David Thomson
Birth: c. 1588-9
  • Location: Scotland
Death: abt. 1628 (age: about 40)
  • Location: near Trimountaine (renamed Boston in 1630), Colony of Massachusetts Bay
  • Burial: (generally believed to have drown in Massachusetts Bay)

THOMPSON Family Line

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thompson_(New_Hampshire_settler)):
"David Thompson or David Thomson (1588 - disappeared 1628) was an early Scot settler of the New England area, considered the founder and first non-native settler of New Hampshire. He was granted a land patent for Thompson Island in Boston Harbor, which continues to bear his name. According to Burke's Landed Gentry (2010), his family—the Thomsons of Corstorphine—are direct descendants of a great-grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, namely, Sir Thomas Stewart, Master of Mar."

It seems fairly certain that David Thomson was the first non-native settler of what is now New Hampshire. The colony that became the state was founded on the division in 1629 of a land grant given in 1622 by the Council for New England to Captain John Mason (former governor of Newfoundland) and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (who founded Maine). The colony was named "New Hampshire" by Mason after the English county of Hampshire, one of the first Saxon shires. John Mason sent David Thomson to set up the first settlement.

David Thomson first settled at Odiorne's Point in Rye (near Portsmouth) with a group of fishermen from England in 1623, just three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. The settlers built a fort, manor house and other buildings, some for fish processing, on Flake Hill at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, naming the settlement "Pannaway Plantation".

Several years later, David Thomson moved his family to an island he acquired as part of his compensation from the Council for New England in what is now known as Boston Harbor in 1626. They became the first European settlers of what would become Boston, Massachusetts in 1630.

David disappeared in 1628 and was never heard from again. Some historians theorize he was the victim of foul play, as he was at times called upon to serve as mediator in hostile conflicts and negotiations between expanding English groups and native inhabitants. Others suggest that he accidentally drowned in the harbor.

NOTE: There have been two schools of thought on the ancestry of David Thomson. The more traditional belief has been that Thomson was born in London to a servant of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, later the Governor of the Port of Plymouth in England and a principal founder and investor in the Plymouth Council for New England, and that by growing up in the Gorges' household, he became a trusted assistant and aide to Gorges as an adult. So much so that Gorges bestowed upon him great administrative responsibility and grants of land to act on behalf of the Plymouth Council for New England in the settlement and establishment of trade in New England.

A newer, more compelling belief has risen over the past couple of decades that suggests Thomson was actually a Scotsman, born into a noble family in the parish of Corstorphine outside of Edinburgh, and educated at the University of Edinburgh. (NOTE: The David Thomson page pointed to in the Wikipedia link above has just recently been updated to reflect this belief, furthering its growing acceptance.) In this belief, Thomson was well-connected to the higher levels of Scottish noble society of the time through his father's personal acquaintance with Mary, Queen of Scots, and later her son, King James VI of Scotland, later to become King James I of England through the union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603. King James was also a principal shareholder of the original Plymouth Company, as was Ferdinando Gorges, and it was through this connection that David Thomson and Ferdinando Gorges became associated. See this page for more.

Father: Rev. Richard Thomson (1564-1606)
Mother: unknown
Spouse: Amias Colle
  • Birth: abt 1595 in Plymouth, Devonshire, England
  • Marriage: Jul 18, 1613 in St. Andrew, Plymouth, Devonshire, England
  • Death: after 1672
    • Burial: unknown
Children:
Occupation(s): Apothecary, explorer, lawyer, agent for Plymouth Council for New England


Supporting Evidence:

  • Marriage Record of David Thomson and Amyes Colle (Transcription)
    Marriage: St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, Devon, England on Jul 18, 1613
    From Devonshire Parish Registers, ed. Thos. M. Blagg, Vol. II, 1915, p.74
  • Extract from:
    Descendants of David and Amyes (Colle) Thomson and Their Son John
    Ten Generations of Thomsons Descended from David, who died on Thompson's Island in Massachusetts Bay, and his son John, of Mendon Massachusetts.
    Compiled & Published by Henry Joseph Amy, 1964

Miscellaneous Documents, Media:

  • David Thomson's Indenture
    From: The New Hampshire Genealogical Record, Vol. II, No. 1, July 1904, pp. 1-5.
    Published from the original manuscript by permission of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
  • Article: Thomsons Were the First NH Settlers in 1623
    by J. Dennis Robinson, 2009
    Retrieved from www.SeacoastNH.com
  • Odiorne's Point Historical Marker
    The site of David Thomson's former Pannaway Plantation, the location of the first European settlement in New Hampshire.
  • Article: David Thomson Memorial At Old Odiorne Pointe Cemetery
    He settled New Hampshire. Then disappeared from history.
    Retrieved from www.GreatAmericanTreasures.org
  • David Thomson Memorial At Odiorne Pointe State Park
    Odiorne Point State Park in Rye NH, site of first European settlers on New Hampshire seacoast
  • David Thomson and the Second Thanksgiving
    From: Good Newes From New-England : or, A true relation of things very remarkable at the plantation of Plimoth in New-England ...
    By Edward Winslow, Published in London, 1624