The town of Ipswich is one of the oldest in the Bay Colony. In 1624 a small fishing station was started on Cape Ann by the Rev. Mr. White, but it soon ceased to exist, and upon the settlement of Salem in 1626 by John Winthrop, Jr., and his companions most of Mr. White's neighbors removed with one house to the new town. In 1628 the colony of Massachusetts Bay was chartered by the King, and in the summer of 1630 John Winthrop, Sr., and others, coming from England to plant the colony, landed at Salem. Thence they passed through the woods southward to the site of present Charlestown, and in the autumn of the same year founded Boston. Then followed Newetown (now Cambridge), Waterton (town), Rocksbury, and other neighboring towns. Meanwhile Salem The town of Ipswich is one of the oldest in the Bay Colony. In 1624 a small fishing station was started on Cape Ann by the Rev. Mr. White, but it soon ceased to exist, and upon the settlement of Salem in 1626 by John Winthrop, Jr., and his companions most of Mr. White's neighbors removed with one house to the new town. In 1628 the colony of Massachusetts Bay was chartered by the King, and in the summer of 1630 John Winthrop, Sr., and others, coming from England to plant the colony, landed at Salem. Thence they passed through the woods southward to the site of present Charlestown, and in the autumn of the same year founded Boston. Then followed Newetown (now Cambridge), Waterton (town), Rocksbury, and other neighboring towns. Meanwhile Salem as a trading company, and the "adventurers" first connected with it had an eye only to a pecuniary return, yet no sooner had John Winthrop and his non-conformist associates settled at Boston than at the General Court on October 19, 1630, it was decreed that no one should be elected a freeman (i. e., what we should call a member or stockholder of the company) who was not a member of the church. This rule continued to be enforced until 1691; hence, but a small portion of the colony were freemen. No one but a freeman could vote, hold office, or sit on juries; and it came about that many came unto Court to have matters of personal interest, both civil and criminal, adjudicated by those who were not only not their peers, but perhaps their unrelenting religious foes.

The northern towns grew fast--too fast to please the cautious General Court, who desired none but godly people to come among them; and on September 7, 1630, and again in April, 1633, the Court ordered that hereafter none should go to plant or inhabit in "Agawam" save those already there, without permission of that august body. Ships came to Salem direct and disembarked all their passengers there, who quickly settled in its immediate neighborhood. On May 24, 1634, the Rev. Thomas Parker and his assistant and relative, the Rev. James Noyes, arrived at the bay with a chosen band of 100, mostly from Newbury, England, and "went to sit down at Agawam" (Ipswich). But in this and the following year settlers came so fast that they could not be accommodated, and "swarmed over" into the adjoining country. Early in the spring (March of 1635) Parker and a few of his followers, going by boat from Ipswich through Plumb Island Sound, entered the Parker River, and, disembarking on the north shore about 100 rods below the present bridge, "where the land was inviting and pleasing," founded their town, which they called Newbury, after Newbury, Berkshire, England. The river they named the Parker River, in honor of their "beloved minister," a man who in the next twenty-five years caused more commotion and bitter feeling over ecclesiastical points, not only in his own church but in those of colony at large, than any score of clergymen could now do in half a century. Henceforth the town grew rapidly, until within a few years it was well filled with industrious, godly settlers.

By the year 1640, when, as I have said, immigration ceased and natural increase alone added to the population,there were a goodly number of settlements well peopled stretching north from Boston to within the limits of what is now New Hampshire. The main road ran north to Salem, thence twelve miles north again to Ipswich, thence still north through Rowley eight miles to the settlement at Newbury called "the lower green," just across the Parker River, and thence again north to far beyond the Merrimac. Along this one main road there was much passing by foot, by horse, and by team, and constant intercourse between the inhabitants. It was easy for a man to move from one town to another without getting beyond reach of his old neighbors and friends, for there was but one road to travel and not far to go.

Ipswich lies at the mouth of the Ipswich River in the present county of Essex in Massachusetts. The Indian name was Agawam, meaning "fishing station." The river furnishes excellent water power and the harbor a safe place for vessels. Following the depression of 1640 saw and grist mills lined the river, and merchants sent ships from its port trading to distant points. It was, however, a farming community in the main. But what Launcelot Granger's occupation here was is a matter of mere conjecture. He may have sought labor in the mills, at the shipyards, upon the coasters, or in the fishhouses; but as he followed farming in Newbury, where equal advantages for engaging in other work existed, it may perhaps be fairly presumed he was indeed a granger while in ancient Agawam.

The church records of Ipswich were unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1730, and those town records which have been published are very meagre. The following from Volume II, Massachusetts General and Historical Register, page 50, is indeed the only one in which I find the name of Launcelot Granger. It is contributed to that periodical by Mr. Luther Wait, who assures the publisher that it is the first record which he finds in the old books which gives the names of all the "freemen" in Ipswich, and that he spells the names just as he found them. I quote it in full:

"At the generall Towne meeting held 19 of December 1648: wheras the ynhabitants of this Towne haue engaged themselves to pay yearly on the 10th day of Decembar vnto maior Denison soe long as he shall be there Leader the Summ of twenty four pounds seaven shillings in way of gratuitye to encourage him in his military helpfullness unto them as by severall subscriptions vnder their hands may appeare. And because it is most manifest the sayd sum will not be raysed unlesse some better order be taken for the same espeshally in respect of the Alteration, and change of the ynhabitants. Yt is therefore ordered that henceforth the seaven men shall yearly in November put the sd sum of 24œ 7s into a rate porportioning it vpon the ynhabitants, (haveing alsoe respect to the bill of subscriptions of the Towne from year to yeare,) to be levyed & colected by the constable and payd unto the sayd maior Denison on the 10th of December yearly soe long as he shall continue to be the leader of this companye.

"Voted by the Towne at the generall Towne meeting above mentioned.

"A list of the names of those that did subscribe there severall somes yearly while he continued to be our Leader:"

Then followed a list of 162 persons to be taxed and the amounts each had subscribed. Among them I find "Launslot Granger 4 s." Very few had subscribed more than this sum, and most less.

The maior (or Major) Denison here mentioned was a prominent member of the town, a famous militia man, member of the artillery company, having occupied all the military offices to the highest, and was also a frequent member of the General Court. Evidently he commanded the town troops, a position of much responsibility in view of the proximity of the Indians.

This is the first known record of our ancestor--the record that he lived and was a taxpayer in Ipswich in 1648. Slight though it be, it yet conveys some information. Launcelot was at least twenty-one years of age in 1648. He must have been well to do, for he was assessed a sum larger than that assessed against most of his neighbors I question, however, whether Mr. Waite is correct in assuming that all who are named in the subscription were freemen. I give reasons later for thinking Launcelot was not a freeman until he removed to Suffield. The fact that he paid taxes at Ipswich could not be taken as conclusive that he was a church member. Church of England men and other "children of Satan" must pay their dues to the colony as well as the orthodox.