to run the plantation five years, and They have in Boston, not in its legal custody, a sheet of paper written on both sides, a separate document on either side, and both certified by Elisha Cooke, clerk of courts. On one side is a copy of the inventory of the Laconia Company goods, July, 1635, attested by Mr. Chamberlain, Secretary of this Province in 1683, when the case of Mason versus Waldron was tried, and this is of of unquestionable genuineness. On the other side is the list of people, "sent by John Mason, Esquire," winding up, "Eight Danes, Twenty-Two Women." If this list was offered in court in 1683, it was rejected as spurious. Both from external and internal evidence, it seems a fraudulent production. Probably it was made up to use in the suit against Humphrey Spencer in 1704, as there is a check mark in the margin opposite Thomas Spencer's name, and Elisha Cooke was not appointed clerk of courts until 1702. The list omits names of some who we know were sent over to Richmond's Island, Francis Norton and Sampson Lane, who came after the Captain's death, and others. The name printed as Henry Baldwin is not that name in the Boston list; evidently Clerk Cooke could not read it, but from his imitation of the writing, I judge it was Odiorne. No Henry Odiorne is known to have been here, which is true of other names in the list, which may have been invented at the same time as the Wheelwright deed, in the desperate resolve to protect the community from the loss of their homes, with various names inserted that might help different ones to claim their lands as descendants of Captain Mason's servants. Thomas Crockett's descendants were living on Kittery side, but as they claimed no lands on Portsmouth side, there was thus no occasion to include his name. So our certain knowledge after the arrival of the Warwick is none too full, yet luminous when compared with the unwritten period preceeding, although the Isles of Shoals and the Piscataqua were the principal ports in ports in New England in that period. If the settlement. had been abandoned, abandoned, Governor Bradford would surely have recorded the fact. On the contrary, in 1628 Piscataqua contributed. much as Plymouth to the expense of banishing banishing Morton, who was selling firearms to the Indians. There must have been many people here, besides hundreds of tran sients here and at the Shoals; but we ask in vain who they were. If Mr. Gibbins came over early he went back, as he came on the Warwick. Hubbard says the Hiltons were here, that they came with Thomson. Hubbard, who certainly was mistaken in part, seems to have gotten his information from young William Hilton, a boy not six years old when Mr. Thomson came over. In young Hilton's petition to the General Court in the year 1660, to confirm lands given his father and himself by the Indians, he said: "Whereas your petitioner's father, William Hilton, came over into New England about the year Anno Dom. 1621 and your petitioner came about one year and a half after, and in a little time following settled ourselves upon the River of Pischatag with Mr. Edward Hilton, who were the first English planters there." This reads as though Mr. Hubbard accepted Hilton's story and recorded it as history, merely inserting David Thomson's name with the Hiltons. Mr. Hubbard, who was the minister at Ipswich, was a few years younger than William Hilton, Jr., who was baptized at Witton church, in Northwich, Cheshire, June 22, 1617. Hilton's two wives belonged to prominent families of Newbury and Charlestown. Mr. Hubbard must have been well acquainted with both families. William Hilton, Jr., was a ship-master, and had had a book of soundings or charts printed before Mr. Hubbard got up the map of New England for his history of King Philip's War. About Plymouth, as well as the Piscataqua, Mr. Hubbard seems to have gotten information from Hilton. He says, what no one else does, that the first complaint against Mr. Lyford, who was brought over by Mr. Winslow in 1624, to be minister at Piymouth, was over baptizing a child of Mr. Hilton's, although not a member of their church. Hubbard's History shows familiar knowledge of the Hiltons as accurate as a little boy might remember and tell things to a friend. Certainly William Hilton did not come over with Thomson. He came to Plymouth in 1621, and was there with his family in 1624. It seems doubtful whether Edward Hilton did, although from April 9, 1621, when he came out of his apprenticeship in the Fishmongers' Company of London, until 1628, when he contributed to keep firearms away from the Indians, we have as yet no knowledge of his movements. But there is contemporary evidence that some Bristol merchants joined with him to settle his colony, and a young fellow just out of his apprenticeship must be allowed sufficient time in which to perfect such important connections, even if aided by Sir Ferdinando. If Edward Hilton was one of Mr. Thomson's first company, it seems that he must have gone back. At any rate, if here early in 1624, he was with Thomson at Little Harbor, and had not yet made his settlement up the river. Capt. Christopher Levett in 1628 printed a book on his voyage of 1623-4. He stopped a month with Mr. Thomson at Little Harbor. While there he "discovered" the Piscataqua river and an Indian who came down the river told him that up the river was much good land. In this season of tercentenary good cheer, we all wish to work our believers overtime if necessary to keep everybody happy, but we must be equipped with believers as big as bushel baskets to believe that that Indian told Capt. Levett that there were good lands up the river without telling him also that there By Rev. Harold H. Niles Certainly a town which furnished four generals for the Revolutionary War, besides rendering other distinguished service to the State and the Nation, has a right to celebrate its two hundredth anniversary. Such a town is Nottingham, New Hampshire. On the twentieth and twenty-first days of August, this beautiful and historic town commemorated its two hundredth birthday with suitable and appropriate exercises under the direction of a committee, appointed at the last Town Meeting and consisting of Charles Chesley, chairman; Thomas E. Fernald, Treasurer; Mrs. Fred Fernald, Mrs. John Harvey and Mr. I. A. Colby. The celebration began with a huge bonfire on Nottingham Square on Saturday evening. This fire, to the students of history, was a symbol of those beacon-fires which once blazed on the hill-top of New Hampshire summoning the men and women of the Granite State to patriotic duty. On Sunday morning a religous service was held in the Unversalist church, which was packed to the doors with a congregation which assembled for miles around. Music was ably rendered by a choir from Northwood consisitng of Mrs. Clarence Sanborn, soprano; Mrs. Tilton, alto; Mr. Daniel Miner, bass; Mr. Raymond Bickford, tenor; and Mrs. Raymond Bickford, organist. The service of worship was in charge of Rev. Harold H. Niles of Concord, Chaplain of the New Hampshire Legislature, assisted by the Reverends Allen Brown of Rumford, Maine, I. D. Morrison of Nottingham, and Mr. Goodwin of Northwood. In the evening a community sing was held at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Fernald at Nottingham Square. Monday morning dawned bright and fair. A large crowd of people estimated from three to five thousand people, gathered to assist the townspeople in carrying out the day's program, which began with music by Nevers' Band of Concord, following which Nottingham defeated Northwood at baseball by a score of 10 to 9. After a basket picnic there was an address by Governor Albert O. Brown, and more music by the band. In the afternoon was given the historical pageant, at the foot of Long Hill. Before describing it, a brief historical note should be quoted from the program. was The town of Nottingham founded by royal charter on May 8, 1722. The petitioners for the charter resided in Boston and Newbury, Massachusetts, and in New Hampshire from Exeter and Portsmouth. The development of the town was hampered by Indian troubles till the conclusion of the French wars. Then followed a continued growth, a sus in 1775 showing 999 inhabitants including sixteen slaves. During the Revolution no town of its size rendered more cordial or efficient service. Nottingham furnished three colonels and one captain who later became Major Generals in the New Hampshire Militia, Joseph Cilley, Thomas Bartlett, Henry Dearborn and Henry Butler. It is stated that Captain Dearborn marched with sixty minute men from Nottingham Square to Bunker Hill in twelve hours, on April 20, 1775. In the War of 1812 the town was also ably represented by Colonel Joseph Cilley who served first as ensign and later as brevet captain. In the Civil War and in the World War the town also played its patriotic part. |