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From: "Bette Richards" <>
Subject: James of Dover
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 14:16:22 -0700


Martin has been doing some research to try to pin down the parents of James
of Dover, NH. There is a baptism in Slapton in 1633/4 which most of us
believe was our James. The problem is that we have a James Buncker serving
on a coroner's jury in Kittery, Maine in 1646 when this James would have
been possibly 13 years old. We also have a deposition of James of Dover in
1678 saying he was 50 years old indicating that he was born in 1628. James
said he was from Devon but we find no specific place in Devon that he may
have been from.

In addition, James lived with Mrs. Trueworthy in 1648/9 in Kittery, Maine
and worked for Shapleigh's Mills. In the court record Mrs. Trueworthy's
name is spelled incorrectly. Her name was actually Treworgy and she was the
daughter of Nicholas Shapleigh who owned ships, a sawmill and a mercantile
store. His ships regularly traveled back and forth from Dartmouth, the only
Devon port deep enough to dock ships.

The coroner's jury was to determine the cause of death of a man accidentally
shot by Charles Frost, the son of Nicholas Frost, a business associate of
Shapleigh.

These are my thoughts on the possible explanations for James of Dover being
the one baptized at Slapton in 1633 and also serving on the coroner's jury
in Kittery, Maine in 1646.

1. Any one of the dates may be incorrect, but other evidence seems to
support them.
2. The baptism of James may have been delayed for some reason and he was
not baptized as an infant.
3. There were few men available to serve on the coroner's jury so in spite
of James' young age he was chosen as it was only to determine cause of death
and not guilt or innocence of a possible crime.
4. James was deliberately chosen to be on the jury by Shapleigh and Frost
as they were commissioners at the time. There is abundant evidence of
chicanery by both of these men and "stacking" of juries in order to get a
favorable verdict. Shapleigh and Frost were very powerful and there were
great plans for Charles Frost. The man shot was not from a prominent
family.
5. James was mistaken in his deposition and his age was actually 45 in
1678. It was so common for people to state in depositions their age to the
nearest decade that this is a very likely possibility. It also may have
been recorded wrong. At any rate, based upon the numerous depositions that
I have read, I would say this is not the best evidence of anyone's age.
6. I think is very possible that James came to America as an apprentice to
the Shapleighs or may have worked on the ship for his passage here. Mrs.
Treworgy did not run a boarding house. She was really quite rich. I can
find no other record at that time indicating anyone else lived with her
except James. James lived in Kittery about 5 years, which would have been a
reasonable time in which to work off his fare over here.

I believe the Slapton James is the same one as the Dover, NH James. Even as
late as the late 1800's boys of the age of 10-12 were working at men's jobs
and doing things that grown men did. He was young to be on a jury in 1646/7
but it is entirely possible that he did serve at that young age. Especially
since he worked for Shapleigh and Frost who was Shapleigh's manager. Also,
the date of the court record might be wrong. Those records are rather mixed
up and not always in chronological order. The transcriber may have
transcribed the date wrong. It appears that James was in Dover by about
1650 and definitely by 1652.

What do you guys think?

Bette



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