History of Amesbury - Merrill.org

14 HISTORY OF AMESBURY.
Sept. 4th the General Court named the plantation at Merrimack,
Colchester. No clue is given to the reason of this name, as the
town records are silent, not even mentioning the name, which
seems not to have been satisfactory to the company.
In the early part of the year a committee was chosen to order
the affairs of the company ; but in November a petition was
presented to the General Court for the appointment of "men to
manage their affairs", and Samuel Dudley, Rev. Wm. Worcester,
Christopher Batt, Samuel Winsley, John Sanders and Henry
Mundy were appointed "to order all business of the towne so
as this court doth expect & reserve power to that end, that
such as have indirectly obtained greater lotts then of dewe belongs
to them, the same should be reformed, & that care bee taken
for pventing such inconveniences herraff."
It might seem strange that any dispute should have arisen in
regard to land, when every man had more than he knew what
to do with, but this attempt at reform shows that selfishness
was no stranger to our ancestors. Who the unfortunate persons
were who had received more land than they were justly entitled
to it is impossible to say, as the records give no account of the
matter, or whether the new committee, composed as it was
largely of the old, ever carried out the purpose for which they
were appointed, we cannot say.
There were three meetings this year, as appears by the record,*
viz : "3 month— 7th 9 mo.— 29th 10 mo." No rules for the
government of the meetings had yet been adopted, and no doubt
some of the "firemen" had very crude notions of an orderly
town meeting. Anthony Colby didn't seem to understand how
to behave respectfully, according to the ideas of the "major
•part of the meeting," and was fined 1 s. for being disorderly.
Willi. Hook thought he had a right to go home when he pleased,
and was "fined 1 s. for leaving the meeting without leave."
With the first settlers goats were very common, and to some
extent took the place of cows which were scarce. They were
however, a great nuisance to other people than their owners
when allowed to run at large, and the meeting ordered a fine
*No doubt there were more.