[2][3][4] The Endicott Pear Tree was planted in its current location between 1628[2] and 1639[3] (William Bentley reports dates of 1630, 1631, and 1639 in his diary)[3] by John Endecott—a governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the Colony's earliest settlers,[5] and ancestor of Endicott Peabody—and was probably brought from England on the Arbella in June 1630.

[6][7] Tradition holds to the notion that the tree was planted by Endecott himself, according to Harriet Tapley in Chronicles of Danvers and to Judge Alden Perley White.

William Bentley, who visited the Endecott estate (at the time known as Collins Farm and owned by Capt.

[3] On April 11, 1810, Bentley visited Collins Farm to obtain twigs from the pear tree to send to Adams.

[3] Thurl D. Brown, in a lecture before the Danvers Historical Society, suggested that "[t]he twigs must have taken hold", citing a letter from Adams dated September 24, 1815 that noted: "The hurricane of yesterday has covered the ground about me with pears.

[2] In the early 20th century, Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick, a botanist and author of The Pears of New York—a 1921 monograph belonging to a series of publications on fruits, "all of which have become classic references on the fruit cultivars of the period"[9]—confirmed that the Endicott Pear Tree had not been grafted,[2] as was suggested in an 1837 article about the tree in Mr. Hovey's Magazine.

[3] On January 1, 1947, Sullivan was replaced as Town Counsel, and no further action was taken regarding acquisition of the Endicott Pear Tree.

[16][15] According to a 2007 article in the Danvers Herald, the Endicott Pear Tree "holds a special place in the hearts of many Danversites".

[12] In 2004, the Danvers Preservation Commission sought to have the tree featured on a stamp of the United States Postal Service.