Marblehead was first settled by Joseph
Doliber in 1629 on the shore near the end of what is now Bradlee Road.
Mayflower Pilgrim Isaac Allerton came approximately three years earlier,
establishing a fishing village about mid-Marblehead Harbor on the town side,
across from Marblehead Neck—sees the "History Of Marblehead" by
Virginia Gamage.) then set off and incorporated in 1649. Originally called
Massebequash after the river which ran between it and Salem, the land was
inhabited by the Naumkeag tribe of Indians under the sachem Nanepashemet. But
epidemics in 1615–1619 and 1633, believed to be
