Salem, Massachusetts, USA
1845 - SALEM. [Pop. 15,082. Inc. 1629.]

The Indian name of Salem was Naumkeag.

The first colony arrived under the guidance of Capt. John Endicott, in September, 1628; but Roger Conant and others, from Plymouth Colony, had removed hither two or three years earlier.

A second company of several hundreds joined them is 1629, of whom about one hundred went and settled Charlestown.

Salem originally included the towns of Lynn, Wenham, Manchester, Marblehead, Topsfield, Beverly, Middleton, and Danvers.

Salem is the largest place in the county, and was made a city in 1836.

Perhaps no event has given Salem so much notoriety as the supposed prevalence of witchcraft in Salem Village, now the town of Danvers, in 1692.

The belief in witchcraft was as general in Europe as in New England, but the delusion passed away much sooner here than elsewhere.

Salem proper is a peninsula, its harbor is safe and capacious, and it has always been distinguished for the enterprise of its merchants.

Among the many distinguished citizens of Salem, may be named Timothy Pickering, one of the cabinet of General Washington; Dr. Bowditch, the great mathematician; and the Rev. Wm. Bentley, in his day remarkable for his acquaintance with languages, American history, and general literature.

Distance from Boston, 14 miles.

An Elementary Geography for Massachusetts Children by William Bentley Fowle and Asa Fitz, 1845
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