Sir William Alexander
History Events
1606 - First Charter granted Virginia
1606 Council for Virginia formed
1607 - 12th May First settlers land at Jamestown, Virginia,America
1607 - 19th August First settlement founded at Fort St George, Sagahadoc, now Maine, New England, America
1609 - 3rd of October - Fort Algernon at Point Comfort, Virginia, built by New England settlers
1619 - Sir Edwin Sandys gains control of London Company for Virginia
1620 - Mayflower sets sail for America
1620 - 3rd November - Council for New England formed in London
1620 - 20th December - The Mayflower arrives at Plymouth, half the settlers die during the first winter.
1621 - 10th September - Sir William Alexander, obtains a patent for Nova Scotia (New Scotland)
1621 - 9th November - The "Fortune" arrives at Plymouth and rescues the "Pilgrims".
1622 - The grant of the Provinces of Maine and New Hampshire made by Council of New England,
1623 - Christopher Levett of York, England secures a grant of six thousand acres on the coast of Casco Bay. in Maine, from the Council for New England
1623 - June/July - The Anne and Little James arrive at Plymouth with Mary Hilton, and children William and Mary Hilton
1624 - William Hilton and his family found Hilton Point in New Hampshire
1629/30 - 12th March - Edward Hilton granted the"Squamscott Patent.
1639 - 4 December. Edward Hilton, is recorded living at Exeter in Maine trading furs with the Indians
1643/4
- William Hilton Deputy for Dover to Massachusetts Bay General Court
1648
- 27
June
"Mr. William Hilton running an Inn and ferry to New Castle at Kittery
on border between Maine & New Hampshire
1652 William Hilton recorded as an Alderman at York in Maine
1682 - John Hilton, part of the "Hilton Gang" working for King Charles II is recorded in London as "bedecked in a blue velvet cape, the best periwig, and a white beaver hat"
Earl of Stirling, Scotland
Home of the Wallace Monument
Born
1580 at Menstrie in Stirlingshire, Scotland.
His residence was near Stirling Castle where King James VI of Scotland
often held his court. He moved to London when King James VI was proclaimed
King James I of
England in 1603, and became gentleman of the privy chamber, to Prince
Henry, the eldest son of King James. Prince Henry died in 1612, and in
1613 he was appointed one of the gentlemen ushers of the presence of
Prince Charles, afterwards King Charles I. He was
knighted by King James in 1614 who called him his “philosophic poet”
and was made Master of Requests.
He
became interested in the settlement of a colony in North America, in a
part of the Council for New England’s patent from King James, which they
were desirous of surrendering. Of this great tract of country he had a
royal grant dated 10th September 1621, by which the said
extensive territory was then given to him to hold hereditarily, with the
office of hereditary lieutenant, and was thenceforth to be called Nova
Scotia (New Scotland)
A
few months earlier on November 3rd, 1620, Sir Frederick Gorges,
governor of Plymouth in New England, had obtained a
patent from King James I, whereby forty English subjects, incorporated as
“The Council established at Plymouth for planting, ruling, and governing
New England in America,” obtained an exclusive right to possess and rule
over territory extending from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of
north latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The
French monarch in possession of the eastern coast of North America, sought
to secure the safety of the northern frontier of the region assigned to
them (now the present State of Maine) by inviting the Scottish nation to
become the guardians of it’s frontier.
Sir
William Alexander, as a man of influence with King James, was persuaded to
second a design which promised to establish his personal dignity and
advance his interest. Accordingly, without difficulty, a patent was
obtained by him on 10th September 1621, for all the territory
lying east of the St Croix, and south of the St Lawrence.
Immediate
attempts were made to effect a Scottish settlement. A ship was sent out in
1622, but it only came in sight of the shore; and those on board,
declining the perils of colonization, returned to the permanent fishing
station at Newfoundland.
In
the following spring (1623) a second ship arrived, but the two vessels in
company hardly possessed the courage to do more than survey the coast.
After making a partial survey of the harbours, and the adjacent lands,
they postponed the formation of a colony, and returned with a brilliant
account of the soil, climate, and productions of Nova Scotia which is
still to be read in Purchas and other authors.
The
territory thus ceded, however, and designated Nova Scotia, had already
been included in the French province of Acadia and New France, with a
better title on the ground of discovery, had been granted by Henry IV of
France in 1603, and had been immediately occupied by his subjects.
In
1625, Charles I acceded
to the throne, and his marriage to Henrietta Maria, the daughter of the
French king, might have been expected to lead to some adjustments between
the rival claimants of the wilds of Acadia, but England would not
recognize the rights of France. On 12th July 1625, by a charter
dated at Oatlands, confirmed Sir William Alexander, and his heirs, in the
office of lieutenant of Nova Scotia, with all the prerogatives with which
he had been so lavishly invested by King James, and the right of creating
an order of baronets of Nova Scotia. He forthwith (?) planted and began to
settle a colony at Port Royal (1628/9) in what was French territory.
In
1626, Sir William Alexander was appointed principal secretary for
Scotland.
On 2nd February 1628, he had another charter under the Great Seal of Scotland, in which he was described as the king’s hereditary lieutenant of Nova Scotia, and had a grant of certain islands and territories, the bounds of which were most extensive; and the whole were erected into an entire and free lordship, then at all times thereafter, to be called and designated the Lordship of CANADA, from the great river then bearing that name, on both sides of which lay the territories granted.
Source; THE SCOTTISH NATION - William Anderson 1862.
Under construction