The first book banned in the New England colonies was written by
William Pynchon, founder of Springfield, Massachusetts William
Pynchon was a merchant and trader, founder of the small colony
of Springfield on the banks of the Connecticut River, and the
author of the first book "banned in Boston." Born in 1590 in
Springfield, Essex, England, after which the new settlement was
eventually named, Pynchon was an influential member of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. He arrived in New England in 1630, was
elected assistant and treasurer of the colony, and was
instrumental in founding a new settlement at Roxbury before
leading a small group of eight families to settle a plantation
'over against Agawam' in the spring of 1636. The settlement was
founded, in large part, to take advantage of fur-trading
opportunities along the Connecticut River. Pynchon was not only
a man of business and a magistrate. He was also a scholarly man,
and a deeply religious one. In 1650, he completed a theological
treatise entitled The Meritori