VITAL RECORDS
of
GLOUCESTER
MASSACHUSETTS
To the end of the year 1849
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A company of fishermen, known as the Dorchester Company, established itself here in 1624, but the larger number of the colonists returned to England the following year, and the remainder removed to Naumkeag, afterwards Salem.
The General Court on May 22, 1639, ordered "that a fishing plantation shalbee begun at Cape Ann." A committee was appointed to lay out the plantation and none were allowed to settle without their permission. The authority of the committee was reaffirmed October 7, 1641 and another committee was appointed the same day to settle the bounds between Cape Ann and Ipswich. Their report is dated May 3, 1642 and mentions the meeting house at Cape Ann.
"Gloaster" is first mentioned in the Colony records when a tax was levied June 14, 1642. The plantation without doubt was named for the cathedral city in England, from which several of the settlers emigrated. Bounds between Gloucester and Manchester were established May 15, 1672. Part of Gloucester was set off Feb. 27, 1840 as the town of Rockport.
The population of Gloucester at different periods was as follows:
| 1765,
| 3,763
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| 1800,
| 5,313
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| 1830,
| 7,510
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