William Ham, the immigrant an- HAM cestor, was according to family tradition of Scotch ancestry, but he came to New England from Plymouth, England, in June, 1635, in a company sent out by Robert Trelawny, a merchant of that city, who was granted land and rights in Maine by Gorges. This grant included Richmond's Island and several thousand acres on the mainland between Sperwick river and Cape Elizabeth just below Portland. Trelawny belonged to an ancient family whose seat was at Ham or Hame in Devonshire. It is surmised that the Ham family took its name from this place, but no records are found to substantiate the assumption. Trelawny sent the first company to Maine in 1632 in charge of John Winter, to hunt, fish and trade with the Indians. Ham came with Nares Hawkins and others in June, 1635, working for Trelawny on shares and wages. Hawkins was the chief colonist in charge in the absence of Winter and in a letter dated June 29, 1636, he names six men who came with him, viz. : Lander, Ham, Bellin, Gark, William Freythe and Simmons (Sim- onds). These men were dissatisfied, claiming that Winter and Hawkins had cheated them. In June, 1636, they left Falmouth and went westward to Portsmouth. Winter wrote, reporting their leaving June 28, 1636. Their names were : William Ham, Oliver Clark, John Bel- 1m, William Freythe and John Simmons (Simonds). The latter was a servant of John Mason, the proprietor of New Hampshire, and in 1635, after Mason died, found employment with Winter.

Ham was in Exeter as early as 1646. In 1652 he had a grant of fifty acres of land in the adjacent town of Portsmouth, where he probably lived most of his life after 1636. His homestead was at Freeman's Point, called Ham's Point until 1833, when the widow of Benjamin Ham sold the remainder of the homestead to Peyton R. Freeman. This point is just above the Portsmouth Bridge, on the road to Kittery, Maine, a place of beautiful scenery. Ham built a house which is now or was lately standing on the Point. He owned Noble's Island, also called after him Ham's Island until recently. He had in his home lot sixteen and three-quarter acres of land and he was assigned to the first squadron in the division of inhabitants into garrisons in 1653. From 1658 to 1666 he was a subscriber to the fund for maintaining the minister. He died January 26, 1672, aged seventy-two. His will was proved at Exeter. His son Matthew died before the will was made, and in it he bequeathed to his daughter, Elizabeth Cotton, wife of William Cotton; to his grandsons, William, Thomas and John, the children of Matthew Ham. The relationship between William Ham, of Portsmouth, and John Ham, of Dover, remains undiscovered. John was nephew, brother or cousin of William. William married Honor . Children of William Ham: i. Mathew, born 1626, mentioned below. 2. Elizabeth, married William Cotton; she was born in 1629, died 1678.