Talk:Ferdinando Gorges

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This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 06:54, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

New World Presence
The page on the Plymouth Colony claims that Squanto returned from Europe in 1619 as a "guide" to Gorges. That implies that Gorges himself made an expedition. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.239.136.30 (talk) 03:28, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Dukes County claim
The article Thomas Mayhew says that Gorges had to be paid off for a competing claim on at least part of what is now Dukes County, Massachusetts. What was the nature of that claim? -- Beland (talk) 22:10, 9 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Sir Ferdinando Gorges, as principal proprietor and president of the Council for New England, controlled much of New England, outside jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was also proprietor of (what later became) the state of Maine. In the area of Massachusetts, though, Gorges's claims overlapped with those of William Alexander, Earl of Sterling, due to the hazy nature of the knowledge of the coastline's geography. In 1641 an agent for Stirling, apparently unbeknownst to Gorges, sold both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard to Thomas Mayhew of Watertown. In that same year, according to a later letter from Mayhew to Governor Andros of Massachusetts, Mayhew claimed that Richard Vines, an agent for Gorges, conveyed the Island to him. Jurisdiction over Martha's Vineyard was problematic during the next several decades, bouncing between the Bay Colony and an independent entity and then New York. In 1671 the governor of New York appointed Thomas Mayhew governor for life of Martha's Vineyard, and in 1683 Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and several smaller islands were incorporated as Duke's County. Finally, in 1691, Martha's Vineyard became a part of Massachusetts Bay Colony under its new charter (and after negotiations between Massachusetts and New York). As you can see, it's a tangled question, but Gorges's last contact with the island was, I believe, in 1641 when his agent signed over Martha's Vineyard to Mayhew. As proprietor of Maine, Gorges made no later claims on the island, as far as I know. (Gorges himself was dead by 1647.) I provide a link here to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and here is a link to part of what the well-known historian Charles Banks wrote about Mayhew's claim. Mayhew is still regarded as the authority, and I'll poke around a bit and see if I can come up with more of his text. I don't have his three-volume history to hand, but a friend does and I may have him look it up if I can't find it online. MarmadukePercy (talk) 23:41, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 15:04, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * This is a misreading of Mourt's Relation. On page 86 of the 1865 edition (which you can read at Hathitrust) and page 185 of the 1841 edition (which you can read at the Internet Archive]) you can see that the reference is to "Sir Ferdinando Gorges's men" who had an encounter with the Nausites (resulting in the deaths of 3 and the escape of 2) eight months before the Mayflower settlers met Samoset in March 1621. Georges was never in North America. AnthroMimus (talk) 02:26, 30 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Incidentally, much misinformation and considerable unnecessary dispute could be avoided if contributors used page citations rather than vague references to inadequately described volumes. (There is only one volume, although several editions, of Mourt's Relation, for example.) A large number of these old sources can be found on the internet. Being transparent not only establishes one's good faith, it also prevents other people from wasting their time. AnthroMimus (talk) 02:41, 30 December 2016 (UTC)

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