History of Amesbury - Merrill.org

HISTORY OF AMESBURY. 75
Notwithstanding these favorable circumstances, nothing came
of the movement. Mr. Dumer could not be obtained from
some cause unknown, and the new town people continued to
contribute to Mr. Worcester's support several years longer.
Mr. Thomas Bradbury and Capt. Robert Pike deputies.
1661.
At a general meeting February 26th, the ten-acre grant to
John Weed was reaffirmed as being on the side of James creek
and the Indian ground east of that.
Philip Challis was granted the Frog pond at the north side
of Robert Ring's hill. This hill is where the late Joseph Mer-
rill lived, and received its name in consequence of a large tract
of land owned on the south end by Robert Ring, the same
whose name was given to "Ring's Island." This frog pond
was subsequently owned by the Hunt family, and was sold in
1749 to Isaac Merrill, Esq., who tunneled the ridge between it
and the Great swamp, being the second instance of ridge tunnel-
ing in town.
Thomas Haynes received a grant of five acres upon the
"north side of salt brook." This grant was near Whittier's hill,
on the southerly side/ as later descriptions give it, and "salt
brook," which is sometimes called "slate brook," may have
been the one near Samuel Cammett's.
Mr. Haynes married a daughter of Thomas Barnard, which
fact, no doubt, secured him a hearty welcome in town.
The town granted Capt. Robert Pike sixty acres east of
James' creek on condition "that he come and inhabit with us."
This land was ever after designated as his "Indian ground,"
and in 1700 was the occasion of his famous letter, which was
ordered to be kept in the town book forever. It is now one
hundred and seventy eight years old, in a good state of pre-
servation, and will be found in its appropriate place. Mr. Pike
claimed the land, although never complying with the conditions
on which it was granted.
The tract of land from Thomas Page's to John Huntington's
was very properly named Indian ground, as it was evidently
the seat of an Indian village at some period of time. Many