436 & 446 pg 5

Moved to Topsfield in 1652

WILLIAM TOWNE, OF SALEM, MASS., 1640; SUPPOSED SON OF RICHARD TOWNE, OF BRACEBY, ENGLAND.

( From the NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL Register, Vol. XXI, pp. 12-15.)

In this church, founded in A. D. 1123, dedicated to St. Nicholas in
1251, and still retaining the name, were married, March 25, 1620, William
Towne and Joanna Blessing, and here their first six children were baptized. The next we hear of this family is at Salem, Essex County, Mass., where,
in the book of early grants, appears the following: "11, 8 mot, 1640, granted
to Wm. Towne, a little neck of land right over against his house on the other
side of the river." He is also referred to in the court records of the same
year, thus: "17th qt., last of 4th mot, and 1st, 5th mot, 1640. Wm. Towne, pl.
agt. Jno Cook def. in act of debt, Jury find for pl. some to be deputed to
measure John Cook's land, and what is remaining, to make up Goodman Town's
land and if it be ffyve acres to pay Towne ffyve marks and what is wanting of
ffyve acres to abate 13s. 4d. p. acre: And costs 4s. :0."
William Towne's residence was in that part of Salem known as the
"Northfields," and he remained at this place till 1651, the year following the
incorporation of the town of Topsfield, when he purchased a tract of land in
the latter place of William Paine, of Ipswich, ''containing forty acres of
ground or thereabouts, whereof six acres is by the seller, which Wm. Howard,
of Topsfield, built, and about thirty two acres joyning up to the sayd six
acres eastward of it, part of which is plow ground, another part is meaddow,
another part is upland unploughed, all lying together, having the meadow and
the plow ground of the said Wm. Howard towards the east and the ground of
Walter Roper towards the north, and a sertaine River towards the south or
south-west. Also, a little piece of meadow of about two acres lying on the
south side of the river, directly against the plains of the said Wm. Howard,
having ye grounds of the said Wm. Howard towards ye East and the said River
towards ye North and upland towards the South."
In 1652, he sold his property in Salem to Harry Bullock; in 1656,
purchased additional land in Topsfield, and in 1663, "in consideration of
natural affection and the contemplated marriage of their sonn, Joseph Towne,
with Phebe Perkins, the dau. of Thomas Perkins," he and his wife conveyed to
their said son Joseph two thirds "of the home wherein they then did dwell,
with Barne, out-houses, yard, gardens, orchards, lying situate and being in
Topsfield, together with a parcel of broken upland by the meadow side, only a
cartway reserved between the said land and the meadow towards the South, and
the land of Jacob Towne towards the East, and the land of Jacob Towne and
Edmund Towne towards the North, and the lands of Isaac Estie towards the West--also, another parcell of land broke up and unbroken, containing, by
estimation, thirty acres, bounded by the way towards the South-East and North-East, and a way also towards the South-West; the land of Zacheus Gould and Edmund Towne towards the North-West, and the land of Edmund Towne and Isaac Estie towards the North. Also, a parcell of meadow lying on the North side of the river, having the river for the bounds towards the South, a highway towards the West, and a way towards the North, and meadow of Jacob Towne towards the East, containing, by estimation, fourteen acres." All these
conveyances being made with the desire that their said son, Joseph should
........first refusal of the remaining third when the same should
......William Towne, the emigrant, died at Topsfield, Mass., abo... and from
the final settle ment of the estate of his widow, she seems to have survived
him about ten years. She died 1682.

"Taken away from the evil to come,"

might have been the epitaph on their tombstone, in view of the terrible fate
of their daughters, some ten years later.