Settlers at Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony (1623)

Please add to this project the Geni profiles mentioned in the articles, or from other sources you may find. Geni profiles in bold, external links are not bold.

From “Colony of Massachusetts Bay”

The settlements formed by these squatters and stragglers were quite unauthorized by the New England Council, which owned the title to the soil. As this Council had accomplished very little under its patent, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, its most active member, persisted in his efforts to found a colony, brought about a general distribution of the territory among its members, and obtained for himself and his son Robert, the section around and immediately north of Massachusetts Bay. An expedition was at once launched. In September, 1623, Robert Gorges with six gentlemen and a well-equipped and well-organized body of settlers reached Plymouth, — the forerunners, it was hoped, of a large number to come. This company of settlers was composed of families, the heads of which were mechanics and farmers, and with them were two clergymen, Morrell and William Blackstone, the whole constituting the greatest enterprise set on foot in America by the Council. Robert Gorges, bearing a commission constituting him Governor-General over all New England, made his settlement at Weston's old place at Wessagusset. Here he built houses and stored his goods and began the founding of Weymouth, the second permanent habitation in New England and the first on Massachusetts Bay. Unfortunately, famine, that arch-enemy of all the early settlers, fell upon his company, his father's resources in England proved inadequate, and he and others were obliged to return. Of those that remained a few stayed at Wessagusset; one of the clergymen,William Blackstone, with his wife went to Shawmut (Boston); Samuel Maverick and his wife, to Winnissimmet (Chelsea); and the Walfords, to Mishawum (Charlestown). Probably all these people were Anglicans; some later became freemen of the Massachusetts colony; others who refused to conform returned to England; but Blackstone remained in his little cottage on the south slope of Beacon Hill, unwilling to join any of the churches, because, as he said, he came from England to escape the "Lord Bishops," and he did not propose in America to be under the "Lord Brethren."

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessagusset_Colony

In September 1623, a second colony was created on the abandoned site at Wessagusset, led by Governor-General Robert Gorges. This colony was rechristened as Weymouth and was also unsuccessful, and Governor Gorges returned to England the following year. Despite that, some settlers remained in the village and it was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.
Gorges arrived in Massachusetts in September 1623, only four months after Weston's colony collapsed. Instead of founding his colony at the location described in the patent, he chose the abandoned settlement at Wessagusset. It was rechristened Weymouth after Weymouth, Dorset, the town where the expedition began. Over the following weeks, he visited Plymouth and ordered the arrest of Thomas Weston who had arrived in that colony in the Swan.
After wintering in Weymouth, Gorges abandoned his new colony in the spring of 1624 due to financial difficulties. Most of his settlers returned to England, but some remained as colonists in Weymouth, Plymouth, or Virginia, and William Blaxton settled in Boston. The remaining Weymouth settlers were supported by Plymouth until they were made part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.

From Cook, Lewis Atwood, ed. (1918), History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622–1918, 1, New York, NY: S. J. Clark Publishing Company, p. 290 GoogleBooks

THE GORGES COMPANY

A few months after the disappearance of the Weston colony, probably in early September, 1623, another expedition sailed up the Fore River and landed at the deserted plantation. It was led by Robert Gorges, a son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, acting under a charter from the Plymouth Company. The men who came with Captain Gorges were of a different type from those sent over by Weston the year before, one of them being Rev. William Morrell, a minister of the Church of England. The charter gave them "ten miles of the coast on the northeast side of the Massachusetts Bay and extending thirty miles inland." In selecting the place to begin his settlement, Gorges no doubt thought Wessaguscus was covered by the grant. Says Gilbert Nash: "They chose their ten miles evidenly to include the entrance to Boston Harbor, and this mistake, if mistake it were, was the cause of much trouble in the future." Mr. Nash says further: "The plan of the colony was projected upon a scale of magnificent proportions and with machinery sufficient to conduct the affairs of an empire. Captain Gorges was named as GovernorGeneral, with a general oversight of the company's officers in America, and authority by commission to carry out his plans. Associated with him in the government were Capt. Francis West, admiral; Christopher Levet, Esq., perhaps the chief judicial officer, and such others as the Governor-General chose to appoint, any two of whom, with himself, were empowered to transact any business necessary for the government of the colony. The governor of Plymouth, for the time being, was constituted a member of the government."
As soon as Governor Bradford of Plymouth learned that the company had arrived at Wessaguscus, he made arrangements to visit the colony. Before he had time to put his design into execution, Gorges, while on a tour of inspection over his grant, encountered bad weather and took refuge at Plymouth. After remaining there a few days he returned by land to his settlement. Upon his arrival there it appears he for the first time exercised his authority as governorgeneral by causing the arrest of Thomas Weston, who had come into Plymouth Bay on the Swan, and ordering him and his vessel to be sent around to Wessagus. Not long after this he returned to England, with a considerable portion of his company, "thoroughly disgusted with the work of founding an empire in the New World."
After the departure of Gorges, some of his colonists went to Virginia, Rev. William Morrell took up his temporary abode at Plymouth, and a few remained at Wessaguscus. In fact the settlement made by Gorges at Wessaguscus was never entirely broken up. Mr. Morrell went back to England in 1624 and the same year a number of emigrants from Weymouth, England, joined the little band on the shores of the Fore River. With them came a non-conformist minister by the name of Barnard, who remained in the settlement until his death. The records of the colony for the next few years are meager, though there is an occasional mention of the settlement at Wessaguscus, indicating continual though small accessions to the number of inhabitants. Governor Winthrop visited the place in 1632 and was "liberally entertained by those residing there," and in the next year Wessaguscus is mentioned as "a small village." All the evidence tends to show that the Gorges settlement was permanent and therefore the second settlement in Massachusetts.

---

"First Hundred Years," By Theodore G. “Ted” Clarke. (2005) < weymouth.ma.us/history

Part I

Most of you know that Weymouth was the second settlement in Massachusetts. But there’s a lot more to its beginnings than just that stale fact. This will be a quick tour through our town’s early history. We’ll introduce you to some situations the early settlers faced, the kinds of decisions they made, and what those beginnings meant to the town we have today. This will give you a passing glance at the first 100 years of our town. In later programs we’ll see what happened after that.

Early Weymouth is an excellent example of a group of people who made their own rules and laws, governed themselves, and took advantage of the things they found at this inlet of Massachusetts Bay. The first group who settled there were not the ones who made these things happen. They did locate an excellent spot for the town to grow in, but they were not prepared to get along with their neighbors, to take care of themselves, or to leave a heritage for those who came after. From the second group of settlers, only a few had a major impact on the future town. But both of these groups left an ember of life that grew into a colonial settlement and then a town. The resilience and self-reliance of these early people led to the Weymouth we know today.

But these people weren’t just names in a history book. They were humans just like us. So, like us, they did some things well, and some things poorly. When they came up against problems they couldn’t search the internet or get on the phone for a solution. They had to find their own. Let’s take a look at how the early settlers succeeded and how they failed, and let’s see how the town built upon these early foundations.

1622 is the date of the settlement of Weymouth, then known as Wessagusset. It came only two years after the Pilgrims had settled in Plymouth and is the second-oldest settlement in Massachusetts. But unlike the Plymouth settlement, Weymouth was settled according to a plan. It had nothing to do with religious freedom. It had everything to do with making money. And the choice of Weymouth was based on its geography. In fact, a lot of Weymouth’s history grew right out of its geography – where it is on the map, what the land and the coast and the rivers are like, and where it’s located in regard to Boston and the rest of the world.

So we ought to look at the geography first in order to understand why things worked out the way they did. At the same time, we have to keep an eye on the rest of Massachusetts – the things that were happening in Boston and Plymouth and Salem and other early settlements. They all had an effect on what the colonists were doing in Weymouth during the same period.

Weymouth is on the seacoast, but it’s in a harbor that’s protected by island barriers and by the peninsula of Hull from ocean waves and storms. It was and is a good place to dock wooden sailing ships without worrying about having them dashed to splinters on the rocks.

That same harbor has the mouths of two rivers – the Fore River and the Back River. Both were deep enough for sailing ships and each had some rapid or falling water that could be used for power, but they also had protected inlets where you could tie up a boat or build a mill or fishery.

And, yes, fish were important and so were shellfish. That goes back to the early days of the American Indians who had been fishing and trapping and trading along these shores for thousands of years. In fact, in the time just before white settlers came, the American Indians of the Massachusetts tribe spent summers here doing those things. Each winter they went to their year-round villages in the Blue Hills.

(In 1965, a dugout canoe was found in Great Pond after the pond had become shallow because of a drought. The canoe was brought to the Tufts Library where carbon-14 testing found it to be 600 years old. Other Indian artifacts were also found, mainly around the ponds and streams of the town. Some of these relics date back thousands of years.)

As it happened, there had been an outbreak of serious disease about five years before the settlement and it had killed many Indians near the coast of Massachusetts, in and around Massachusetts Bay. That event had something to do with the choice of Weymouth for settlement.

That brings us to choice. How was Weymouth chosen? The settlement was spurred by Thomas Weston from London, England. Weston was not interested in religious freedom like the Pilgrims or Puritans. He didn’t care much about setting up a colony for future generations either. No, Weston was a money man. They were called “merchant-adventurers” then. He was one of a group that had helped to finance the Pilgrims and helped pay the cost of the “Mayflower”. But Weston expected things in return. He wanted the Pilgrim settlers to send back to England timber and beaver skins and fish.

But the Pilgrims weren’t very interested in those things, so it wasn’t long before he lost interest in them. When he made additional demands on them, the partnership teetered and eventually collapsed. He sold his shares in the Plymouth company in May 1622. But even though Weston was not interested in the religious leanings of the Pilgrims, he did believe that a New England settlement could make money. So he decided to form his own company and his own settlement.

He obtained a grant to 6,000 acres of land in Massachusetts Bay and bought two ships – the “Charity”, 100 tons, and the “Swan” – 30 tons, as well as a smaller vessel – the “Sparrow”. Weston had learned about the New England coast from those who had been there. He also had a map made by John Smith in 1614 which included Boston Bay, and what is now Weymouth. Smith had described the region as the “Paradise of New England.” That sounded good.

But stories and maps can only tell you so much. Weston wanted better intelligence. So, early in 1622 he sent the “Sparrow” to New England to check things out. It stopped first at the fishing station along the Maine coast at Damariscove Island. From there a few men took a smaller boat, called a shallop to explore the coast. They were looking for a good place for a trading post and they found an excellent area along the Fore River in Massachusetts Bay called “Wessagusset” in the Indian tongue spoken there. But they wouldn’t hear from too many Indians because of that epidemic we told you about that had wiped out much of the population a few years before. Not having large numbers of Indians around was all right with this group.

They also liked this area for just the reasons we talked about earlier – location, location, location. On the coast, but protected; – rivers with inlets and power; – fish and shellfish. It also had marsh grass that could be harvested, and open lands that could be settled without their having to go to the trouble of cutting down lots of trees.

So they agreed. This was it. As planned, they now sailed south to Plymouth. It happened that they arrived just in time to save the life of the Indian named “Squanto” who was suspected of helping to plan an Indian raid on Plymouth. Squanto was about to be executed. After the distraction caused by the Sparrow, Squanto was found to be innocent. There are many stories about Squanto, but that’s for another time and place.

Meanwhile, Weston had sent over his two other ships, the Charity and the Swan. They reached Plymouth in June. The Charity went on to Virginia, while a few of the 60-70 men in the Swan, led by Weston’s brother-in-law, Richard Greene, left for Wessagusset where they were welcomed by the Indians and their sachem Aberdecest. They exchanged gifts and made arrangements with the Indians to give them the right to settle there. They chose a site for their settlement where the Fore River meets the Monatiquot, a place later called Hunt’s Hill.

It was described as land that projected into the water, with a curving point. When they passed around it they came to a beautiful bay sheltered from wind and waves. Here they anchored and stepped ashore.

History is often uncertain. Documents are lost. Accounts vary. People interpret the same data differently. We’ll find several cases like that in our history of Weymouth. One of them is a long-standing doubt about where Weston’s men landed. But in 1884 a map of Massachusetts Bay drawn by Governor Winthrop in 1634 was located. This map actually shows the site of the Weston settlement at Hunt’s Hill between the present location of the Fore River Bridge and the foot of Sea Street. The “beautiful bay” would have been what we call King’s Cove. It was probably more beautiful then.

So it was on Hunt’s Hill (which is no longer there) that the settlers built a blockhouse for protection, houses to live in and the other buildings they needed. Those of Weston’s men who had been left in Plymouth went on to Wessagusset in late summer. And they were all men – no women, no families. That was what Weston wanted. They were said to be 30 servants and 30 gentlemen, but both the number and the type of men is uncertain. These men were not prepared to be colonists. They did not know how to take care of themselves in an undeveloped land. In particular, they failed to provide a storehouse of food for the cold weather to come. They existed hand-to-mouth, using up the fish and other food they acquired and saving nothing for later on. They built a fort and huts, but they had no skills and no provisions for hunting, planting, or fishing. You’ll remember that the Pilgrims had Squanto to teach them these things. Weston’s men had no such help. Some starved. In “A Voyage to New England”, (written at that time) Christopher Levett said they went about to build Castles in the Aire. His opinion may have been on solid ground.

Once they realized they were in trouble, the Wessagusset men joined with the Plymouth settlers for some foraging and trading expeditions, and they did bring home some food. But by late winter, they ran out again. They then turned to the Indians and here again, they failed in their dealings. They traded for corn, giving up clothes and blankets or performing services for them like cutting wood. This did not gain them respect, and when some of them began to steal corn from the Indians, things got worse.

When one of them was caught stealing, the Indians demanded that they punish him. (The punishment would have been hanging.) However, the thief was a tall, strong young man – one of their best workers, and a cobbler, too – and therefore very valuable to them.

They held a trial. Some of the settlers wanted to take a sickly, dying man who was a weaver, and dress him in the clothes of the thief and hang him instead. But in the end (depending on which version you accept) the true thief was hanged. If he was not, it wasn’t an auspicious moment for justice in America. Whoever they hanged, it did not settle the problem.

The current leader at Wessagusset, John Saunders, wanted to steal food from the Indians, but the people of Plymouth talked him out of it. He then left for the Maine fishing villages by shallop to get food there, but was not heard of again at Wessagusset. It has since been learned that he stayed in Maine. After Saunders left, food became even more scarce. Ten settlers in all died through hardship or disease.

Accounts vary markedly about the event which brought this difficulty with the Indians to an end. It is clear that relations with the Indians worsened. The Weston people strengthened the stockade.

In any case, the Indians, particularly one called Wituwaumet and one called Pecksuot, either threatened or appeared to be threatening not only the Wessagusset settlers, but those of Plymouth as well. There had recently been a massacre of settlers by Indians in Virginia, and news of this event had reached the settlers at Wessagusset and Plymouth as well as the Indians of the area. As you can imagine, that made the settlers jittery and more wary of Indians. The news may also have emboldened the Indians who had been afraid of the firearms the white settlers carried.

Phineas Pratt, now a leader of the Wessagusset contingent, believed from the actions of the Indians that they were planning an attack, both there and at Plymouth when the snow melted. He decided to go to Plymouth on foot by night to warn that colony. The account in his diary of his trip by foot is harrowing. He believed he was followed by an Indian who lost his track because Pratt stayed away from snow and mud where he would leave footprints. However, when he arrived at Plymouth, he learned that his news was no news at all. The Pilgrims had already heard of the plan for an attack from the sachem Massasoit. The chief had told this to a Plymouth settler who had given him medical treatment.

Not only that, but the Plymouth group had already discussed the situation and had agreed to take action. They sent Myles Standish and eight other armed men via boat to Wessagusset. Standish had met Wituwaumet earlier and had considered some of the Indian’s words to him to be threatening and insulting, so he was ready to take action. According to one version, when he arrived, Wituwaumat and Pecksuot visited Standish inside the stockade where Wituwaumet warned of destruction and the two Indians taunted Standish about his short stature.

Accounts of the skirmish that came the next day, April 6, 1623, differ somewhat. Apparently Standish lured Pecksuot, Wituwaumet and some others into the stockade for a feast. (One writer has said the food was drugged.) Five whites and four Indians were present. Standish had hoped for more Indians, but the two strongest fighters were there so he proceeded with his plan.

At a signal the doors were closed and Standish grappled with Pecksuot and wrested his knife from its sheath, at last killing him with it. Wituwaumet was also killed as was one other Indian, and the remainder of the Indians were routed. Wituwaumet was beheaded and his head was taken to Plymouth where it was displayed at the fort as a warning.

After this, however, at Standish’s advice, most of the Wessagusset settlers went to Plymouth or to the fishing stations on the Maine coast. According to Pratt, three remained at Wessagusset and were killed by the Indians.

Separation of Church and State?

We said in the beginning that the original settlers did not come for religious reasons. Subsequent groups, however, brought ministers, including Rev. Hull, so early Weymouth must have had religious services. The year book of the Old North Church at Weymouth Heights states that the church was “Gathered in 1623”. We know that a meetinghouse was built on Watch Hill where the present North Cemetery is, opposite the Soldiers Monument. It was replaced by another built in 1682.

However, several Protestant sects were represented in those early days, and they didn’t always get along. Many were Church of England, some were Puritans, and some of other persuasions. Most of the ministers favored the Church of England, but no sect was completely dominant. As newcomers came into Weymouth, the struggle became more intense. There are even cases of men being fined for disturbing the churches. An era of religious persecution of Quakers, Baptists and Episcopalians began, and it became dangerous even to have an English Prayer Book in your hand.

The Pilgrims at Plymouth and the Puritans at Boston did not agree at all about religion, and both were opposed to the rituals of the Church of England, so each applied pressure on Weymouth to follow their religious beliefs. This had the effect of stifling growth in Weymouth and causing many in town to go elsewhere where they could worship without pressure.

Weymouth was seen by the Puritans as the hotbed of the Episcopal Church (Church of England). Their worship was called “Popery” for its rituals that looked similar to those of the Catholic Church. Puritan leaders were determined that it must be stamped out. A committee from Boston was sent to Weymouth to search out and put an end to this form of worship”. Those who favored the Church of England were punished, fined, whipped or driven out of town. Freedom of speech and religion were crushed.

A curious example of this fever has come to us. Governor Endicott, a puritan minister, was so opposed to “Popery” that he cut out the cross from the flag because he considered it a symbol of Popery. (In 2004, the state of California was forced to remove the cross from its flag by those who believe it violated the separation of church and state. So symbols remain important, and religious struggle continues.)

In 1642, citing “land shortage” some of the residents of Weymouth moved to Rehoboth on the Rhode Island border with their minister, Rev. Samuel Newman. Many writers believe the move came because of religious differences, and that certainly seems logical. Weymouth historian Gilbert Nash says that Newman, who remained in Weymouth for four years, “…could not easily become reconciled to the spirit which was fast growing in Weymouth, so he resolved to emigrate….” Newman, an Episcopalian, took about 40 families with him. He was moving to an area where William Blaxton (formerly of Wessagusset and Boston) was now living. Others such as Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson, driven out of Boston by the Puritans, would also migrate to the Rhode Island area. Blaxton said he left England to “…get away from the power of the Lord’s Bishops, but he left Boston to get away from the power of the Lord’s Brethren. ....

...Let’s close out this one by mentioning a split of another kind that was happening in Weymouth. This time it wasn’t along religious lines, though it did involve the church. With a town as many miles long as Weymouth, it was difficult to get from one end to the other, particularly when the roads were merely trails, and especially when the weather got bad. But everybody was expected to be at the meetinghouse in the north end of town every Sabbath and holy day. At least until 1721.

At that time, a second meetinghouse was built in the south part of town. Of course this required a minister. And who should pay for him? In these days of separation of church and state, it’s hard to contemplate such an issue, but for our ancestors it was a real question. The town was paying for the minister in the north of town, but the people who lived there evidently thought local. The south part of town was not in their backyard, and they didn’t want to pay for the minister. So, those in the south part of town petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to become a new precinct or township. The north opposed it, and town meeting voted:

“To appoint John Torrey to represent Town at General Court in opposing any effort to divide Town or support two ministers from out of Common Funds.”

However, the second precinct was created in 1723 and a minister was appointed. There were later attempts to divide the town into two towns, but none were successful. So at the end of 100 years, Weymouth was one town with two precincts, its major religious battles were presently behind it, it was growing slowly, and the beginnings of early industry were starting to pop up.

Resources & References

• “Weymouth, GEORGE, kidnapper”
• “A Brief History of Weymouth, MA”
• Chamberlain, George Walter; 'History of Weymouth, Mass.'.History of Weymouth, Massachusetts: Published by the Weymouth Historical Society, Howard H. Joy, President. Under Direction of the Town, Volume 1. From the Weymouth Historical Society (Weymouth, MA). (1923). GoogleBooks. “Only a few months ago there was a sign on the road between Plymouth and Weymouth which was about as follows: “You are now coming to the town of Weymouth, which was settled in 1622 by a band of pirates who were driven out of Plymouth.”
• Phineas Pratt's NARRATIVE', Richard Frothingham, Jr., BOSTON: Press of T.R. Marvin and Son, 42 Congress Street. 1858. link at Pilgrim Hall Museum. This is an account of Phineas's memories of the early days in Weymouth. Based on the narrative the occupancy of Weymouth is; Weston Colony built fortifications and buildings in the fall of 1622 (Phineas arrived on the ship Sparrow in May 1622 at landed at Plymouth late May 1622). In the first part of July the Weston ships Charity and Swan arrived at Plymouth. In late July a party of men, including Phineas, in the Swan, went back up the coast to Wessaguscus-now the present day Weymouth. During the winter and early spring of 1622-1623 this group suffered starvation and fell under increasing control of the local indian tribes. Facing an increasing threat of being attacked by the natives, Phineas 'escaped' and walked back to the Plymouth colony for help. He arrived at Plymouth on March 24,1623. Miles Standish and a small group of men set out on March 25, in a small boat, to save the remaining colonists at Weymouth.
• “Wessagussett Cast of Characters” link Approximately 60 English settled Wessagussett, several families of Natives moved outside of the colony, and 10 Plymouth men arrived to "rescue" the settlers once they had worn out their hospitality. While we can never know all the name sof the participants in this early New England drama, several are known to us.
• “Gorges’ Servants” link After Weston's settlers abandoned Wessagussett, it was reoccupied soon after by settlers (single men and families) under a patent granted to Robert Gorges. Gorges' Plantation fared slightly better than Weston's- at least they weren't threatened by or getting into conflicts with the local Natives (who likley wanted nothing to do with the English by this point). Unfortunately, Gorges' settlement failed as well. Most of the settlers left for Virginia or England, but a few remained behind. Could these settlers left behind, and their settlment, help us to determine the original location of Weston's Wessagussett Plantation?
• Adams, Charles Francis. "Three Episodes of Massachusetts History" Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, The Riverside Press, Cambridge. 1892. Vol. 1 see at Hathitrust
• An Investigation into Weston's Colony at Wessagussett, Weymouth, Massachusetts Uploaded by Craig Chartier link
• “Saunders Memorial Dedication” On July 11, 2004, descendants of John Saunders, 2nd Governor of the Wessagussett colony, gathered to dedicate a memorial stone in honor of their ancestor.
• “Bungled Diplomacy, Murder, & Healing: A New American Day at Wessagussett“ by Dr Jack Dempsey
• http://www.weymouth-dorset.co.uk/
• http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/The_signatories_Gorges.pdf
• “Charity, 1622” The Charity, left England mid-summer (before or early July) 1622, arriving in Cape Cod late 1622. The Charity accompanied by the pinnace Swan arrived with 60 men and no provisions. Thomas Morton, later of Mare Mount ("Merry Mount"), may have been with this group. The new arrivals remained, temporarily, at the Plymouth colony, placing a heavy burden on the provisions there. Also on board these vessels were "some" passengers for Virginia.
• From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blaxton “Blaxton joined the failed Ferdinando Gorges expedition to America in 1623, and he arrived in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1623 on the ship Katherine[5] as a chaplain in the subsequent expedition of Robert Gorges. Most of his fellow travelers returned to England in 1625, and he became the first colonist to settle in Boston, living alone there. ...”
• “Katherine, 1623” Charles Banks Topographical lists the following passenger: Rev William Blackstone, from Horncastle, Lincolnshire, bound for Weymouth and Boston, MA. Ref: Bolton Real Founders. 36 pg 96. see at Hathitrust
• The next group of Weymouth colonists arrived in the late summer of 1623, I believe it was financed by the Georges Company. The records I have show that the ships 'Katherine' and 'Prophet Daniel', with approx. 120 passengers, reached the Weymouth colony in the middle of September, 1623. However, not all of these colonists stayed at Weymouth. The ship 'Katherine' continued on to the colonies in Virginia and some of the colonists continued on to Virginia. The new group of Weymouth colonists reoccupied the existing fort and buildings at the previous Wessaguscus (Weymouth) site. The Weymouth site had been abandoned on April 7-8, 1623 by the original group of colonists, including Phineas Pratt who joined the Plymouth colony.
• From THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BLACKSTONE (1595 — 1675) link. CHAPTER II: LEAVING FOR THE NEW WORLD It is now in early June, 1623, and GORGES ship is ready at Whitby. On Sunday, June 29, 1623, the Council for New England met at Greenwich, near London with KING JAMES, SIR FERNANDO GORGES and others, which was to be the send off of CAPTAIN ROBERT GORGES and his company to New England. CAPTAIN ROBERT GORGES, the son of SIR FERNANDO GORGES, was the Councils Lieutenant in charge of the expedition. A special prominence had been given to the propagation of the Gospel and the present plan was distinctly to be a church settlement, specifically in the Massachusetts Bay area, as contrasted with the Separatists settlement already effected at Plymouth. CAPTAIN ROBERT GORGES, accordingly, took with him at least two ordained Clergyman. One, the REVEREND WILLIAM MORELL, bore an ecclesiastical commission, conferring on him general powers of visitation and superintendency over the churches of New England. As there was only one church in New England at Plymouth, the significance of this commission was apparent. The other Clergyman was the ordained companion of WILLIAM MORELL, the REVEREND WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, who had originally been designed to take charge, under the power of superintendency, of the Plymouth pulpit, while MORELL was to minister at the Bay. The GORGES expedition left England in early August, 1623, and reached New England about the middle of September. There are underlying indications that WILLIAM kept records of this expedition and the subsequent settlement effected by it. (Winthrop alludes to this in his history, as also, Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society 1878, p. 197.) [N.B. Apparently these records mostly lost in King Philip’s War 1675]
• From Geni member the late Fay Baldwin: “David Thomson ... at the time Governor Robert Gorges, young son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, arrived in New England and settled in Massachusetts Bay, along with William Jeffrey, John Bursleum, William Blackstone, John Balch and Thomas Balford...some with family and servants. ...”
• The Honorable Charles Francis Adams Jr.; paper, 'Weymouth Thirty Years Later;
• Mr. Gilbert Nash; 'Weymouth, First Thirty Years';
• Mr. Edmund S. Hunt; 'Reminiscences of Weymouth';
• Morton, Christopher Levitt; 'The New Canaan', book 1632;
• Hotten’s original list of emigrants;