Thomas Purchase (1577–1678), also known as Thomas Purchis and Thomas Purchas, was the first English

settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...

to occupy the region of

Pejepscot, Maine Pejepscot, Maine is a historical settlement first occupied by a subset of the Androscoggin Native Americans (Formerly known as the ''Anasagunticooks'') known as the Wabanaki. The region encompasses the current towns of Brunswick, Topsham an ...

in what is now Brunswick, Topsham and

Harpswell Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,031 at the 2020 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswell Ne ...

. In 1628 he set up a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

at the

site of Fort Andross Fort Andross, also known as Fort George and Cabot Mill, originally was a historic trading post and garrison built by the colonial British Empire to fortify against the Wabanaki Native Americans who were aligned with France during King William ...

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists disti ...

with the local Wabanaki Native Americans.

Early life

Thomas Purchase was born in 1577 at Dorchester, Dorset, England, to Oliver Purchase and Thomesin (Harris) Purchase. On August 6, 1613, a fire broke out in Dorchester, burning down 170 homes, setting the impetus for the future colonization movement of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

that led to the

Massachusetts Bay Company Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. In the years after the first fire, the town was plagued with overpopulation. By the time of the next fire in 1622, John White, a Puritan minister, convinced the people of Dorchester to start a new company and head to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. The name of this group of

investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

was called the Dorchester Company. When the company failed, the original investors were part of the group that formed the Massachusetts Bay Company.

Settling in Maine

Although it is unknown which

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

carried Purchase to North America or the exact date, it is documented that he made a return trip from England in 1629. He boarded the ship ''The Lyon'' (not to be confused with ''

Lyon's Whelp Lyon's Whelp or Lion's Whelp is the name of a historical British ship, it is also found in the Bible in Genesis 49:9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp." Popular today, the name was given to a series of 16th-century naval ships, then in the 17th centur ...

''), leaving Bristol England on April 5, along with five other ships, arriving in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

. He was 53 years old. Purchase was the first English settler in what is now called Brunswick, Maine. Before it was incorporated into a town in 1739, the region was known by the Wabanaki Native Americans as Pejepscot (long, rocky rapids part), encompassing the current towns of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine. In 1628, Purchase settled in

Saco, Maine Saco is a city in York County, Maine, York County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,381 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is home to Ferry Beach State Park, Funtown Splashtown USA, Thornton Academy, as well as General ...

, then in Pejepscot. He became acquainted with the value of the land which he afterward acquired. On June 16, 1632, the

Plymouth Company The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a Division (business), division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for British colonization of the Americas, colonizing the east coast of America between 38 ...

granted a patent to Purchase and his brother-in-law George Way. With this new deed, Purchase set up a trading post, where the natives already had one, to buy and sell goods, mainly

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

, sturgeon and furs on a section of the

Androscoggin River The Androscoggin River ( Abenaki: ''Aləssíkαntekʷ'') is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ...

known as Pejepscot Falls, adjacent to the

Site of Fort Andross Fort Andross, also known as Fort George and Cabot Mill, originally was a historic trading post and garrison built by the colonial British Empire to fortify against the Wabanaki Native Americans who were aligned with France during King William ...

. The location of Thomas Purchase's residence in Brunswick is unclear, but one of his homes where he

cured fish A cure is a completely effective treatment for a disease. Cure, or similar, may also refer to: Places * Cure (river), a river in France * Cures, Sabinum, an ancient Italian town * Cures, Sarthe, a commune in western France People * Curate or ...

may have been located near a lot on Water Street in Brunswick, located near Captain Daniel Stone's estate. On August 22, 1639, he made a legal conveyance to

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Massachusetts, of all his land and put himself under the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

of that colony. Throughout his time at Pejepscot, Purchase was a

fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or rec ...

, hunter, trader and raised

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

. He bartered with the natives and other settlers with a rich stock of salmon, sturgeon, and shad, as well as wildlife

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

. Purchase had a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

on the area and would cure and pack fish for export to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was also a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

cultivating soil and had enough

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

to store for the winter.

King Philip's War

In 1675,

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

between Native Americans and New England colonists broke out. By September of that year, hostilities commenced at Pejepscot. A party of twenty natives went to Purchase's house and pretended to his wife that they wished to trade. Discovering that her husband and son were absent, they robbed the house. Purchase's son returned home while this happened and fled for his life. The following year Purchase's house was burned by the natives. With the destruction of his home, Purchase lost the only copy of the patent that held his property. The original had been left with Mr. Francis Ashley in England. Soon after this fire, along with other settlers, he moved to a nearby island where they waited for a ship to take them to Lynn, Massachusetts, where he lived the rest of his life.

Family and death

Thomas Purchase was married twice. His first wife was Mary Gove. The marriage occurred in 1631; Gove died in Boston on January 7, 1656. His second marriage, in 1657, was to Elizabeth Williams; they had five children together, four daughters and one son. Their children were Thomas Purchase Jr., Jane Purchase, Elizabeth Purchase, and two unnamed daughters. Thomas Purchase, Jr. was reported lost at sea in 1685. The

Probate court A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the Administration of an estate on death, administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts ma ...

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, dates Thomas Purchase's death to 1678, at 101 years old.

Early life

Settling in Maine

King Philip's War

Family and death

References

Further reading