At the annual town meeting of 1668 Nathaniel Saltonstall was chosen Town Recorder and Clerk of the Writs an office he held for thirty-two years. In addition to his magistrative duties as he was also authorized to join persons in marriage. In the Puritan separation from the Church of England marriage was considered a civil contract and not a religious rite.

No man of his time was more admired than Nathaniel Saltonstall. He was born in Ipswich about 1639 and graduated from Harvard College in 1659. He was a descendant of the highly regarded Saltonstall family in Yorkshire England. His grandfather Sir Richard Saltonstall came to the new world aboard the ship Arbella with Governor John Winthrop in 1630 but returned to England a year later.

Saltonstall’s father, also named Richard was born in 1610 and journeyed to the New World with his father. He returned to England at the same time where he married Meriall Gurdon. Four years later they sailed back to America and settled in Ipswich. Richard made several more crossings before returning to England for good in 1683.

Nathaniel, however, was American by birth and he remained here resolutely seeking out opportunities of the new world. He married Elizabeth Ward the daughter of Reverend John Ward of Haverhill on December 28, 1663 and they lived on a fine Haverhill estate that was conveyed to him by his father-in-law. In 1664 his father also deeded him eight hundred acres of land ”on the occasion of his marriage and the estate overlooking the river was thereafter known as the Saltonstall Seat.

Saltonstall was a man of superior talent and enterprise. He was chosen Captain of the military company in Haverhill in 1665 and later appointed Colonel. He was elevated to the rank of Major, which was a superior post. He commanded great respect for his principles and in 1692 was appointed one of the judges in the proceedings surrounding the persons accused of witchcraft in Salem. With a liberal stand and a mind apart from the superstitions of the day he refused to serve on the commission. His position was a bold statement for truth and opened the eyes of many to the fanaticism of the trials.

Nathaniel Saltonstall died May 21, 1707. He left three sons Gurdon who became the Governor of Connecticut, Richard and Nathaniel. His only daughter Elizabeth married the Reverend John Dennison of Ipswich and then the reverend Rolland Cotton of Sandwich. The Saltonstall family remains prominent in New England, all of whom descend from their distinguished Haverhill ancestors.