William Pynchon

These letters offer valuable insights into Pynchon's personal life, his views on trade and commerce, and his relationships with other colonists and Native Americans.

Pynchon was a man of peace and also very business-minded — thus he advocated for friendship with the region's natives as a means of ensuring the continued trade of goods.

Roxbury — originally named "Rocksbury" for its rocky soil — was a poor site on which to farm in comparison to the fertile Connecticut River Valley.

On the banks of the Connecticut River, in an area called "Agawam" (ground overflowed by water) by local Native people, Pynchon and his collaborators found such a place.

Perhaps most strategically of all, Pynchon's settlement was located equidistant to the New World's (then) two most important ports, Boston and Albany, with Native roads already cleared to both places.

As noted above, after disagreements with Captain John Mason and later Thomas Hooker about how to treat the native population, Pynchon became disenchanted with the Connecticut colony.

After Pynchon's return to England, his son John extended his father's settlements in the Connecticut River Valley northward, founding Northampton, Westfield, Hadley, and other towns.

Since 1915, the Order of William Pynchon has been awarded to individuals who have "rendered distinguished service to the community" by The Ad Club of Western Massachusetts.

Coat of arms of the Pynchon family [ 1 ]
The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption , 1650, wherein Pynchon argued Christ did not "bear our sins by Gods imputation", but by "Mediatorial Sacrifice of atonement". Deemed blasphemous by the Bay Colony, it was the New World's first banned book
19th-century portrayal of the burning of Pynchon's banned book on the Boston Common after it was deemed blasphemous by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
One of the first medallions minted for the Order of William Pynchon in 1915, awarded to George Walter Vincent Smith , an industrialist, philanthropist, and art collector who donated his entire private collection to form the first Springfield Art Museum in the late 19th century.