Hi, Hollis,
I am certainly no expert on New Hampshire history, so please allow me to simply share what I have found, without yet reconciling that information to what you have noted, for whatever its worth!
This is an amalgamation of several sources, including Wikipedia, Ancestry, and other "nits" that I don't currently have at my disposal, none of which I am completely sure is accurate but close.
"New Hampshire Colony (1623) separated from Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) in 1680, re-unified in 1688, and then the Province of New Hampshire was created as a crown colony in 1691/2. In 1622, Captain John Mason, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and others obtained from the Council of Plymouth a grant of land partly in [present-day] Maine and partly in [present-day] New Hampshire which they called Laconia. In the spring of 1623, they sent two small parties to settle it. Some of these commenced to stay at Little Harbor, on the west side of the Piscataqua River near present-day Portsmouth. The others planted themselves at Cocheco, afterwards called Dover, further up the river. These constituted individual settlements under the grant for "Laconia".
In 1629, the Reverend John Wainwright, a former patron of Anne Hutchinson, purchased the native territory lying between the Merrimack and the Piscataqua rivers. He afterward laid the foundation of the town of Exeter. During that same year this tract of country, which was a part of original grant to Mason and Gorges, was conveyed to Mason alone, and then received the name New Hampshire.
In 1641 the settlements of New Hampshire formed a coalition with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, whose protection they enjoyed for nearly forty years. In 1680, however, the [New Hampshire] territory was separated by order of the King and constituted as a royal province, thereafter to be governed by a president and council appointed by the Crown, with a house of representatives elected by the inhabitants. No change of land titles was effected. For several years, both the Province of Massachusetts Bay and the Province of New Hampshire were ruled by one royal governor. In 1688/9, with England in revolution, Governor Andros was seized and imprisoned in Massachusetts, then referred to as part of the Dominion of New England, and the people of New Hampshire, assuming governmental control, placed themselves under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts until 1691/2 with the reestablishment of the individual royal provinces, until again reuniting the provinces in 1699. In 1741, the final separation of the two provinces took place, at which time a separate royal governor was appointed for each."
I repeat, I am not an expert here, so if there surfaces better documentation that can refute or amend this information, hopefully this will serve as a catalyst for such discussion.
Sincerely,
Doug Ross
