Book Description

"My family have lived in New England for more than 375 years. WIlliam Chamberlain, my immigrant ancestor, first arrived in Virginia in 1635 at the age of sixteen. By 1644 hea was in Boston. He later settled and helped incorporate the town that became Billerica, Massachusetts, while his brother, Thomas, settled and helped incorporate the town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. (The author was biorn in Lowell, Massachusetts, which was originally part of Chelmsford.) William's grandson, also named William, moved to New Hampshire long before it was a permanent province of its own, settling first in Dover, and then Rochester, New Hampshire. Two sons of this William, Jacob and Ephraim, later settled and helped incorporate the town that became Alton, New Hampshire. Descendants of these men have lived in New England ever since--primarily Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but also Maine and Vermont and Connecticut--including an uninterrupted presence in Alton, New Hampshire, from its first settlement 250 years ago, to this very day. In order to make the book more readable, it is, in essence, an abridged history of New England as lived by my family. The hope is that this method of presentation will allow the reader to understand their lives in the context of the times in which they lived."--page [4] of cover.