History books can lie. We were fascinated by the illustration of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire offered in this 1847 pictorial history of the
USA. The content is accurate and well written -- but that
picture! . We offer the entire early history
here. Readers may be curious to read how the founding of the
Seacoast region was described over 150 years ago.
From an 1847 history of the United States
Settlement of New England -- New Hampshire explored by Captain
Smith --Settlements made by Gorges and Mason -- Portsmouth founded --
Union of the colony with Massachusetts.
The colony of New Hampshire, which now holds a distinguished rank
among the New England states, though its settlement began at a very
early period, did not become a separate colony till many years after
that settlement commenced. Captain Smith, of Virginia, who sailed along
the shore of New England, in 1614, and published a chart of the coast,
with some account of the country, discovered the river Piscataqua. He
found the river to be large, the harbor capacious and safe, and gave a
favorable representation of the place as it for a new plantation.
Gorges and Mason, two members of the council of Plymouth, in
England, having obtained from the council a grant of that tract of
country, attempted the establishment of a colony and fishery at the
river Piscataqua. In the spring of the year 1623, they sent over a few
persons for this purpose, who sat down on the south side of the river,
near its and there fixed a temporary residence. This was the beginning
of the ancient and flourishing town of Portsmouth. The same year, two
of the company erected a fish-house at the place of the present town of
Dover.
These settlements, for several years, were small, and scarcely
permanent. In 1629, some of the settlers about the Massachusetts Bay
wishing to unite with the settlement at Piscataqua, they assembled the
chiefs of several Indian tribes at Squamscot Falls, now Exeter, and,
for a valuable consideration, made a purchase of an extensive tract of
land. In the instrument of conveyance, the natives express a "desire to
have the English come and settle among them, as among their countrymen
in Massachusetts." After this purchase, the plantation had a moderate
increase, but no new settlements were made till the year 1638, which
was the beginning of the towns of Exeter and Hampton. The people at
Dover early erected a convenient meeting house, which was afterwards
used as a fortification. A church was soon organized, of a character
similar to the churches in the neighboring colonies: and Mr. William
Leverich, a worthy and able Puritan divine, came from England, in 1633,
and became their minister. The settlement at Portsmouth, in their
infant state, erected a house for divine worship, and enjoyed,
successively, the labors of several faithful ministers. The ministry of
one of these, Mr. James Parker, was attended with much success. But the
town had no regular minister till a number of years after its
settlement.
from Boston. Having been regularly dismissed from the church in that
town, they immediately united in a church relation, on the principles
of their mother church. As they judged their settlement to be without
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, they formed themselves in to a body
politic, chose rulers and assistants, who were sworn to the proper
execution of their respective offices, and a correspondent oath of
obedience was taken by the people. In this political compact we have an
instance of civil government in its simplest, perhaps in its purest
form. The magistrates, who were few, were vested with legislative,
judicial, and executive authority.
The settlements at Portsmouth and Dover, for several years, were
governed, principally, by agents sent over by the proprietors in
England. Having experienced many inconveniences from this mode of
government, they separately, forming a civil compact, after the example
of their neighbors at Exeter, enacted and enforced their own laws. The
combination at Dover was similar to the one at Exeter; at Portsmouth
they had a chief magistrate, annually elected, styled a governor.
These settlements for many years, lived peaceably with the natives,
and, from their great advances for fishery, experienced less of the
evils of famine than the neighboring colonies. Placed in distinct civil
communities, they soon found themselves exposed to a variety of
difficulties and peculiarly defenseless in the event of trouble from an
enemy. Their corporations were necessarily weak, and exposed to the
intrusion of vagrants and outlaws, who would not submit to the steady
government which was maintained in the colonies of Massachusetts and
Plymouth. Had these political combinations been left to the management
of their original framers, and their posterity, they might have
exhibited an example of the finest republics on historic record. But
the constant influx of emigrants and of demagogues, invited by their
weakness, rendered this expectation hopeless. These considerations
induced the settlement to desire a union with the colony of
Massachusetts.
The subject having been for some time in agitation, in the year
1641, the settlements on and near the Piscataqua submitted to the
jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on condition of enjoying equal
privileges with the people of that colony, and having a court of
justice maintained among themselves. They were cordially accepted by
that government, and thus, by a solemn compact, became a part of the
colony of Massachusetts. From this time, the settlements advanced in a
more rapid progress, and in greater security; and their civil and
ecclesiastical history becomes one with the colony of which they now
constituted a respectable portion. This union continued till the year
1679, when by the authority of the king of Great Britain, New Hampshire
was separated from the government of Massachusetts, and became a royal
province.
Excerpted from:
Pictorial History of the United States of America (1847)
From the earliest discoveries, by the Northmen, in the tenth century,
to the present time: Comprising a description of the Aborigines, their
manners, customs and antiquities; and a full account of the western
states, their settlements, rapid progress, etc.
By R. Thomas, A.M.
Illustrated with two hundred engravings
Hartford Published by House and Brown 1847
Pages 157-160