On the Massachusetts North Shore
Jane Hooper was in 1760 a Newburyport "school dame" but after she lost that job she found fame as a fortune-teller. When the Madame made her yearly visit to Ipswich, the young and the old called on her to learn of their fates.
At the foot of Hovey Street along the Ipswich River is a plaque dedicated to the memory of Ipswich settler Daniel Hovey, whose home and wharf were across the river on what is now Tansey Lane.
by Beverly Perna (reprinted from 2016) Sue Boice died on July 16, 2013, but word got around town slowly that she had passed. I didn’t know until August 24th when a friend called and asked me to go to a Native American memorial for Sue, hosted that morning at Wolf Hollow by her longtime friend Joni… Continue reading Remembering Susan Howard Boice
Kitty Robinson began writing for the Ipswich Chronicle in her 50s, and when she died unexpectedly in 1979, flags in Ipswich flew at half mast. Kitty's daughter published "Measuring Time…by an Hour Glass" and "The Orchard" from her newspaper articles and personal memoirs.
Jenny Slew was born about 1719 as the child of a free white woman and a black slave. She lived her life as a free woman until 1762 when she was illegally enslaved by John Whipple. Jenny Slew is believed to be the first person held as a slave to be granted freedom through trial by jury.
In June, 1720, Elizabeth Attwood was convicted in the Ipswich Court on the charge that she "delivered of a male bastard and that she concealed the death."
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.
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.
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.
In 1687, a warrant was issued for the arrest of several Ipswich men for being "seditiously inclined and disaffected to his Majesty's government." The 62-year-old Major Samuel Appleton scorned the appearance of submission and remained imprisoned in the cold Boston Jail through the winter.
Theodore Wendel (1859–1932) was an Impressionist artist who lived for thirty-four years in Ipswich, where he painted the village, bridges, farmlands and landscapes, and left behind a magnificent collection of paintings of his adopted home town.
Philip Welch and William Downing, both children, were kidnapped from Ireland in 1654, and sold to Samuel Symonds in Ipswich. After 7 years they refused to continue working on his farm and demanded their freedom. They were arrested and brought to trial.
Shipwright Harold A Burnham comes from a family who have been building wooden boats in Essex MA for several generations. Produced by Blake Road Productions LLC for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
For eight decades the Sullivan farm in Ipswich, MA practiced a pre-modern way of life. The two sisters who took over their father’s family farm in 1916 were also teachers and principals in the Ipswich schools.
Rebecca Rawson of Newbury became one of the most popular young ladies in Boston society. She married a charming but cunning young man who left her desolate in London. On her return to America, the ship was swallowed by a tsunami.
March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams to John Adams: "In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors."
Historic Ipswich 