Uncommon Ground

In the aftermath of the massacre there were fewer Indian raids near Haverhill and although a number of wayward bands were observed skulking they were usually chased away without incident. Amidst the peace that followed, the town would address matters that had been long neglected. The procurement of preachers for new parishes as well as a proper schoolteacher were among the discussions of importance to the town. Nathaniel Saltonstall wrote to the General Court in opposition to more public houses than were necessary and just two taverns were licensed.

Another issue that had remained dormant during the uprisings was now being pushed to the forefront. It was the matter of land rights of the commoners versus the limited rights of non-commoners. In the early years of the settlement the right to live in a town implied the allotment of land ownership and the right to use the common lands of the town. As a result land lots were freely given to families who greatly improved their standing through one and two or more generations.

The commoners or proprietors as they were called, were the early settlers of the colony and their relatives. They claimed privilege over the control and disposition of all common and undivided lands within the boundaries of Haverhill. They felt that by assuming the original risks related to the wilderness settlement they also deserved the rewards of control over land rights and that the others were Johnny come lately land grabbers.

The inhabitants, on the other hand, had suffered the same savage incursions of the Indians and fought just as gallantly and wanted more in terms of their fair share of the unassigned lands in the vast settlement. But the proprietors were parsimonious in the disposition of land grants and stonewalled all efforts to open discussion of the controversial subject. The largest undivided tract was the so-called cow common, which lay in the North Parish stretching from Great Pond (Kenoza Lake) to the junction of Fishing and Little Rivers. Other undivided tracts of land were equally desirable. While petitions for small grants of land were approved, a wider plan to divide lots in the cow common and to lay out highways to gain access to those lands was not commissioned.

The dissention was no more evident than in the meetinghouse where commoners and non-commoners defiantly elected separate officials, causing the intervention and moderation of independent observers to mediate the hotly disputed argument. Ultimately the proprietary rights of the Commoners were upheld and common lands were preserved for their arbitrary discretion. The manifest authority of their claims was too strong to be overturned and they would continue to control the granting of acreage to commoners and non-commoners alike. During this period a more ordered hierarchal society was emerging and the easy upward mobility that characterized the early years of the settlement was slowly disappearing.

In the years that followed Haverhill’s borders regressed substantially. In 1724 residents in the western part of the town petitioned the General Court to grant them permission to form a new town above Hawke’s Meadow Brook. Although opposed by their fellow townsmen the petition was approved the following year and the Town of Methuen was incorporated. In 1741 a new State line was run between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Salem, Plaistow and later Atkinson and Hampstead were incorporated as towns north of the boundary removing nearly one-third of Haverhill’s population and territorial claim. As time passed the proprietors saw their control and influence waning and they began to dispose of lands including the previously undivided cow common and then smaller scattered lots including many along the river. Wharves were built and the town began prospering from inland and coastal commerce. After 100 years the settlement of Pentucket was no longer a frontier town and change was on the way.