On the Massachusetts North Shore
William Row v. John Leigh, Mar. 28, 1673: “For insinuating dalliance and too much familiarity with his wife and drawing away her affections from her husband, to the great detriment both in his estate and the comfort of his life.”
In 1777, the Ipswich Selectmen and the Committee of Correspondence and Safety, acting under the authority of the General Court, issued a schedule of prices covering all articles of food, clothing, wages of labor of every kind, entertainment at hotels, shipping rates etc.
In our struggle for Independence, the British military received its first setback from the inhabitants of Salem in an episode that could not have been more ludicrous or entertaining if it had been written for Monty Python.
When the Town of Ipswich was established, ownership of a house and land within the town bounds carried with it the right of pasturage beyond the Common Fence. In 1788, the commoners resigned all their land interests to pay the heavy town debt incurred during the Revolution.
On the cold icy morning of December 13, 1774, Paul Revere headed out on a 60 mile gallop from Boston along the Old Bay Road through Ipswich to warn the citizens of Portsmouth that British troops may be landing.
In 1641, the General Court established four quarter-annual courts kept yearly by the magistrates of Ipswich & Salem, two to be held at Salem & the other two at Ipswich, with jurisdiction in all matters not reserved to the Court of Assistants. Read stories of Ipswich residents who faced the magistrates.
In Ipswich, cows would be put to pasture on the Neck in the spring, and every October they would be rounded up and herded into a pen. Many of the town's laws regarding land use, property rights, labor and sanitation grew from issues surrounding the keeping of livestock.
In 1844, John Sawyer sold to Josiah Caldwell an undeveloped tract known as "Knowlton's Close." Caldwell sold the land in house lots, where houses constructed in the popular vernacular Greek Revival style still stand today.
Ward emigrated to Massachusetts in 1634 an served for two years as the minister in Ipswich. His "Body of Liberties" established a code of fundamental principles of government. Ward's book "The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America" was published in England in 1647.
Kitty Robertson's Measuring time—by an hourglass is an exquisite collection of essays, reflections on a 20th century life in small town New England that first were published in the Ipswich Chronicle. Kitty was also the author of "The Orchard: A Memoir".
Published by the Newbury 350th anniversary Committee.
News arrived in Rooty Plain that the Regulars had come in to Ipswich, and every man was called for, to meet the enemy. One aged man. Mr. Stephen Dressr thought he would sit down a while and smoke his pipe, and waited but they didn't come, and had quite a comfortable nights sleep.
The Cold Friday on Jan. 19, 1810 brought terrible winds and frigid temperature. Many people froze to death while traveling along the highways. Houses, barns and vast numbers of timber trees were blown down or broken to pieces.
In the second half of this Council on Aging video, Paul & Gordon step inside the Ipswich Museum's 1677 Whipple House to examine its unique architectural features.
Ipswich artist Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – 1922) was one of the town's most famous residents. View his paintings, ink prints,and a slideshow of over 200 cyanographs.
Perhaps the best-known early Ipswich Photographer was George Dexter (1862-1927). His photographs along with those of Edward Lee Darling (1874-1962) and Arthur Wesley Dow provide a visual history of the town of Ipswich.
Historic Ipswich 