Description
John Belcher of Boston, who would become Massachusetts Governor, brought the young Io with him to Britain. Their journey was rather unusual, in that they landed at Milford Haven on the Welsh coast and then walked and rode on horseback to Gloucester (some 150 miles). In Gloucester they caught a stagecoach to London (another 120 or so miles). The reason for taking such a scenic route are unclear, but it makes Io the earliest Native visitor to Wales that we have on record. From London they visited the Hague, Amsterdam, and Hanover, where Princess Sophia accepted him as a gift and immediately set to converting him and teaching him Dutch and French. Belcher tells us no more about him or his fate.
Bibliographic sources
Alden T. Vaughan, Transatlantic Encounters, 112.