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12
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1632.
provision almost spent, and the forests of Laconia yielding no sup- ply, they were obliged to return when they supposed themselves so far advanced, that " the discovery wanted but one day's jour- "ney of being finished."*1
This expedition, being ended, was succeeded by one of anoth- er kind. The coast was alarmed by the report of a pirate, one Dixy Bull; who, with fifteen others, being employed in the In- dian trade at the eastward, had taken several boats and rifled the fort at Pemaquid. Neal, in conjunction with the others, equip- ped four pinnaces and shallops, manned with forty men, being all the force that both plantations could spare, who, being joined by twenty more in a bark from Boston, proceeded to Pemaquid ; but. contrary winds and bad weather obliged them to return without meeting the pirates, who made their way farther to the eastward, and at length got to England, where Bull met with his deserts.
The company on their return hanged, at Richmond's is- 1633. land, an Indian who had been concerned in the murder of an Englishman.2
|| The next year, Neal and Wiggin joined in surveying their respective patents, and laying out the towns of Portsmouth and Northam, and another which was called Hampton, though no set- tlement had been made there. They also agreed with Wheel- wright that the plantation which he had undertaken to make at Squarnscot falls, should be called Exeter ; and determined the bounds between his land and theirs. This survey was made by order of the company of Laconia, who gave names to the four towns, and the transaction was duly reported to them :3 soon af- ter which Neal returned to England. ||f
(1) Gorges' History of America, p. 48. (2) Prince's Annals, vol. 2. p. 73,83. (3) MS. in Recorder's office.
* Mr. Hubbard, and after him, Governor Hutchinson, place this discovery of the White Hills in 1642. But as Neal had positive orders to discover the lakes, and tarried but three years in the country, employing great part of his time in seaching the woods, it is probable that Mr. Hubbard mistook one fig- ure in his date.
[On this note, Mr. Savage, in Winthrop, ii. 67, makes the following remarks: " Here, as he has often done elsewhere, Hubbard might indeed have mistaken a figure, but he faithfully copied Winthrop, whose work was unknown to Dr. Belknap, when his history of N. H. was published. A greater mistake is however chargeable on Belknap, in making Josselyn the companion of Neal, who was gone home four years before Josselyn came over. Nor did Josselyn make the journey according to his own account, before his second voyage to New-England in 1663. That Neal ever went to the White mountains, is not rendered probable by any authorities cited by Belknap ; and as the circum- stance would have been for him a great matter of boasting, we may be confi- dent of the first journey of Field." Mr. Savage mistakes, in saying that the work of Winthrop was unknown to Dr. Belknap when his history of N. H. was published. The work was both known and used by Dr. Belknap when he compiled his history, and he has copied from it, as may be seen under the years 1635 and 1640.]
+ [The authority for this paragraph is the " Letter from Neal and Wiggin, re- lating to the division of Lands at Pascataqua, 1633," which is No. VI, in the Appendix to the i. vol. of the former editions of this work, and which without
13
GRANTS AND SETTLEMENTS.
1633.]
From a number of letters that passed between the adventurers and Gibbons, their factor, and which are yet preserved, it appears that their views were chiefly turned toward the discovery of the lakes and of mines ; the cultivation of grapes, and the advantages of trade and fishery ; and that little regard was had to agriculture, the surest foundation of all other improvements in such a country as this. They often complain of their expenses, as indeed they might with reason ; for they had not only to pay wages to their colonists, but to supply them with provisions, clothing, utensils, medicines, articles of trade, implements for building, husbandry and fishing, and to stock their plantations with cattle, swine, and goats. Bread was either brought from England in meal, or fromn Virginia in grain, and then sent to the wind-mill at Boston, there being none erected here.1 Very little improvement was made on the lands ; the lakes were not explored ; the vines were planted but came to nothing ; no mines were found but those of iron, and these were not wrought ; three or four houses only were built within the first seven years ; the peltry trade with the Indians was of some value, and the fishery served for the support of the in- habitants ; but yielded no great profit to the adventurers, who re- ceived but inadequate returns in lumber and furs. They saw their interest sinking apace, and grew dispirited ; and the major part of them either relinquished the design, or sold their shares to
(1) Prince's Annals, vol. 2, p. 30, 70.
doubt is spurious, and was fabricated for the purpose of supporting the Indian deed of 1629. That this letter is a forgery, and of the most palpable kind, will appear from the following considerations :
I. That there was no such purchase of " the Indyans at Squamscutt falls," by Mr. Wheelwright, so early as 1633, as is alleged in the letter, nor an im- plied promise that he would name the plantation Exeter, five years before the settlement of that place was made.
II. That Thomas Wiggin, one of the signers of the letter, who is pretend- ed to write at " North-ham on Pascataway river in New-England, 13 August, 1633;" was about embarking at that time, at London, in the ship James, for New-England, with power from Lords Say and Brook. He arrived at Salem, 10 October, 1633, in eight weeks passage. Winthrop, Hist. N. E. i. 115.
III. Walter Neal, the other signer, was in Boston, or on his passage to England with Capt. Graves, when this letter was dated. He wrote to Gov. Winthrop on that very day, (13 August) " to excuse liis not coming to see" him, as " he had been in the bay above ten days and came not all that time to see the governor." (Winthrop, Hist. N. E. i. 106, 107.) Ambrose Gibbons in a letter, which is numbered V. in the Appx., and dated in July, 1633, says, " the governor" (Neal) " departed from the plantation the fifteenth of July in the morning."
IV. The name of Northam was not given to Dover until the arrival there of Thomas Larkham in 1640, when it was changed from the name of DOVER, which it had received the year before, (Winthrop, i. 326) to NORTHAM, prob- ably to gratify Larkham, who had been a preacher at a place of that name, near Barnstable, in England.
V. The settlement at Pascataqua, or Portsmouth, was called Strawberry- Bank until 1653, when the inhabitants petitioned the General Court of Mas -. sachusetts for an enlargement of territory, and humbly desiring " that the name of the plantation, being Strawberry Banke (accidentally soe called by reason of a banke where Strawberries was found in this place)" might be call- ed PORTSMOUTH, " beinge a name most sutable for the place, it beinge the River's mouth, and a good harbour as any in this land." MS. Petition.]
14
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1633.
Mason and Gorges, who were more sanguine than the rest, and be- came (either by purchase or tacit consent of the others) the principal, if not sole proprietors. These gentlemen renewed their exertions with greater vigor, sent over a fresh supply of servants, and materials for carrying on the settlement, and appointed Francis Will- 1634. iams their governor. He was a gentleman of good sense and discretion ; and so very acceptable to the people, that when they combined in a body politic, they continued him at their head.
The charter by which the council at Plymouth was established,
1635.
had been from the beginning disrelished by the Virginia com-
pany ; who spared no pains to get it revoked.1 Their appli- cations to the king proved fruitless ; but when the parliament began to inquire into the grievances of the nation, this patent was com- plained of as a monopoly. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, being sum- moned, appeared before them, and both in person and by his coun- cil defended it in a masterly manner, but in vain ; for when the national grievances were presented to the throne, the patent of New-England was the first." The council also was in disrepute with the high-church party, for having encouraged the settlement of the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonists, who fled from their persecutions. These prejudices against them, operating as dis- couragements to their undertaking, induced the council to resign their charter to the king ; having previously taken care to secure some portion of the expiring interest to such of themselves as were disposed to accept it. The scheme they had in view was to divide their territory into twelve provinces, under as many pro- prietary governors, subject to one general governor; and they went so far as to nominate Gorges, then threescore years of age, for the person, and build a ship of war, which was to bring him over and remain in the service of the country. But the ship fell and broke in the launching ; and their project not being sufficient- ly attended to by those in power, they were obliged to be content with such grants as they could make of those districts, into which they had divided the country.3 That which was made to Ma- son comprehended both his former patents, extending from Naum- keag to Pascataqua, and sixty miles northwestward within the land, together with the south half of the Isles of Shoals, and ten' thousand acres at Sagadahock ; saving to those already settled within these limits, the property of their lawful grants on paying "some small acknowledgment" to the proprietor.4 This grant was dated the twenty-second of April .* 5 In June following,
(1) Hubbard's MS. Hist. (2) Gorges' Narrative, p. 22 and 44. (3) Hub- bard's MS. Hist. (4) Files of the Superior Court. (5) Hubbard's MS. Hist.
* Whether Captain Mason had his title confirmed by the king after the surrender of the charter is a point that has been questioned. I shall here col- lect what evidence I have met with on both sides.
In a pamphlet published in 1728, containing a detail of the grants and transactions of Capt. Mason, it is said " King Charles I. by charter dated " Aug. 19, 1635, gives, grants and confirms unto Capt. John Mason, then
15
GRANTS AND SETTLEMENTS.
1635.]
the council surrendered their charter to the king ; and in Septem- ber, Gorges sold to Mason a tract of land on the northeast side of the river Pascataqua, extending three miles in breadth, and fol- lowing the course of the river from its mouth to its farthest head, including the saw-mill which had been built at the falls of New- ichwannock.1
But death which puts' an end to the fairest prospects, cut off" all the hopes which Mason had entertained of aggrandizing his fortune, by the settlement of New-Hampshire. By his last will, which he signed a few days before his death, he disposed of his American estate in the following manner, viz. 'To the corpora- ' tion of Lynn Regis in Norfolk, the place of his nativity, he gave "two thousand acres of land in New-Hampshire, subject to the ' yearly rent of one penny per acre to his heirs, and two fifths of ' all mines royal ; on condition that five families should within five To his brother in law John Wallas- ' years be settled thereupon.
'ton, three thousand acres, subject to the yearly rent of one shil- 'ling. To his grandchild Anne Tufton, ten thousand acres at ' Sagadahock. To Robert Tufton, his grandson, he gave his ' manor of Mason-hall, on condition that he should take the sur- ' name of Mason. He also gave to his brother Wallaston in trust, 'one thousand acres for the maintenance of "an honest, godly "and religious preacher of God's word ;" and one thousand more 'for the support of a grammar-school; each of these estates to ' be conveyed to feoffees in trust, and their successors, paying an-
(1) Printed state of Allen's title.
" called treasurer and paymaster of his army, his heirs and assigns, all the " aforesaid tract of land, granted to him by the council of Plymouth, by the " name of the province of New-Hampshire ; with power of government, and as " ample jurisdiction and prerogatives as used by the bishop of Durham ; cre- " ating him and his aforesaids absolute lords and proprietors of the province of " New-Hampshire, with power of conferring honors, &c. On this authori- ty (I suppose) Douglass has asserted the same thing.(1) On which Hutchin- son remarks " This is not probable. His heirs were certainly unacquainted " with it, or they would have made mention of it before the king in council " in 1691."(2) The report of the Lords Chief Justices in 1677, wherein the several grants are recited, makes no mention of this : But on the contrary it is said, " As to Mr. Mason's right of government within the soil he claimed, " their lordships, and indeed his own council, agreed he had none ; the great " council of Plymouth, under whom he claimed, having no power to transfer " government to any." The Lords of Trade in a report to the king in 1753, say, " It is alleged that this last grant to Mason was ratified and confirmed " by the crown, by charter dated Aug. 19, 1635, with full power of civil juris- " diction and government, but no such charter as this appears upon record."
None of Mason's heirs ever attempted to assume government by virtue of such a charter, as the heirs of Gorges did in the province of Maine. Robert Mason was appointed counsellor by mandamus, and Samuel Allen, who pur- chased the title, was governor by commission from the crown.
There is an original letter in the Recorder's files, written by George Vaughan to Ambrose Gibbons, both factors for the company of Laconia, April 10, 1636, long before any controversy arose on this point, which may give more light to it than any thing that has yet been published. [This letter is in the Appendix, of first edition.]
(1) Doug. Summary, i. 419 (2) Hist. Mass. i. 317.
16
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1635.
'nually one penny per acre to his heirs. The residue of his es- " tate in New-Hampshire he gave to his grandson John Tufton, he " taking the surname of Mason, and to his lawful issue ; or in want ' thereof to Robert Tufton and his lawful issue ; or in want there- " of to Doctor Robert Mason, chancellor of the diocese of Win- ' chester, and his lawful issue; or, in want of such issue, to his 'own other right heirs forever ; provided that it should not go out ' of the name of Mason. The residuary legatee was required to ' pay five hundred pounds out of this estate to his sister Mary and ' all the grandchildren were to relinquish their right to one thou- ' sand pounds due from this estate to their father Joseph Tufton.' The estate in America was valued in the inventory at ten thou- sand pounds sterling.
The Massachusetts planters viewed Mason as their enemy, 1 because he, with Gorges, had privately encouraged some persons whom they had censured and sent home, to petition against them as disaffected to the government ; and had endeavored to get their charter set aside, to make way for the scheme of a general gov- ernor .*
But though Mason and Gorges had not the same religious views with the Massachusetts planters, yet their memory deserves re- spect. They were both heartily engaged in the settlement of the country ; they sunk their estates in the undertaking, and reaped no profit to themselves ; yet their enterprising spirit excited em- ulation in others, who had the advantage of improving their plans and avoiding their mistakes. Gorges accounted for the ill suc- cess of his adventures in the following manner.2 1. He began when there was no hope of any thing for the present but loss ; as he had first to seek a place; which, being found, was a wil- derness ; and so gloomy was the prospect, that he could scarce procure any to go, much less to reside in it ; and those whom he at length sent, could not subsist but on the provisions with which he supplied them. 2. He sought not barely his own profit, but the thorough discovery of the country ; wherein he went so far
(1) MS. in Superior Court files. (2) Gorges' Narrative, p. 49.
* Mr. Hubbard relates the following anecdote, without mentioning the name of the person." "One of the gentlemen who was known to be one of the " greatest adversaries to the affairs of the Massachusetts, fell sick and died. " In his sickness, he sent for the minister, and bewailed his enmity against " them : and promised if he recovered, he would be as good a friend to New- " England, as he had been an enemy ; but his fatal hour being come, his pur- " poses of that nature were cut off. The passage aforegoing was certified by " letters from Lord Say and others to the governor of New-England about the " year 1635."
Governor Winthrop has the following remark in his Journal. " 1636. The " last winter Captain Mason died. He was the chief mover, in all attempts " against us ; and was to have sent the general governor ; and for this end was " providing ships. But the Lord, in mercy, taking him away, all the business " fell on sleep."" [Winthrop, Hist. N. E. i. 187.]
* [Dr. Belknap has added in the corrected copy this note : "It appears from Winthrop's Journal that this was Morton. p. 208."]
17
SETTLEMENTS.
1635.]
(with the help of his associates) as to open the way for others to make their gain. 3. He never went in person to oversee the people whom he employed. 4. There was no settled govern- ment to punish offenders, or mispenders of their masters' goods. Two other things contributed to the disappointment in as great, if not a greater degree, than what he has assigned. The one was that instead of applying themselves chiefly to husbandry, the orig- inal source of wealth and independence in such a country as this ; he and his associates, being merchants, were rather intent on trade and fishery as their primary objects. These cannot be profitable in a new country, until the foundation is laid in the cultivation of the lands. If the lumber trade and fishery cannot now be carried on to advantage, without the constant aid of husbandry in their neighborhood, how could a colony of traders and fishermen make profitable returns to their employers, when the husbandry neces- sary for their support was at the distance of Virginia or England ? The other mistake which these adventurers fell into was the idea of lordship, and the granting of lands not as freeholds, but by leases subject to quit-rents. To settle a colony of tenants in a climate so far northward, where the charges of subsistence and improve- ment were much greater than the value of the lands, after the im- provements were made ; especially in the neighborhood of so re- spectable and growing a colony as that of Massachusetts, was in- deed a chimerical project; and had not the wiser people among them sought a union with Massachusetts, in all probability the settlements must have been deserted.
CHAPTER II.
Troubles at Dover. Settlements of Exeter and Hampton. Ruin of Mason's interest. Story of Underhill. Combinations at Portsmouth and Dover .- Union of New-Hampshire with Massachusetts.
WHILST the lower plantation on the river Pascataqua lay under discouragement by the death of its principal patron, the upper settlement, though carried on with more success, had peculiar difficulties to struggle with. Two thirds of this patent belonged to some merchants of Bristol, the other third to some of Shrews- bury ; and there was an agreement that the division should be made by indifferent men. Captain Wiggin who was sent over to superintend their affairs, after about one year's residence in the country made a voyage to England, to procure more ample means for carrying on the plantation. In the mean time, those of Bristol had sold their interest to the lords Say and Brook, George Willys and William Whiting, who continued Wiggin in
5
18 .
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1633,
the agency, and procured a considerable number of families in the west of England, some of whom were of good estates, and " of some account for religion," to come over and increase 1633. the colony.1 It appears from ancient records that Wiggin had a power of granting lands to the settlers ;" but, as trade was their principal object, they took up small lots, intending to build a compact town on Dover Neck, which lies between two braneh- es of the river, and is a fine, dry, and healthy situation ; so high as to command all the neighboring shores, and afford a very ex- tensive and delightful prospect. On the most inviting part of this eminence they built a meeting-house, which was afterward sur- rounded with an entrenchment and flankarts, the remains of which are still visible. Wiggin also brought over William Leveridge, a worthy and able puritan minister ; but his allowance from the ad- venturers proving too small for his support in a new country, where all the necessaries of life were scarce and dear, he was obliged to remove to the southward ; and settled at Sandwich in the colony of Plymouth .* This proved an unhappy event to the people, who, being left destitute of regular instruction, were exposed to the intrusions of artful impostors.
1634. The first of these was one Burdet.f He had been a minister at Yarmouth in England ; but either really or pretendedly taking offence at the extravagancies of the bishops and spiritual courts, came over to New-England, and joined with the church in Salem, who employed him for a year or two as a preacher, being a good scholar and plausible in his behaviour ; 3 But, disgusted with the strictness of their discipline, he removed
1636. to Dover ; and continued for sometime in good esteem with the people as a preacher ; till by artfnl insinuations he raised such a jealousy in their minds against Wiggin their gov-
(1) Hubbard's MS. Hist. (2) Dover Records. (3) Hubbard's MS. Hist.
* [Rev. William Leveridge arrived at Salem in the ship James, on the 10 October, 1633, in company with Captain Thomas Wiggin of Pascataqua. He remained at Dover less than two years, and went from thence to Boston, where he was admitted a member of the First church, 9 August, 1635. He was at Sandwich in 1640, and, it is believed as late as 1652. In 1657, he was employ- ed as a missionary by the commissioners of the United Colonies. He accom- panied the people who made the first settlements at Huntington and Oyster- Bay, on Long-Island, who seem, says Mr. Wood, " to have composed one com- pany, or to have arrived at nearly the same time. He settled in Huntington, and is mentioned as the minister of that place in the earliest records of the town. He remained there until 1670, when he removed to Newtown, on the same island. Hubbard characterises him as "an able and worthy minister." Mr. Wood says, that in one of the books among the town records of Newtown, there is a commentary on a large part of the old testament, presumed to have been made by him. Some of his posterity still reside at Newtown, and are among the most respectable people of that place. Johnson, Hist. N. E. 226. Winthrop, Hist. N. E. i. 115, 331. Hubbard, Hist. N. E. 221, 603. Wood, Hist. Sketch of the Towns on Long-Island, 3d edit. 43-45. Records of First Church Boston.]
t [His name was George. He was admitted freeman, 2 September, 1635 .- The authorities for what is said of him are, Hubbard, Hist. N. E. 221, 263, 353 -356, 361, and Winthrop, Hist. N. E. i. 276, 281, 291, 208, 326. ii. 10.]
19
SETTLEMENTS.
1636.]
ernor, that they deprived him of his office, and elected Burdet in his place.
During his residence here, he carried on a correspondence with Archbishop Laud to the disadvantage of the Massachusetts 1637. colony, representing them as hypocritical and disaffected,
and that under pretence of greater purity and discipline in matters of religion, they were aiming at independent sovereignty ; it being ac- counted perjury and treason by their general court, to speak of ap- peals to the king. The prelate thanked him for his zeal in 1638. the king's service, and assured him that care should be taken
to redress those disorders when leisure from their other concerns would permit. This letter of the archbishop was intercepted, and shewn to the governor of Massachusetts. Burdet's villainy was considered as the more atrocious, because he had been admitted a freeman of their corporation, and had taken the oath of fidelity. A copy of his own letter was afterward found in his closet.
About this time, the Antinomian controversy at Boston having occasioned the banishment of the principal persons of that sect, several of them retired to this settlement, being without the juris- diction of Massachusetts. When this was known, Governor Win- throp wrote to Wiggin, Burdet and others of this plantation, 'that ' as there had hitherto been a good correspondence between them ' it would be much resented if they should receive the exiles ; and "intimating the intention of the general court to survey the utmost ' limits of their patent, and make use of them.' To this Burdet returned a scornful answer, refusing to give the governor his title. The governor thought of citing him to court to answer for his con- tempt ; but was dissuaded from it by Dudley, the deputy-govern- or, who judged it imprudent to exasperate him, lest he should avenge himself by farther accusing them to their enemies in Eng- land. The governor contented himself with sending to Hilton an account of Burdet's behaviour, inclosing a copy of his letter, and cautioning the people not to put themselves too far under his pow- er. His true character did not long remain secret ; for being de- tected in some lewd actions he made a precipitate removal to Agamenticus, now York, in the province of Maine, where he also assumed to rule, and continued a course of injustice and adultery till the arrival of Thomas Gorges, their governor, in 1640, who laid a fine on hin, and seized his cattle for the payment of it .* He appealed to the king, but his appeal not being admitted, he departed for England full of enmity against these plantations. When he arrived, he found all in confusion ; and falling in with the royalists was taken and imprisoned by the parliamentary party, which is the last account we have of him.2
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