Robert Lord was among the early settlers of Ipswich. He arrived in late 1634 or early 1635 and took the Freeman’s oath in Boston March 3, 1635/6. His name does not appear on any of the passenger lists of the ships of the time, but it is likely he came with others from Sudbury in late 1634. Robert was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, England in 1603. His line has never been verified prior to that time. On November 11, 1630 he married Mary Waite in Finchingfield, Essex, England. They arrived in Ipswich with four children and had five after arrival.

In September 1636, Robert was appointed Town Clerk and Clerk of the Court of Ipswich and continued to hold that position until his death August 21, 1683. His duties included what would now be considered Clerk of Probate and Register of Deeds. He was appointed Deputy to the General Court March 12, 1637/8. In the latter position he served on committees that fixed the boundaires of the towns surrounding Ipswich and private lands in Essex County. He served as Clerk of Courts in old Norfolk County in 1649, and in 1658 as Clerk of the Salem Court. He was also Marshal or Sheriff until succeeded by his son Robert on March 27 1660.

As Marshal, he is said to have served more than twenty years in the Indian wars and became so inured to camp life and exposure that he could never afterwards sleep upon a feather bed. He is said to have been below the medium stature, but of powerful mould and one of the most athletic, strong, and fearless men in the Colonial service.

There is a tradition, perhaps apocralyphic that the Indians themselves at one time, when confronted by Lord's rangers, proposed to decide the battle that was anticipated by an encounter between the champions of the two parties. Robert Lord walked to the front as champion of the colonists. The Indians selected the most powerful of their tribe, a perfect giant, nearly seven feet in stature. The two men were to meet at full run and take the "Indian hug" as they closed. The Indians anticipated an easy victory. They came together like two infuriated bullocks with a tremendous shock, but in an instant the Indian lay stretched upon the earth, and the shouts of the Colonial scouts rang out in the forest. Not satisfied with a single experiment, they were required to rush and clinch again. In this encounter Lord took the "hip-lock" on his antagonist and threw him with such force that a blood vessel was ruptured in the fall. The Indians took him up and carried him from the arena, fully acknowledging defeat.

1. Robert Lord was born 1603 in Sudbury, St Gregory Parish, Suffolk, England, and died August 21, 1683 in Ipswich, Essex, MA¹. He married Mary Waite November 11, 1630 in Finchingfield, Essex, England^2,3, daughter of Samuel Waite and Mary Ward.

Children of Robert Lord and Mary Waite are:

1. Vital Records of Ipswich Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849, (Published by The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass, 1910).

2. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, (Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc 1985).

3. "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," New England Historical and Genealogical Society: Volume L, Page 112 (1896), "Genealogical Gleanings in England" Waters.

4. Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England

5. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, (Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc 1985).

6. Charlestown Genealogies and Estates Pages 628-631.

7. Hammatt, Abraham; The Hammatt Papers -- Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts 1633-1700. (1980)

8. Felt, History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton

9. Genealogy And Family History Of New Hampshire, Lewis Publishing Co. 1908