Thomas Walford and his wife Jane Walford (Guy) were the original English settlers of Mishawaum (later Charlestown); they settled there in 1624. They were given a grant by Sir Robert Gorges, with whom they had settled at Wessagusset (Weymouth) in September 1623. They built a fort there and traded with the Indians for furs.
John Endicott, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, had sent William, Richard and Ralph Sprague to Mishawaum to lay out a settlement. Thomas Walford, acting as an interpreter with the Massachusetts Indians, negotiated with the local sachem Wonohaquaham for Endicott and his people to settle there. Although Walford had a virtual monopoly on the region's available furs, he welcomed the newcomers and helped them in any way he could, unaware that his Episcopalian religious beliefs would cause him to be banished from Massachusetts to Portsmouth, New Hampshire within three years.
Originally a Puritan English city during the Colonial era (a time to which many of the neighborhood's structures date), Charlestown was founded in 1628 [in the reign of Charles I of England 2 ], and settled July 4, 1629, by Thomas Graves, Increase Nowell, Simon Hoyt, Rev. Francis Bright, Ralph, Richard and William Sprague and about 100 others who preceded the Great Migration. [It was laid out by engineer Thomas Graves in 1629 and was the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.] 2 John Winthrop's company stopped here for some time in 1630, before deciding to settle across the Charles River at Boston.
The territory of Charlestown originally included what is now Melrose and Malden (both until 1649), Stoneham (until 1725), Somerville (until 1842), Medford, Everett, Woburn, Burlington, and parts of Arlington and Cambridge.
On June 17, 1775 the Charlestown Peninsula was the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Much of the battle took place on Breed's Hill, which overlooked the harbor and the town and was only about 400 yards from the southern end of the peninsula; Bunker Hill is near the northwest end of the peninsula, close to Charlestown Neck and about a mile from the Charles River. The town, including its wharves and dockyards, was destroyed by fire during the battle.
[Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874.]2
George and Elizabeth Marsh – briefly before moving to Hingham
Joseph Hills Sr. and Rose Cleerke – briefly before moving north to settle in the Mysticside area of Charlestown. See Malden.
Joseph Hills Jr. - briefly before moving north to settle in the Mysticside area of Charlestown.
1629 site of Puritan leader John Winthrop's "Great House" in City Square.
Bunker Hill Monument
USS Constitution docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard.
The Warren Tavern located at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Main Street, was frequented by many American Revolutionary War heroes such as Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin , Sergeant David Turner and George Washington.
All of this Charlestown history comes from https://www.geni.com/projects/Early-and-Notable-Families-of-Charlestown-Massachusetts-1629-1818/14177 unless otherwise noted.