Essex Placenames in New England, USA

I seem to remember that it was Nancy Mitford who was responsible for the story of the English tourist in Rome being puzzled that the monuments all seemed to be named after London Cinemas. Likewise, tourists to Essex express their surprise that we seem to have named our towns and villages after towns in The States. The New England area of the states has a remarkable number of places named after placenames in Essex (over forty). I am indebted to Arthur Harrison for this list, which dates from the 1960s.

ESSEX County

Massachusetts, one of the oldest settlement areas, and containing Middleton and Topsfield, with Ipswich and Haverhill. (Chelmsford, Billerica and Malden are in the adjoining Middlesex County).

ESSEX County

Vermont

ESSEX

Middlesex County. Connecticut; set off 1852; population c3,500.

ESSEX

Essex County. Massachusetts; Settled 1634; incorporated 1819.

ESSEX

Chittenden County. Vermont chartered 1763, Settled1783.

B1LLERICA

Middlesex County. Massachusetts : Settled 1637; incorporated 1655; population c 11,000.

BRAINTREE

Norfolk County, Massachusetts; Settled 1634; incorporated 1640; population c 23,000.

BRAINTREE

Orange County. Vermont population c 620.

BRENTWOOD

Rockingham County. New Hampshire ; population c 800.

BURNHAM

Waldo County, Maine; population c 700.

CHELMSFORD

Middlesex County. Massachusetts; Settled 1633;incorporated 1655; population c 9,000.

COLCHESTER

New London County, Connecticut; Settled and incorporated 1699 : boro' 1824; population c 3.000.

COLCHESTER

Chittenden County, Vermont population c 4,000; onLake Champlain; iron mills and forge were established by 1783.

DANBURY

Fairfield County. Connecticut; Settled 1684; incorporated 1687; city 1889; population c 30,000.

DANBURY

Merrimack County, New Hampshire ; population c 500.

DEDHAM

Hancock County. Maine; population c 400.

DEDHAM

Norfolk County. Massachusetts; Settled 1635; incorporated 1636;Fairbanks House, 1636, is the oldest framehouse in the United States

EAST HAM

(nowadays EASTHAM). Barnstaple County. Massachusetts; Settled 1644; incorporated 1651; population c 800.

EASTON

Fairfield County. Connecticut : Settled ca 1757; population c 2,000.

EASTON

Aroostook County. Maine; incorporated 1864; population c 1600.

EASTON

Bristol County, Massachusetts; Settled 1694; i 1725; population c6,000.

EPPING

Rockingham County. New Hampshire : early settlement, set off from Exeter by 1741 : population c 1,800.

HADLEY

Hampshire County. Massachusetts : Settled 1659; incorporated 1661; population c 2,600.

HARWICH

Barnstable County. Massachusetts; Settled ca 1670;incorporated 1694; population c 2,600; formerly a whaling and shipbuilding town.

HATFIELD

Hampshire County. Massachusetts; Settled 1661 : setoff from Hadley 1670; population c 2.000.

MALDEN

Middlesex County. Massachusetts; Settled 1640; incorporated 1649 ; city 1881; population c 60,000.

MIDDLETON

Strafford County. New Hampshire : population c 250.

MIDDLETON

Essex County. Massachusetts; Settled 1659; organized 1728; population c 3,000.

NEW BRAINTREE

Worcester County. Massachusetts; population c 500.

NEWPORT

, Orleans County, Vermont; Settled 1793; chartered 1803; incorporated 1917; population c 5,000; the next town to the north is Stanstead, prov. of Quebec, Canada.

PLAISTOW

Rockingham County. New Hampshire ; incorporated 1749 (previously part of Haverhill, Massachusetts).

ROMFORD

Litchfield County, Connecticut; village and railway station; twenty miles north-west of Waterbury.

RUMFORD

Oxford County, Me; Settled 1774: incorporated 1800;population c 10,000.

RUMFORD

Providence County. R.incorporated ; settled as a Massachusetts town, but now part of East Providence, R.I.

SPRINGFIELD

Penobscot County. Maine; population c 400.

SPRINGFIELD

Hampden County. Massachusetts : Settled 1636;incorporated 1641; city 1852; population c 162.000; founded by William Pynchon of Springfield. Essex, England.

SPRINGFIELD

Sullivan County, New Hampshire : population c 300.

SPRINGFIELD

Windsor County. Vt : Settled before Revolution; population c 9,000

STANSTEAD

prov. of Quebec, Canada.

STRATFORD

Fairfield County : Connecticut : Settled 1639; population c 33,000.

STRATFORD

Coos County, New Hampshire : Settled 1772; population c 1,000; opposite Essex County. Vermont

TOPSFIELD

Washington County. Maine; village.

TOPSFIELD

Essex County. Massachusetts : Settled ca 1635 : incorporated 1648; population c 1,400.

UPTON

Oxford County. Maine : population c 100.

UPTON

Worcester County. Massachusetts; Settled 1728; incorporated 1735; population c 2,600.

WALDEN

Caledonia County, Vermont : population c 500.

WALTHAM

Hancock County. Me : population c 150.

WALTHAM

Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Settled 1634 ; setoff from Watertown 1738 : city 1884; population c 47,000.

WALTHAM

Addison County. Vermont population c 200.

WEATHERSFIELD

Windsor County, Vermont : Settled ca 1775; population c 1,300.

WETHERSFIELD

Hartford County. Connecticut : Settled 1634;population c 12,500; first ship launched in Connecticut, 1649.

WICKFORD

Washington County, R.incorporated ; Settled soon after1650 ; population c 2,400; oyster and lobster fisheries;fine 18th-century building

WOODFORD

Bennington County, Vermont : population c 200.