There were actually two companies that preceded the Massachusetts Bay Company. The Dorchester Company planted a fishing colony on Cape Ann[?] (at modern Gloucester) in 1624, but this didn't succeed. Most colonists returned to England, but a few under Roger Conant moved to Salem where they set up a trading post. They were followed by the New England Company which received a land patent extending from the Merrimack River to the Charles River plus 3 miles on either side. John Endicott led a group of Puritan setters to Salem, and served as governor from their arrival on September 6, 1628. The Massachusetts Bay Company replaced both of these when the Puritans were able to convert the patents into a Royal Charter on March 4, 1629.
Perhaps by oversight, the company's charter made no mention of the location of its headquarters. On August 29 the shareholders who wished to move to America reached an agreement (The Cambridge Agreement) and bought out those who wished to remain in England. So when John Winthrop set out with the next wave of 700 settlers in March of 1630 they carried their Charter with them, and Winthrop replaced Endicott as governor of the Colony. When they settled at Boston, the leadership and headquarters of the Colony and the Company were united in America.
Massachusetts Bay continued its rapid growth, in spite of serious difficulties. The first winter (1630-1631} over 200 died. When the next ships came more chose to return to England. This was, in fact, the only tragic winter faced by the young colony. Since the pressures on the Puritan non-conformists at home continued, so do increasing and rapid immigration, and by the end of 1631 the colony numbered over 2,000. Over the next several years, as Archbishop Laud continued to add rigor to the Curch hierarchy, the growth continued. Ministers rejected in England also made the trip with their flocks, so John Cotton[?], Roger Williams, Thomas Hooker, and others became leaders of Puritan congregations in Massachusetts.
In 1634 the issue of governance arose again, and a group headed by Thomas Dudley[?] demanded to see the charter. The learned of the provisions that the general court should make all laws, and that all freemen should be members. They demanded that it be enforced to the letter, but eventualy reached a compromise with governor Winthrop. They agreed to a General Court made up of two delegates elected by each town, the Governor's council of advisors, and the Governor himself. This court was to have authority over "The raising up public stock"(taxes)"and what they shold agree upon should bind all." What Wintrop didn't expect was that binding included the election of the governor, and Dudley was elected. The first revolution was complete, and a trading company had become a representative democracy. By 1641 they had added the first code of laws, that specified required behavior and punishments.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump