Vol. XII 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Manchester, Mass., Friday, June 18 
No. 25 
The North Shore in Colonial Ways 
By FREDERICK MORSE CUTLER 
§° interesting and instructive were the recent articles 
bearing this caption, by Helene Sherman, that another 
“antiquarian” feels moved to record a few additional 
facts by way of supplement. 
Beyerly’s name, given by Major Sedgwick in honor 
of the town in his ancestral Yorkshire, contains also a 
natural history reference. It has been commonly noted 
that the old world offers little evidence that its valleys 
were formerly inhabited by “castor,” the beaver.  Bev- 
erly, however, is a marked exception. The name—the 
Yorkshire Beverly—means simply, “place of beavers.” 
One is reminded of the popular advertisement—when 
Beverly children cry for their home town, they are 
etymologically, “crying for castoria.” 
Very careful and conscientious were the early Puri- 
tans to obtain valid titles to their lands from the Indians 
as well as from the king. ‘The founders of Salem re- 
ceived a deed from the sons of Nanepashemet, while the 
fathers of Wenham, Hamilton and Ipswich derived their 
rights from Moschanomett. An interpretation of these 
names introduces us into regions of interest. 
The names are far from musical to our ears. Indian 
names, however, always have poetical significance and 
these are no exception. Moschanomett (‘Trumbull spells 
it Mashquanon) is by interpretation “The Hawk.” Is 
that not better than the conventional “John,” given him 
subsequently when he was baptized? Nanepashemet is 
simply “The Moon.” Perhaps this heavenly name sug- 
gests why he differed from other Indians in building his 
house on Stilts, as he is reported to have done. ‘The 
Moon” died in 1619, and was succeed by his widow, the 
famous Nipmuck “squaw sachem.” Naumkeag, “the 
fishing place,” certainly gained by taking the Biblical 
name of Salem or “peace.” Agawam, “the fish-curing 
place,” likewise lost nothing by changing its name to Ips- 
wich, after the Ipswich or Gippeswic (on the river Gip- 
ping) in Co. Suffolk, England, ‘There happened to be 
two other Agawams in Massachusetts, one at Springfield 
and the other in Wareham; so the change of name pro- 
duced clearness and simplicity as well as marked an his- 
torical connection. The name of Spirit Lake 1s common 
in our Western states; but one of the very earliest bodies 
of water bear this title is own own Chebacceo. — Spirit 
Lake, it is, by interpretation. 
Originally all the North Shore was comprised in the 
territory of the Pennacooks. ‘The Hawk” was a Penna- 
cook chieftain. But Salem had been abandoned by the 
Pennacooks at the time when Endicott and Conant ar- 
rived, and was held by the Nipmucks, whose central vil- 
lage was situated at Medford. “The Moon” was a Nip- 
muck. The new tribal boundary seems to have run 
through Beverly. 
Wenham first came into prominence in 1638, when 
Hugh Peters held an outdoor preaching service beside the 
lake, where the monument now stands. His text, John 
[[1:25, contains both the name Salem and that of Enon 
and is believed to have been the orgin of .the latter 
designation for the town. Rev. John Fiske, of Wenham, 
Co. Suffolk, England, moved to Enon in 1641, and be- 
came first pastor of the church in 1644, continuing until 
1656. As the name, Wenham, began to be used soon 
after his settlement, it is fair to infer that it was given in 
compliment to his old-world home. Wenham is an Anglo 
Saxon word meaning “the home (ham) on the fen or 
moorland.” ‘There are only two Wenhams in the entire 
world; and both seem to be characterized by swamp. 
Four photographs of English Wenham now hang on the 
walls of the church in the daughter town. Postmaster 
Porter owns an ancient weather-vane from the third 
The church now oc- 
meeting house erected in 1688. 
