I myself like best his touching note about the first white child born in British America:—
And the 18th [August, 1587] Ellinor the Governours daughter, and wife to Ananias Dare, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoak; which, being the first Christian there borne, was called Virginia.
The early history of the settlement of New England according to its present bounds is perhaps more austere than the narrative of Ponce de Leon in Florida or the exploits of Jacques Cartier in New France. Nevertheless, the story contains many soul-stirring incidents. It is as chock-full of romantic relations as the Thousand and One Nights. No one realized this more clearly and beautifully than Nathaniel Hawthorne. A dear friend of mine and one of the most discriminating and earnest collectors in this country, whose judgment in any matter of taste is final, owns the Hawthorne family copy of William Hubbard’s Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New England, printed in Boston by John Foster, 1677. It is in its original sheep binding. This book had been the cherished property of the Hawthorne family of Salem for two hundred and fifty years. The name of the first emigrant founder of the family is at the top of the title page: “William Hawthorne, Senior, his booke, 1677.” It is he who is described in the introduction to The Scarlet Letter as “grave, bearded, sable-cloaked ... with his Bible and his sword....”
The second owner, his son, and not less famous as the notorious witch judge of Salem, placed his autograph at the bottom of the title page: “John Hathorne his booke.” The book next descended to his son, who wrote on the flyleaf: “Joseph Hathorne His Book 1739-40.” And so it went from father to son for many more generations, finally becoming the possession of Nathaniel Hawthorne. After his name, in which he reinserted the original w, he wrote, “given him by his Kinswoman, Miss Susan Ingersoll, 1838.” Few old books of intrinsic value have a record of ownership as direct and interesting as this. From Major William Hawthorne, the founder of the family, who led more than one expedition against the Indians, to Nathaniel Hawthorne, the gentlest of men, is indeed a far cry.
New England is fortunate in possessing two interesting and authentic manuscript narratives of its earliest history. Governor Winthrop’s Journal or Historie of New England is one, and William Bradford’s Historie of Plimouth Plantation the other. Both, although written in a somewhat formal manner, contain the most realistic description of life in the colonies. Probably the two most important printed books of this period are George Mourt’s A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation settled at Plimouth in New England, London, 1622, and the first published history of Massachusetts, William Wood’s New England’s Prospect, London, 1634.
The first work published in English about New York is entitled The Second Part of the Tragedy of Amboyna, 1653. It is really a controversial pamphlet in which the early Dutch colonists were accused of trying to induce the Indians to murder the English settlers who had come down from New England. But the first true history of New York was Daniel Denton’s A Brief Description of New York First Called New Netherlands, 1670. In those days it was the fashion to malign the Dutch, and families such as the De Peysters and the Van Rensselaers were not so prominent socially as their descendants are to-day.
The first account of Pennsylvania was written by none other than William Penn himself, and published in London in 1681. Although Penn had never seen this country at the time, he wrote a most glowing account of it, proving that the press-agent bacillus was even then alive. This wonderful Quaker wanted colonists to develop the grant which was given him in settlement of the Crown’s debt to his father. It is no wonder that in a virulent tract the better classes of England showed their distaste for his business activities, which they considered unbecoming to his religion and his position. That naughty little pamphlet is entitled William Penn’s Conversion from a Gentleman to a Quaker!
FIRST MAP OF NEW YORK CITY ENGRAVED IN AMERICA, PRINTED BY
WILLIAM BRADFORD, 1731
(click image to enlarge)
A Plan of the City of New York from an actual Survey