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Units of New Hampshire History
Unit 3: Settling New Hampshire
Find It!

Find It! Settling New Hampshire

All the resources that appear in this unit are gathered here for you—the photographs, maps, objects, audiovisuals, documents, videos, biographies, and vocabulary words. Click on the image below to see a larger view of each resource with more information about each one. On some of the resources you can even zoom in and get a closer look. So go ahead, dive in, and explore. Before you know it, you’ll be thinking like a historian.

Find It! Scavenger Hunt

Can you help Mason find these items on the page and answer the questions?

Scavenger Hunt

Click On An Icon To Find A Resource!

Photographs & Prints in this Unit:

Photograph/Print

King's Broad Arrow Mark

Samuel F. Manning

Drawn in 1979 for Wooden Boat Publications

Caption:

One of New Hampshire's most valuable resources during the colonial period was its white pine trees. These tall, strong trees made perfect ships' masts. During the 1700s, the British navy needed thousands of these trees for their ships. The British government passed a law that said all white pine trees in New Hampshire of a certain size belonged to the king, even if the trees were on private land. British officials would ride around the countryside and use an axe to mark the best trees with this mark, the "king's broad arrow." Any trees with this mark couldn't be used to build the colonists' houses and bridges. They started to become angry with the royal officials who marked these trees. This was one of the issues that pushed Americans closer to revolution.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Susan Manning

Photograph/Print

King's Broad Arrow

Samuel F. Manning

Drawn in 1979 for Wooden Boat Publications

Caption:

One of New Hampshire's most valuable resources during the colonial period was its white pine trees. These tall, strong trees made perfect ships' masts. During the 1700s, the British navy needed thousands of these trees for their ships. The British government passed a law that said all white pine trees in New Hampshire of a certain size belonged to the king, even if the trees were on private land. British officials would ride around the countryside and mark the best trees with the "king's broad arrow." Any trees with this mark couldn't be used to build the colonists' houses and bridges. They started to become angry with the royal officials who marked these trees. This was one of the issues that pushed Americans closer to revolution.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Susan Manning

Photograph/Print

Beaver

Ilkka

undated

Caption:

Beavers are mammals that live all over North America. They live on land but like wet environments, so they can be found in New Hampshire's wetlands. The Abenaki hunted beavers and used the pelts for clothing and blankets. When Europeans came to New Hampshire, they traded with the Abenaki for beaver pelts and hunted beavers themselves. Beavers were hunted so much that they almost became extinct, but now they are plentiful in New Hampshire again.

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Photograph/Print

Gorges and Mason Naming Their Provinces

undated

Caption:

This cartoon imagines Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges naming their colonies. They were both awarded a large land grant from the English king in 1622. Later they split the grant, and Gorges got the land that became Maine and Mason got the land that became New Hampshire. Mason named New Hampshire after his home in England, Hampshire County. Mason died before he could ever travel to New Hampshire.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

English Coast

Wikimedia user Simonbeck8848

Caption:

This is a picture of the coast of southern England. How would you compare it to the coast of New Hampshire?

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

English Countryside

Wikimedia user Simonbeck8848

Caption:

This is a picture of the English countryside. How does it compare to the New Hampshire countryside? What natural resources do you notice?

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

White Pine Forest

Caption:

This image shows two groups of white pine trees. The group on the left is mature at about 60 years old and is being clear-cut. The group on the right is younger and won't be harvested for 20 or 30 more years.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Harvard Forest Archives, Harvard University

Photograph/Print

Old Pine in Kensington

Caroline Augusta Perkins

circa 1863

Caption:

This painting shows an old white pine tree in Kensington, NH. According to local stories, the pine tree was 120 feet tall, with a trunk 13 feet around, when it was struck by lightning and fell in 1888.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Dutch Ship

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (cartographer) and John White (artist)

1635

Caption:

This drawing of a 17th-century ship appeared on an early map of North America. It is flying the flag of the Dutch Republic, a European country that had many colonies all over the world and controlled many important trade routes. It had a fleet of thousands of ships. The Dutch Republic existed from 1588 to 1795.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections

Photograph/Print

Galleon

Alain Manesson Mallet

1685

Caption:

This illustration of a galleon is from a French encyclopedia. A galleon is a large, multi-decked sailing ship with three or four masts. Galleons were used from the 16th to the 18th centuries. They carried goods back and forth on trade routes, and were also warships during naval battles. Galleons were typically made of oak with pine masts.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

Three Sisters

Anna Juchnowicz

2018

Caption:

The Abenaki used a farming technique known as the "three sisters." They planted squash, corn, and beans together. The corn grew straight and tall, and the bean vines grew up around the corn stalks for support. The squash grew at the base of the corn stalks, and its big leaves helped prevent weeds from growing.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

Fishing at Amoskeag Falls

Ernest Gould photograph of a mural by William Abbot Cheever

Caption:

People have fished New Hampshire's fast-moving waters for thousands of years. Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack River is one example of an excellent fishing spot. Each spring, bands of Abenaki would gather at this place to fish. They used spears and nets made from natural materials to catch the fish. This painting was created in the 1970s as part of a mural that now hangs in the Hooksett, NH, town hall.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Indian Sugar Camp

Illustration by Seth Eastman in Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States by Henry R. Schoolcraft (1852)

Caption:

The Abenaki learned how to collect sap from sugar maple trees to make maple syrup and maple sugar. The Abenaki believe that the sweet maple sap is a gift from the Creator. They also believe that Gluskabe changed the sap so that it only flows once a year and has to be boiled down. They used buckets made of birch bark to collect the sap and boiled it in clay pots. Maple syrup season is in the very early spring, so the Abenaki would camp at a site with a lot of sugar maples and produce the sugar and syrup, like in this picture. When the English arrived in the early 1600s, the Abenaki shared this knowledge with them. Today New Hampshire is still famous for its maple syrup. This is an illustration from a book printed in the 1800s.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Abenaki Couple

circa 1750–1780

Caption:

This watercolor drawing shows an Abenaki couple wearing traditional Abenaki clothing in the 1700s. It was made by a Canadian artist. The Abenaki homeland, N'dakinna, includes part of what is now known as Quebec in Canada. During the period of English settlement, many Abenaki moved to Quebec from New England. They were pushed out by war and settlers taking their land. Today thousands of Abenaki live in Canada. The Abenaki are one of the indigenous groups recognized as a First Nation by the Canadian government.

Image Credit: City of Montreal Archives

Photograph/Print

Plymouth Wilderness

Francis S. Drake

Caption:

N'dakinna was rich in natural resources and beauty. There were lakes, rivers, streams, mountains, and trees. There were plenty of animals and plants to hunt and gather for food, shelter, and clothing.

Image Credit: From Indian History for Young Folks, published in 1919, at the Internet Archive

Photograph/Print

Abenaki Village

Francine Poitras Jones

2021

Caption:

Abenaki villages were always built close to a water source. In the village, the wigwams were built in a half-circle pattern, with a fire pit in the center. Around the edges of the village, the Abenaki planted crops to grow food. Some villages were very large, with hundreds of people living there.

Image Credit: Illustration by Francine Poitras Jones for the New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Native Americans and English Trading

Theodor de Bry

1597

Caption:

English explorers first met the Abenaki people in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The English and the Abenaki traded with each other for items like beaver pelts, wampum, and metal tools like ax heads. Many people think this image shows an explorer named Bartholomew Gosnold trading with Native Americans in what is now Massachusetts. Other people think it shows a different Englishman trading with Native Americans in what is now Newfoundland, Canada. It is probably not a very accurate image of what the indigenous people looked like. But it does give you an idea of early meetings between indigenous people of New England and English explorers.

Image Credit: Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection, Newberry Library

Photograph/Print

New England Shipbuilding

Illustration by Ray Brown in American Merchant Ships and Sailors by Willis J. Abbot, 1902

Caption:

Shipbuilding has been an important industry in New Hampshire for a long time. During the settlement era, New Hampshire had lots of forests that provided wood to build ships. Ships were very important for England's navy. England also needed a lot of ships to carry natural resources from its colonies and goods to its colonies. New Hampshire also had an important port, Portsmouth, where ships could sail from. Today, submarines are built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Image Credit: Project Gutenberg

Photograph/Print

John Smith

Engraved by Simon van de Pass, from a map printed in London by James Reeve

1635

Caption:

John Smith was an English sea captain and explorer. In 1614, he sailed along the New Hampshire coast. He stopped at the small islands off the coast and named them after himself, Smith's Isles. They are now called the Isles of Shoals. He named the whole area New England after his home country. When he went back to England, he wrote all about the natural resources he had seen. His writings helped convince the English that it would be a good idea to settle in New Hampshire. This portrait of John Smith is from a map made in the 1630s based on a map originally drawn by Smith.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Photograph/Print

Fur Trade

Illustration from A map of the inhabited part of Canada ... with the frontiers of New York and New England, by Claude Joseph Sauthier, engraved by William Faden, 1777

Caption:

During the 17th century, there was a big demand for beaver pelts in Europe. English settlers realized they could make a lot of money by trapping beavers and sending their pelts back to England. Some settlers hunted and trapped the beavers themselves. They also formed trade relationships with the Abenaki indigenous people. The Abenaki had a lot of experience and skill in trapping beavers. They traded pelts with the settlers in exchange for goods made in England, like metal tools.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

Photograph/Print

Passaconaway

Engraving by B.W. Thayer Company in C. E. Potter's History of Manchester, 1856

circa 1575–circa 1665

Caption:

Passaconaway, also called "Papisseconawa," was the leader of the Penacook people, an Abenaki tribe living in the Merrimack Valley. He lived during the time of English exploration and settlement of the Abenaki homeland, called N’dakinna. The Penacook were part of a large and powerful group of Abenaki tribes, called a confederacy. Passaconaway was a very important and respected leader. When the English arrived, Passaconaway encouraged the Abenaki to live peacefully with them. He believed this was the best way to keep his people safe and preserve their culture and way of life. We don't know for sure that this is what Passaconaway looked like. This is an illustration from a book printed in the 1800s.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Metacom (King Philip)

Illustration from The history of Philip's War, commonly called the Great Indian War, of 1675 and 1676 by Benjamin Church (Thomas B. Wait and Son, Boston; S.G. Drake, 1827 edition)

Caption:

Metacom was the leader of the Wampanoag indigenous tribe who lived in southern New England, near the Pilgrims. In 1675 and 1676 there was a terrible war between the Wampanoag people and the English settlers. It was called King Philip's War because Metacom sometimes went by the name Philip. Metacom was killed in the war, and his wife and young son were sold into slavery.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University

Photograph/Print

Governor Winthrop Landing at Salem

Engraving from A treasury of knowledge and cyclopedia of history, science and art (New York : R. Sears, 1850)

1630

Caption:

Once the English explorers went home and wrote about all of the natural resources available in New England, many people decided they wanted to move to the New World. The English government claimed New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut as colonies. This meant that these colonies were part of Great Britain. The English settlers brought English customs and traditions with them. This picture shows John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts colony, landing in New England in 1630.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections

Photograph/Print

A Sachem of the Abenaki Nation

Illustration from Bickerstaff's Boston Almanack, 1768

Caption:

The Abenaki and the English settlers in New Hampshire often tried to settle their disagreements peacefully. In this picture, an Abenaki sachem is trying to help an English officer.

Image Credit: Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division

Photograph/Print

Colonial Portsmouth

Print by Barre Publishers, 1967, after a picture by Joseph F. W. Des Barres published in The Atlantic Neptune in 1781

circa 1781

Caption:

This painting is a view of Portsmouth across the Piscataqua River during the time of the American Revolution.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Atlantic Cod

Klaudie Bartelink

Caption:

Atlantic cod is a type of fish found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Fishing for cod was a very important industry in New Hampshire during the colonial period. Fishermen could catch the cod, dry and salt it to preserve it, and ship it to Europe. Cod was a very popular food in Europe. At one time there were millions of cod in the Atlantic Ocean, but now there aren't as many because it was overfished.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

A View of a Saw Mill and Block House

Illustration from Travels Through the Interior Parts of America in a Series of Letters, by Thomas Anburey (London: W. Lane, 1789)

Caption:

English settlers needed a lot of timber. They cut down trees and sawed them into boards at sawmills, like the one in this picture. The boards were then used to build barns, homes, meeting houses, churches, fences, bridges, boats, and all sorts of other items they needed to in their new towns.

Image Credit: Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division

Photograph/Print

The Sawmill of Henry Livingston

Engraving by Cornelius Tiebout printed in New York Magazine in 1792

Caption:

Image Credit: Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division

Photograph/Print

Broiling Fish Over Fire

John White

circa 1585–1593

Caption:

This watercolor painting shows one method of preserving fish by smoking them over a fire. The painting was made by John White, an English artist who traveled with explorers in the 1580s to what is now coastal North Carolina. He painted the people, plants, and animals that he encountered there. He was the first English artist to visit North America. His paintings showed the English people all of the natural resources available in the New World and helped encourage more exploration and settlement.

Image Credit: ©Trustees of the British Museum

Photograph/Print

Drying Cod Painting

EverGreene Painting Studios, Inc., after a design by Allyn Cox, 1993–1994

Caption:

There were no refrigerators or freezers in the 1600s and 1700s. So fishermen had to preserve the codfish they caught before they shipped it back to England. They would salt it and lay it out in the sun to dry. This kept the fish from spoiling on the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Cod was an important trade item because it was a popular food in England. This painting is part of a mural that hangs in one of the hallways of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.

Image Credit: Architect of the Capitol

Photograph/Print

Drying Cod

James E. Allen, 1936

Caption:

There were no refrigerators or freezers in the 1600s and 1700s. So fishermen had to preserve the codfish they caught before the shipped it back to England. They would salt it and lay it out in the sun to dry. This kept the fish from spoiling on the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes the whole family would pitch in to help. Cod was an important trade item because it was a popular food in England.

Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Photograph/Print

Damm Garrison House

Photograph from 1904

1675

Caption:

The Damm Garrison House is the oldest garrison house left in New Hampshire. It was built in 1675 by William Damm, who lived in Dover, NH. Garrison houses were homes for families that were built like forts. For example, there were slits in the walls for muskets to shoot through, and the door was extra strong. Colonial towns usually had a garrison house in each neighborhood. If settlers needed protection, they would run to the garrison house and stay inside until it was safe. You can visit the Damm Garrison House today at the Woodman Museum in Dover.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

Photograph/Print

Gundalow Fanny M

Caption:

A gundalow is a shallow wooden barge that was used from the mid 1600s to the early 1900s. They carried freight between the port in Portsmouth and the growing towns along the Piscataqua River. Gundalows could be over 70 feet long and could carry up to 50 tons at a time. They brought trade goods such as cotton, spices, and molasses to the towns upriver. They then brought items like farm produce, fish, and lumber downriver to be loaded onto ocean-going ships and sold around the world. The Fanny M set sail from Adam's Point in Durham, NH, in 1886. It was the last gundalow to be in business in the seacoast region. It eventually wrecked off of Dover Point in Dover, NH.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

Photograph/Print

Ebenezer Varney House

1696

Caption:

This house was built in 1696 in Dover, NH, by Ebenezer Varney. Varney was a blacksmith. Dover was one of New Hampshire's first four English towns. The house was torn down in 1970.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

Photograph/Print

Dunn's Tavern

mid-1700s

Caption:

This colonial house was built in Dover, NH, in the mid-1700s. Dover was one of New Hampshire's first four English towns. The building was a tavern until about the 1840s. A tavern is a place where people could get a meal or a drink, and travelers could spend the night, like an inn. Later it was used as housing for workers at the Sawyer Woolen Mills. The building was torn down in 2013.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

Photograph/Print

Preserving Cod

Engraving by M. Duhamel du Monceau in General Treaty of Pêsches (Fishing) (Paris: Chez Saillant & Nyon, Booksellers, between 1769 and 1782)

Caption:

This picture shows a fishing camp during the 1700s. Some workers caught the fish, using boats, nets, or weirs (underwater fences to trap fish). Others cut the fish, salted it, or laid it out to dry. Cod was an important natural resource on New Hampshire's seacoast during the colonial period. It was shipped back to England, where it was sold for profit.

Image Credit:

Courtesy of the University of British Columbia Library Digitization Centre and its generous donors

Photograph/Print

Catching Cod

Engraving by M. Duhamel du Monceau in General Treaty of Pêsches (Fishing) (Paris: Chez Saillant & Nyon, Booksellers, between 1769 and 1782)

Caption:

This picture shows some of the ways that fishermen caught cod during the 1700s. The top of the picture shows catching cod with nets, and the bottom shows catching cod with lines dragging from the fishing boat. Cod fishermen used both methods.

Image Credit:

Courtesy of the University of British Columbia Library Digitization Centre and its generous donors

Photograph/Print

Lumber and Wood Products

From a painting by Sidney E. King for the National Park Service, circa 1950s, published in The Project Gutenberg Ebook of New Discoveries at Jamestown by John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson, 2005

Caption:

This illustration shows the types of work that English settlers in the timber industry might have done. What do you notice about the kinds of things they may have built with the timber? How did they get the logs from the forest to their workshops? What did they do with the extra timber?

Image Credit: Project Gutenberg

Photograph/Print

HMS Sovereign of the Seas

J. Payne

1637–1697

Caption:

The HMS Sovereign of the Seas was a large, powerful British warship built in 1637. It fought in several important naval battles. It was decorated with elaborate designs and carried 102 bronze guns. It had three decks and three tall masts, all made of wood. The Sovereign of the Seas burned in 1697.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

Defending a Garrison at Oyster River

From Indian History for Young Folks by Francis S. Drake, published 1885, at the Internet Archive

1694

Caption:

This image shows settlers in Oyster River, now known as Durham, during an attack by the Abenaki and French in 1694. They are defending a garrison house. A garrison house is a strong, defensive structure where all residents of a settlement can go to for protection if necessary. It is a family home, but one that was built to be especially sturdy. Of the 12 garrison houses in Durham at that time, 5 were destroyed in the attack. Over 80 settlers were killed or taken captive, and crops and livestock were destroyed.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Planting in the Colonies

From A New Orchard and Garden by William Lawson, 1631

1631

Caption:

Almost every English settler in New Hampshire grew some crops, even if they also worked in other industries. They needed to grow food to eat as well as trade with others. They grew wheat, corn, and barley, vegetables like beans and squash, and also had apple orchards.

Image Credit: Project Gutenberg

Photograph/Print

Felling Mast Trees

Samuel F. Manning

Drawn in 1979 for Wooden Boat Publications

Caption:

Shipbuilding was an important industry for the English people who settled New Hampshire. New Hampshire had an important natural resource, white pine trees, that were used to make ships' masts. Masts are the tall poles on ships that carry the sails. "Felling" is the process of cutting down trees. It was a lot of hard work to cut down the tall pine trees and transport them through the forest and to the harbor, where the shipyard was.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Susan Manning

Photograph/Print

Mast Ships

Samuel F. Manning

Drawn in 1979 for Wooden Boat Publications

Caption:

Shipbuilding was an important industry for the English people who settled New Hampshire. New Hampshire had an important natural resource, white pine trees, that were used to make ships' masts. Masts are the tall poles on ships that carry the sails. The trees had to be cut down and carried from the forest all the way to the harbor, where the shipyard was. Then they were used to build the ships. Notice how many masts the ships had and how tall they are!

Image Credit: Courtesy of Susan Manning

Photograph/Print

Colonial Town Meeting

From Essentials in Civil Government by Samuel Eagle Forman, published in 1908, at the Internet Archive

Caption:

New Hampshire's tradition of town meetings started in the 1630s. The townspeople would meet, sometimes as often as once a week, to discuss and vote on issues that were important to the town. For example, they would decide how to divide up the land, how much each person should pay in taxes, and where the farm animals were allowed to graze. All adult men who owned land could vote in town meeting. Women and enslaved people were not allowed to vote. Town meetings usually took place in the meeting house, which was also where church services were held.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Colonial New England Church

From American History, First Book (1492–1763) by Arthur C. Perry and Gertrude Price (New York: American Book Company, 1913)

Caption:

Religion was important to the early settlers. Most colonists attended church every Sunday. Usually a town's meeting house was used for town meetings and other town business, church services, and school.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Colonial New England School

From American History, First Book (1492–1763) by Arthur C. Perry and Gertrude Price (New York: American Book Company, 1913)

Caption:

New Hampshire communities established schools for children starting in the 1640s. It was important to the settlers that children learn to read, write, and do simple math. Children did not attend school every day because they usually had a lot of chores to do on the farms.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

HMS Victory

1765–present

Caption:

The HMS Victory was a British warship built between 1759 and 1765. It was one of the largest naval warships of its time and carried 104 guns. Around 6,000 trees were used to build it. The Victory has been preserved as a museum ship and is the oldest naval ship still in active service in the world.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

New Hampshire's First State Seal

From Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History From 458 A.D. to 1909, volume 6 by Benson J. Lossing (New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishing, 1906)

1776

Caption:

A seal is a mark on a document to make it official. The first state seal shows some important symbols of New Hampshire. On the left is a codfish. On the right is a white pine tree. In the middle there are five arrows bound together. At the time this seal was created, there were five counties in New Hampshire. This was the first seal designed after New Hampshire and the rest of the original 13 colonies declared independence from England in July 1776. The words on the seal are in Latin. Sigill rei pub Neohantoni means "seal of the state of New Hampshire." Vis unita fortior means "a united force is stronger."

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

French Fishermen in North America

Detail from This Map of North America by Herman Moll, 1715, based on an illustrated map by Nicholas De Fer, 1698

Caption:

Fishermen from France, Spain, and other European countries came to fish off the coast of Canada and New England starting in the early 1500s. They set up seasonal fishing camps, caught as many fish as they could, and processed the fish. This meant that they would cure or dry the fish to preserve it so that it could travel back to Europe without spoiling. Then they brought the fish back to Europe to sell them. They came back the next year and did it all over again. These fishermen sometimes interacted with the indigenous people and traded with them. Unfortunately they accidentally brought diseases with them that they gave to the indigenous people.

Image Credit: Library of Congress Geography and Maps Division

Photograph/Print

Jackson House

Wikimedia user Magicpiano

1664

Caption:

The Jackson House is the oldest surviving house in New Hampshire. It was built in Portsmouth around 1664 by Richard Jackson. Jackson was a woodworker, farmer, and sailor. The house was originally smaller than shown in this photograph. As time went on, later owners built additions onto it. The Jackson House is a National Historic Landmark and is owned and operated by Historic New England, so you can visit it in person if you are in Portsmouth!

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

John Wheelwright

circa 1677

Caption:

John Wheelwright was an English minister who founded the town of Exeter, New Hampshire. He emigrated with his family to Boston and began to preach. He didn't get along with the authorities in Massachusetts, though. They disagreed about religion. Eventually the Massachusetts authorities banished Wheelwright from their colony. Wheelwright, his family, and about 20 other families moved north into New Hampshire. They called their settlement Squamscott, after the Abenaki band that lived there. Later the town's name was changed to Exeter.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society

Photograph/Print

Death of Richard Waldron

From Old Times in the Colonies by Charles Carleton Coffin (NY: Harper and Brothers, 1898) at the Internet Archive

1689

Caption:

In 1689 a group of Abenaki attacked the English settlement at Dover, New Hampshire. This was during a period of fighting between the English and the Abenaki. During this attack, Richard Waldron was killed. The Abenaki were still very angry with him for his betrayal years earlier. In 1676, Waldron had invited the Abenaki and their Wampanoag friends to a big party with food and games. But it was a trick, and the Wampanoag people were arrested. Many of them were enslaved and sent to the West Indies, where they died. The Abenaki were not harmed, but they were angry that Waldron had tricked them and arrested their friends. During the raid on Dover, they killed him.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Damm Garrison House

Tichnor Brothers postcard circa 1930–1945

1675

Caption:

Image Credit: Boston Public Library, Digital Commonwealth

Fighting Between Settlers and Native Americans

Photograph/Print

Fighting Between Settlers and Native Americans

From Indian History for Young Folks by Francis S. Drake, published 1885, at the Internet Archive

1676

Caption:

During the late 1600s and early 1700s there were many battles between the Abenaki and the English settlers in New Hampshire. Many people died in the fighting during this period. Although this drawing is of a Native American attack on a town in Massachusetts, it shows what an attack on a New Hampshire town might have looked like during this time.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Defending a Garrison House

From Indian History for Young Folks by Francis S. Drake, published 1885, at the Internet Archive

circa 1675–1678

Caption:

This is a drawing of English settlers defending a garrison house during an attack by Native Americans. A garrison house is a strong, defensive structure where all residents of a settlement can go to for protection if necessary. It is a family home, but one that was built to be especially sturdy. It was also large enough so that the family's neighbors could stay there for a few days if necessary. Every colonial neighborhood had a garrison house.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Colonial Farm

From Indian History for Young Folks by Francis S. Drake, published 1885, at the Internet Archive

circa 1760s

Caption:

This book illustration shows what a colonial farm would have looked like in the 1760s.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

New Hampshire's White Mountains

Caption:

New Hampshire's White Mountains are an important natural and economic resource for the state.

Image Credit: Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Photograph/Print

Attack on a Native American Fort

From King Philip by John Stevens Cabot Abbott, 1900, Rutger University Libraries, at the Internet Archive

1675

Caption:

During the late 1600s and early 1700s there were many battles between the Abenaki and the English settlers in New Hampshire. Many people died in the fighting during this period. Although this drawing is of an English attack on a Native American fort in Rhode Island, it shows what fighting between settlers and Native Americans in New Hampshire might have looked like during this time.

Image Credit:

Photograph/Print

Attack on a Colonial Town

1675

Caption:

During the late 1600s and early 1700s there were many battles between the Abenaki and the English settlers in New Hampshire. Many people died in the fighting during this period. Although this drawing is of a Native American attack on a town in Massachusetts, it shows what fighting between Native Americans and English settlers in New Hampshire may have looked like during this time.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

Kancamagus Highway

Caption:

Kancamagus was an Abenaki warrior and the grandson of Passaconaway. During his lifetime, more and more English settlers arrived and took more and more of the Abenaki's land. Kancamagus fought with the English settlers to preserve his people's way of life. He also encouraged Abenaki in the southern part of New Hampshire to move north and west so they could live in peace away from the English. Many years later, a scenic road in the White Mountains was named after him, the Kancamagus Highway.

Image Credit: Image by usmc0491 from Pixabay

Photograph/Print

Fishing Boats Off the Grand Banks

Engraving by M. Duhamel du Monceau in General Treaty of Pêsches (Fishing) (Paris: Chez Saillant & Nyon, Booksellers, between 1769 and 1782)

Caption:

Starting in the 1500s or even earlier, European fishermen began to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to catch codfish off the eastern coast of Canada. They set up temporary fishing camps along the coast and caught as many fish as they could. They dried the fish in the sun or salted it to preserve it, and brought it back to Europe to sell. Soon they followed the fish down the coast to New England. Each summer, hundreds of fishing ships were anchored along the coast. Then the fishermen began to trade with the indigenous people for furs, which they could also sell in Europe. Through these interactions, the European fishermen also accidentally transmitted diseases to the indigenous people.

Image Credit:

Courtesy of the University of British Columbia Library Digitization Centre and its generous donors

Photograph/Print

The Shopkeeper

Caption:

Many of the early settlers in Portsmouth, one of New Hampshire's first four English towns, were merchants. Merchants are people who buy and sell items to make money. Colonial merchants bought natural resources, like furs, fish, or mast trees from people who lived further inland. Sometimes they traded with the Native Americans too. Then they sold those items to other people, who shipped them all over the world. As merchants became more successful, they could buy their own ships and sell the goods all over the world themselves. As colonial settlements grew larger and larger, some merchants also opened their own shops to sell goods to other colonists.

Image Credit: From The Progress of Man and Society For the Use of Schools, 2nd edition, by John Trusler (M. Gye, 1795)

Photograph/Print

Danville Meeting House

Paul Beard

Caption:

The Danville Meeting House was built in 1755. A meeting house is a building for gathering for town meetings, worship, and school. It was a very important building in a colonial settlement. Usually it was the first public building in a settlement. The meeting house in this photo was built so that the people in Danville (then called Hawke) did not have to travel all the way to Kingston to go to church or attend town meetings. Other meeting houses have had additions or renovations over the years, but this one looks very much like it did when it was built.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Photograph/Print

Colonial Government

Engraving by Gauthier of a painting by T. H. Matteson

Caption:

New England colonies had a strong tradition of self-government. That means that they made their own decisions about laws to follow. This image shows the Pilgrims from the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts signing a document called the Mayflower Compact. They agreed to make laws that were fair and just, and to follow them. New Hampshire's colonists also made their own laws. They elected representatives to the colonial legislature, which was called the Assembly. The Assembly made laws about taxes and how people should behave in public. Any adult male who owned property could vote for representatives to the Assembly.

Image Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Photograph/Print

The Old Meeting House on Dover Neck

From Notable Events in the History of Dover, New Hampshire by George Wadleigh, 1913

Caption:

Dover is one of New Hampshire's first four English towns. In fact, it is the oldest permanent English settlement in New Hampshire. It was founded in 1623 by brothers Edward and William Hilton. The settlement was located on the southern tip of Dover Neck, a piece of land that juts into the water where the Piscataqua River and the Great Bay meet. This drawing of the first meeting house built on Dover Neck was made much later.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

New England Farm

thomas

Caption:

Most English settlers in New Hampshire had to farm to produce their own food. If they had extra crops, they traded them with other people for the things they couldn't produce themselves.

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Photograph/Print

Simon Bradstreet

Engraved by Henry W. Smith in 1854

Caption:

Simon Bradstreet was the governor of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1680, when New Hampshire formed its own colonial legislature. He didn't pay much attention to New Hampshire, though. Instead, he let the New Hampshire Assembly govern the people of the colony.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections

Photograph/Print

Old Ship Church

Detroit Publishing Company, circa 1903–1904

Caption:

Church was a very important part of life for most English settlers in New England, including New Hampshire. This postcard shows Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts. It was built in 1681 and is the oldest church building continuously used as a church in the United States.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections

Photograph/Print

North Meeting House, Portsmouth

Harry M.S. Harlow

Caption:

Church was a very important part of life for most English settlers in New Hampshire. North Church in Portsmouth is one of the oldest congregations in the state. The congregation was established in 1641 and originally met in a log cabin. They built this church building in 1712. It was located in Market Square. This drawing shows what it would have looked like just two years later, in 1714. This church building was torn down in 1854, but the congregation built a new church that still stands today.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Photograph/Print

18th Century Abenaki Couple

Francine Poitras Jones

2015

Caption:

This painting shows an Abenaki couple in the 18th century, around the time of the French and Indian War. It was created by an artist in the present day who is a member of the Nulhegan Band of Coosuk Abenaki. The Abenaki traded with their French allies for goods made in Europe, such as red or blue wool, or linen fabrics. Do you notice those goods in this painting? What else do you notice?

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts in this Unit:

Maps & Charts

New Hampshire Major Lakes and Rivers

2019

Caption:

This map shows all of the major lakes and rivers in New Hampshire.

Image Credit: NH GRANIT Database, Complex Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire

Maps & Charts

Picture Map of Scenic New Hampshire

Alice Cosgrove

1957

Caption:

This map of New Hampshire was made by New Hampshire's state artist, Alice Cosgrove, in the 1950s. It shows all of the different historic, recreational, and cultural activities available in New Hampshire.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

Map of Gosnold's 1602 Exploration

From the 1706 Dutch edition of Gabriel Archer's The Relation of Captaine Gosnols Voyage to the North Part of Virginia, originally published in 1625

1625

Caption:

Bartholomew Gosnold was an Englishman who led the first known European exploration of New England in 1602. He explored from the coast of Maine all the way down the coast of Massachusetts, an area that was then known as "North Virginia." Several of the names he gave places are still used today. He named Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, for his daughter, and he named Cape Cod because he saw so many codfish there. Gosnold did not stop to explore the area that eventually became New Hampshire. A few years later, Gosnold helped found Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Image Credit: University of Virginia Special Collections

Maps & Charts

N'dakinna and New England States

Caption:

N'dakinna is the Abenaki homeland. The word N’dakinna means the world and way of life of the Abenaki. N'dakinna covers a huge amount of land that includes most of northern New England, from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Champlain and possibly even farther. This map shows N'dakinna in relation to the New England states.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

Historic Map of New England

John Seller

1675

Caption:

This map of New England was created in 1675, based on a survey that was done in 1665. The survey was paid for by Massachusetts colonial leaders. At the time, the colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire did not agree on where the border between them was located. This is one of the earliest maps to show the Hudson, Connecticut, and Merrimack rivers all together.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Maps & Charts

John Smith's Map of New England

Engraved by Simon van de Pass, based on an original by John Smith

1635

Caption:

The famous English explorer Captain John Smith made a voyage to New England in 1614. This map is based on his journey. Smith gave this region its name—New England.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

New France, New England, New Scotland and New Foundland

Maps & Charts

New France, New England, New Scotland and New Foundland

Lord Stirling (William Alexander)

1625

Caption:

This is a very early European map of northeastern North America, showing what is now New England and eastern Canada today. At the time, Canada was a colony of France called "New France." The map was created by an English lord who was given a large land grant by the king. His plan was to divide the area between himself and 19 other English lords. The plan never worked out though.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Maps & Charts

New England Seacoast

Lord Stirling (William Alexander)

1625

Caption:

This image is a smaller piece of a map created by William Alexander titled "New France, New England, New Scotland and New Foundland."

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

An Exact Map of New England and New York

Maps & Charts

An Exact Map of New England and New York

Cotton Mather

1702

Caption:

This is known as the first map of New England in the 18th century. It was published in a history of Massachusetts written by a well-known minister, Cotton Mather.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

An Exact Map of New England and New York (detail)

Maps & Charts

An Exact Map of New England and New York (detail)

Cotton Mather

1702

Caption:

This is a smaller piece of a map (known as a detail) that is the first map of New England in the 18th century. It was published in a history of Massachusetts written by a well-known minister, Cotton Mather. This detail shows the first four towns in New Hampshire, Dover, Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Maps & Charts

Historical Map of Hampton

Alex Wallach

1989

Caption:

This is a historical map of Hampton, NH, one of the Granite State's first four towns. A historical map is a modern map made to show places, cultures, and events in the past. This is different from a historic map, which is a map made in the past. This historical map was made in 1989 and is based on a map made in 1938 for Hampton's 300th anniversary.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Lane Memorial Library

Maps & Charts

Historical Map of Hampton (detail)

Alex Wallach

1989

Caption:

This is a smaller piece (known as a detail) of a historical map of Hampton, NH, one of the Granite State's first four towns. It shows the part of Hampton that was the original settlement, founded in 1638.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Lane Memorial Library

Maps & Charts

Abraham Lincoln Visits Massachusetts

Richard Friend Lufkin

1948

Caption:

A thematic map is a map that presents information on a particular topic or theme. This thematic map shows the places Abraham Lincoln visited in Massachusetts in 1848. It was made on the 100th anniversary of that visit in 1948.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Maps & Charts

Airways of the World

William A. Briesemeister and Aeronautics Maps Association

1919

Caption:

A thematic map is a map that presents information on a particular topic or theme. This thematic map is from the early period of air travel. It was drawn to show possible air transportation routes all over the world. Distances between different cities are displayed on the bottom.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Military Map of the United States and Territories

Maps & Charts

Military Map of the United States and Territories

P.S. Duval and Son

1861

Caption:

A thematic map is a map that presents information on a particular topic or theme. This map shows the military bases, naval yards, and important ports in the United States at the very beginning of the Civil War.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Maps & Charts

Spiritual Balance

Caption:

The Abenaki believe that everything in the world has a spirit, including plants, animals, the land, and the elements. All spirits are important, and all spirits' needs should be respected. Everything in the world is connected through these spirits. It's important to keep all of these spirits in balance. That is why the Abenaki people believe that you should only take from the earth what you need. It is also why they thank the animal for its sacrifice after a hunt.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

New Hampshire's First Four Towns

Caption:

This map shows the location of New Hampshire's first four English towns: Dover, Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

European Countries with American Colonies

Maps & Charts

European Countries with American Colonies

1648

Caption:

New Hampshire was settled by English colonists. But England was not the only European country with colonies in the New World in the 17th century. France, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands all had colonies too. This map of Europe shows all of those countries and their borders in 1648.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

European Colonies in North America, 1660

Maps & Charts

European Colonies in North America, 1660

1660

Caption:

New Hampshire was settled by English colonists. But England was not the only European country with colonies in North America in the 17th century. France, Spain, and the Netherlands all had colonies on the east coast of North America too. This map shows those colonies in 1660.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

English Settlements in North America

1623

Caption:

New Hampshire wasn't the first English settlement in North America! You've probably heard of Plymouth, where the Pilgrims settled. Maybe you've heard of Jamestown, Virginia, too. This map shows all of the English settlements on the east coast of North America in 1623. 1623 was the year that the English settlements at Odiorne's Point and Dover, New Hampshire, were established.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

New Hampshire Towns Founded by 1725

1725

Caption:

This map shows the New Hampshire towns founded by English settlers in the early colonial period, up to 1725.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Maps & Charts

Map of Area Affected by the Great Dying

New Hampshire PBS

1616–1619

Caption:

Before English colonists established permanent settlements in what is now called New Hampshire, there was a terrible plague that killed thousands of indigenous people. European traders brought the plague to Abenaki people living along the Saco River in 1616. It spread all throughout New England. By 1619, more than 75% of the Abenaki living in seacoast region had died. This period is known as the "Great Dying."

Image Credit: PBS Learning Media: Teachers Guide: Indigenous Peoples Voices: Surviving New England’s Great Dying, New Hampshire PBS

Maps & Charts

Meeting House Green, Hampton

From History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire by Joseph Dow (Salem Press Publishing, 1893).

1638

Caption:

English settlers established three important industries in New Hampshire starting in the 1630s—fish, fur, and forests. These industries were successful, so more and more settlers came to make money. Some of them stayed and formed towns. This map shows and early settlement that became the town of Hampton, New Hampshire.

Image Credit: Image courtesy of Hampton Historical Society

Objects in this Unit:

Object

17th-century Shoe

circa 1670–1699

Caption:

This leather shoe was made in England some time between 1670 and 1699.

Object

Bear Trap

circa 1650

Caption:

This wrought iron animal trap was owned by Joseph Dow, who lived in Hampton, NH. It may be the first animal trap brought to the British North American colonies. It was probably used to trap bears, muskrats, and minks, which were used for their fur and meat.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Object

Late 17th-century Hand Saw

A.E. Gunther

circa late 1600s

Caption:

This frame saw was used in the late 1600s. Frame saws can make small cuts, like cutting curves or shapes within wooden boards. The cord at the top can be tightened to keep the frame pulled tight.

Object

17th-century Jug

circa 1650–1670

Caption:

This stoneware jug was made in Germany in the 17th century. These types of jugs were used to store food or drink or transport goods. They were found all throughout Europe and the American colonies, and were known for having the image of a bearded man as a decoration.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Object

Early 17th-century Brass Kettles

circa 1610–1620

Caption:

These brass kettles were made in Europe. They were probably used as kitchen items, for cooking, serving, and storing food. Kettles like this were also traded to Native Americans throughout New England in exchange for items such as furs. These kettles were lighter and less fragile than the clay pots that Native Americans used.

Object

Knife and Fork

circa 1600

Caption:

This knife and fork set was made in the early 17th century. The handles are made of agate, a kind of stone. The original steel blade on the knife and prongs on the fork were replaced by silver in the 1800s.

Object

Silver Tablespoon

circa 1675

Caption:

This silver tablespoon was made in Europe near the end of the 17th century.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Object

Table Salt

Caption:

Salt has been used to preserve food for thousands of years. Salt draws water out of food. For example, salting beef removes the water content and produces beef jerky, which lasts much longer than fresh beef. In addition, many bacteria cannot survive in high salt environments. This was really important in the time before there were refrigerators to keep food cold and safe.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Object

Early 17th-century Musket

circa 1610–1620

Caption:

This musket was made in Germany in the early 1600s. It is called a wheel-lock musket and was probably a very expensive piece of equipment. When the small wheel on the side turns, it produces sparks that light the gunpowder. The person using the gun didn't have to light a match so it was easier and faster to use than older muskets. Some early settlers may have brought this type of gun with them from Europe.

Object

17th-century Man's Clothing

circa 1625–1635

Caption:

This set of clothing was everyday dress for a man in the early 17th century. It was made of wool and was originally black, although the fabric has now faded to brown. The short pants, called breeches, would have been worn with stockings underneath.

Object

17th-century Ax Head

circa 1600–1700

Caption:

This is an iron ax head from England or France in the 17th century. It would have been used by settlers themselves or as an item to trade with the Abenaki. It would have been a very useful tool for either group.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Object

17th-century Screw

circa 1675

Caption:

This metal screw was used to hold pieces of wood together. Until a blacksmith set up shop in the New World, settlers would have had to bring even small, everyday items like this with them from England.

Object

Model of Ship London

circa 1770

Caption:

This is a model of a ship named London that was built in 1770 or 1771 in New York for English owners. Shipbuilding was an important industry in the North American colonies because there was so much wood available. This model was built in 1967.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Object

Lamp

circa 1600–1700

Caption:

This is a type of lamp that was used in the 17th and 18th centuries. It may have been used in a home, barn, or workshop, and it probably would have burned some kind of grease, like fish oil, to produce light. This lamp is made of iron, but others at the time may have been made of tin or brass.

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Object

English Trade Axe

circa 1600s

Caption:

This type of axe is called a trade axe. The English manufactured thousands of axes to trade with Native Americans in exchange for animal furs. They also sometimes gave the axes as gifts. Metal axes cut things more quickly than stone tools.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ted Ingraham, The Joyner's Chest

Object

Beaver Felt Hat

circa 1590–1680

Caption:

Hats made from beaver pelts were very popular in Europe in the 1500s and 1600s. That's one reason why the fur trade was so important. New Hampshire had lots of beavers, which the English settlers trapped for their pelts. The settlers also traded with the Abenaki for beaver pelts to send back to England. This style of hat was worn by both men and women in the early 1600s. It was made of beaver felt, which was made by separating the skin from the fur.

Object

New Hampshire's First State Seal Plate

John Ward Gilman

1776

Caption:

A seal is a round plate or stamp that is dipped in wax to make a mark on an official document. This state seal shows some important symbols of New Hampshire. On the left is a codfish. On the right is a white pine tree. In the middle there are five arrows bound together. At the time this seal was created, there were five counties in New Hampshire. This was the first seal designed after New Hampshire and the rest of the original 13 colonies declared independence from England in July 1776. The words on the seal are in Latin. Sigill rei pub Neohantoni means "seal of the state of New Hampshire." Vis unita fortior means "a united force is stronger."

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Audiovisuals in this Unit:

Mason Presents: Abenaki Stories: Gluskabe Creates Companions

Audiovisual

Mason Presents: Abenaki Stories: Gluskabe Creates Companions

circa 1995

Story told by Joseph Bruchac

Image Credit: Produced by the New Hampshire Historical Society

Documents in this Unit:

Document

Trade and Settlement Report

William Partridge and Benjamin Jackson

1699

Caption:

This report from colonial officials in New Hampshire to royal officials in London describes some of the natural resources in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts that could earn money for the king. William Partridge was the lieutenant governor of New Hampshire. He and Benjamin Jackson described all the places in the region that had white pine trees that could be used for ships' masts and other products. They suggest that the royal officials encourage people in England to move there and build settlements, so they can harvest the timber and build ships. This is the first page of the report. It was 18 pages altogether!

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Document

Wheelwright Deed

John Wheelwright and Wehanownowit

1638

Caption:

John Wheelwright was an English settler. Wehanownowit was the leader of the Piscataqua group of Abenaki people who lived in the Piscataqua River area of the New Hampshire seacoast. In the spring of 1638, Wheelwright and Wehanownowit signed this legal document, called a deed, so that the English could settle on the land where the Abenaki lived. This eventually became the town of Exeter. The English and the Abenaki had very different ideas about how to use land, so the two groups did not interpret this document the same way.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society

Document

Advertising the New World

Title page from John Smith, A True Relation of Virginia

1608

Caption:

This is the title page of a book written by Captain John Smith. Smith was an English explorer and one of the founders of the Jamestown colony in Virginia. He also traveled to New England, and even gave the region its name. Smith wrote several books to encourage English people to settle in the New World.

Image Credit: From the 1866 edition, edited by Charles Deane, at the Internet Archive

Videos in this Unit:

Video

Mason Explains: European Explorers

Caption:

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Video

Virtual Field Trip: Fort at No. 4

2023

Caption:

Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society

Biographies in this Unit:

Biography

Passaconaway

circa 1575–1665

Caption:

Passaconaway, also called "Papisseconawa," was the leader of the Penacook people, an Abenaki tribe living in the Merrimack Valley. He lived during the time of English exploration and settlement of the Abenaki homeland, called N’dakinna. The Penacook were part of a large and powerful group of Abenaki tribes, called a confederacy. Passaconaway was a very important and respected leader. The Abenaki believed that he had special powers, like being able to see the future, to control the weather, and to transform into the shapes of animals, like bears. His name means "child of the bear" in the Abenaki language. When the English arrived, Passaconaway encouraged the Abenaki to live peacefully with them. He believed this was the best way to keep his people safe and preserve their culture and way of life. It is hard to know exactly when he was born and exactly when he died, but legend has it that he lived to be 120 years old!

Image Credit: Engraving by B.W. Thayer Company in C. E. Potter's History of Manchester, 1856, New Hampshire Historical Society

Biography

Sebastian Cabot

circa 1474–circa 1557

Caption:

Sebastian Cabot was the first European explorer known to have visited New Hampshire. He was Italian but worked for the English king. His father was also a famous explorer! Cabot sailed to North America around 1508. He was hoping to find a water route around North America so he could reach Asia. He explored eastern Canada and then sailed down the New England coast. He did not get off his ship or explore the land. By the time Cabot returned to England, the king had died. The new king was not as interested in exploring, so Cabot went to work as a mapmaker. Later he worked for the king of Spain and explored South America.

Image Credit: Illustration by S. Rawle in The Remarkable Life, Adventures, and Discoveries of Sebastian Cabot by James Fawckner Nicholls, 1869, courtesy of the British Library

Biography

Martin Pring

circa 1580–1626

Caption:

Martin Pring was the first English explorer to sail up the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire. He was only 23 years old in 1603 when he led an expedition to New England to find sassafras. Sassafras is a plant that people used as medicine. Pring and his crew explored the coast of Maine and then landed near what is now Portsmouth. They sailed 10 or 12 miles up the Piscataqua River. He didn’t find any sassafras there, though, so he continued south to Cape Cod. He found a lot of sassafras and met with the indigenous people who lived there. He sent a whole boatload of sassafras back to England, along with information about all of the plants and animals that he saw in New England. His reports helped convince English businessmen that they could make money by sponsoring settlements there. Pring continued to explore North America and Asia after this successful voyage.

Image Credit:

Biography

John Smith

circa 1580–1631

Caption:

John Smith was a famous English explorer. In 1607, he helped settle Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. In 1614, he set out to explore the land north of Virginia. He named the area “New England.” He sailed all along the coast from Maine to Massachusetts. He stopped at some islands off the coast of New Hampshire and named them “Smith’s Isles” after himself. Today we call them the Isles of Shoals. He traded with the indigenous people for beaver pelts, which he brought back to England. He also brought back a lot of codfish. When he returned to England, he drew a map of the area and published a book about what he saw there. His stories of the natural resources and good climate in New England encouraged English settlers to move there.

Image Credit: Detail from a map of New England originally by John Smith, engraved by Simon van de Pass, 1635, courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library

Biography

David Thomson

circa 1592–1628

Caption:

David Thomson (sometimes spelled Thompson) founded the first permanent English settlement in New Hampshire, at what is now called Odiorne’s Point in Rye. Starting when he was still a boy, Thomson sailed to New England several times. He decided that the area near the Piscataqua River would be a good place to build a settlement. In 1623, he convinced a group of English businessmen to hire him to set up a year-round fishing station there. The settlers were supposed to send a lot of fish back to England to make money for the businessmen. They were also supposed to farm and set up a trading post. At first there were only 10 or 20 settlers, and they built a fort, some houses, and buildings to process the fish. In 1626, Thomson and his family moved to an island in Boston Harbor, called Thompson Island today. He died a few years later.

Image Credit:

Biography

John Mason

1586–1635

Caption:

John Mason was an English investor who gave New Hampshire its name. A naval officer and businessman, Mason had been the governor of the British settlement of Newfoundland, on the coast of Canada. He realized how important the fur trade was, so he started a company based in New Hampshire to supply beaver furs for sale in England. The business was called the Laconia Company. Mason sent English settlers to build outposts along the Piscataqua River and the other rivers around what is now Portsmouth. Mason named this area New Hampshire after Hampshire County, where he lived in England. Mason was planning to move to New Hampshire, but he died before he could leave England.

Image Credit:

Biography

Edward Hilton

1596–1670

Caption:

Edward Hilton and his brother, William, founded one of New Hampshire’s first four English towns, Dover. The Hilton brothers were fishmongers in London, England. They came to New Hampshire with David Thomson as part of his fishing settlement, but the Hilton brothers set up their own fishing operation on the Piscataqua River in 1623, which they named Hilton’s Point. Most people called this settlement Cocheco, after the Abenaki name for the area. It eventually became known as Dover.

Image Credit:

Biography

Kancamagus

unknown–circa 1690

Caption:

Kancamagus was an Abenaki warrior and the grandson of Passaconaway. He became the sachem of the Penacook people, a band of Abenaki, in the 1680s. Kancamagus had a different relationship with the English settlers than his grandfather had. During his lifetime, more and more English settlers were arriving. They took more of the Abenaki’s land and treated them badly. Kancamagus began to fight with the English. He led the attack on Dover that killed Richard Waldron. A few months later, the English kidnapped Kancamagus’s wife and children. Eventually, Kancamagus signed a treaty with the English, and his family was released. Many of his people moved north and west so they could live in peace. He probably died around 1690. Hundreds of years later, a mountain and a scenic road in the White Mountains were named after him.

Image Credit:

Biography

Richard Waldron

1615–1689

Caption:

Richard Waldron was an important leader of the English settlement at Dover, New Hampshire. He damaged the relationship between the Abenaki and the English settlers. Waldron was born in England but emigrated to Dover, which was then called Cocheco, around 1635. He built the first sawmill in Dover, owned a lot of land, and had a lot of political power. He was also a merchant and traded with the local Abenaki, but he didn’t always provide them with the goods he had promised. In the 1670s there was a war between English settlers in Massachusetts and the Wampanoags, a Native American tribe who lived south of New Hampshire. Many Wampanoag people moved to the area around Dover to live with the Abenaki and escape the war. Waldron didn’t like having so many new Native Americans around. In 1676 he invited the Abenaki and the Wampanoags to a big party with food and games, but it was a trick. The Wampanoags were arrested, and many were sent to be slaves in the West Indies. The Abenaki were released and could go home, but they were very angry that Waldron had betrayed them. Many years later, during another war, the Abenaki attacked Dover and killed Waldron.

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Biography

John Wheelwright

circa 1592–1679

Caption:

John Wheelwright was an English minister who founded the town of Exeter, New Hampshire. In 1636, he emigrated with his family to Boston and began to preach there. He didn’t get along with the colonial authorities in Massachusetts Bay, though. They disagreed about religion, and the Massachusetts officials didn’t like what Wheelwright was preaching. Eventually he was banished from Massachusetts. Wheelwright, his family, and about 20 other families moved north to New Hampshire in 1638. They signed a deed, or a document, with the local Abenaki sachem, Wehanownowit, to buy a piece of land and build a town. They called the town Squamscott. Later it was called Exeter. Finally, the government of Massachusetts Bay pardoned Wheelwright, so he was able to go back to Massachusetts to live. Even though Wheelwright had left Exeter, the settlement was very successful and continued to grow.

Image Credit: Portrait by an unknown artist, circa 1677, courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society

Biography

Wehanownowit

unknown

Caption:

Wehanownowit was the sachem of the Squamscott people, a band of Abenaki. During the summers, the Squamscott lived and farmed in the area around where the Squamscott and Exeter rivers meet. Several different bands of Abenaki used to meet in this area to fish for salmon. Unfortunately we do not have a lot of information about Wehanownowit, like when he was born and when he died. We do know that when John Wheelwright and his followers settled in the area where the Squamscott people lived, they wrote a deed, or legal document. The deed gave the English settlers the right to settle the land. It also said that the Squamscott people still had the right to hunt and fish there. Because he was the sachem, Wehanownowit signed the deed on behalf of the Squamscott people. He used a pictograph, or drawing of himself. We don’t know for sure what happened to Wehanownowit after the deed was signed. More and more settlers came to the town, which was eventually called Exeter. It was harder and harder for the Squamscott people to hunt and fish there. Wehanownowit and his people probably moved west to New York.

Image Credit: Detail of the pictograph used by Wehanownowit to sign the Wheelwright Deed, courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society

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