User:Rollin clint23124/sandbox

The first English invasion of the territory of the Penacook peoples took place independently of the English authorities, by refugees from English religious persecution. These were a sect of so-called Separatists―people who were trying to separate themselves from the official Church of England ―and who spent some years in exile in the Netherlands, mostly in Leyden. As exiles they called themselves Pilgrims; and, whereas Holland was a good refuge for them for a while, religious tolerance was not so complete there that they were able to stay on indefinitely, and they looked for a refuge across the ocean, "in Virginia," as they called it.

The Pilgrims cruised around considerably, looking for a spot in which to settle, but it was well into December before they found one. The map that the Pilgrims had of this coast had been prepared by the " Plymouth Company ," an English company which took over part of the "New England Company's" charter to this coast, and which had printed a map of the Penacook coast in a style similar to the modern "sucker" real-estate literature, showing a town every few miles along the coast, all named after English communities. The locality the Pilgrims finally selected for a permanent settlement was the spot marked on the map " Plymouth "; so that was the name of the settlement. None of the other towns on the map ever materialized.