Haverhill, MA news and local guide

Haverhill was founded in 1640 by settlers from Newbury and was first called Pentucket, Algonquian for "place of the winding river." Settlers including John Ward, Tristram Coffin and William White bought the land from Passaquo and Saggahew, who claimed Passaconaway's permission, though nothing more is known of them and it is unclear whether they were free to sell it or understood the contract the same way. The town was renamed for Haverhill, Suffolk, birthplace of its first pastor, the Rev. John Ward. Its first settlement was near Water and Mill streets, and William White's house still stands. Early settlers are said to have worshiped under a great "Worshipping Oak." When New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts in 1679, Haverhill lost most of its original county and became part of Essex County.

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Tristram Coffin, who ran an inn, grew unhappy with the town's opposition to his strong ales and left in 1659 to help found the settlement on Nantucket. Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall, chosen to preside over the Salem witch trials, found them objectionable and withdrew, which historians cite as one reason the hysteria took less hold in Haverhill than in neighboring Andover, though several Haverhill women were accused. For many years Haverhill was a frontier town, raided at times by Native warriors, sometimes with French troops from New France, in attacks that killed dozens of settlers. During King William's War, Hannah Dustin, captured in a raid on Haverhill, became famous for killing her captors and escaping. The city later became a major shoemaking center. Sources Wikipedia: Haverhill, Massachusetts