In 1682 William Moulton II (1664-1732) left the family farm in Hampton, New Hampshire and settled near the Merrimac River in a section of Newbury, Massachusetts that was later to become Newburyport. In 1690, William was the first to attempt silversmithing in Newbury, thus gaining the title of the first silversmith in a long lineage of craftsmen. Six consecutive generations of Moulton silversmiths followed. Towle Silversmiths represents centuries of silversmithing without interruption on the banks of the Merrimac River in Newburyport.