New Hampshire History (1622) from The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States (Amerisearch, Inc., 2009):
<On March 9, 1622, John Mason, called "the founder of New Hampshire," received a Grant from King James I.
Samuel de Champlain had previously sailed along the New Hampshire coast in 1605, and Captain John Smith wrote of it in his Description of New England.
In August 1622, John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges jointly received a grant.
David Thomson, Sir Henry Roswell and Edward Hilton were granted land under the name of New Hampshire.
The first settlement was by David Thomson in 1623 at Little Harbor, now in the town of Rye. A fur trade was pursued with the Iroquois Indians.
Edward Hilton established a settlement on Dover Point.
New Hampshire became a separate colony in 1629.
In 1638, dissenting pastor John Wheelwright was banished from Puritan Massachusetts and founded Exeter, New Hampshire. Massachusetts annexed New Hampshire in 1641, and John Wheelwright fled again to Maine.
New Hampshire became a separate colony again in 1679. Beginning in 1676 and continuing to 1759, New Hampshire suffered Indian attacks.
From 1686 to 1689, New Hampshire was under Sir Edmund Andros, a Church of England supporter.
The State taxed all citizens to support the Congregational Church, then later gave citizens the option of designating their taxes to other Churches.
Legislation in 1792, 1804, 1805, and 1817 gave exemptions to Episcopalians, Baptists, Universalists and Methodists, providing each should be "considered as a distinct denomination, with privileges as such."
Baptists, Methodists and Universalists objected to this and in 1819, State collection and distribution of finances for Churches was ended by the "Toleration Act."
All office holders still had to be "of the Protestant Christian religion" until 1877, and religious freedom was only for Christians until 1968.> 1622NH001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1622NH001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). New Hampshire History, 1622, from The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States (Amerisearch, Inc., 2009).