Edmund Ingalls

Who was Edmund Ingalls?

Edmund Ingalls was a founder of Lynn, Massachusetts. Born to Robert Ingalls in Skirbeck, Boston, Lincolnshire, England, he arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in Governor John Endicott's company in 1628. It is believed that he and his family came with Endicott and a party of about 100 in the "Abigail," which sailed from Weymouth and arrived at Salem, Sept. 6, 1628, after a voyage of 11 weeks. The belief that Edmund and his brother, Francis Ingalls, with their families, came on the "Abigail" is based on the fact that no other ship arrived from England until June 30, 1629, and Alonzo Lewis, the historian of Lynn, refers to manuscripts showing that Edmund and Francis settled in Saugus as early as the first of June.

The colonization of Massachusetts was only partly of religious inspiration. It was largely commercial and largely appealing to men who desired more freedom and especially more opportunity. A company had obtained a grant of a strip of the sea-coast. It wanted to get settlers upon the land in order to develop trade. It offered to assist them in getting there and to them it promised 10 acres of land.

To those who could pay their own way it agreed to allow 50 acres.