Topsfield is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The
population was 6,085 at the 2010 census. Topsfield is located in the
North Shore region of Massachusetts. Now, the town’s population is
near 7,469. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of
Topsfield.The Agawam tribe inhabited Topsfield prior to and during the
British colonization in the early seventeenth century. They were one
of the Algonquian peoples. They claimed the land north of the Danvers
River, the whole of Cape Ann and from there to the Merrimack River.
However, the first European explorers had brought smallpox to New
England, decimating all the shore tribes from the Penobscot River to
Narragansett Bay in 1616.The Agawam tribe inhabited Topsfield prior to
and during the British colonization in the early seventeenth century.
They were one of the Algonquian peoples. They claimed the land north
of the Danvers River, the whole of Cape Ann and from there to the
Merrimack River. However, the first European explorers had brought
smallpox to New England, decimating all the shore tribes from the
Penobscot River to Narragansett Bay in 1616.Chief Masconomet, for whom
Masconomet Regional High School is named, was the sagamore or chief of
the Agawam at this time. He welcomed Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor
John Winthrop on his arrival in Salem Harbor in 1630. Masconomet
deeded all the Agawams' land to Winthrop in 1638 in exchange for
twenty pounds sterling. The English had settled within the bounds of
modern-day Topsfield by 1643. They originally named their settlement
New Meadows. Tradition has long held that the Agawam called the place
Shenewemedy, meaning "the pleasant place by the flowing waters." More
recent historians believe that Shenewemedy was how the Agawam
pronounced New Meadows, rather than a word in their own language.The
General Court of Massachusetts renamed the place Topsfield in 1648,
undoubtedly after Toppesfield, England, a small parish in the county
of Essex north of London. Topsfield was incorporated as a town in
1650. Masconomet died in 1658 and was buried on Sagamore Hill, now in
Hamilton. Nine years later, two young men were punished for digging up
the grave of the sagamore and carrying his skull on a pole. Native
Americans were held in low regard and were poorly treated by the
colonists. There is no record of hostilities between the colonists and
Native Americans in Topsfield, however, even during the French and
Indian Wars, which covered the period 1689-97. The Topsfield town
records last mention Native American residents in 1750. Topsfield, Massachusetts Top Movies & Young Movies