In 1742, the 26-year-old king’s collector visited Marblehead, and fell in love with the young tavern maid, a poor fisherman's daughter ten years younger than himself.
The Story of Agnes Surriage, the Marblehead Tavern Maid
Category: Stories
The Witchcraft Accusations Against Sarah Buckley and Mary Witheridge
On May 23, 1692, a complaint for witchcraft was filed against Sarah Buckley and her widowed daughter Mary Witheridge. The "bewitched" girls of Salem Village claimed that the women's specters had attacked them. Held in shackles in the cold crowded jail, both were acquitted in January,1692
Four-Year-Old Dorothy Good is Jailed for witchcraft, March 24, 1692
On March 24, 1682. a child, Dorothy Good of Salem was taken custody, and interrogated by the local magistrates for two weeks. Hungry, cold and missing her mother, Dorcas broke down and told the inquisitors what they wanted to hear, that her mother was a witch, and consorted with the devil.
The Hanging of Ezra Ross and Bathsheba Spooner, July 2, 1778
In 1778, sixteen-year-old Ezra Ross of Ipswich was condemned to death for the murder of Joshua Spooner of Brookfield. Spooner's wife Bathsheba became the first woman executed in the newly-created United States of America. Ezra Ross is buried in an unmarked grave at the Leslie Road Cemetery.
John Eales, Beehive Maker
The inhabitants of Newbury perceived bee-keeping as a new and profitable industry, but needed someone with experience. John Eales, an elderly pauper who had been sent away to Ipswich, was returned by the Court to Newbury to assist them in their efforts. An old English customs was his assistants "telling the bees" when their keeper died.
Haselelponah Wood
Obadiah Wood married 35-year-old widow Haselelponiah, whose scriptural name means "A shadow falls upon me," the only person in modern history with that name. Haselelpony Wood's tombstone is located at the Old North Burial Ground in Ipswich.
The Reluctant Pirate from Ipswich, Captain John Fillmore
John Fillmore of Ipswich was taken prisoner in 1723 by the pirate Captain Phillips. After many months he and three other prisoners overcame their captors, seized command and sailed the ship into Boston. "Captain" John Fillmore became a legend in his own time.
The Courtship and Marriage of William Durkee and Martha Cross
William Durkee, an indentured Irish Catholic, and Martha Cross, the daughter of Robert Cross of Chebacco parish were servants in the household of Thomas Bishop in Ipswich. When Martha became pregnant by William, they were both presented for fornication. The court ruled that they be punished and get married.
Seating in the Meeting House
The question of greater and lesser dignity, carrying with it the question of higher or lower seats, became so vexing that the task of “seating the congregation” was laid upon the Selectmen.
Ipswich Bluff
The hotel at Ipswich Bluff on the southern tip of Plum Island was a favorite destination of locals in the late 19th Century, who took the steamer Carlotta from the Ipswich wharf with Capt. Nat Burnham.
Building a Ship in Essex
By the early 1840s, Essex no longer had its own fishing fleet, but had turned to year-round shipbuilding, fostering a symbiotic relationship with the successful fishermen in Gloucester.
The Shatswell Fife and Drum Corps
In the fall of 1928, the Shatswell School Fife and Drum Corps was born. About 18 boys were signed up. All that autumn and through the winter the boys rehearsed in earnest. On May 30, 1929, the Shatswell Fife and Drum Corps made its first appearance in the Memorial Day parade.
The Knobbs
The Knobbs is a small beach in a stretch of salt marsh on the west side of the Ipswich section of Plum Island. On the Atlantic side was the Kbobbs Beach Life-Saving Station, replaced in 1947 by a camp for children who had been victims of polio.
Gettin’ Away on the ‘Pike
In the first half century of the automotive age, a weekend trip to the country for Boston folks often meant driving to Ipswich on the Newburyport Turnpike and renting a cabin not too far from the shore.
The Clock Tower at Hamilton First Church
In 1843, the Hamilton meetinghouse was turned 90 degrees to face the Bay Road, and the present bell was installed in the belfry. In 1888 a clock manufactured by E. Howard & Company of Boston was added to accompany the bell.
The Farm at Wigwam Hill
Symonds Epes bought a large tract in 1726 and built a substantial farm and orchards at Wigwam Hill, named for a group of destitute Indians who briefly camped there. The protecting pitch pines were later cut for lumber, and the farm became a large dune.
Historic Ipswich 