Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Goldfish Pond is one of the older European settlements in the U.S., dating back to 1629

Commemorative Stone and plaque at Goldfish Pond in Lynn to the Ingall's Family settling the area in 1629
Goldfish Pond is the oldest European settled area in the city of Lynn, and one of the oldest in the country.  Below and via link, is what Alonzo Lewis, Lynn's first historian, had to say about that settling on page 15 of his History of Lynn, published in 1829.

"The first white men who are known to have been inhabitants of Lynn, were Edmund Ingalls, and his brother Francis Ingalls.  A record, preserved in the family of the former, says that "Mr. Edmund Ingalls came from Lincolnshire, in England, to Lynn, in1629." He was a farmer, and settled in the eastern part of the town, near a small pond in Fayette street”

The pond became known as Ingalls Pond until the name was changed in the 1880's when the granite perimeters were built around the pond and island; and the pond and immediate surrounding land became a City park.

Below is the plaque with its inscription:

The plaque refers to "rods", which is a unit of measure used in the past that equals 16 1/2 feet.  That would put the house on Bloomfield Street, maybe across the street from the stone?

I grew up on Goldfish Pond.  I used to tell people that the Ingalls Family was not the Ingalls Family of Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder fame.  I was wrong.  I recently learned that her family lineage also traces back to Edmund Ingalls.  Here is the link to the article in Genealogy Magazine.  http://www.genealogymagazine.com/ingalls.html