In 1626, some of the original party, as many left to return to England or to go south, moved the settlement, in hopes of finding more success, to Naumkeag.
[5] With Gardner, and then Conant, in the lead, this early group was known for independence and tolerance which traits some (to wit, Puritan minister John White) may have seen as being, perhaps, unfit; there had been reports detailing issues, such as insubordination, as far back as Merrymount and the Cape Ann effort.
[7] By 1630, Puritan interests had organized a massive influx led by John Winthrop, who decided the Cape Ann area was not suitable for the number of arriving colonists, and founded Boston to the south instead.
Even though center of government was in Boston, by 1700, the population of the Cape Ann area, which was organized into Essex County in the 1640s, had also grown rapidly.
[9] The Gardner group, who were to settle the area, did succeed in maintaining themselves after their landing, though the commercial goals of the Dorchester Company were not met.
Roger Conant, having first been at Plymouth, was probably instrumental in working out a compromise, part of which resulted in the Dorchester group moving to the Naumkeag area.
[10] John Winthrop's influence, with his arrival with a caravan in 1630, was a major change for the Massachusetts Bay area, in that he came in with 700 people and ships full of supplies.
Winthrop's establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony drastically altered the institutions of the few souls who had pioneered the area earlier.