The Governor’s Academy

Wealthy English investor Richard Dummer arrived in the New World in 1632, settling in Roxbury for two years with his wife Mary, where he built New England’s first water-powered gristmill to grind corn. He was one of the principal investors in a cattle-importation enterprise. The livestock were raised along the Parker River – the Hampton NH and Newbury area – property resplendent with salt hay for forage. Dummer was granted a 500-acre farm at Newbury Falls in 1635, where he built a saw mill and grist mill the following year.

Mary Dummer became a follower of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, who were not strict adherents to Puritan beliefs, but rather thought others’ spiritual beliefs should be tolerated. For this, Mary and Richard were banished to Boston. Mary died shortly after the birth of their child Shubael, in 1636, and Richard returned to England.

In 1638, Richard traveled back to Newbury with his brother Stephen and members of his family. He continued to acquire land – eventually exceeding 1,000 acres – and remarried in the mid-1640s. As he had in the 1630s, he continued to play important roles in the colonial government, including representing Newbury in the General Court for several years and was an Associate Justice at the Ipswich Quarterly Courts in the 1640s and 1670s. He died in 1679.

Richard’s oldest son Shubael, while the Congregational minister of York, Maine, was brutally killed in January, 1692 during the Raid on York, Maine, aka the Candlemas Massacre, when the native Abenaki and their French allies burned down the town, murdered 50 settlers, and took another 100 captive. This event had an impact on the Salem witch trials, as many with Essex County ties were affected. It added to the prevailing fear and unease that was growing throughout the region.

Another Dummer son, Jeremiah, was the first American-born silversmith. Jeremiah’s son William is remembered for negotiating a treaty with the Abenaki in the 1720s, bringing to an end the colonists war with natives in northern New England. He was Acting Governor of Massachusetts from 1723 to 1728. When William died, widowed and childless, he bequeathed his Byfield farm with instruction to establish a preparatory school. The Governor Dummer Charity School was founded in his memory in 1763. It is the oldest boarding school in New England, and the third oldest in the country. William Dummer’s former residence, called “Mansion House” today, is where the headmaster resides. Officially named Dummer Academy in 1782, and Governor Dummer Academy in 1950, the school’s name was officially changed to The Governor’s Academy in 2005. A few interesting notes from this historic academy’s website: “Paul Revere created our first school seal. Samuel Adams and John Hancock signed out school’s incorporation charter. John Quincy Adams served as secretary to our Board of Trustees.”

1 Elm Street, Byfield