The winter of 1641 was severe yet the settlement’s numbers continued to climb. Later that year the pioneers of the plantation renamed it Haverhill after the ancestral home of their newly arrived minister John Ward.

John Ward was the son of the Reverend Nathaniel Ward who was pastor at the church in Ipswich. He was born in Haverhill, Suffolk County, England in 1606 and educated at Cambridge University. He came to this country in 1639 and preached first at Agamenticus (York, Maine) before moving to the newly established settlement at Pentucket. He was a virtuous man, educated not only in religious training but also in matters of reason and science. He possessed a strong memory. He was a good speaker yet shy in outward disposition toward his parishioners. A man of some physical endurance, he could easily hike thirty miles when such a test of stamina challenged him.

Although he was offered the hand of the daughters of well-to-do Englishmen and even a wealthy parsonage at home, he married Alice Edmunds, a beautiful bride from a commonplace background by whom he had two children, Elizabeth and Mary. They were beloved partners for forty years, choosing to live in this wilderness colony and devoting their daily lives to God and the spiritual and moral needs of their fellow settlers.

By June the town was fairly settled and at least as many as six houses were now standing. The General Court appointed selectmen to establish the boundaries of Salisbury and Haverhill. Dense forest occupied most of Haverhill except where lightning had struck or where Indians had purposely set them ablaze in order to create openings so that deer and wild game could be more easily hunted. Grassy meadows existed to the west of the tributary called the Little River and were highly valued by the settlers, since they provided hay for their livestock. But as yet there were no public roads or surveyed maps of public lands. It was still a wilderness.

More than two years passed before title to the land was finally purchased from the Indians. This was unusual and was probably because so few of them resided in or near the settlement. The deal was finally struck with native Indians Passaquo and Saggahew who as purported owners of the land, and with the consent of Passaconnaway, sold it for three pounds and ten shillings. At that time, the boundaries of the area purchased were 12 miles north of the Merrimack River. The original deed included the towns now known as Salem, Hampstead, Atkinson and Plaistow in New Hampshire, along with Methuen, Bradford and Haverhill in Massachusetts.

1643 was a memorable year for several reasons. On one Sunday in March an earthquake shook the area causing little damage but startling townspeople. Then in July a sudden storm struck that lasted for an hour knocking down trees in its path from Lynne to Hampton. So violent was the tempest that it lifted up the meetinghouse at Newbury as people worshiped indoors. It was also a year of crop failures as corn was scarce and clams, mussels and dried-fish became the staple of the day. Faced with these challenges Haverhill continued to grow as a village. During the year the General Court passed a law requiring a record to be kept of births, deaths and marriages in each town. In Haverhill, Richard Littlehale was chosen Clerk of the Writs and Town Recorder and the first town meeting of which proceedings are recorded was held November 6, 1643. Rules were now being established for landowners and public tax rates were being set. By 1645 it was incorporated as the twenty-third town in the Colony.