Sheffield Patent
The Sheffield Patent, dated January 1, 1623 is a land grant from Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave of England to Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow and their associates. It granted them the use of Cape Ann and the neighboring bay and islands, allocating 500 acres for public buildings and for private use for each settler arriving within the next 70 years.
Cape Ann was subsequently settled by members of the Dorchester Company, which was later absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Company.
