Thomas Purchase

In 1628 he set up a trading post at the site of Fort Andross to barter with the local Wabanaki Native Americans.

By the time of the next fire in 1622, John White, a Puritan minister, convinced the people of Dorchester to start a new company and head to the New World.

[1]: 23–24 Although it is unknown which ship carried Purchase to North America or the exact date, it is documented that he made a return trip from England in 1629.

[6]: 789–790 With this new deed, Purchase set up a trading post, where the natives already had one,[7] to buy and sell goods, mainly salmon, sturgeon and furs on a section of the Androscoggin River known as Pejepscot Falls, adjacent to the Site of Fort Andross.

[8][6]: 790–791 On August 22, 1639, he made a legal conveyance to John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts, of all his land and put himself under the jurisdiction of that colony.

He bartered with the natives and other settlers with a rich stock of salmon, sturgeon, and shad, as well as wildlife game.

Soon after this fire, along with other settlers, he moved to a nearby island where they waited for a ship to take them to Lynn, Massachusetts, where he lived the rest of his life.

[6]: 792 The Probate court at Lynn, Massachusetts, dates Thomas Purchase's death to 1678, at 101 years old.