Ladd Genealogy

DANIEL LADD, the emigrant settler, came with wife Ann from Wiltshire, England, according to one authority, in the ship " Mary and John," of London, March 24, 1633-4, Robert Sayres, master. His name appears next in Ipswich records in 1637, when he was granted six acres of land by the town, upon which he built a dwelling house, which seven years later, in 1644, he sold to Henry Kingsbury of Ipswich, who afterwards removed to Rowley, an adjoining town, and then to Haverhill. In 1639 Daniel Ladd had removed to Salisbury, Mass., on the North side of the Merrimac River. At this time Salisbury, which at first was called (Colchester), was one of the towns of the ancient county of Norfolk, which also included Hampton and Exeter, all towns on the north side of the Merrimac River. Haverhill at this time (1639) was not organized. Ladd took a part with fifty other men in the affairs of Salisbury. By the record of the birth of three of his children, it appears that he was residing in Salisbury in 1644, and by the record of his fourth child, he was in Haverhill in 1646, and here he continued to reside until his death, July 27, 1693. His wife Ann died Feb. 9, 1694.

Their children were:

1. ELIZABETH, bapt. in Salisbury, 11th, 10 mo., 1640.
2. DANIEL, bapt. 26th, 7 mo., 1642, in Salisbury.
3. LYDIA, bapt. 8th, 1 mo., 1644, in Salisbury.
4. MARY, b. Feb. 14, 1646, in Haverhill, whom. Caleb Richardson.
5. SAMUEL, b. Nov. 1, 1649, m. Martha Corliss.
6. NATHANIEL, b. March 10, 1651, who m. Elizabeth Gilman, of Exeter (now N. H.). Having volunteered in a N. H. contingent of a Massachusetts expedition against the Eastern Indians, was wounded at Cape Elizabeth, 1690, and died a year after in Exeter, aged 40.
7. EZEKIEL, b. Sept. 16, 1654, m. Mary Folsom.
8. SARAH, b. Nov. 4,1657, m. Onesiphorus Marsh, Jr., son of a first settler of that name in Hingham, Mass.

NOTE:-The town of Haverhill, Mass., was settled in 1640 by 12 men from Newbury, Ipswich and Salisbury. The General Court at Boston approved of it and appointed four men to set the bounds of Salisbury and Pentucket, alias Haverhill. "The people are to enjoy it as a town if they have six houses up by the next General Court, 8th of Oct." Though the town was settled the grantees had no title from the Indians the original proprietors, until the last of the year 1642. This deed describes the territory. which was 14 miles long, and was signed by the two leading Indians "Passaquo" and " Saggahew," and by the following men:- John Ward, Robert Clements, Tristram Coffin, Hugh Skerrat, William White and Thomas Davis. In 1680 this deed was copied into the town records, and was the occasion of the following testimony before the magistrate Nathaniel Salstonstall:-Rev. John Ward, William White and Thomas Davis "do testify that Haverhill township or lands, then called by the Indians Pentucket, was purchased of ye Indians * * * and we with others did sign our names to ye deed."-And Lieut. Brown and Lieut. Ladd both affirm upon oath the same.-Taken Feb. 4, 168o.

Tristram Coffin from Plymouth Devonshire, England, and Robert Clements, of England, both came early in the year, 1642; it is said, in the same ship, landing at Salisbury, and thence to Haverhill. Tristram Coffin eventually purchased a large part of the island of Nantucket and removed there. William White from England to Ipswich, 1635, thence to Newbury and to Haverhill. Rev. John Ward was from Haverhill, Suffolk Co., England. Thomas Davis the last signer was from Marlboro, Wilts Co., England, who, with wife Christian, was in Newbury, 1641, in Haverhill, 1642, where he died 1683, aged 80. They had a son, Joseph Davis. Their daughter, Joanna Davis, married George Corliss.

It is probable from this sketch of history that, though Daniel Ladd himself may have been in Haverhill in 1640-42, his family remained in Salisbury to a later date, when in Feb., 1646, they are known to have been in Haverhill.

Of Daniel Ladd possession, and to whom he gave parts in his will, or by deeds of gift before he died, it is not necessary to speak ; but a quotation from Chase History of Haverhill will serve to show the situation of Ladd, as well as others, the next few years after the settlement of Haverhill "Daniel Ladd doubtless found farming quite a different thing from what the farmers of the present day find it. His house lot was in the village .. . part of his planting ground 'in the Plain,' from one to two miles east of the village, the other part' up the great river,' as far as the west of the village, while his meadow lands were in seven lots, and as many distinct meadows. East Meadow was in the easterly part of the town, three miles from his house lot, while Spicket Meadow was at least eight miles in the opposite direction. Pond Meadow was two miles north east, Primrose Swamp two miles north west, Hawks Meadow three miles west."

In 1659 Daniel Ladd and Theophilus Shatswell (one of the emigrant settlers at Ipswich) having liberty from the town, erected a sawmill on "Spicket River." This river is one of -the sources of water power of the town of Methuen, which joins the modern manufacturing town of Lawrence.