In 1670, a petition, with twenty signers, was presented to the town to be set off as a parish, and be allowed to provide a minister for themselves.  In March, 1672, the town granted the request; and, in October following, the General Court approved of the project, and gave it legal effect.  The line agreed upon by the town and the village is substantially defined by the vote of the former, which was as follows:  “All farmers that now are, or hereafter shall be, willing to join together for providing a minister among themselves, whose habitations are above Ipswich Highway, from the horse bridge to the wooden bridge, at the hither end of Mr. Endicott’s Plain, and from thence on a west line, shall have liberty to have a minister by themselves; and when they shall provide and pay him in a maintenance, that then they shall be discharged from their part of Salem ministers’ maintenance,” &c.  The “horse bridge” was across Bass River.  The “wooden bridge” was at the head of Cow-House or Endicott River.  Ipswich highway runs along from one of these points to the other.  The south line, beyond the wooden bridge, is seen on the map.  All to the north of this line, and of Ipswich highway between the bridges, to the bounds of Beverly and Wenham on the east; Topsfield, Rowley Village,—­since Boxford, and Andover on the north; and Reading and Lynn on the west,—­was the Village.  Middleton, incorporated afterwards, absorbed a large part of its western portion; but, at the time of the witchcraft delusion, the Village was bounded as above described, and as in the map.  There was a specific arrangement fixing the point of time when the farmers were to become exempt from all charges in aid of the mother-church; that is, as soon as they had provided for the support of a minister and the erection of a meeting-house of their own.  It was further stipulated, that the villagers should not form a church until a minister was ordained; and that they should not settle a minister permanently without the approval of the old church, and its consent to proceed to an ordination.  This latter restriction was perhaps the cause of all the subsequent troubles.

Owing, as has been stated in another connection, to erroneous notions about the topography of the country; the incompetency perhaps, in some cases, of surveyors; and the want of due care in the General Court and the towns to have boundaries clearly defined,—­uncertainties and conflicting claims arose in various portions of the colony, but nowhere to a greater extent than here.  The village became involved in controversies about boundaries with each one of its neighbors; producing, at times, much exasperation.  The documents drawn forth on these questions, as they appear in the record-book of the village, are written with ability, and show that there were men among them who knew how to express and enforce their views.  The plain, lucid, well-considered style of Nathaniel Ingersoll’s depositions on the court-files, in numerous cases, render it not