Essex County timeline

TL;DR -- Starting with the Plymouth colony (2020), there will be celebrations until 2073 for settlements across Massachusetts. Weymouth followed that this year (2022); Gloucester will be next (2023) with a special focus since that was the location of the Dorchester attempt. Then, we will have Salem (2026) and more. Those last two are of Essex County; hence, we will use this focus to explore more closely the site of the start of the U.S. as this effort was a lead in to the Massachusetts Bay Colony which then formed the core of New England (arguable assertion, of course). Let's put it this way, lots of the other colonies were the result of friction with the Massachusetts way, even to the extent of what is now Maine being under the thumb of Boston. 

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We posted last time about the Essex National Heritage Order and their Facebook page which shows two maps of Essex County, 1692 and now. This got us to thinking of the 400ths that are coming up. That 400ths post shows a timeline for Massachusetts (from Wikipedia) which covers all of the settlement's towns prior to 1673. We mentioned that Weymouth (Norfolk County) had their look back this year, 2022. Next up is Gloucester (Essex County) which has picked 1623 (some argue 1624) with respect to the arrival of Thomas Gardner's crew. The arrival particulars are still being researched as we continue to study information as it becomes available with digitization efforts. 

The 400ths list is fairly long, so this post pulls out Essex County locations so that we can track events specific to the County. This list is in process and will continue after the 1673 cutoff of the Wikipedia listing. 

• Gloucester, 1623 (the Dorchester Company)
• Salem, 1626 (was originally Naumkeag)
• Beverly, 1626
• Lynn, 1629
• Saugus, 1629
• Manchester-by-the-Sea, 1629
• Marblehead, 1629
• Ipswich, 1633
• Newbury, 1635
• Andover, 1636
• Rowley, 1638
• Salisbury, 1638
• Reading, 1639 (renamed Lynn Village)
• 
  Haverhill, 1640
• Methuen, 1642
• Middleton, 1659

That list indicates that there could be sixteen celebrations from next year until thirty years hence. Some will be in the same year, such as Lynn, Saugus, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Marblehead in 1629. There were latter starts of towns which split from those on the list. We will look at those, too. 

We are talking the context of early New England, in particular, the Cape Ann Settlement (Wikipedia) related to the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which was the Dorchester Company venture lead by Thomas Gardner. 

 As this graphic shows, there were settlements prior to 1640 along the east coast. The English colonies are colored. Other colonies were of Swedish, France, and Dutch origins. Those of Spain are south of this area and not shown.  

Remarks: Modified: 08/26/2022

08/26/2022 -- We will compare New England north with the south, in several ways. Expect some look at population counts and such through these first few decades. The focus for this is the inception of the effort with discussion of pros and cons, successes and failures. Too, we need to bring in what was going on back in England and Europe. Then, expect a whole different look when DAR/SAR kick in for their 250th events in 2026. You know, before that, we'll have 2025 and Henry III of England's support of the Magna Carta. It all goes together with respect to talking intelligently about the American dream.