Jeffry" to match | | reference in text. | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------+