From the "Records of Massachusetts," we find that, on petition of "Mr. Bradstreete, Mr. Dudley Jr., Capt. Dennison, Mr. Clarke of Newbury, Mr. Woodbridge, Mr. Battye (Batt), Mr. Batter, Mr. Winsley, Hen: Bilye, Giles Firman, Richard Kent, and John Sanders,"permission "to begin a plantation at Merrimack" was granted them, Sept. 6, 1638, with power to add to their number. The plantation was named "Colechester," Sept. 4, 1639; name changed to "Salsbury," Oct. 7, 1640.
On the Salisbury records is found the following entry:

"1639, the third month.

"At a meeting at merrimack of Mr Simone Bradstreet, Mr Samuell Dudly, Mr Danniell Dennisonn, Christopher Batt, Samuell Winsley, John Sanders:
"It was ordered that there shall be 2 divisions of Meadow, the one nerrer, the other farther, the nerrest shall haue fower Acres to Each 100h(�), the other left to farther Consideration.
"It was further ordered that vpland for planting lotts shall be divided so as he that hath vnder 50h shall haue 4 Acres, and he that hath aboue 50h to 150h shall haue 6 Acres, and all aboue shall haue 4 Acres to Euerie 100h.
"Allso, it was ordered that all lotts granted to singlemen are on Conditon that they shall inhabit here before the 6 of may next, and such as haue families that they shall inhabitt here before the last of october next."

The last clause strictly means October, 1639, though October of the next year may have been intended. The date of the "first division" of land is not given; but there are grants to four persons dated 1639, and many are dated 1640. The "first division" was therefore, in 1639, though some subsequent ones may have been recorded among the "first." The time of recording the grants, in their present form, is indicated by the vote, April 14, 1643, that all grants of land given by the "Towne of Salsbery" shall be recorded in the new book by the last of June next, allowing the clerk a penny for every grant so recorded, and 6d for the copy of every man's particular grants, together.
The following is a copy of a paper found in the Massachusetts archives, Boston, without date, but indexed under 1639. The use of the name "Colchester" places the date of the original record between September, 1639, and October, 1640, unless the new settlement used the name before it was authorized by the General Court. The Salisbury records have the name "Merrimack" in May, 1639. The Boston copy must have been made after October, 1640, as it uses the name "Salisbury":

"The names of those yt have lotts & proportions granted pr the Toune of Colchester in the first division

"This is A true copie of the originall list taken out of the old book of Reccords for Salisbury as Attests.²

"Vera copia Atest

THO. BRADBURY rec.
EDWARD RAWSON Secrety"

It is difficult to reconcile the above list with the following taken from the Salisbury records. On the Salisbury records, Carr, Morrill, Macy, Fitts, wid. Christian Brown, and perhaps Rowell, are not mentioned as participating in the "first division,"³though they all received land in 1640, and Macy in 1639. On the other hand, Allen, John Bayly, Jr., Barnard, Barnes, Buswell, Carter, Clough, Dickison,French, Goodale, Greenlead, S. Hall, Hoyt, Ilsley, Ladd, Moyce, North, Parker, Partridge, and Wells are all given on the Salisbury records as receiving land in the "first division." John Clifford appears on the earlier list of thirty-seven, but not on the later list of sixty-nine. Lewis Hulett does not appear on either list, though Merrill assigns him a house lot in 1639, and his name appears later.
There is, perhaps, a geographical significance in the Boston list of thirty-seven. By referring to Merrill's map, History of Amesbury, it will be seen that all these lots were located on the "circular road," except those of Fuller, Macy, Rowell, and Brown. The list looks as if Fitts, Rowell, and Brown were added later, and wid. Brown may have first had the lot of her son Henry Brown on the "circular road." Macy's lot is given on the "road to the neck." This leaves only Fuller's lot on the straight piece of "beach road," and that lot is represented as lying some distance to the north of the road. It seems probable that the first lots laid out were all on the "circular road," except, perhaps, those of Fuller and Macy, and they either located away from others, or afterwards exchanged lots for those represented on the map. Later, in the same year, perhaps, the straight "beach road" connecting the two branches of the "circular road" was laid out, and most of the new comers were located on that road. The exceptions were John Bayly, Jr., who located next to his father, I. Buswell (probably not W. Buswell, as Merrill gives it,), and Ladd on the "circular road;" French, Partridge and Wells on the "road to the neck," with Macy. All the above, over fifty persons, who probably recived lots within a few weeks or months of each other, were placed on the new Salisbury book in 1643 as having part in the "first division."

http://www.ma-roots.org/essexcounty/salisbury/hist.html

SOURCE: The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, David W. Hoyt, Vol. I, 1897; pages 7-26
Retyped and reformatted by Kathy Leigh, April 15, 2002.