HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 



HEN the murder of Sassamon, in the winter 

 of 1 67 1, led to the breaking-out of "Philip's 

 W ar," Plymouth had been settled fifty-four 

 years; Dover, fifty-one; Boston, forty-four; 

 Wethersfield, forty; Providence, thirty-eight; and Kittery, 

 twenty-seven. There appear to have been then, within 

 the boundaries of what is now Maine, thirteen towns and 

 plantations ; * within what is now New Hampshire, f 

 four ; within what is now Massachusetts, sixty - four ; J 



* Kittery; York; Wells; Cape Por- 

 poise; Saco; Scarborough; Falmouth; 

 Pejepscot; the plantations on the Sag- 

 adahoc and Kennebec; Sheepscot and 

 Capenewagen; Damariscotta ; Pema- 

 quid; Monhegan, with Gorges Islands 

 and the opposite settlements upon the 

 mainland. 



f Dover, Portsmouth, Exeter, Hamp- 

 ton. 



% Plymouth, Salem, Charlestown, 

 Boston, Dorchester, Roxburv, Water- 



town, Medford, Cambridge, Ipswich, 

 Newbury, Springfield, Concord, Wey- 

 mouth, Dedham, Braintree, Lynn, 

 Hingham, Scituate, Duxbury, Barn- 

 stable, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Glouces- 

 ter, Rowley, Salisbury, Sudbury, Wo- 

 burn, Reading, Eastham, Taunton, 

 Marshfield, Haverhill, Wenham, An- 

 dover, Hull, Bridgewater, Manchester, 

 Rehoboth, Marblehead, Middleborough, 

 Medfield, Topsfield, Maiden, North- 

 ampton, Chelmsford, Billerica, Groton, 



