CHAPTER XI 

 THE BOXFORD ELM 



'Twas my forefather's hand 

 That placed it near his cot. 



George Pope Morris 



AMONG the famous Indian characters 

 whose names and deeds are indelibly 

 written upon the pages of New Eng- 

 land history, was an old "sagamore" named 

 Masconomet of Agawam. The territory over 

 which he held sway was bounded on the 

 north by the Merrimac River, on the west 

 by Naumkeag, generally known as Massa- 

 chusetts, which means, "at or near the 

 great hill," and on the east and south by the 

 Atlantic Ocean. From this old sagamore, 

 Governor John Winthrop procured, in 1638, 

 a deed of the whole tract of land then in- 

 cluded in the town of Ipswich, which also 

 included the present town of Boxford. Mas- 

 conomet died about the year 1658, and was 

 well known as a friend of the white men. 



