vital records sources
go to Sarah Dixey's page

On 2 December 1664, Edmund was on a jury of inquest (with Ambrose Gale) to determine the cause of death of a Native American named Peter, whose body was found on a highway in Marblehead.1 He served in the same capacity, again with Ambrose, on 19 March 1669, to look into the death of a girl who had fallen into a well and drowned.2 He was part of a lawsuit against the former selectmen of Marblehead in the years 1667 and 1668.3 The reason for the suit isn't given in the minutes of the court session of 28 June 1670, but other suits at the same time and in 1671 infer it was about the town's taxes.4 On 15 February 1667/68 and 8 February 1666/67 he was elected a Marblehead "townsman."5 Edmund was dismissed from the Salem church to Beverly on 16 November 1673.6 His wife Sarah was admitted to full communion on 13 January 1694/95.7 The following is a petition of Edmund Gale involving land in Maine8 To his Excellency St Edmund Andros Knt. Capt. G[ene]rall and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England & The humble Petičon of Edmund Gale of Beverly Marriner

Sheweth
That your Peticon' before the breakeing out of the Late Indian Warr for a valuable Consideracõn Did purchase of One Nathaniell Wallis a peece or parcell of Land Lye[ing at] back Cove in Cascoe Bay Containing about fifty [acres] wch ground Since one James Rosse has Erected a h[ouse and] begins to improve ; und Colour of a Better [title unto it] then your Pets Yor Petr Therefore prays yor Excellency will Ordr a hearing of Our Titles, and to grant his Maties Gracious Confirmacon ye said ffif [y and] for Two Hundred Acres more , Lyeing in [ye town of] Yarmouth in Cascoe aforesa (wch yor Exc [y sees fit] to promise your Peticon' vnde such m[oderate quit] Rent or Acknowledgment as to [yor Excy] shall Seeme meete.

And yor Petr as in duty bound s[hall] ever pray &ca

Edmund Gale

A Warrant to survey Land by Back Cove at Cascoe Bay in ye Province of Maine for Edmund Gale

Sr Edmund Andros Knt. Capt. Grall & Governour in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England
To M. Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors

Whereas Edmund Gale of Beverly Marriner hath by his humble peticon prayed his Majestyes Grant and Confirmacon for two hundred and fifty acres of vacant Land in Cascoe Bay by Back Cove in yº Province of Maine whereon he doth intend to settle and improve I do hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Edmund Gale two hundred and fifty acres of Land as abovesaid next unto the Land to be layd out for John Rosse of Falmouth in the Province of Maine aforesaid with tenne acres of marsh in the fresh marsh if to be had and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secryes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the fiftenth day of february in the fourth yeare of his Matyes Reigne Anno Domini 1687

Edmund is among a group of people who are in the Beverly First Church records who died between "abt. Nov. to and Mar. 16, 1717/18."9 He was likely the son of the Edmund Gale whose death is recorded in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on 29 July 1642.10

children of Edmund Gale and Sarah Dixy:11

i. Charity, bap. 17 Jan 1663/64? no parent named
ii. Samuel, bap. 12 May 1666
iii. Sarah, bap. 12 May 1666
iv. Edmund, bap. 14 April 1667
v. Azor, bap. 25 April 1669
vi. Miriam, bap. 31 December 1671
vii. Abraham, bap. 22 February 1673/74
viii. Anna, bap. 17 September 1676
ix. William, bap. 16 February 1678/79
x. Abigail, bap. 27 November 1681
xi. Charity, bap. 30 December 1683
xii. Mary, bap. 11 April 1686

vital records sources: His approximate death date is in Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1667-1772 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1905), 40. This is a group record of deaths within a time period.

1. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts [hereafter ECQC], vol. 3 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1913), 297.
2. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts [hereafter ECQC], vol. 4 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1914), 211.
3. Ibid, 251.
4. Ibid, 378.
5. p. 32, image 20; 31, 20.
6.Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1667-1772 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1905), 17.
7. Ibid, 32.
8. Documentary History of the State of Maine, vol. 6 (Portland: 1900), 255. 333.
9. See vital records sources.
10. Middlesex Co., MA, annual return of vital records, "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," Ancestry.com database online (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), image 29.
11.Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1667-1772 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1905), 90, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, and Vital records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, vol. 1 (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1906), 146.