Overview: In 1765 John and Lydia Mann set off from their home in Hebron, CT, to settle in Orford, NH. They traveled by horseback along the Connecticut River, stopping to rest along the way. This lesson provides students with a personal story of settlement.
Focusing Questions
How did the first settlers travel to their new land?
Topical Understandings
Towns were chartered by the Governor.
Settlers to the the Upper Valley came from Connecticut.
There were no roads and people traveled by horseback along narrow paths.
Background Information
Who settled here and how did they live?
Materials
John Mann Account for 4th or 7th grade
4th grade version
7th grade version
Visualizing the Story graphic organizer
Procedures
Paragraph 1: Family Migration
- Read the first paragraph of Joel Mann’s family story.
- As a class, create a family tree to diagram the Mann family over time. Use a different color for each generation and write in the dates when you know them).
- Trace the Mann family’s migration on a map from Plimoth to Hebron, CT, up the Connecticut River to Orford.
- Discussion: How does the Mann family story match what you have already learned about colonization?