William Hilton - Founding Father of New Hampshire

William Hilton, was the son of Roger Hilton of North Biddick Hall in the "Original" Washington, in North East England and was the Founding Father of New Hampshire in America.

He sailed on the ship "Fortune" in 1621 to rescue the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in New England, America, who had arrived on the "Mayflower" a year earlier. He decided to stay and in 1623 his wife and two children joined him. They moved to Hilton Point, on the Piscataqua river, now named Dover, where they built the first house in what is today the U.S. State of New Hampshire

His father was Roger Hilton, 4th son of William Hilton and his wife Margaret His brother, Sir William Hilton, Knight, was heir to Hylton Castle at Monkwearmouth, now in the City of Sunderland, England, and estates in Northumberland and Yorkshire and died in 1600 A.D. His son and heir, Thomas Hilton, Esquire, had married Anne, daughter of Sir George Bowes, of Streathlam Castle near Bowes but died within his father's lifetime in 1597 A.D. Hylton Castle and the Hylton estates passed to his son Henry Hilton, then 13 years of age who became a ward of Queen Elizabeth I and was taken by the Bishop of Carlisle to be educated in London and the Bowes family took over control of the estates, until Henry Hilton came of age to inherit them.

The Hilton family had long been a sea faring family, many of them earning a living from north sea fishing or in the saltmaking industry that thrived on this part of England's coastline in Elizabethan times. Saltmaking was then a monopoly controlled by a man called Casper Seeler, and over 400 people were employed making salt by evaporating seawater in salt panns using the easily accessible coal in the region. Cod was caught out in the North Sea, landed along the Northumberland coast and at both South Shields on the River Tyne and at Sunderland on the River Wear, where the fish was salted, then shipped for sale at the salted fish market at Billingsgate in London where Edward Hilton, William's cousin, was a fish merchant and a member of the Fishmonger's Guild of London. There was also a thriving coal industry in this region where "coals from Newcastle" were shipped to London to heat the homes in the rapidly expanding capital city.

1615, John Davenport, a John Davenport, a descendent of the Davenport family of Cheshire, a drop-out from Oxford University, was

Preacher at St Katherine's Chapel, the private chapel of the Hiltons of Hylton Castle from 1615-19. He later founded the New Haven colony in America where Yale university now stands. It seems he and William Hilton who was ferryman at Hylton on the River Wear, became firm friends. With regular shipping voyages to London from the Baron's Quay at Hylton, he also knew Edward Hilton, William's cousin, fish merchant and member of the Fishmongers Guild of London. John Davenport married Elizabeth Wooley and in 1619 he was elected as lecturer and curate of the church of St Lawrence, Old Jewry, London. In 1624 he was elected Vicar of St Stephens Church in Coleman Street, London where many of his congregation were merchants. One of John Davenport's congregation at St Stephens is recorded as sailing on either the "Anne" or the "Little James" to Cape Cod with William Hilton's family in 1623.

The Hiltons of Hylton Castle had been Barons of the Palatinate of Durham, virtually a kingdom within a

kingdom, ruled by the "fighting" Prince Bishops of Durham. They were of ancient lineage first recorded in the area as early as 924 A.D. and are thought to be of Vikin origin as many families of North East England are.. Hylton,Helton (norman-french spelling) and Hilton descendents can be traced from family pedigrees published in Surtees' History and Antiquities of Durham and in The History of Darlington by William Hylton Dyer Longstaffe, a distinguished Durham antiquary. Many of the Hilton family held important positions throughout the County of Durham, and many descendents of the Westmoreland branch of the family had settled along the banks of the River Tees, the southern boundary of the Palatinate of Durham. For centuries, their loyalty was to the Prince Bishops of Durham and through him to King or Queen of England.

Sir Edwin Sandys, son of the Archbishop of York, and member, and later Governor of the Virginia Company of London and a prominent member of the King's Council for Virginia reporting directly to King James I, who's family had lived at St Bees in Cumberland on the west coast of England for centuries, knew the Hiltons of Hylton Castle as Barons of the Bishoprick of Durham (The Archbishop of York, was the immediate superior of the Bishop of Durham in Anglican church hierarchy). It was Edwin Sandys, a prominent Member of Parliament, and effective manager of the Virginia Company of London, who negotiated with the "Pilgrims", who comprised of "separatists" and "ancients", two religious sects who had fled to Leyden in Holland, to migrate to New England to replace the colony that had been founded at the mouth of the Kennebec River (now in Maine) known as Fort Sagadahoc in 1607 to stake the British claim to that part of America. The colony was abandoned, and the settlers returned to England in the ship "Virginia" they built in New England. They returned to America where they built Fort Algernon at Point Comfort (now known as Fort Monroe), at the mouth of the Chesapeake river to protect the Jamestown settlers from the Spanish.

The French had already established a settlement at St Croix Island in 1604 and in 1608 a fur trading post was established at Quebec. John Mason, a British sea captain had been appointed British Governor of Newfoundland in 1615 and with possession as 9/10th of the law, it was essential that a successful settlement could be established as far north as possible for the British to lay claim to the north eastern seaboard of America. From experiences in Jamestown which

had been a commercial venture established in 1607 and from early experiences on the Somer Islands (Bermuda), Sir Edwin Sandys and the king's council realized a disciplined religious community with previous experience of establishing a new life abroad, skilled in husbandry and capable of living off the land and fish from the sea, and with a will and faith to succeed, was what was needed to create a new Christian community in New England where the winters could be harsh. Northern English and Scottish fishermen had been fishing off Cape Cod and the Isle of Shoals for decades, if not centuries, taking salt with them, and either salting the fish on board, or on land (e.g. the Haddock family Berwick English/Scottish borders) and returning to Billingsgate to sell their catch on the London salted fish market at Billingsgate. In dire emergencies, Northern English or Scottish fishermen could always be relied on to rescue the settlers if anything went wrong.

That dire emergency happened much sooner than Edwin Sandys had envisaged. The "Mayflower" eventually set sail and arrived at Cape Cod where the "Pilgrims" settled in 1620 but half of them died during their first winter in the New World. The "Mayflower" returned to England empty with news of the tragedy for Edwin Sandys and the church, whilst the shareholders of the Virginia Company of London, most of the merchants, had been hoping to see some sort of return on their investment in the voyage. It was essential that a "rescue expedition" was sent out with supplies and men and their womenfolk to help to support the Mayflower settlers who had survived, or, as a last resort, to bring those that had survived back to England.

Part of the original "Pilgrim" migrant party to New England had been left behind in England in 1620, and a group of volunteer settlers, mostly skilled "husbandry" men and women from

London who were prepared to settle in New England were quickly assembled. Edward Hilton fish merchant of London arranged for William Hilton, fisherman and ferryman from Hylton in the north east of England, and knowledgeable about the New England coastline to join them. The ship the "Fortune" with the new settlers and skilled "tradesmen" on board eventually arrived in New England in 1621. William Hilton, disillusioned that the Hylton family lands and estates, and more importantly to him, the salt panns, had been taken over by the Bowes family of Yorkshire, and that the Baron of Hylton had decided to live in the south of England at Billinghurst in Sussex, weighed up his situation and the future for his family and decided to make a go of it in the New World. The "Pilgrims" needed his shipbuilding skills (ships had been built at Hylton on the River Wear in England for centuries), his fishing and saltmaking skills to survive. He decided to stay and asked his cousin to send his wife and young son and daughter to him in the New World. This is the letter he wrote to his cousin Edward back in England;

At our arrival at New Plymouth, in New England, we found all our friends and planters in good health, though they were left sick and weak, with very small means; the Indians round about us peaceable and friendly; the country very pleasant and temperate, yielding naturally, of itself, great store of fruits, as vines of divers sorts, in great abundance. There is likewise walnuts, chestnuts, small nuts and plums, with much variety of flowers, roots and herbs, no less pleasant than wholesome and profitable. No place hath more gooseberries and strawberries, nor better. Timber of all sorts you have in England doth cover the land, that affords beasts of divers sorts, and great flocks of turkeys, quails, pigeons and partridges; many great lakes abounding with fish, fowl, beavers, and otters. The sea affords us great plenty of all excellent sorts of sea-fish, as the rivers and isles doth variety of wild fowl of most useful sorts. Mines we find, to our thinking; but neither the goodness nor quality we know. Better grain cannot be than the Indian corn, if we will plant it upon as good ground as a man need desire. We are all freeholders; the rent-day doth not trouble us; and all those good blessings we have, of which and what we list in their seasons for taking. Our company are, for the most part, very religious, honest people; the word of God sincerely taught us ever Sabbath; so that I know not any thing a contented mind can here want. I desire your friendly care to send my wife and children to me, where I wish all the friends I have in England; and so I rest

On receipt of William's "promotional" letter in England, Edward must have taken it to Edwin Sandys, then Governor of the London Company of Virginia, who arranged for William's wife

Mary and the two little children William and Mary to be shipped out with a fresh load of supplies for the Pilgrims and more settlers skilled in "husbandry" on the "Anne" and the "Little James" which arrived at Cape Cod in America in 1623. William and Mary Hilton soon had another baby, a son born in America and in the family tradition, named him William, the first American born Hilton. A problem arose however, when they wanted the new baby christened with Anglican Christian rights, in accordance with the laws and customs of the Church and the Bishops of Durham, where the Hilton family had for centuries been upholders of the laws and customs of the Bishop.

The Separatists, who did not believe in high church ritual, refused to allow the baby to be christened with the sign of

the cross, and although William and Mary managed to get an Anglican preacher to conduct a traditional Anglican christening, they were forced to leave the settlement at Plymouth on Cape Cod. William knew the fishing grounds and the rivers of the region well from his seasonal fishing trips to New England from Hylton and London and moved his family up to Hilton Point, now called Dover on the banks of the Kennebec river where it meets Great Bay where he built at house for his family which is, now the site of Hilton Point Park in New Hampshire . William Hilton, and his family of Biddick in Washington, England was the very first settler in that part of New England which later became known as New Hampshire. John Mason, an English sea captain who had served as Governor of Newfoundland from 1615-21 and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Governor of Plymouth Castle in England had negotiated a patent from the Council for New England for all the land between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers in 1622 which included the land at Hilton Point.

From the outset it had been the King's Council for Virginia's intention to make it a race for land possession and claim it in the name of King James I of England who was also King James VI of Scotland. That was why two companies. the London Company and the Plymouth Company, were created and two expeditions sent out in 1607.

The "Discovery" expedition which founded a fort and a settlement at James Town, (named after King James I) on the north bank of the Chesapeake River, which had been explored in 1585 at the time the Roanoke Colony (the lost Colony) had been established.

The second expedition, sent out and financed by the Plymouth Company, founded a settlement at the mouth of the River Kennebec, in what is now Maine. They built a fort and settlement at Sagadahoc which became known as Fort St George, and the colony became known as the Popham Colony after the leader of the expedition

The Virginia Company of London was allocated land from 34 degrees north to 38 degrees north and the Plymouth company of London had been allocated land between 41 degrees north and 45 degrees north. A neutral zone was created between them from 38 degrees north to 41 degrees and that part of the eastern seaboard had not been allocated by the Kings Council for Virginia in 1607 who had the ultimate responsibility for issuing Royal Patents with the personal approval of King James I . The French had already founded a settlement in NewFoundLand and the Spanish had established a settlement in what is today Florida. The British could only settle "where no Christian Prince had settled before". Having staked out their claim from north to south the race was on to settle the Eastern Seaboard before the Dutch or the Swedes who were more adaptable to the winter climate north of Virginia.

In 1623, Anthony Hilton, of the South Shields branch (a cadet branch) of the Hiltons of Hylton Castle, and a "Master Mariner" was commissioned to take settlers out to Jamestown settlement and explore the Hudson river. He left his mother and his sister with his cousin who was then Rector of Hurworth Church and Vicar of Sockburn on the north bank of the river Tees near Darlington. He joined Henry Hilton, now "Baron" of Hylton Castle who had become of age and inherited the Hylton Estates in the Palatinate of Durham and lands on Alston Moor on the borders between Durham, Westmoreland and Cumberland who was living with his cousin the Vicar of Billinghurst in Sussex. The Isle of Wight was a short horse ride and boat voyage from Billinghurst and quickly became a centre for ship building and departures for the New World

An Isle of Wight settlement had been established on the south bank of the Chesapeake river in Virginia, opposite Jamestown, and in 1623 he wrote to his mother at Hurworth, near Darlington on the River Tees from the Isle of Wight settlement in Virginia the following letter, the original of which is in New York Public Library under Records of the Virginia Company, and a fascimile copy is held at the British Museum in London. It was found in the Duke of Manchester's papers.

From the Isle of Waight this 4th of May 1623.
Loveing mother my humble dutie vnto you remembred, desireing your dailie praters to God for me. My last letter I hope you haue long since receiued, wherein I writt you of my intended voyage for Virginia, that hopefull, and happie soile: for wch voyage this day being the 4th of Maye and the Sabboth day wee haueing the wynd faire (that messenger of God) haue dispensed with the Saboth and hoised vp saile this daye and sailed some part of our Journeye, But you may now please to vnderstand, that my honest Carefull, and loveing Maister John Hart my first, and onelie best maister, hath wrought for me better hopes then formerlie I writ you of for my preferment, wch is that by his liberall Comendacon of me, and earnest Intreatie for me, As also that good likeing wch that hopefull and religious Gentleman Mr Gabriell Barbor marchant of London, and a man of great Estate, hath entertayned of me, haueing had some Conference with him, Concerninge my parte and abilitye of performance in his hopefull Imploymente, hath verie willinglie entertayned me, and taken me bound vnto him for some yeares, to make me a ffreeman of London And hath set forwarde provideing me of all necessaryes for our intended voyage, wch is in a good ship named the Bonnie Besse, built at the Cowes in the Isle of Wight being a new ship of fourescore and ten Tunnes, or thereabout, full fraught with all kind of prouision for 2 yeares, as also with 45 brave gallant Gentlemen, and some of them their Wyues, and Children with them richlie set forwarde for to plant in Virginia. (...) But now to retourne vn to a relacon of what wee intend, it wilbe tedious, yet thus much in short. Wee are first to land our Passengers and their goods in Virginia wch done wee are to proceed vpon the discouerie of that famous river named Hudsons river, first found out by him, yet never was he further then in the mouth thereof, wher hath beene had rich Trade for Beaver skins, pearles, and dyamonde and manie other rich Comodityes, And indeed wch river by the probable Conjecture of manie and learned Navigators is the verie passage Called the Northwest Passage so often sought after by the Northerne Seas, yet never found , wch Wee are by Comission from rthe Lord of Southampton Governour of the Companie and other the Learned Councell, and diuers great lorde to discouer the verie topp and head of that River, and if wee ther find anie straungers as Hollanders or other wch is thought this yeare doe Adventure there, we are to giue them fight, and spoile, and sincke them downe into the Sea, wch to doe, Wee are well prouided with a lustie ship stout seamen, and great Ordnance I pray God prosper us therein, and I hope we shall returne with rich loadeinge, a famous discouerie, and much Credit euerie Way. Wch our retourne wilbe I hope about 2 yeares hence, if not sooner,...
yoreuer obedient sonne
Anthonie Hilton.

His hand writing is that of a well educated man of his day.
(P.R.O. Manchester Papers, No.364.)

In May 1624, the Virginia Company of London was formally dissolved when the true state of affairs at Jamestown was discovered following the Indian massacre of 1623, and the King officially resumed direct control of the colony. Edwin Sandys, Jacobean Gentleman, lost control of the company but his inspirational leadership and beliefs in freedom of worship ensured that the early colonies in both Virginia and New England would survive.

When Anthony Hilton returned to England, he was appointed as Governor of Nevis in the Carribean which had been settled with St Kitts (St Christophers) island in 1623 by Thomas Warner. Edward Hilton, London fish merchant , migrated to New England to join his brother at Hilton Point in New England With William Hilton already living on the land at Hilton Point and with posession being 9/10th of the law, on 12 March 1629/30 the Council for New England issued to Edward Hilton a patent (known as the "Squamscott Patent") for "all that part of the River Pascataquack known by the name of Wecanacohunt or Hilton's Point with the south side of of the said River, up to the fall of the River, and three miles into the mainland by all the breadth aforesaid"

John Mason, an English sea captain who had served as Governor of Newfoundland from 1615-21 and he and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Gevernor of Plymouth Castle in England negotiated a patent from the Council for New England for all the land between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers in 1622. In 1629 they divided the land between themselves, Ferdinando Gorges taking the land now known as Maine and John Mason the land now known as New Hampshire.