History of Amesbury - Merrill.org

68 HISTORY OF AMESBURY.
Whether or not this letter satisfied the General Court we
have no means of knowing ; but the fact that Mr. Macy fled
seems to indicate that he did not consider it safe to remain, and,
taking his family into his open boat, sailed away to Nantucket,
where he spent the remainder of his life.
At the time of this occurrence he lived not far from the mills,
on a place which he mortgaged to Rodah Gove, of Roxbury,
August 20th, 1658, already noted in that year. It was bounded
easterly by Powow river, westerly by the street, and southerly
by land of Richard Currier. He sold to Anthony Colby his
homestead near the burying ground in 1654 for £38, to be
paid as follows : " by a mare fole at ten pounds, ^3 in bourds
and in courne, £12 or 14 in money, rest in pipe-staves or
hogshead staves, cattle all at prices current ; Indian corne at
3 s., wheat & Barley 5 s." Dated the 23d, 2d mo. in 1654.
This place was bounded westerly by land of Edmund Elliott
and the burying ground and easterly by the street. These prem-
ises were near the residence of the late Joseph Bartlett, and
extended southwest to the vicinity of Mrs. Killam's.
In 1664 there was some difficulty between Macy and the
widow of Anthony Colby in regard to the title, and John, son
of Anthony, testified that Macy did sell the place where his
mother then lived in the new town. Thomas Barnard also testified
"that he heard Macy say that he sold house & barn &
orchard to Colby & that it was paid for." This testimony was
given at Salisbury court 12th, 2d mo., 1664. The occasion of
this law suit is not very clear, but rather looks as if Macy
denied the title of the Colby's. Macy was the owner of many
tracts of land in the new town and several in the old and,
probably, built subsequent to this sale on the lot mortgaged to
Gove.
Mr. Whittier has written a beautiful poem entitled, "The
Kxiles," descriptive of Macy's encounter with the priest and his
flight, which by permission of the author is quoted entire :
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