Piscataqua River becoming the Province of New Hampshire. Gorges and his nephew established Maine's first court system. Capt. Christopher Levett, early English explorer of the New England coast, was an agent for Gorges, as well as a member for the Plymouth Council for New England. Levett's attempt to establish a colony in Maine ultimately failed, and he died aboard ship returning to England after meeting with Governor John Winthrop in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Gorges's son was Robert Gorges, Governor-General of New England from 1623 to 1624. But Robert Gorges was seen with some suspicion by American colonists, who were sceptical of Gorges' almost feudal idea of governance and settlement, and ultimately Gorges returned to England. In the 1630s Ferdinando Gorges attempted to revive the moribund claims of the Plymouth Company. In concert with colonists banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he formally questioned the issuance of its royal charter in 1632, and forwarded complaints and charges made by the disaffected colonists to the Privy Council of Charles I. His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Marriages and children He married four times: Firstly in 1589 at St. Margaret's, Westminster to Ann Bell (d. 1620), a daughter of Edward Bell of Writtle, Essex, by whom he had two sons and two daughters: John Gorges; Robert Gorges; Ellen Gorges; Honoria Gorges, who died young. Secondly in 1621, he married Mary Fulford, 3rd daughter of Sir Thomas Fulford (1553–1610) of Great Fulford in Devon, and widow of Thomas Achims (alias Asham) of Hall, in Cornwall. Thirdly in 1627, at Ladock in Cornwall, to Elizabeth Gorges (d. 1629), who died a few weeks after the marriage, a daughter of Tristam Gorges of St. Budeaux (a direct descendant in the male line of the Norman Gorges family) and widow firstly of Edward Courteney (d.1622) of Landrake and of Trethurffe, Ladock, both in Cornwall (descended from the Courtenay Earls of Devon), and secondly of William Bligh. Fourthly, at Wraxall in 1629, to Elizabeth Gorges, Lady Smyth, widow of Sir Hugh Smyth of Ashton Court (near Wraxall) and daughter of Sir Thomas Gorges and Helena, Marchioness of Northampton. Death and succession Sir Ferdinando Gorges died on 24 May 1647, at his wife's home in Long Ashton (then known as Ashton-Phillips), and is buried in the Smyth crypt, All Saint's Church, Long Ashton, without markings due to the circumstances of the time. His eldest son, John, inherited