Some of the reasons given by the petitioners were, their long distance from meeting, and in certain seasons the difficulty of attendance, while they are ever anxious to attend (a reason which sounds a little strange in these days). They declare that if they are permitted to come off, they will �invite some virtuous young man of good report suitably qualified to be our minister.� The General Court appointed a committee to go to Salem, view the premises and report. The committee report favoring separation, and the General Court approved, and so was established a new parish to be called the Middle Precinct, with bounds as follows: �Beginning at the Great Cove in the North Field and running directly to Trask's grist mills, taking in the mill to the new precinct; from thence on a straight line to the mile stone in the road from Salem Meeting House, and so along the road to Lyndseys and thence along the line between Salem and Lynn, northward, till it comes to Salem Village line, and along by that line to Frost-Fish River, and then by salt water to the Great Cove first mentioned.�
In the establishing of this Middle Precinct the Endecott and Skelton grants previously referred to became a part of the same. All the people living on the south side of what is now Conant, Elm, Ash, and Sylvan streets (from Ash on) were included in the new precinct. This seems strange to the people of to-day. Then the Porters, who kept the ordinary where now stands the Old Berry Tavern, had to attend meeting in what is now Peabody, and their children were baptized there. Some of these inhabitants were desirous of connecting themselves with the Village parish, having apparently more in common with them than with the Middle Precinct. In 1743 Capt. Samuel Endicott, John Porter, Benjamin Porter, John Endicott, and James Prince endeavored to encroach upon the rights of the Middle Precinct, by including within the Village bounds some of those who belonged in said precinct. They were not successful; there was a good deal of opposition, and the project failed. Later the Middle Precinct was desirous of joining with the Village in securing a township. Nothing came of it at this time.
