Sir William Phips or Phipps (1651–1695), governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
Of humble origin and poorly educated, he was a shipbuilder in Boston before embarking on several treasure hunting expeditions to the West Indies.
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Although some accounts have characterized this early expedition as a failure, it was clearly profitable, returning shares worth £54 to its participants and crown agent Edward Randolph wrote in 1683 of Phips' "late successfull returnes".
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The resulting Province of Massachusetts Bay, whose charter was issued in 1691 and began operating in 1692 under governor Sir William Phips, combined the territories of those two provinces, along with the islands south of Cape Cod (Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands) that had been Dukes County in the colony of New York.
The building also housed the Colonial government, with Governors Endecott, Bellingham, Leverett and Bradstreet presiding under the old charter, then Edmund Andros, followed by Phips, Stoughton, Bellomont and Dudley under the new charter.