Thus far our attention has been directed to that portion of the population of Salem Village drawn there by the original policy of the company in London to attract persons of superior social position, wealth, and education to take up tracts of land, and lead the way into the interior.  It operated to give a high character to the early agriculture of the country, and facilitate the settling of the lands.  Without taking into view the means they had to make the necessary outlays in constructing bridges and roads, and introducing costly implements of husbandry and tasteful improvements, but looking solely at the social, intellectual, and moral influence they exerted, it must be acknowledged that the benefit derived from them was incalculable.  They gave a powerful impulse to the farming interest, and introduced a high tone to the spirit of the community.  They were early on the ground, and remained more or less through the period of the first generation.  Their impress was long seen in the manners and character of the people.  There was surely a goodly proportion of such men among the first settlers of this neighborhood.

I come now to another class drawn along with and after the preceding,—­the permanent, substantial yeomanry with no capital but their sturdy industry, doing hard work with their strong arms, and striking the roots of the settlement down deep into the soil by mixing their own labor with it.  A glance at the map will be useful, at this point, showing the general direction by which the farming population advanced to the interior.  All between the North and Cow House Rivers was, as now, called North Fields, and is still for the most part a farming territory.  All north of Cow House River, westwardly to Reading and eastwardly to the sea, was originally known as the “Farms” or “Salem Farms.”  When the First Beverly Parish was set off in 1667, it took from the “Farms” all east of Bass River.  As Topsfield and other townships were established, they were more or less encroached upon.  The “Farmers” as they were called, although unorganized, regarded themselves as one community, having a common interest.  The tide of settlement flowed up the rivers and brooks, sought out the meadows, and was drawn into the valleys among the hills.

John Porter, called “Farmer Porter,” came with his sons from Hingham, and bought up lands to the north of Duck or Crane River.  His family before long held among them more land, it is probable, than any other.  He served many years as deputy in the General Court, first from Hingham and then from Salem.  He is spoken of in the colonial records of Massachusetts as “of good repute for piety, integrity, and estate.”  The Barneys, Leaches, and others went eastwardly towards Bass River.  The Putnams followed up Beaver Brook to Beaver Dam, and spread out towards the north and west; while Richard Hutchinson turned southerly to the interval between Whipple and Hathorne Hills, bought the Stileman grant,