Note 228 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN.

David Thomson occupied the island in Boston Harbor, which still bears his name, from some time in 1625, apparently, until his death in 1628 (supra, 24). He left a widow and an only son, who inherited the island. Originally, Thomson seems to have been a messenger, or possibly an agent, of the Council for New England. In November, 1622, a patent, covering a considerable tract of land, was issued to him, and the next year, he then being apparently a young man and newly married, he came out and established himself at Piscataqua, whence he afterwards moved to Boston Harbor. All that is known of Thomson can be found in Mr. Deane’s Notes to an Indenture, &c., in the Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., 1876 (pp. 358-81). See also, Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., 1878 (p. 204), and Memorial History of Boston (vol. i. p. 83).