History of Amesbury - Merrill.org

HISTORY OF AMESBURY. 1 69
Schools were yet anything but permanent institutions, being
mostly kept in private houses, but the young clerk, who was
fast rising to prominence, and himself a schoolmaster, very well
knew the importance of making the schools local and perma-
nent. To carry out his plan, he made the following communi-
cation to the meeting :
—
"At this same meeting, Orlando Bagley, jun., doth give and
giant to and for y e use of said town one-half qorter of an acre
of land frunting on y e country road adjacent to a town highway
on y e west for y e privilege of setting of a school house on so
long as y e town see cause there to keep a school.
as witness my hand Orlando Bagley, Jun"
This lot was, no doubt, the one where the pound now stands,
which answers the description perfectly. It was a notch out
of the clerk's homestead.
The meeting voted "to build a School house of twenty foot
square and seven foot stud to be built within y e space of two
years after y e date hereof to be finished and set on y e land
before mentioned at y e towns coast."
Thus began the Pond hills school house and, although the
house then built has passed away, yet the locality has always
been provided with a house. Why the present house is not on
this lot is hardly clear ; but some three-quarters of a century
after this date, when the house was old and unfit for use,
there was some considerable contention in regard to the new
house, which was finally settled by two men, who built the
present house and afterwards sold it to the town. The writer
has been told by old persons, who well remembered the trans-
action, that such was the case, and Capt. Ephraira Weed and
Ichabod B. Sargent were named as the men who built it.
The selectmen hired Nathaniel Brown ( son of Dea. Joseph
Brown) to keep school three months for "ten pounds."
On the record appears the following: "Amesbury May y e
28th 1 716. Taken from John Challis (by distress) a yearling
heifer and proceeded with according to law. Sold for eleven
shillings by me Henry Trussel late Constable of Amesbury."