| Notes |
In the spring of 1637 a group of London merchants formed a company to e s t a b l ish a successful commercial settlement in the New World. On 26 Jun e o f t h a t y ear, Mr. Thomas Gregson was part of a group that arrived in B o st o n l o oking for a site to settle. Reportedly they were given enticing o f f e r s w hile in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but on 30 March 1638 the c o m p a n y sailed from Boston and settled at Quinnipiac, site of the presen t c i t y o f N ew Haven, Connecticut. They purchased land from the Indians.
Thomas Gregson served in a number of positions during the period that h e r e s i d ed in New Haven, including treasurer, deputy to the General Cour t [ l e g i slature], magistrate, and as commissioner for the New Haven Colo ny t o a t t e nd a meeting of the v a a r ious colonies held in Boston in S ept em b e r 1 643. The Articles of Confederation adopted at that meeting, s om e t i m es called the New England Confederation, created the United Colon i e s o f N e w England. This is considered to be the first "constitution" c r e a t e d in the New World and some of its features were adopted in writin g t h e C o n stitution of the United States.
An attempt by the merchants to establish a trading post at the mouth of t h e D e l a ware River resulted in major losses and almost impoverished the N e w H a v e n Colony. In an attempt to recoup these losses, a new venture wa s p r o p o sed to ship goods directly to England. A ship apparently was bui lt i n N e w H a ven, but the name is unknown and it has been called "The Gr eat S h i p p e." Even though the weather was not favorable for sailing, the t ow n s p e ople were impatient for it to sail for England and it left in Jan u a r y 1 6 45/6. It was never heard from again, with Thomas Gregson, as the a g e n t f o r the New Haven Colony, and the others on board being lost at se a . I n 1 8 5 8, some 212 years later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commemorat e d t h i s t ragedy with his poem, "The Phantom Ship."
|
1611 - 1646 (34 years)
