USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 7
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3. A POINT OF LAND IN THE PASCATAWAY RIVER, IN NEW ENGLAND, to David Thomson, Mr. Jobe and Mr. Sherwood, always since known as Thom- son's Point ; this grant was made in 1622; the exact month and day of month are not known, but probably in July or August, as only a memorandum of the patent and the year it was given has been found. Mr. Thomson made a settlement there, as will be explained farther on.
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4. ODIORNE'S POINT AND HILTON'S POINT, comprising a tract of six thousand acres, bordering on the south side of the Pascataqua river and its branches. On this land the first settlement was made in the spring of 1623, as will be explained later. The grant was made October 16, 1622, by the Council of Plymouth, to David Thomson, alone.
5. NEW HAMPSHIRE, to Capt. John Mason, November 7, 1629, which was bounded as follows :
"All that part of the main land in New England, lying upon the sea coast, beginning at the middle part of the Merrimac river, and from thence proceed northward along the sea coast to the Pascataqua river, and so for- wards and up within the said river, and to the farthest head thereof (now known as Milton Three Ponds), and from thence northwestwards, until three score miles be finished from the first entrance of Pascataqua river, and also from (mouth of the) Merrimack through the said river, and to the furthest head thereof; and so forwards up into the lands westward, until three score miles be finished; and from thence to cross overland to the three score miles, as accompted from Pascataqua river, together with all islands and islets within five leagues distance of the premises and abutting upon the same, or any part or parcel thereof, etc., etc."-Captain Mason never did anything with that grant.
6. THE LACONIA GRANT, only ten days later, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, November 17, 1629. The boundaries of this grant extended from the mouth of the Merrimack river, along the coast to the Sagadahock (Kennebec) river, and the side lines extended north and west to include Lake Champlain and territory to the St. Lawrence river. Under that patent lively work was begun by Captain Mason to make a settlement in New Hampshire; he had done nothing before in this respect. He sent over a party in 1630, in the famous ship Warwick, of which Capt. Walter Neal was gov- ernor, and they took possession of the Thomson house at Odiorne's Point, began the settlement at Strawberry Bank, which twenty-three years later was named Portsmouth; and Captain Mason began settlement at the head of the Newichawannock river, in 1634, at a point since known as Great Works.
About the same time, 1634, settlements began to be made on the east side of the river, directly across from Dover Point, in that part of Old Kittery, now Eliot. The settlement in what is now Kittery began several years later. This was not a part of the Laconia Company's scheme, but independent of it, after that company failed.
The historians of New Hampshire, for more than two hundred years, in writing of this first settlement, have stated in substance, and the statement has been everywhere generally accepted, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason having obtained from the Council of Plymouth, consti- tuted by the King of England, a grant of all the land between the rivers 4
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Merrimack and Sagadahock ( Kennebec) extending back to the great lakes and river of Canada, formed a company with several merchants of London and other cities, and styling themselves the "Company of Laconia" attempted the establishment of a colony and fishery at the mouth of the Pas- cataqua river. For this purpose in the spring of 1623 they sent out David Thomson, Edward Hilton and William Hilton, who had been fishermongers in London, with a number of other people, in two divisions, furnished with all the necessaries for carrying out the design. Thomson landed at the river's mouth at a place which he called Little Harbor, where he built a house, after- wards known as "Mason Hall," erected salt works, and made other prepara- tions for carrying on his fishing business, but the Hiltons set up their fishing stages eight miles further up the river on a neck of land which the Indians called Winnichahannet, but they named it Northam and afterwards Dover. The proper designation of that story is historical "rot." Mason and Gorges had nothing whatever to do with Thomson and Hilton, as I will prove later ; they were here seven years before the Laconia Company sent over the first emigrants in the ship Warwick in 1630, and commenced the settlement at Strawberry Bank.
The managers of the Laconia Company entertained most extravagant ideas of the geography and topography of the country between the mouth of the Pascataqua river and Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence river. They thought it was only a short distance between the head waters of the Merri- mack and the Pascataqua, from which it would be an easy job to step over into Canada and drive out the French. With the Pascataqua as a base of operations the company expected to acquire immense fortunes for the indi- vidual members, but it proved to be a great failure, after three years' trial, and was dissolved in 1634; Mason took the New Hampshire side of the river, and Gorges the Maine side, except that Mason retained the settlement at Great Works (now South Berwick), as he had invested quite largely there in mills and live stock, etc.
Captain Mason died in 1635, and his widow left the settlers to shift for themselves, as she was not financially able to assist them further. They speedily made good by gobbling up all the property they could lay hands on. That was the end of the Masonian work of making settlements; but a half century later, the land owners here were forced to defend themselves against Masonian lawsuits, which were handed down from generation to generation for nearly a century.
It is not easy to see wherein, or whereat, Capt. John Mason ever benefited New Hampshire. He was its founder only in the fact that he gave the name which it bears, from his home county in Old England, making it New Hampshire in New England. Captain Mason was a failure as a colonizer
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in New Hampshire; the settlement was begun seven years before he had any- thing to do with it.
7. THE HILTON GRANT, commonly called the Squamscott patent, to Edward Hilton, March 12, 1629-30, which date is only four months after the Laconia patent was issued to Gorges and Mason, which entirely covered and surrounded what Hilton had come into possession of by David Thomson's grant of October, 1622, and which he had occupied peaceably and had improved during the seven years, from 1623 to 1630. The Council of Plymouth willingly granted his request for a patent to more securely protect him in the holding of the property which he had rightfully possessed for seven years. This grant will be spoken of and discussed further on. It covered all the territory of Old Dover.
8. PASCATAWAY, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, November 3, 1631. The object of this patent was to define more definitely the territory between Gorges and Mason and the territory covered by Edward Hilton's patent, as a dispute had already arisen among the land owners as to the boundary line. In brief, the patent says :
"All that portion of land lying within the precincts hereafter mentioned, beginning upon the seacoast about five miles to the westward to or from the said chief habitation or plantation now possessed by Capt. Walter Neal, at Strawberry Bank, for the use of the adventurers to Laconia (being in the latitude of 43 degrees, or thereabouts), in the Harbor of Pascataquack, alias Bassataquack, alias Passataway, and so forth, from the said beginning, east- ward and northeastward, and so proceeding northward or northwestward into the Harbor and River, along the coast and shores thereof, including all the islands and islets lying within, or near unto the same, upwards unto the headland opposite unto the plantation, or habitation, now or late in the tenure or occupation of Edward Hilton, and from thence westwards and southwest- wards in the middle of the River, and through the middle of the Bay or Lake of Bequadack, alias Bassaquack, or by what other name or names it hath, towards the bottom or westernmost part of the river called Pascassockes to the falls thereof, and from thence by an imaginary line to pass over to the Sea, where the proambulation began, etc., etc." That is to say, it included what is now known as Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton, Greenland and part of Newington.
9. NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MASONIA, to Capt. John Mason, April 22, 1635. This patent was issued because the Council for New England, at its session, February 3, 1634-5, had decided to surrender its charter to the King, and its territory was divided by the Council into eight divisions, of which No. 6 was given to Captain Mason, and comprised the territory mentioned in his New Hampshire grant of November 7. 1629, and which finally came to be defined by the present boundary lines of the state, after a contention with Massa-
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chusetts for nearly two hundred years; the final decision of the line was made less than a score of years ago.
It may be well here to state a fact that is not generally known, that what is now the State of New Hampshire was never so called by the people here; nor was the name New Hampshire used in official and legal papers until 1679, fifty years after it was given to the territory by Captain Mason, that is, November 7, 1629. During the period from 1640 to 1679 the towns here were a part of Norfolk county of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the ter- ritory here was called Pascataqua; that was the name it was known by every- where along the coast, from 1623 to 1640. It has been assumed by some historical writers, that "Pascataqua" was applicable only to the locality about Little Harbor and Strawberry Bank; but that is a mistaken idea of the ter- ritory covered by the word. In writing letters they were dated as from "Hilton's Point, Pascataqua :" or, "Strawberry Bank, Pascataqua ;" or, "Pas- cataqua in New England," when letters were sent here from England.
In a statement of Robert Mason's claim for land rent from the Dover and Portsmouth farmers, in 1674-5, reference is made to Capt. John Mason's various franchises, which have already been mentioned, and "afterwards enlarged," and "now called New Hampshire." The inference is plain, that it was not so called before 1675.
The Mason heirs had been trying for years to sell land and collect rent from land holders, but the Massachusetts courts would not admit any such claims; so, as a last resort, in 1679, the separate province of New Hampshire was established, with new courts that Massachusetts could not control, in which the lawsuits were tried. But for those lawsuits our state today might rejoice in the euphonious name, Pascataqua, instead of New Hampshire.
Having shown that Capt. John Mason had nothing whatever to do with the first settlement in New Hampshire, I will now show that David Thomson and Edward Hilton were the leaders in making the first settlements-the former at Thomson's Point and Little Harbor, and the latter at Hilton's Point, now commonly called Dover Point. Both came with their parties in the spring of 1623. Thomson remained two or three years, then removed to Thomson's island, in Boston harbor, where he died. Hilton remained perma- nently at Dover Point, and the settlement there has been continuous to the present day; therefore I claim that the first permanent settlement in New Hampshire was made at Hilton Point. I will give the evidence on which I base my belief.
Who was David Thomson that he should receive grants of land from the Council of Plymouth? What induced him to come here to settle? Who was Edward Hilton that he should come here with David Thomson? Surely they could not have been ordinary men.
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DAVID THOMSON
David Thomson was born about 1590; he was united in marriage with Amias Cole, of Plymouth, England, July 13, 1613; she was the daughter of William Cole, of that town, who was a shipbuilder. The wedding took place in St. Andrew's church, and is on record there.
The names of his parents are not known. It is said that he was of Scotch descent and that he was a son of Michael Thomson, but there is no evidence of this. He is nowhere mentioned as connected with any town in Scotland ; the inference is that he was born in Plymouth, where he married his wife and was in business a number of years previous to coming to New England. At the time of his marriage, when he was about twenty-three years old, he was called "an apothecary's clerk." His place of residence from 1613 to 1623, was at Plymouth. How long he continued in the apothecary business is not known. As his father-in-law was a shipbuilder, he may have engaged in busi- ness with him; but up to 1620 there is no record further than above stated, as to what he was employed in doing. But it is quite certain he was a busy man and became associated with men who were high up in official circles, whose records are well known.
That he was interested in shipping, and had made voyages to New Eng- land and the Pascataqua river before 1623, is shown by his knowledge of the localities here and in Boston harbor and in Massachusetts bay. The proof that he came here in the ship Jonathan, in the spring of 1623, will be given at the close of this sketch. He and his party landed at Little Harbor. The precise rock on which they set foot, when they landed, cannot be pointed out, as the Plymouth Rock is, on which the Pilgrims stepped only two and a half years before, but, from the lay of the land, called Odiorne's Point, on which it is probable the first house was built, it is quite certain the landing was made in some cove on the south side of Little Harbor, and below the bridge that leads from Rye to the Wentworth hotel, at Newcastle, as it was not possible to anchor their ship safely any further out toward the open bay.
What interest did Mr. Thomson have in this New England colonization business, that was' undertaken by "The Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon (England), for the planting, ruling, ordering and gov- erning New England in America, etc., etc."? The Council was chartered November 3, 1620; it organized soon after, and David Thomson was elected or appointed "Messenger," or confidential "Agent." This is shown by the records of the Council, when a hot contest was going on in Parliament. to take away the charter, on the ground that the King had exceeded his author- ity in granting it. The following are excerpts from the record :
On the 5th of July, 1622: "It is ordered that David Thomson do attend the Lords with a petition to his Majesty for forfeits committed by Thomas
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Weston; As also to solicit the Lords for procuring from his Majesty a proclamation concerning fishermen in the western parts. Likewise to pro- cure some course for punishing their (the fishermen's) contempt for author- ity (of the Council)."
On the 24th of July, 1622: "Mr. Thomson is appointed to attend the Lords, for a warrant to Mr. Attorney-General for drawing the new Patent."
On the 8th of November, 1622: "Mr. Thomson is ordered to pay unto Leo Peddock fio, towards his pains for his last employment to New England."
On the 11th of November, 1622: "Mr. Thomson is appointed to attend Sir Robert Munsell concerning Captain Squebbs' commission."
On the 15th of November, 1622: "Mr. Thomson and the Clerk are directed to see the ton of iron weighed to be sent to Mr. Whitty;" and the same day, "Mr. Thomson is appointed to solicit Captain Love to pay in the £40 for which Sir Samuel Argall standeth engaged," etc.
On the 16th of November: "It is ordered that Mr. Thomson pro- poundeth to have an order from the Council for transportation of ten per- sons with provisions for New England. And the persons so transported to pay the Council the usual rate for their transportation, after expiration of two years."
David Thomson's name ceases to appear on the records, as an active agent of the Council, after December 3, 1622. He was then preparing his emigration party for New England; the agreement with the three merchants, his partners, was drawn up Deceniber 14, 1622, and signed that day; which agreement will be given later in this article.
From these briefs from records of the Council, it is manifest that David Thomson was an active agent of the Council in the contest with Parliament to save their charter. While he was thus active, he secured for himself, a Mr. Jobe, and a Mr. Sherwood, a patent or grant of a point of land in the Pascataqua river, in New England. The patent itself has not been found, but a memorandum of such a grant is on record in the public record office in London, and was copied by Mr. Charles Deane, of Boston, when he was in London, and published by him in the Massachusetts Historical Register, in 1876, as follows : "1622. A patent to David Thomson, M. Jobe and M. Sherwood, for a Point (of land) in Pascataqua River, in New England."
In the earliest times of history here, the name Pascataqua was applied to the river on the east side of Dover Point, and in that river there is a point of land, just below the mouth of the Cochecho river, which is called Thom- son's Point, and has been so called from the the earliest beginning of records here. That is undoubtedly the point of land which was granted to those three men, and there the first temporary settlement was made in Dover by Thomson
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before 1622. His object was to use it for catching and curing salmon in the spring time, when that fish ran up the river there in immense schools. When he first made this discovery that it was a good fishing point cannot be deter- mined; it may have been before 1620.
The patent was obtained some time during the summer of 1622. It shows that Mr. Thomson must have been there in some spring time before, else he could not have known there was such a river, and such a point of land in it, which was desirable for fishing.
It has been supposed by some writers, that the name of the Point was derived from William Thompson; but that is an error, as the land bore that name before William Thompson became a resident of Dover, and probably before he was born. "Thomson's Point house" is on the oldest extant tax list in Dover, 1648; name of the owner not given.
DAVID THOMSON'S INDENTURE
On the 16th of October, 1622, the Council of Plymouth gave a patent, or grant, to David Thomson, alone, of six thousand acres of land and an island, in New England. The patent for this grant is not extant, but that there was such a patent is proven by an indenture of David Thomson's, which was found among the old papers in possession of the late Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, which he had inherited from his ancestor, John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony.
It had lain among the Winthrop papers two hundred and fifty years, unknown to the historians of New Hampshire, who, in their ignorance, have published a mass of historical "rot" about the first settlement of this state.
Soon after Mr. Winthrop found the indenture, he gave it to the late Charles Deane, of Boston, who read it before the Massachusetts Historical Society, at a meeting in May or June, 1876; and it was published in the annual of the society for that year.
In presenting it to the meeting, Mr. Deane first gave a summary of its contents, as follows, which is all that is necessary to give in this paper :
The indenture recites that the Council for New England had granted to David Thomson, alone, under date of 16th of October, 1622:
Six thousand acres of land and one island, in New England, but did not locate it; that Thomson had absolutely conveyed one-fourth part of the island to three merchants of Plymouth, viz .: Abraham Colmer, Nicholas Sherwell and Leonard Pomeroy, with covenants to convey, in fee simple, the fourth part of six thousand acres. In consideration whereof it is agreed between the parties, in brief, as follows :
First. That the merchants, Colmer, Sherwell and Pomeroy, will at their own charge, "this present year, 1622," provide and send two men with
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Thomson, in the ship Jonathan of Plymouth, to New England, with vic- tuals, provisions, etc., as shall suffice them till they are landed. And if they land there within the space of three months after the ship shall pass Ram Head (a promontory just outside of Plymouth sound), the residue of the three months' victuals shall be delivered to Thomson, at his landing, there to be disposed of by him towards finding a fit place for intended habitation, and also to begin the same.
Second. The three merchants will, this present year (1622), at their own charge, provide and send three men more in the ship Providence of Ply- mouth, which ship was owned by Pomeroy, if they may be as soon gotten, or in some other ship with the first expedition that may be to New England; the charges of these three men to be born equally by all the parties.
Third. Two men more are to be sent this present year (1622), in the Jonathan of Plymouth, the charges of them to be borne by all the parties equally.
Fourth. As soon as Thomson and the seven men are landed in New England, Thomson shall, as soon as convenient, find out a fit place to make choice of six thousand acres of land, and a fit place to settle and erect some houses, or buildings for habitations, and to begin the erection of the same. Adjoining these buildings there shall be allotted before the end of five years, six hundred acres of land, which, with all the buildings and everything appertaining to them, shall, at the end of five years, be divided equally between all parties; and all the charges for building, planting, husbanding, etc., dur- ing that time shall be equally borne by all. The residue of the six thousand acres to be also divided in a convenient time, between the parties in four parts, whereof Thomson was to have three-fourths, and the others one-fourth.
Fifth. At the end of five years the island shall be divided into four parts, where Thomson was to have three-fourths, and the others one-fourth.
Sixth. Three-fourths of the charge for planting, husbanding and build- ing on the said island, shall be borne by Thomson, and one-fourth by his partners.
Seventh. All profits during the five years that may be derived from the six thousand acres, and by fishing and trading. etc., shall be divided equally; the merchants, however, were to have liberty to employ ships to fish at their own charge, if Thomson does not care to participate in the profits of such extra ships.
Eighth. All benefits and profits arising during the five years, on the resi- due of the six thousand acres, and on the island, shall be divided among the four men, Thomson to have three parts, and the others one part. Each of them shall, on request, deliver a just account of their receipts and payments during the five years.
The above is a summary of the indenture, which was signed on Decem-
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ber 14, 1622, by Thomson, Colmer, Sherwell and Pomeroy, and under which the first settlement of New Hampshire was made. As they then reckoned time, the year 1622 did not end until March 24; so they had ample time to load the ship Jonathan of Plymouth, and get over here before the end of the year 1622, which was the agreement they would do, and probably did do; anyway, they arrived in the early spring of 1623, as we now reckon the year, as beginning in January.
As regards the location of the six thousand acres: According to the indenture, Mr. Thomson was authorized to make his own selection, any- where he pleased in New England. The location of the island was not men- tioned; but a lawsuit, a quarter of a century later, made it certain it was an island in Boston harbor, ever since called Thomson island.
According to the terms of the grant, he was not obliged to locate his six thousand acres all in one compact body. It is quite evident he did not take it all in a lump. Portsmouth, as now bounded, has 9,000 acres; so it appears his grant was two-thirds the size of that city. It was all that he and his partners needed for carrying on their fishing and Indian fur trade business. Please keep in mind, also, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Capt. John Mason, and the Earl of Warwick, had nothing whatever to do with this grant of land; Mr. Thomson's partners were the three reputable merchants of Ply- mouth, whose names have already been given.
Those four men having signed the indenture on December 14, 1622, proceeded at once to prepare to set sail in the Jonathan of Plymouth. The company started on the voyage across the Atlantic on some day that winter -the exact date is not known; neither is the day of their landing at Little Harbor, but it was in the spring of 1622-3: no doubt about that.
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