First American born

Jonathan Belcher (1681/2-1757) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Andrew Belcher, a prosperous shipping merchant, traveled extensively in Europe, became possibly the first American-born Freemason and Royal Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1730. His grandfather, Andrew (1617?-1673?), the son of Thomas (d. 1618) and Anne Solme of London and Sandon, Essex, England, emigrated to Sudbury, Massachusetts about 1638 and married Elizabeth Danforth in 1639. Includes brief biographies of persons mentioned in the history and references to the Massachusetts Historical Society's Belcher Papers.