1623: Pilgrims, Pipe Dreams, Politics & the Founding of New Hampshire by J. Dennis Robinson (Harbortown Press, 2023)
Shrouded in myth, mystery, and misinformation, the true story of New Hampshire's founding family has never been fully told–until now. Why do we know so little about David and Amias Thompson of Plymouth, England? And why is what we think we know so often wrong? Barely three years after the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, a wholly different plan for America was in play. Popular journalist J. Dennis Robinson exhumes the facts and connects the dots to reveal a forgotten journey that will challenge your perception of how New England was born. -- Publisher's blurbFrom the Author:
"This project
started almost 50 years ago when I bumped into a 1623 note in the
journal of Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow. A "Scotchman" named David
Thompson, Winslow wrote, had recently set up a fishing and trading
outpost at what would later become the tiny seacoast of New Hampshire.
The Mayflower survivors
were starving and sent military leader Miles Standish to find
food. Thompson delivered a shallop full of live-saving codfish to the
Separatists, after which the Plymouth Colony offered prayers of
thanksgiving. The idea that the first European settler at what would
become New Hampshire "saved" the Pilgrims intrigued me. Why hadn't I
heard of this guy and his wife Amias and their son John who had settled
at what is now Odiorne State Park in the town of Rye?
The more I dug into the story over the decades, the more fascinating it became. Thompson, in fact, was an apothecary (pharmacist) from Plymouth, England. He was born in London, it appears, not Scotland. He was deeply connected to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a hugely influential figure in the first 40 years of New England history. Gorges, like Thompson and almost all other very early settlers to the region were Anglicans, loyal to the king and effectively enemies of the pious Pilgrims who had escaped to a new world. (This was before 20,000 Puritans immigrated to Massachusetts starting in 1630.)
My research led to the Wessagusset Massacre. In 1623 when, fearing an attack, Miles Standish and his tiny militia assassinated seven Native warriors at what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. That event, rarely mentioned, had a profound effect on the region at the time.
And what about English lawyer and colonist, Thomas Morton, who was exiled and left to die at the Isles of Shoals by Standish? Who remembers Robert Gorges, the first "Governor" of New England? More digging. Explorer Christopher Levett, fisherman Phineas Pratt, and merchant Samuel Maverick all wrote about meeting David Thompson in his Piscataqua home near what is now Portsmouth, New Hampshire. So why is he forgotten today?
Why did the Thompsons pack up after only three years and move to an island in Boston Harbor? How did David die so soon after the move? What happened to his wife Amias? And what about the imaginary claim that two brothers named Hilton also founded a New Hampshire settlement in 1623? By the way, who ever mentions that Portsmouth was founded in 1630 because Gorges and John Mason ("the father of New Hampshire") thought the Piscataqua River was the Northwest Passage to the Orient--or at least to the fur-trading nexus at Lake Champlain. It wasn't. Why don't we teach young people that the first two Granite State settlements at Little Harbor and Strawberry Bank (yes, that is spelled correctly) were financial flops?
It took decades, but with a dozen history books and over 3,000 published articles under my belt, I finally got back to David and Amias Thompson. With NH's 400th anniversary looming, I asked myself--what the heck are we celebrating? So I pulled together enough puzzle pieces to attempt the first-ever true story of the founding days of the "Live Free or Die" state. This is an "indie" book because it had to be. Not even the state website or Wikipedia get the facts straight.
And let's remember that while The Council for New England was handing out grants to land they had never seen and didn't own, Indigenous Peoples had been here for 12,000 years. There are no footnotes here (sorry purists). I'm writing for general readers who are curious about the actual New England backstory rather than the usual myths and legends. But you will find a hefty 13-page bibliography at the end of the book. Enjoy." --JDR
The more I dug into the story over the decades, the more fascinating it became. Thompson, in fact, was an apothecary (pharmacist) from Plymouth, England. He was born in London, it appears, not Scotland. He was deeply connected to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a hugely influential figure in the first 40 years of New England history. Gorges, like Thompson and almost all other very early settlers to the region were Anglicans, loyal to the king and effectively enemies of the pious Pilgrims who had escaped to a new world. (This was before 20,000 Puritans immigrated to Massachusetts starting in 1630.)
My research led to the Wessagusset Massacre. In 1623 when, fearing an attack, Miles Standish and his tiny militia assassinated seven Native warriors at what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. That event, rarely mentioned, had a profound effect on the region at the time.
And what about English lawyer and colonist, Thomas Morton, who was exiled and left to die at the Isles of Shoals by Standish? Who remembers Robert Gorges, the first "Governor" of New England? More digging. Explorer Christopher Levett, fisherman Phineas Pratt, and merchant Samuel Maverick all wrote about meeting David Thompson in his Piscataqua home near what is now Portsmouth, New Hampshire. So why is he forgotten today?
Why did the Thompsons pack up after only three years and move to an island in Boston Harbor? How did David die so soon after the move? What happened to his wife Amias? And what about the imaginary claim that two brothers named Hilton also founded a New Hampshire settlement in 1623? By the way, who ever mentions that Portsmouth was founded in 1630 because Gorges and John Mason ("the father of New Hampshire") thought the Piscataqua River was the Northwest Passage to the Orient--or at least to the fur-trading nexus at Lake Champlain. It wasn't. Why don't we teach young people that the first two Granite State settlements at Little Harbor and Strawberry Bank (yes, that is spelled correctly) were financial flops?
It took decades, but with a dozen history books and over 3,000 published articles under my belt, I finally got back to David and Amias Thompson. With NH's 400th anniversary looming, I asked myself--what the heck are we celebrating? So I pulled together enough puzzle pieces to attempt the first-ever true story of the founding days of the "Live Free or Die" state. This is an "indie" book because it had to be. Not even the state website or Wikipedia get the facts straight.
And let's remember that while The Council for New England was handing out grants to land they had never seen and didn't own, Indigenous Peoples had been here for 12,000 years. There are no footnotes here (sorry purists). I'm writing for general readers who are curious about the actual New England backstory rather than the usual myths and legends. But you will find a hefty 13-page bibliography at the end of the book. Enjoy." --JDR
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