John Emery was born in England Sept. 29, 1598. He sailed from Southampton April 3, 1635, with his wife and children, accompanied by his brother Anthony Emery and family, and arrived in Boston June 3, 1635. A few weeks later he came to Newbury, and was granted half an acre of land at the Lower Green for a house lot. He was made a freeman in 1641, and in 1642 his name appears in the list of ninety-one proprietors who are "acknowledged to have proportionable rights in all the common and undivided land within the limits of the town."
Under date of Dec. 18, 1645, Coffin, in his History of Newbury, says a committee of seven men were appointed to make arrangements for the construction of a grist-mill in the town; and this committee agreed to give John Emery and Samuel Scullard £20 in merchantable pay, with ten acres of upland and six acres of meadow, and also to make the mill free from all taxes for the first seven years, and a freehold to them and their heirs forever, provided they would agree on their part "to set up said mill between Nicholas Holt's point and Edward Woodman's bridge ready for the towne's use to grind the town's grists at or before the twenty ninth of September, 1646." Notwithstanding the urgent need of a grist-mill in that locality, and the liberal offer made in behalf of the town, the conditions of the proposal were not complied with, and the mill was not built until thirty years later.
May 18, 1647, the town granted John Emery about three acres of land in the vicinity of Old Town Hill, reserving twenty rods for a "burying place." This lot of land is still known as the "Emery Lot," and is more fully described in the preceding pages in connection with the settlement at the Lower Green. In 1663, he was presented to the court at Ipswich for entertaining travellers and Quakers. From the evidence sworn to by several witnesses it appears "yl two men quakers wr entertained very kindly to bed and table, & John Emmerie shok ym by ye hand and bid ym welcome." Also "that the witness heard John Emery and his wife say that he had entertained quakers and that he would not put them from his house, and used arguments for the lawfulness of it." He was fined £4 and cost of court. He died Nov. 3, 1683.
John Emery, Jr., was born in England about 1628, and came to Newbury with his father in 1635. In the town records, under date of April 10, 1644, is the following statement: There was laid out unto John Emery, junior, four score akers of upland, bee it more or lesse, joining unto Merrimacke river on the north and running from the mouth of Artichoke river unto a marked tree by a swamp on the northwest corner, being about one hundred and thirty two rods long at the head of the cove, thence about an hundred rods to the Southwest Corner, thence running on a strait lyne about an hundred and fifty six rods to Artichoke river on the east about eighty rods broad. Rev. Rufus Emery, in his genealogy of the Emery family, says: Forty acres of this land was a grant of the town of Newbury to John Emery, Senior, and by him given to his son in consideration of love and affection. The remaining forty acres were bought of Archelaus Woodman for thirty pounds, being a town grant to him. This land has remained in the possession of the descendants of John Emery from 1644 to the present time. It is now owned by Mrs. Mary Hale Emery, widow of Rev. Samuel Emery, D. D., and daughter of the late Eliphalet Emery, of West Newbury.
John Emery, Jr., married, Oct. 2, 1648, Mary Webster, daughter of John and Mary Webster, and probably built the first dwelling-house on this land, and commenced housekeeping there about that date. At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Newbury Nov. 22, 1678, the town Granted to John Emery, Jun'r, twelve acres of land on the west side of Artichoke River adjoining to his own land, Provided that he build and maintain a corn Mill to grind the Towne's corn from time to time, and to build it within one year and a half after the Date hereof, And the Inhabitants of the Towne to have their corn ground according to their Turns before any of another Towne. And March 3, 1678-9, the following vote was passed: Whereas there is some difficulty about John Emery his grant above-said about the mill, It was referred to Capt Daniel Pierce, Richard Bartlet, and Tristram Coffin to treat with John Emery & to perfect the said bargain both for place and other conveniences belonging there unto & bring it to the Towne the next meeting. The report submitted by this committee was not recorded, or, if recorded at that time, has since been lost or purloined from the records. It is evident, however, from subsequent developments that satisfactory arrangements were made for the construction of a dam and the erection of a mill at the mouth of the Artichoke River, and that the work was undertaken during the ensuing summer and carried through to its completion.
Dec. 13, 1686, the town appointed a committee "to lay out a convenient highway of such breadth as they shall see meet thro' the plaines to Sergeant Emery's mill." Under the care and supervision of John Emery the mill was put in operation and did efficient service for many years. April 18, 1693, being in failing health, John Emery made an agreement with his son Stephen "to tend the said mill or provide one that hath skill to doe it, & to be at half the charges to maintain and keep in good repair all the running gears & Iron work of the said mill." And "the said Stephen Emery is for his pains to have half of the income of the mill & his father, John Emery, the other half during his natural life, & after his decease the said mill to be to the said Stephen Emery as his own free and proper estate" (Essex Registry of Deeds, book 9, page 146). This agreement to convey the mill and other property to Stephen Emery was confirmed by a deed dated May 19, 1693, and recorded in book 9,