50 



Alhollantyde." Joseph Young also was a witness in this 

 case. Thus the locality where this afiair occurred is iden- 

 tified as being the ''Potter's field," where Wm. A^incent, 

 the potter, lived, by the names of the persons mentioned 

 as concerned in it. John Stone was the next neighbor, 

 and lived at the ferry. Joseph Young lived on the other 

 side of "the Potter's lane," and "Goody Hardy," was per- 

 haps living with, or near, the next neighbor, Gervais 

 Garford, for she afterwards purchased of him a house 

 and land in Beverly. 



The traces of Vincent's potter's oven may have re- 

 mained there for a long time, and have been mistaken for 

 the ruins of a brick monument. This is all that the rec- 

 ords tell us as to the first occupants of house-lots in that 

 vicinity. 



We now come to the Planters Marsh itself, which con- 

 sisted of about twenty-five acres, being low ground, part 

 upland and part marsh, and was bounded by the ferry 

 lane (now Bridge street) on the west, and by the river, 

 or cove, on the east, and extending from "the Potter's 

 field" on the south, nearly to where the bridge is now. 

 Seven acres of this was conveyed by Peter Palfrey to his 

 son-in-law, Samuel Pickman, and by him to Wm. BroAvne, 

 in 1662. This appears, as nearly as we can judge from 

 the imperfect description in the deeds, to have been on 

 the westerly side of the field. The easterly part of the 

 field, next the water, seems to have been divided into 

 three parts of about six acres each, the northern one 

 owned by John Woodbury, and afterwards by George 

 Emery, and the middle one by John Balch, and after- 

 wards by Walter Price ; the southern one was owned by 

 Francis Skerry, and perhaps had been purchased by him 

 of Eoger Conant. The whole field came finally into the 

 possession of Wm. Burnett Brown, who, in 1766, con- 



