Martin has been doing some research to try to pin down the parents of James of Dover, NH. There is a baptism in Slapton in 1633/4 which most of us believe was our James. The problem is that we have a James Buncker serving on a coroner's jury in Kittery, Maine in 1646 when this James would have been possibly 13 years old. We also have a deposition of James of Dover in 1678 saying he was 50 years old indicating that he was born in 1628. James said he was from Devon but we find no specific place in Devon that he may have been from. In addition, James lived with Mrs. Trueworthy in 1648/9 in Kittery, Maine and worked for Shapleigh's Mills. In the court record Mrs. Trueworthy's name is spelled incorrectly. Her name was actually Treworgy and she was the daughter of Nicholas Shapleigh who owned ships, a sawmill and a mercantile store. His ships regularly traveled back and forth from Dartmouth, the only Devon port deep enough to dock ships. The coroner's jury was to determine the cause of death of a man accidentally shot by Charles Frost, the son of Nicholas Frost, a business associate of Shapleigh. These are my thoughts on the possible explanations for James of Dover being the one baptized at Slapton in 1633 and also serving on the coroner's jury in Kittery, Maine in 1646. 1. Any one of the dates may be incorrect, but other evidence seems to support them. 2. The baptism of James may have been delayed for some reason and he was not baptized as an infant. 3. There were few men available to serve on the coroner's jury so in spite of James' young age he was chosen as it was only to determine cause of death and not guilt or innocence of a possible crime. 4. James was deliberately chosen to be on the jury by Shapleigh and Frost as they were commissioners at the time. There is abundant evidence of chicanery by both of these men and "stacking" of juries in order to get a favorable verdict. Shapleigh and Frost were very powerful and there were great plans for Charles Frost. The man shot was not from a prominent family. 5. James was mistaken in his deposition and his age was actually 45 in 1678. It was so common for people to state in depositions their age to the nearest decade that this is a very likely possibility. It also may have been recorded wrong. At any rate, based upon the numerous depositions that I have read, I would say this is not the best evidence of anyone's age. 6. I think is very possible that James came to America as an apprentice to the Shapleighs or may have worked on the ship for his passage here. Mrs. Treworgy did not run a boarding house. She was really quite rich. I can find no other record at that time indicating anyone else lived with her except James. James lived in Kittery about 5 years, which would have been a reasonable time in which to work off his fare over here. I believe the Slapton James is the same one as the Dover, NH James. Even as late as the late 1800's boys of the age of 10-12 were working at men's jobs and doing things that grown men did. He was young to be on a jury in 1646/7 but it is entirely possible that he did serve at that young age. Especially since he worked for Shapleigh and Frost who was Shapleigh's manager. Also, the date of the court record might be wrong. Those records are rather mixed up and not always in chronological order. The transcriber may have transcribed the date wrong. It appears that James was in Dover by about 1650 and definitely by 1652. What do you guys think? Bette