NEWBURYPORT — A 330-year-old Salisbury land deed was recently found inside the Custom House Maritime Museum by Newburyport High School student and museum intern Parker Jackman, museum director James Russell announced on Tuesday.
Last month, while helping reorganize the collection in the Custom House attic, Jackman spotted a nondescript artifact wrapped and rolled and labelled “fragile document.” What he rediscovered was a deed dated 1695, according to Russell.
“It is the oldest artifact in our collection, minus the collection of Native American stone tools,” Russell said in an email.
The deed, which covers the sale of land from William Hook to John March, is in good condition, he added, noting that it is mostly legible and still has its wax seal.
Jackman said he and Russell were reorganizing artifacts and paintings when he spotted the deed while sifting through a box of items.
“When we unrolled it, we were shocked,” Jackman said, adding they gave each other a high-five right after finding it.
Following the deed’s discovery, Custom House Maritime Museum Board Member Ellie Bailey went to work tracking down its history.
“I enjoyed reading and transcribing the deed and finding that one with all the particulars but a few changes in wording had been filed in Salem at the registry in 1695. From the bounds and size of the parcel (200 acres), I could tell about where the land in question was located,” Bailey said.
Bailey went on to say that the marsh, meadow and creeks mentioned in the deed were, and are today, “resources of major importance.”
“For Colonial farmers, the marshes were sources of ‘free’ hay and for fishermen, they were habitat for many important species of fish at some point in their life cycles,” Bailey said.
The deed came to the museum from Robert K. Cheney decades ago. In his unpublished “History of Ring’s Island,” Cheney wrote “…John March bought land off William Hook in 1695, including upland in Salisbury and the marsh to Mill Creek according to the original deed in the author’s possession…”
The deed was filed at the registry in July of 1695. Cheney lived in a house built by a grandson of John March and given to his grandfather by the March family, according to Russell.
Pending professional conservation, the deed will go on display in the Alice & Thom Gould Gallery in 2026.
“It’s wonderful that this document has been rediscovered and will get the care and attention that it deserves,” Bailey said. “While we see photos of many old deeds online, there is nothing like the real thing to capture our imagination.”
Jackman began volunteering at the Water Street museum in 2024 while attending the River Valley Charter School. Now a Newburyport High School freshman, Jackman spends time at the museum on a weekly basis.
Since starting, Jackman curated the museum’s whale and whaling display inside the basement of Discovery Center and has filmed numerous First Friday lectures at the museum.
“He is an absolutely awesome kid,” Russell said.
The 14-year-old said he has long had an interest in Newburyport’s maritime background and considers the museum a perfect place to indulge in his passion.
“This community has so much history,” Jackman said. “That really pulled me into the museum.”