Talk:Province of Massachusetts Bay

Map of territorial claims
The following off-site maps show the various claims of the original Thirteen Colonies:, , , and. If this information could be included in a map of this province's claims, it would be great. (This request was originally made by jengod, and I moved it here.) – Quadell (talk) (bounties) 16:05, 21 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Map request filled. Kmusser 18:49, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Maine boundary sources
Sources are not given for the map. I've added a discussion of Massachusetts' boundaries at History of Massachusetts which may provide some help and some of the references I used have bibliographies. However, I have had trouble with the definition of Maine. It changed more often than the Province of Maine article goes through in detail. You can see the definition in the 1691 charter of the Province of Massachusetts bay. , but due to the non-standard spelling, it's a bit hard to translate into modern geography. I think that "Piscata way Harbor mouth" refers to the mouth of the Piscataqua River at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but I don't know what "River of Newickewannock" translates to. -- Beland 06:31, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Establishment of Massachusetts Bay Colony
In the resource I have (US History Review Text by Paul M. Roberts and published by Amsco School Publications, Inc.), it states that "In 1628 a small group of Puritan, led by John Endecott, settled at Salem. The following year influential Puritans in England formed the Massachusetts Bay compay and acquired the rights to a large tract of land in New England. Under the company's sponsorship, over 1,000 Puritans came to the Massachusetts Bay area in 1630, settling in and around Boston. John Winthrop, an able and wealthy Puritan, became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony." So wouldn't that put the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629? Can someone clear this up or should this be added to the article? Mlsguy0037 (talk) 20:33, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

The Coding
Does anyone know how to fix the coding that makes that side bar? There's a missing piece at the very beginning and I don't know what it is. Odin of Trondheim (talk) 19:49, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

"Province" of Massachusetts
This is my first time for doing anything like this on Wiki, so apologies from the start, for my Newbieness!

I was born and raised in Massachusetts. For over the past 49 years, I have been doing genealogical research on my family. All lines on my maternal side stretch back to the founding and settling of New England and Montreal/Quebec...so as I one can see, I have had quite a bit of "historical exposure" to Massachusetts. Today was the first time I have ever seen any of the original 13 colonies referred to as a "Province". All are, ultimately, referred to as provinces, except for Connecticut...which was referred to as a colony.

I would like to find out more about the difference between a colony and a province and where I might learn why MA is referred to as a province. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I "Wiki'd" "province", and there was quite a bit of information about France and other countries around the world and their provinces, but there was no mention of England and her American colonies.

Thank you for your help and patience. Finding out more about this may, or may not, have some impact on my research, however large or small.

Jim Gym4jim (talk) 19:04, 18 May 2013 (UTC)


 * The word "province" was never part of the official name of any of the thirteen British colonies that later formed the United States, yet nine of the titles of the thirteen articles on those colonies include "province". All nine articles should be moved and retitled. WCCasey (talk) 19:41, 10 January 2016 (UTC)


 * What's the proof about "official" name???--- no RS is given. Rjensen (talk) 02:34, 11 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Here's the official name, but it doesn't help WCCasey at all: "reall Province by the Name of Our Province of the Massachusetts Bay" (link).  Magic ♪piano 17:05, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

See the complete debate at Talk: Thirteen Colonies. WCCasey (talk) 01:18, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

Selected anniversaries - Main page
Hi, just highlighting that if the yellow tagged issue with the unreferenced section on Geography can be resolved, this article would be eligible for the selected anniversaries October 7, which features on the main page. Whizz40 (talk) 20:13, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

No British crown colony from 1692 - 1707
The first sentence of the article "The Provinve of Massachusetts Bay" was a crown colony in British North America..." is partly misleading.

The province of Massachusetts Bay was founded as a crown colony in 1692. Great Britain was created in 1707 being a union of the formerly independent kingdoms England and Scotland. So from 1692 - 1707, Massachusetts (Bay) was an English crown colony, not a British one (Or was it Scottish?). British North America did not yet exist in 1692. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.16.152.172 (talk) 12:40, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Coat of Arms or Seal
The article's illustration for the coat of arms of the Province of Massachusetts Bay is not the correct coat of arms. To quote from the website on the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

''When the Province of Massachusetts began in 1692, the royal coat of arms of England, combined with a motto specific to the reigning monarch, became the official seal. Royal governors affixed their personal seals to commissions issued to officers in the military service.''

''When the conflict between the province and England began in 1775, General Thomas Gage, the royal governor, had custody of the province seal. As his authority was no longer recognized by the province it became necessary to establish a new public seal. The General Court passed an order on July 28, 1775, appointing a committee to consider "what is necessary to be done relative to a Colony Seal." The design adopted was that of an English-American man holding the Magna Carta. The seal was engraved by Paul Revere, whose original signed bill for the work is located in the Massachusetts Archives. A motto in Latin was also chosen - "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" - which remains the motto of the Commonwealth today. Freely translated this means, "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." It was written about 1659 and is attributed to the famous English patriot, Algernon Sydney.''

The coat of arms should be removed. The royal arms of Great Britain as used in 1692 (when it became a province) or 1775 (its last year as a province) would be reasonable substitutes. --IACOBVS (talk) 10:46, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

End Date
I see your revision changing the date from 1780 to 1776. I don't want to start an annoying edit war of revisions and would rather discuss this. The reason for the 1780 end date for the PMB is because that is when the entity known as PMB ended. Yes the United States declared independence in 1776 however the Province of Massachusetts Bay continued to exist as a political entity until the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. The political structure had certainly changed within Massachusetts Bay however it still remained the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This presents an issue since the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did not exist until 1780 and if the PMB ended in 1776 what was the state at the time? The Provincial Congress which was the legislature governing Massachusetts at the time referred to themselves as the government of the PMB, and the legal continuation and representative of the Massachusetts Charter granted in 1691. The charter was the governing document for the PMB and was repealed in 1780. For these reasons I think the end date should return to 1780. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tpwissaa (talk • contribs) 21:21, 16 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Alright, I guess Kanto7 (talk) 06:12, 15 February 2021 (UTC)