3-1658)

After the charter granted to the Council for New England in 1620, Sir
Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason procured, August 10, 1622, a
patent for "all that part of y^e maine land in New England lying vpon
y^e Sea Coast betwixt y^e rivers of Merrimack & Sagadahock and to y^e
furthest heads of y^e said Rivers and soe forwards up into the land
westward untill threescore miles be finished from y^e first entrance
of the aforesaid rivers and half way over that is to say to the midst
of the said two rivers w^ch bounds and limitts the lands aforesaid
togeather w^th all Islands and Isletts w^th in five leagues distance
of y^e premisses and abutting vpon y^e same or any part or parcell
thereoff."[1]

Mason was a London merchant who had seen service as governor of
Newfoundland, and was, like Gorges, "a man of action." His experience
made him interested in America, and his interest in America caused him
to be elected a member of the Council for New England, and ultimately
its vice-president.[2] The two leaders persuaded various merchants in.
England to join them in their colonial projects; and in the spring of
1623 they set up two settlements within the limits of the present
state of New Hampshire, and some small stations at Saco Bay, Casco
Bay, and Monhegan Island, in the present state of Maine.

Of the settlements in New Hampshire, one called Piscataqua, at the
mouth of the river of that name, was formed by three Plymouth
merchants, Colmer, Sherwell, and Pomeroy, who chose a Scotchman named
David Thompson as their manager. They obtained a grant, October 16,
1622, for an island, and six thousand acres on the main, near the
mouth of Piscataqua; and here Thompson located in the spring of 1623.
He remained about three years, and in 1626 removed thence to an island
in Boston harbor, where he lived as an independent settler.[3] The
other plantation, called Cocheco, was established by two brothers,
Edward and William Hilton, fish-mongers of London, and some Bristol
merchants, and was situated on the south side of the Piscataqua about
eight miles from the mouth of the river.[4]

November 7, 1629, Captain Mason obtained a patent[5] from the Council
for New England for a tract extending sixty miles inland and lying
between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers, being a part of the
territory granted to Gorges and himself in 1622. He called it New
Hampshire in honor of Hampshire, in England, where he had an estate.
Seven da