Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/132

 no THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

and three merchants, Abraham Cohner, Nicholas Sherwill and Leonard Pomroy, all of Plymouth, England, on the other part. A copy of it has been published in the proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, with notes by Charles Deane, Esq., an eminent antiquary.

The indenture recites that the Council for New England had granted to Thomson, (Oct. i6, 1622) six thousand acres of land and one island in Nevv England, and that Thomson had couveyetl one quarter part of the island to the three merchants named and agreed also to convey to them one quarter part of the six thousand acres, on these conditions :—

1. That the three merchants, at their own charge, should provide and send that present year two men with Thomson, in the ship Jonathan of Plymouth, to New England, with such victuals, provisions, &c., as shall suffice them till they are landed.

2. The three merchants, at their own charge, were also to provide and send the same year, three additional men in the ship Providence of Plymouth, if they could so soon be gotten, or in some other ship, to New England ; the charges of these three men to be borne equally by all the parties.

3. Two other men were also to be sent the same year in the Jonathan; the charges to be borne by all the parties equally.

4. Thomson with the seven men as soon as landed, was to find a fit place and make choice of six thousand acres of land and a fit place to settle and erect buildings.

Further provision was made for dividing the property at the end of five years agreeably to the indentures, three fourths to Thomson and one fourth to the other three. Three fourths of the charge for planting, building, &c., was to be borne by Thomson, and one fourth by the others. All the profits from fishing, trading, &c., were to be divided equally, the three merchants having liberty to employ the ships to fish, at their own charge, if Thomson did not choose to bear his share of such charge.

From this agreement it appears reasonably certain that Thomson did come over as stipulated, arriving at the mouth ot the Piscataqua sometime in the spring of 1623, as Hubbard has recorded. By the indenture he was to proceed "this present year" (1622). By the method of reckoning at that time, the year ended on the 24th of March following. It is equally certain, however, that he did not come out as the agent of the company of Laconia, for that company was not then in existence, not having been formed until 1631. This error appears to have originated with Dr. Belknap, who knew that Mason and Gorges had a grant (Aug. 10, 1622,) embracing the territory between the Merrimack and Sagadehock, which they intended to call the Province of Maine, but of which they never made any use, as the council afterwards made other grants covering the same territory. Dr. Belknap also knew that Mason and Gorges with other persons were members of the Company of Laconia. From this and some statements of Hubbard he doubtless concluded that the grant of 1622, was the Laconia grant, and that the associates, under the name of the Company of Laconia, began the settlement at Little Harbor and Hilton's Point in 1623. It is now known that the Laconia patent was not issued until Nov. 17, 1629, and the company was formed soon after.

There is no direct evidence in the indentures, that the Hiltons were associated with Tliomson in the enterprise, either as partners or servants. P>om this fact and other considerations drawn from contemporaneous history, Mr. Jenness in his " Notes on the First Plantmg of New Hampshire," discredits the statement of Hubbard and claims that the Hiltons never saw Dover Point until five or six years after Thomson and his party landed at Little Harbor, or at least that

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