Dorchester, Colonial County of Suffolk, The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America (North America)

On May 30, 1630, Captain Squib of the ship "Mary and John" entered Boston Harbor and then landed a boat on June 17 with eight men at what was then a narrow peninsula known as Mattapan or Mattaponnock, that became the Dorchester shore The town that was founded was centered on the First Parish Church of Dorchester, which still exists as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meeting House Hill and is the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston, and was part of the creation of Suffolk County In 1793, after years of negotiations considering various proposals for grouping towns. the creation of "Norfolk County" occurred by cutting it out of Suffolk and leaving only Boston and Chelsea in Suffolk County; see Dorchester, Norfolk County