Where Were Thomas Jameson's Children Born?

The children of Thomas and Margaret (Dickey) Jameson are almost always reported as having been born in Londonderry or Starkstown (Dunbarton[1]), New Hampshire. This is almost certainly incorrect as they should all be listed as born in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

It is difficult to know why or to what determination the four younger children, Margaret, Isabel, Hugh and Thomas were said to have been born in Starkstown, although this information may have originally come from E.O.Jameson's seminal book on the subject. "The Jameson's in America."[2] Interesting enough, E,O, Jameson himself, seems speculative on the subject when he says "but some one has said that the two elder children were born in Londonderry, and the others in Starkstown."[2] It is likely that E.O.Jameson simply did not know all of the facts and published this incorrectly based on an uninformed decision.

Recent research has shown that Thomas Jameson did not buy land in Starkstown until 1761, about the time he sold land he owned in Londonderry he'd bought in 1746. The logical deduction being that he stayed in Londonderry after his brother Hugh bought land in Starkstown, as an original Proprietor, and moved there. It was some time later, eight to ten years, that Thomas sold his property in Londonderry and he, with his family moved there too.

E.O. Jameson makes no mention of Thomas land, or for that matter anything about him, in Londonderry, nor for that matter anything about his time there. It seems quite possible he didn't know about this. He does mention that "Mr. Jameson's (Thomas) name appears for the first and only time in the (Starkstown) proprietors records ,,, ,,, in 1764, etc."[2] Which admits he was aware that nothing really was mentioned about Thomas before that. It is indeed true that nothing can be found of Thomas in Starkstown before 1764 and because we now know he had property in Londonderry, would strongly suggest he was not there, but still in Londonderry during the time he and his wife Margaret had their final four children.

There are many published records of Thomas' children born in Starkstown, with E.O. Jameson's "The Jamesons in America" being the most prominent. Perhaps these other records were influenced by E.O. Jameson's book, or perhaps they made the same speculative mistake E.O. Jameson made. The Thomas Jameson land deal in Londonderry was very difficult to come by and confusing to understand at first. Nevertheless it is clearly irrefutable proof of Thomas, and his family's, whereabouts during that time.