BULLETIN 



OF THE 



HKTSTITTJTE. 



VOL. 2. SALEM, MASS.} APRIL, 1870. No. 4. 



One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy. 



FIRST HOUSES IN SALEM. 



BY W. P. U P H A M . 



APPENDIX. 



f Concluded from page 39.] 



WE learn from the Commoners Records that the origi- 

 nal occupants of "the Potter's field," were William Vin- 

 cent (or Vinson) and the widow Isabel Babson, both of 

 whom removed about the year 1642, to Gloucester. This 

 William Vincent is said by Babson, in his History of 

 Gloucester, to have been " a pot-maker," or potter. We 

 also find, in the "Waste Book" of the County Court 

 Records, that Mr. William Pester of Salem, was pre- 

 sented for certain misdemeanors "at the Potter's house," 

 Jan. 31, 1641. Mr. Pester acknowledged that he was 

 "at the Potter's house,'" and says in defence, "I was invited 

 by Pride and wife ; and John Stone and his wife, and was 

 at Stone's house, from whence we were fetched to ye Pot- 

 ter's.'" [John] Pride testifies that Pester "was invited by 

 Vincen." "Goody Hardy" also testifies that " Wm. Vin- 

 cen and [Hardy] weare gone out of the house," and that 

 " this was about the second day of November, miscalled 

 ESSEX INST. BULLETIN. n 7 



