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HISTORY
Early historians record that in 1623, under the authority of an English
land-grant, Captain John Mason, in conjunction with several others, sent
David Thomson, a Scotsman, and Edward and Thomas Hilton, fish-merchants
of London, with a number of other people in two divisions to establish
a fishing colony in what is now New Hampshire, at the mouth of the Piscataqua
River. One of these divisions, under Thomson, settled near the river's
mouth at a place they called Little Harbor or "Pannaway," now
the town of Rye, where they erected salt-drying fish racks and a "factory"
or stone house. The other division under the Hilton brothers set up their
fishing stages on a neck of land eight miles above, which they called
Northam, afterwards named Dover.
The settlement of New Hampshire did not happen because those who came
here were persecuted out of England. The occasion, which is one of the
great events in the annals of the English people, was one planned with
much care and earnestness by the English crown and the English parliament.
Here James the first began a colonization project which not only provided
ships and provisions, but free land bestowed with but one important condition,
that it remain always subject to English sovereignty.
So it remained until the "War of the Revolution." Smith first
named it "North Virginia" but King James later revised this
into "New England." To the map was added the name Portsmouth,
taken from the English town where Captain John Mason was commander of
the fort, and the name New Hampshire is that of his own English county
of Hampshire.
Captain Mason died in 1635, just before his proposed trip to the new
country which he never saw. He had invested more than twenty-two thousand
pounds in clearing the land, building houses, and preparing for its defense,
_ a considerable fortune for those days. By then Dover and Portsmouth
had expanded into Hampton and Exeter, and its income from fishing was
increased by that from trade in furs and timber.
Taking the idea from the English government, a community of "towns"
was erected, and this became a "royal province" in 1679 with
John Cutt as president, with a population intended to be as nearly like
England as it could be. The "royal province" continued until
1698 when it came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts with Joseph
Dudley as Governor. Thus it continued until 1741.
During that time England's throne had been ruled by William and Mary,
Queen Anne, and George I, and New Hampshire was administered by no less
than eight lieutenant governors. There had been much unrest in England
and as a result, to New Hampshire's advantage, the Scotch settlers of
Londonderry in Ireland had in 1719 sent many of their people here to form
a "Scotch" colony in the new place they would call our own Londonderry.
Under King George II New Hampshire returned to its provincial status
with a governor of its own, Benning Wentworth, who was its chief magistrate
from 1741 to 1766.
During the first two decades of Governor Wentworth's term New Hampshire
had been beset with Indian troubles. With little aid from England, then
at war with its old-time enemy, France, the colonists undertook the sieges
of Louisbourg, and helped to reduce Crown Point, and in the conquest of
Canada. By the time of the signing of the Peace of Paris in 1762, and
the end of the Indian fighting under the Rogers Rangers, the entire north
country of New Hampshire was ready to be explored, surveyed, and populated.
Governor Wentworth who, as if in anticipation of this opportunity, seems
to have been well prepared for it, had arranged the purchase for the sum
of fifteen hundred pounds of the unauthenticated claims of Robert Mason,
heir of Captain John Mason. This was done through a group of twelve influential
citizens who called themselves the "Masonian Proprietors." Having
done this, the governor kept the land "within the province."
Governor Wentworth, with all or most of the Masonian Proprietors as his
councilors, then proceeded to grant towns to prospective settlers as equally
as possible. In addition to the thirty-eight towns already granted, more
than a hundred others followed after the year 1761. These towns contained
lots available to more than thirty thousand families, many from the older
towns in southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts, but many from other
neighboring states. Some of these towns were located in Vermont, to be
released later by a court order, which made the western shore of the Connecticut
River the state boundary line.
While the new towns were occasionally given the names of the leading
grantees, not a few of them bore the historic names of English royalty,
frequently those of friends and relatives of Governor Wentworth and his
own royal family, the Rockinghams, in England. Many of the beneficiaries
were soldiers who had fought in the Indian wars, while a few were of Dutch
origin, such as might settle from New York in New Hampshire.
The terms of the grants were simple. The Proprietors could convey only
the soil, while the political rights and powers of government came from
the province. Provision was made that no land should be subject to taxation
or assessment until improved by those holding the titles. Rights were
reserved for land for roads, churches and schools, to be built within
a definite period of time, for the use of ministers and in many cases
for mill-rights. Fees were nominal, often only a shilling or an ear of
corn a year. All tall pines should be saved for the King's navy.
Benning Wentworth died in 1770. He was succeeded by his nephew who later
became Sir John Wentworth, the last of the royal governors. He is perhaps
best known because of his purchase of a thirty six mile tract of land
on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee where he established an estate known
as Kingswood. It afterward become Wolfeborough.
Governor Sir John Wentworth's beneficial acts to the state included the
building of roads, including one from Portsmouth to Kingswood; publishing
the first accurate state map; organizing the State militia, a member of
which was Major Benjamin Thompson of Concord who afterward became known
as Count Rumford; his help in founding Dartmouth College; and the building
of Wentworth House, now owned by the State. Loyal to the English crown,
he embarked for Nova Scotia at the beginning of the Revolution, there
to become its lieutenant governor until his death in 1820.
A pre-Revolution event occurring in New Hampshire was the removal in
1774, by a small party of patriots at New Castle, of the powder and guns
at Fort William and Mary. Other Revolutionary events included New Hampshire's
participation in the Battle of Bunker Hill at which nearly all the troops
doing the actual fighting were said to have been from this State; the
signing of the Declaration of Independence by New Hampshire's Josiah Bartlett,
Matthew Thornton, and William Whipple; General John Stark's victory at
the Battle of Bennington; and the success of Captain John Paul Jones at
sea.
Just as it was the first to declare its independence and adopt its own
constitution, New Hampshire was the ninth and deciding state in accepting
the National Constitution as that of a republic, never to be known under
any other form of government. New Hampshire's John Langdon was the first
acting vice-president of the United States, and was President of the Senate
when Washington was elected first president.
Many events have helped to individualize New Hampshire's unique history
as the decades have followed each other down to the present time. Both
Washington and Lafayette passed within our borders. Meshech Weare was
elected the first state "president". Morey's Connecticut River
steam-boat preceded Fulton's by seventeen years. An American President,
Franklin Pierce, and a Vice-president, Henry Wilson, were elected, both
from New Hampshire. Daniel Webster won his famous Dartmouth College case
before the Supreme Court. The first American public library was established
at Peterborough. The world-recognized "Concord Coach" was made
here, as was America's first cog-railroad to Mount Washington dating 1869.
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