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February 21, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

English Civil Wars

Queen Elizabeth was followed to the throne by James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. James believed in the absolute power of the monarchy, and he had a rocky relationship with an increasingly vocal and demanding Parliament.

James I was a firm protestant, and in 1604 he expelled all Catholic priests from the island. This was one of the factors which led to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. A group of Catholic plotters planned to blow up Parliament when it opened on November 5. However, an anonymous letter betrayed the plot and most of the plotters were captured and executed.

During James I’s reign Protestant groups called Puritans began to gain a sizeable following. Puritans wanted to “purify” the church by paring down church ritual, educating the clergy, and limiting the powers of bishops. King James resisted this last. The powers of the church and king were too closely linked. “No bishop, no king,” he said.

James i’s attitude toward Parliament was clear. He commented in 1614 that he was surprised his ancestors “should have permitted such an institution to come into existence …. It is sedition in subjects to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power”.

Charles, the third child and second son of James I, was born in Dunfermline Palace on November 19, 1600. After the death of his older brother, Henry, in 1612, Charles was given the title of Prince of Wales and became the heir to the throne. James I died on March 27, 1625.

When Charles I ascended to the throne in 1625, the British Isles were divided with several religious, political and social factions that had been growing since the late Tudor period.

Within four years of Charles’s coronation, these had manifested into deep disagreements between king and Parliament. Charles I (1625-49) continued his father’s hostile relationship with Parliament, squabbling over the right to levy taxes. Parliament responded with the Petition of Right in 1628.

It was the most dramatic assertion of the traditional rights of the English people since the Magna Carta. Its basic premise was that no taxes of any kind could be allowed without the permission of Parliament.

Charles I finally had enough, and in 1629 he dissolved Parliament and ruled without it for eleven years. Some of the ways he raised money during this period were of dubious legality by the standards of the time. (Most in this section is from David Ross)

Ultimately, the conflict between the King and Parliament led to civil war.

Civil Wars

The English Civil Wars was three wars fought in England between those loyal to Charles I and those supporting Parliament, in 1642–6, 1648 and 1649–51.

They centered around a power struggle between King Charles I and Parliament, with battle lines drawn over deep-seated and complex divisions in politics, religion and economic policy. Families and communities at all levels of society were drawn into the conflict, and many suffered great losses.

At the heart of the upheaval was a radical challenge to the absolute power of the monarch – one which resulted in the only ever execution of a British monarch and the sole period of Republican rule in British history.

The wars forever altered the relationship between monarch and Parliament, stirring questions of power and democracy that led to the long, slow rise of Parliament as the main instrument of power in the land. (English Heritage)

When Charles I ascended to the throne in 1625, the British Isles were divided with several religious, political and social factions. There was no single cause of the wars, but three main sources of discontent emerged in the early years of Charles I’s reign, Politics, Religion and Economics.

King versus Parliament

Charles I extended the Ship Money levy from English ports to inland towns. This inclusion of inland towns was construed as a new tax without parliamentary authorization.

Over time, Parliament made increasing demands, which the king refused to meet. Neither side was willing to budge. Finally in 1642 fighting broke out.

The English Civil Wars are traditionally considered to have begun in England in August 1642, when Charles I raised an army against the wishes of Parliament, ostensibly to deal with a rebellion in Ireland. But the period of conflict actually began earlier in Scotland, with the Bishops’ Wars of 1639–40, and in Ireland, with the Ulster rebellion of 1641.

The war began as a series of indecisive skirmishes notable for not much beyond the emergence of a Parliamentary general from East Anglia named Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell transformed his erratic volunteer troops into the disciplined New Model Army.

Throughout the 1640s, war between King and Parliament ravaged England, but it also struck all of the kingdoms held by the house of Stuart – and, in addition to war between the various British and Irish dominions, there was civil war within each of the Stuart states.

For this reason the English Civil Wars might more properly be called the British Civil Wars or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The wars finally ended in 1651 with the flight of Charles II to France and, with him, the hopes of the British monarchy.

it has been estimated that the conflict in England and Wales claimed about 85,000 lives in combat, with a further 127,000 noncombat deaths (including some 40,000 civilians). The fighting in Scotland and Ireland, where the populations were roughly a fifth of that of England, was more brutal still.

As many as 15,000 civilians perished in Scotland, and a further 137,000 Irish civilians may well have died as a result of the wars there.

In all nearly 200,000 people, or roughly 2.5 percent of the civilian population, lost their lives directly or indirectly as a result of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms during this decade, making the Civil Wars arguably the bloodiest conflict in the history of the British Isles. (Britannica)

War’s Impact on the American Colonies

The outbreak of civil war between the King and Parliament opened an opportunity for the English state to consolidate its hold over the American colonies. In 1642, no permanent British North American colony was more than 35 years old. The crown and various proprietors controlled most of the colonies, but settlers from Barbados to Maine enjoyed a great deal of independence.

This was especially true in Massachusetts Bay, where Puritan settlers governed themselves according to the colony’s 1629 charter. Trade in tobacco and naval stores tied the colonies to England economically, as did religion and political culture, but in general the English left the colonies to their own devices.

Older colonies like Virginia and proprietary colonies like Maryland sympathized with the crown. Newer colonies like Massachusetts Bay, populated by religious dissenters taking part in the Great Migration of the 1630s, tended to favor Parliament.

Between 1630-43 large numbers of people emigrated from England as Archbishop Laud tried to impose uniformity on the church. Up to 60,000 people left, one-third of them to the new American colonies. Several areas lost a large part of their populations, and laws were enacted to curb the outflow.

Yet during the war the colonies remained neutral, fearing that support for either side could involve them in war. Even Massachusetts Bay, which nurtured ties to radical Protestants in Parliament, remained neutral. (American Yawp)

Parliament won the war, Charles I was executed, and England transformed into a republic and protectorate under Oliver Cromwell.

Charles I’s execution in 1649 altered that neutrality. Six colonies, including Virginia and Barbados, declared open allegiance to the dead monarch’s son, Charles II. Parliament responded with an Act in 1650 that leveled an economic embargo on the rebelling colonies, forcing them to accept Parliament’s authority.

England found itself in crisis after the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, leading in time to the reestablishment of the monarchy.

Charles II ruled effectively, but his successor, James II, made several crucial mistakes. Eventually, Parliament again overthrew the authority of their king, this time turning to the Dutch Prince William of Holland and his English bride, Mary, the daughter of James II. This relatively peaceful coup was called the Glorious Revolution.

English colonists in the era of the Glorious Revolution experienced religious and political conflict that reflected transformations in Europe. It was a time of great anxiety for the colonists. In the 1670s, King Charles II tightened English control over America, creating the royal colony of New Hampshire in 1678, and transforming Bermuda into a crown colony in 1684.

James II worked to place the colonies on firmer defensive footing by creating the Dominion of New England in 1686. Colonists had accepted him as king despite his religion but began to suspect him of possessing absolutist ambitions.

The Dominion consolidated the New England colonies plus New York and New Jersey into one administrative unit to counter French Canada, but colonists decried the loss of their individual provinces. The Dominion’s governor, Sir Edmund Andros, did little to assuage fears of arbitrary power when he impressed colonists into military service for a campaign against Maine Indians in early 1687.

In England, James’s push for religious toleration brought him into conflict with Parliament and the Anglican establishment. Fearing that James meant to destroy Protestantism, a group of bishops and Parliamentarians asked William of Orange, the Protestant Dutch Stadtholder, and James’s son-in-law, to invade the country in 1688.

When the king fled to France in December, Parliament invited William and Mary to take the throne, and colonists in America declared allegiance to the new monarchs. They did so in part to maintain order in their respective colonies. As one Virginia official explained, if there was “no King in England, there was no Government here.” A declaration of allegiance was therefore a means toward stability.

More importantly, colonists declared for William and Mary because they believed their ascension marked the rejection of absolutism and confirmed the centrality of Protestantism in English life. Settlers joined in the revolution by overthrowing the Dominion government, restoring the provinces to their previous status, and forcing out the Catholic-dominated Maryland government.

The biggest effect it had on the colonies was probably that it drove at least 3 separate waves of migration from England to America.

Before the war, the bulk of settlers were puritans from east of England came and settled in the northeast. After the war, most were former cavaliers, mostly from the south of England, who settled the Chesapeake and southern coasts.

After the restoration, there was as second wave of “puritans” but this time they were mostly from the north midlands, not east Anglia, who settled Pennsylvania and the surrounding area. These three areas all had profoundly different cultural attitudes, and settling in America made them starker, not milder. (American Yawp)

Click the following link to a general summary about English Civil Wars:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/English-Civil-Wars.pdf

February 14, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Winslows and Whites

There were 102 passengers on the Mayflower including 37 members of the separatist Leiden congregation who would go on to be known as the Pilgrims, together with the non-separatist passengers. Almost half the people on-board the ship were fare paying passengers seeking a new life and not driven by religious convictions.

There were 74 men and 28 women – 18 were listed as servants, 13 of which were attached to separatist families. There are thought to have been 31 children (20 boys and 11 girls) on the Mayflower. The crew were led by Captain Christopher Jones, but it is unknown just how many crew there were.

In addition to the initial 102 passengers, one was born at sea on the way (Oceanus Hopkins) and another was born while they were at anchor (Peregrine White). One of the passengers (William Butten) died on the way to America.

While at anchor off Cape Cod between November 9 and December 8, 1620, four more died, Edward Thompson; Jasper More; Dorothy Bradford and James Chilton. In addition to the above, there were other crew members of the Mayflower (some estimate that there were 30-50 total crew members).

Two of the families on the Mayflower were the Winslows and the Whites.

Edward Winslow was born in Worcestershire, in the town of Droitwich Spa in 1595. His family were involved in the salt production trade and owned a salt. Between 1606 and April 1611 he studied at the King’s School at nearby Worcester Cathedral.

He was one of ten students championed for a scholarship by the Dean of the Cathedral. His admission is listed in the Cathedral Library. He would have studied Grammar, Latin and Greek. This education would mark Winslow out in the Pilgrims and be a factor in becoming a leader in their ranks.

He became an apprentice to a stationer but after a dispute, decided against fulfilling his contract and began to travel in Europe, meeting the exiled English Separatist church in Leiden, Holland, in 1617. These Separatists had fled persecution for their religious beliefs and had settled in Leiden, a kind of refuge at the time, and would go on to plan the Mayflower’s historic sailing in search of the New World and a new life.

Winslow helped the Separatists in their underground printing activities and soon became one of the leading members of the group. He married Elizabeth Barker in 1618, and is listed as a printer in the marriage records.

He became instrumental in organizing the journey to America, helping decide how they would finance the operation with John Carver and Robert Cushman, who we negotiating with merchants in London.

In the summer of 1620, Winslow was among the Pilgrims who sailed from Leiden on the Speedwell, arriving in Southampton to meet the Mayflower, with the intention of both ships sailing to America. It didn’t work out that way and after a stop in Dartmouth the passengers on the Speedwell transferred to the Mayflower at their last stop, Plymouth. It meant that with 102 passengers on board, the Atlantic crossing was extremely arduous and overcrowded.

Winslow travelled with his wife Elizabeth, his brother Gilbert plus a servant called George Soule and a youth named Elias Story. Also in their care was a girl called Elinor More – one of four children from the More family of Shipton in Shropshire who travelled with the Pilgrims.

William White was born in Wisbech and was the son of Edward and Thomasine (Cross)(May) White. He was the uncle of William Bradford’s first wife Dorothy May. Susanna White was the daughter of Richard and Mary (Pettinger) Jackson. Her father leased part of the Scrooby Manor and fled with Bradford to Amsterdam in 1608 to avoid arrest for their beliefs.

In the spring of 1608, William, identified as a shoemaker, was cited for nonconformity and excommunicated from Wisbech St Peters, along with his half siblings Henry May and Jacomine May. William left for Amsterdam in May 1608; his half-siblings joined him the following August.

The May and the White families, both from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, arrived in the Netherlands around 1608. The marriage of Gov. William Bradford to Dorothy May in 1613 states that she was 16 years old and that she had been living there for about 5 years.

Henry May the Elder stated in 1627 that he had been living in Amsterdam for about 15 years. In June 1608, “Willem Wit” was granted permission to reside within the city, and in August 1608 “Hendrick May” also received permission. In 1611, William White purchased a house in the “new city” of Amsterdam.

William White was a member of Henry Ainsworth’s congregation of Separatists in Amsterdam. His half-brother, Henry May was a leading elder of this congregation.

Susanna was likely born and raised in Scrooby, and her father held a lease for a portion of Scrooby Manor. She may have fled with her father to Amsterdam in 1608, and there married William White.

William and Susanna met in Amsterdam and married there. They were members of Henry Ainsworth’s congregation and were the only members to join the Mayflower group from Leiden. William and Susanna had their son Resolved about 1615.

Bradford notes about the household on the trip across the Atlantic, “Mr. William White and Susanna his wife and one son called Resolved, and one born a-shipboard called Peregrine, and two servants named William Holbeck and Edward Thompson” (Bradford, 442).

The following is an listing of the White and Winslow households aboard the Mayflower: William White 30; Susanna White 25; Resolved White 5; Peregrine White Born at anchor; William Holbeck (Servant to William White); Edward Thompson <21 (Servant to William White); Edward Winslow 25; Elizabeth Winslow 23; Ellen More 8 (Servant to Edward Winslow); George Soule 21 – 25 (Servant to Edward Winslow); Elias Story <21 (Cared by Edward Winslow) and Gilbert Winslow 20 (Brother of Edward).

General Sickness

Then, after landing, disaster struck.

Within weeks, fifty-two of the 102 passengers who had reached Cape Cod were dead, including fourteen of the twenty-six heads of families. All but four families had lost at least one member. Of the eighteen married couples who had sailed from England, only three had survived intact.

Bradford tells us that “Mr. White and his two servants died soon after their landing.” (William White died February 21, 1621.) Likewise, Winslow’s “wife died the first winter,” (March 24, 1621) Bradford, p. 444 and 445.

On May 12, 1621, Susanna White, left a widow with two small sons, married Edward Winslow, whose wife Elizabeth had likewise died.

Edward Winslow eventually became a prominent member of the Plymouth Colony, being elected governor three times. Winslow served as a member of the governor’s council from 1624 to 1647, except for the three times he was governor of the colony (in 1633–34, 1636–37, and 1644–45).

He and Susanna had five more children together, although only two lived to adulthood.

Some Winslow and White ‘Firsts’:

Peregrine White was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. (Oceanus Hopkins was born on board the Mayflower during the Atlantic crossing.) (The name Peregrine means ‘one from abroad’; a foreigner, traveler or pilgrim.)
Susanna, was the mother of the first English-born child in New England. “Before the End of November Susanna Wife of William White was delivered of a Son, who is called Peregrine being the first Born since their arrival and I conclude the first of the European Extract in New England.” Thomas Prince, New England Chronology, 1736.
The wedding of Edward Winslow and Susanna White was the first in Plymouth Colony. “May 12 [1621]. was ye first mariage in this place, which, according to ye laudable custome of ye Low-Cuntries, in which they had lived, was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a civill thing, upon which many questions aboute inheritances doe depende, with other things most proper to their cognizans, and most consonante to ye scripturs, Ruth 4. and no wher found in ye gospell to be layed on ye ministers as a part of their office. “This decree or law about mariage was published by ye Stats of ye Low-Cuntries Ano: 1590. That those of any religion, after lawfull and open publication, coming before ye magistrats, in ye Town or Stat-house, were to be orderly (by them) maried one to another.” (Bradford)
Susanna Winslow was one of only four adult women to have survived to see the ‘First Thanksgiving’ at Plymouth that autumn.
Susanna Winslow was the First Lady of Plymouth Colony (on three occasions).
Josiah Winslow, son of Edward and Susanna became governor of the Plymouth Colony in 1673 (the first native-born governor of any of the American colonies). In one of his early administrative actions, he established the first public school in the colony. Susanna became the mother of the first native-born governor of any of the American colonies.

Click the following link to a general summary about Winslows and Whites:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Winslows-and-Whites.pdf

February 7, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Arrows and Snake Skin

At the period when the Mayflower came to anchor in Plymouth harbor, Massasoit exercised dominion over nearly all the south-eastern part of Massachusetts from Cape Cod to Narragansett Bay.

The south-western section of his kingdom was known as Pokanoket, Sowams, or Sowamsett. It included what now comprises the towns of Bristol, Warren, Barrington, and East Providence in Rhode Island, with portions of Seekonk, Swansea, and Rehoboth in Massachusetts.

The Indians were always particular to locate their permanent villages in the vicinity of springs of running water. Its soil is generally fertile and its climate agreeable and healthy, as, owing to its somewhat inland position, it escapes the full rigor of the fierce winds, that, during the winter months, sweep the unsheltered shores of Bristol.

Wampanoag

In the days when the Wampanoags inhabited its territory, it was well timbered, and grapes, cherries, huckleberries, and other wild fruits grew abundantly in field and swamp. Its rivers teemed with fish of many varieties, and also yielded a plentiful supply of lobsters, crabs, oysters, clams, quahaugs, and mussels.

Flocks of wild fowl haunted its marshes; deer and smaller game frequented its woods. Even in those seasons when food became generally scarce, the dwellers at Sowams probably suffered little from hunger in comparison with the inhabitants of many sections of New England less favored by nature. (History of Swansea, Wright)

In the spring of 1621, Ousamequin, the Massasoit (a title meaning head chief) of the Wampanoag Indians, made a treaty with the Pilgrims who settled at Patuxet (in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts).

Massasoit, who led the Wampanoags for about a half-century, is best remembered for this diplomatic skill and for his successful policy of peaceful co-existence with the English settlers.

The Pilgrim-Wampanoag Peace Treaty is the document drafted and signed on March 22, 1621 CE between governor John Carver (l. 1584-1621 CE) of the Plymouth Colony and the sachem (chief) Ousamequin (better known by his title Massasoit, l. c. 1581-1661 CE) of the Wampanoag Confederacy.

The treaty established peaceful relations between the two parties and would be honored by both sides from the day of its signage until after the death of Massasoit in 1661 CE.

Although the treaty reads as though it favors the settlers, the provisions were understood as applying to both sides even when not specified. The treaty and peace lasted for more than 50 years.

Narragansett

The Narragansett Indians are the descendants of the aboriginal people of the State of Rhode Island. Archaeological evidence and the oral history of the Narragansett People establish their existence in this region more than 30,000 years ago.

Certain Nipmuck bands, the Niantics, Wampanoag, and Manisseans all paid tribute to the Narragansett tribe. These tribes all resided in areas of Rhode Island at the time of the first European settlement.

Historically, tribal members had two homes; a winter home and a summer home. The winter home would be called a long house in which up to 20 families would live in over the cold winter months.

Governor Bradford states that the Narragansetts and Pequots grew “rich and potent” by the manufacture of wampum and, presumably, wealth contributed in no small degree towards establishing the prestige of the Wampanoags.

This tribe, properly speaking was a confederation of clans each clan having its own headman who was, however, subservient to a chief sachem.

Canonicus, Leader of the Narragansett Challenges the Pilgrims

One of the most renowned sachems among the New England tribes was Canonicus, the head of the Narragansets when the Pilgrims founded New Plymouth.

He regarded the advent of the white men with a jealous fear; feeling strong, with about five thousand fighting men around him, he sent a challenge to Governor Bradford, of the Plymouth colony.

This was not-withstanding that Massasoit (the chief sachem of the Wampanoags) was the friend of the Pilgrims.

Bradford noted (in November 1621):

“After ye departure of [the Fortune in 1621] (which stayed not above 14. days,) the Gover & his assistante having disposed these late comers into severall families, as yey best could, tooke an exacte accounte of all their provissions in store, and proportioned ye same to ye number of persons, and found that it would not hould out above 6. months at halfe alowance, and hardly that.”

“And they could not well give less this winter time till fish came in againe. So they were presently put to half alowance, one as well as an other, which begane to be hard, but they bore it patiently under hope of supply.”

“Sone after this ships departure, ye great people of ye Narigansets, in a braving maner, sente a messenger unto them with a bundl of arrows tyed aboute with a great sneak-skine; which their interpretours tould them was a threatening & a chaleng.”

The next morning when Squanto returned, the snake skin of arrows was shown to him. “What do you understand these arrows to mean?” asked Captain Standish.

Squanto’s eyes flashed with anger. “Arrows say, ‘Come out and fight.’ Soon many arrows fly in this village. Many white men die.”

“Our bullets fly farther than arrows. not afraid,” answered Bradford. He threw the arrows upon the ground and filled the snake skin with powder and shot. Handing it to Squanto, he said, “Take that to the chief. Tell him we have done him no harm, but we are ready to fight if he comes.” (Stories of the Pilgrims, Pumphrey)

“Upon which ye Govr, with ye advice of others, sente them a round answere, that if they had rather have warre then peace, they might begine when they would; they had done them no wrong, neither did yey fear them, or should they find them unprovided.” (Bradford)

The Narragansett chief had never seen the like before, and he regarded these substances with superstitious awe. They were sent from village to village, and excited so much alarm, that the sachem sued for peace, and made a treaty of friendship, which he never violated …

… notwithstanding, he often received provocations that would have justified him in scattering all compacts to the winds.

The Indians had heard of the deadly weapon of the white man. A few of them had even heard its thunder, but none of them had ever touched a gun or seen powder and shot.

The Indians crowded around to see the strange bundle, but not one of them would touch it. The chief would not have it in his wigwam a minute. He ordered Squanto to take it back to Plymouth, but he would not. “There is plenty more there,’ said Squanto. “When you come you shall have it.” Then he turned and left the village. (Stories of the Pilgrims, Pumphrey)

“And by another messenger sente ye sneake-skine back with bulits in it; but they would not receive it, but sent it back againe. But these things I doe but mention, because they are more at large allready put forth in printe, by Mr. Winslow, at ye requeste of some freinds.”

The chief then called another messenger and told him to take the hated bundle away, anywhere out of his country. So the messenger carried it to another tribe, but they would have none of it. It was passed from one Indian village to another, leaving terror in its path. At last, after many weeks, the snake skin of powder returned unopened to Plymouth.

That was all the Pilgrims ever heard of war with those Indians. But they thought it wise to protect their town better, so a high fence of pointed posts was built all about the town. For many weeks a watchman was kept at the gate night and day. (Stories of the Pilgrims, Pumphrey)

Click the following link to a general summary about Arrows and Snake Skin:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Arrows-and-Snake-Skin.pdf

January 31, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Freeman

“The adult men in the first settlement of Plymouth all held the status of ‘stockholders’ in the joint-stock company that financed the Colony or ‘plantation.’”

“They thus shared in the ownership of the plantation’s assets, its speculative economic venture, and its liabilities. They participated in the economic venture and its colonial government.”

“The colonists also began use of the separate term ‘freemen’ early in the settlement, which indicated a citizen of the Colony, who possessed the right to vote for the Governor and Assistants and the right to hold office (thus, all stockholders were freemen, but not all freemen would be stockholders). Women and servants were not eligible for freeman status.” (Fennell)

A “freeman” (this designation has nothing to do with slavery, or former slavery) refers to a person’s position in his church and community. This position as a “freeman” had to be earned by those who settled among the New England colonists. (Dehler)

A “freeman” should not be confused with a “freeholder” or “free planter.” These latter terms refer to individuals who possessed land. This land was usually either granted to the person by the colony, purchased by him from the colony, or inherited. Freemen, of course, could be, and were, free planters – that is, land owners.

A man who committed a crime or infraction against the government or church could lose his status of freeman and also lose his land. (Dehler)

When he first entered the colony, a settler was not considered “free.” He was a commoner. His actions and activities were closely monitored by the hierarchy to make sure they fit with the church’s ideal.

If the man proved himself to fit with this ideal – if he joined the church, paid his debts, was owing to no man, and was under no judicial restraints – he would be accepted by the hierarchy and would be allowed to take the freemen’s oath.

This process of acceptance took some time because the man had to prove himself worthy and become a member in good standing of the congregation. (Dehler)

“The status of ‘freeman’ conferred the right to take part in the government of the Colony as a whole … The ultimate unit of political participation and power was the individual ‘freeman.’ This was a formal status of which all adult male householders might directly apply.”

“Approval was based on general consideration of character and competence; … Plymouth set no specific requirements in terms of church membership.”

“Initially, the ‘freemen’ themselves composed the General Court, which enacted all necessary ‘laws and ordinances,’ voted ‘rates’ (taxes), and (after 1640) supervised the distribution of lands.” (Demos)

“Freemen were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Colony and to England. There were several instances of charges brought to the Court over the years of freemen failing or refusing to take such an oath.”

“In 1659, for example, twelve men were convicted for refusing to take the oath, and were fined 5 pounds sterling each, although not banished or imprisoned.” (Fennell)

“Sometime in the period from 1636 to 1671, the Plymouth colonists formulated a declaration called The General Fundamentals, which further emphasized their desire for self-governance as ‘freemen’ or ‘associates’:

This has often been viewed by historians as one of the earliest forms of a demand for “representative” government and individual rights in the American colonies.

“Restrictions focusing on Quakers were added as well. No Quaker could be a freemen, and a freemen who became a Quaker would lose his status, as would any freemen who aided Quakers.”

“The duties of being a freeman may have been more than some persons cared to possess. Towns often were forced to threaten fines for freemen failing to attend town meetings. An even heavier fine was levied against freemen who failed to attend the General Court or to serve on the Grand Enquest when selected.”

“As a result, by 1638 the freemen had prompted legislation which permitted them to elect representatives, called ‘deputies,’ who would then attend the sessions of the General Court for each town. Those persons elected deputies tended to be re-elected year after year.”

“While only freemen could be elected to be deputies, nonfreemen who paid taxes and swore fidelity to the Colony were permitted to vote for candidates for deputy.”

“By 1652, the General Court instituted a process for freemen to vote by proxy at the General Court sessions, to prevent them from having to travel to Plymouth Town where the Court was convened.”

“The declaration of ‘The Generall Fundamentals’ set forth in the 1672 Book of Laws listed an array of rights and privileges possessed by freemen.”

“No freeman was to be punished ‘but by virtue or equity of some express Law of the General Court of this Colony, the known law of God, or the good and equitable laws of our Nation.’” (Fennell)

Click the following link to a general summary about Freeman:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Freeman.pdf

January 24, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

American Postal Service

Benjamin Franklin and others in his era get lots of credit for the development of the American Postal Service; but, the early colonists should also be credited for the initial framework and early infrastructure for the system.

Early on, American colonists did not view an intercolonial mail system as a pressing need. The sparsely populated settlements along the Atlantic Coast corresponded more with England than with each other, and the few overland trails that existed did not encourage travel between the colonies. (Schurr)

That changed when England’s King Charles II wished his “American subjects to enter into a close correspondency with each other.” (Schurr)

A letter written in 1652, by Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, to John Winthrop, Jr., at Pequot, says: “I cannot say but its besides my intentions that I write not more frequently unto you; I can onely plead this for my excuse (soe farr as it will goe) … and the uncertainty when and how to convey letters.” (Woolley)

Until 1639 there is no trace of a postal system, but under the Massachusetts General Court Records, of that year (Nov. 5th), is the following entry:

“For preventing the miscarriage of letters, … It is ordered that notice bee given, that Richard Fairbanks, his house in Boston, is the place appointed for all letters, which are brought from beyond the Seas, or are to be sent thither;”

“ … are to be brought unto him and he is to take care, that they bee delivered, or sent according to their directions and hee is alowed for every such letter 1d. and must answer all miscarriages through his owne neglect in this kind; provided that no man shall bee compelled to bring his letters thither except hee please.” (Woolley)

The Routing of the Boston Post Road – “Ouer land to Connectecott”

In the earliest days of the New England colonies, towns were surrounded by wilderness. The only roads emanated from the meetinghouse. To the extent the towns were connected, they were connected by Indian trails – a foot-and-a-half wide in some places, across surging rivers in others. (New England Historical Society)

It became apparent that a road was desperately needed between New York and Boston.

Francis Lovelace, is credited with developing what would later be called the Boston Post Road – that led to the first formal postal service. Francis was appointed Royal Governor of New York by the Duke of York. (Chris Stevenson)

Each November Native Americans would “pave” the paths by a process the Dutch termed “bush-burning.” Setting fire to bramble, twigs, and underbrush ensured the paths would not be unpassable.

In choosing his route, he relied on Indian trails: the so-called Connecticut Path running west from Boston and the Bay Path heading into Springfield.

The Colony also grew along these lines: Watertown residents followed the Connecticut Path to establish Sudbury (now Wayland), and Worcester emerged from a request for a town “in the roade way to Springfeild.”

Three decades after his trip, when Winthrop Jr. was governor of Connecticut, he was asked to chart the Colonial mail route between Boston and Manhattan. He used those Indian paths as his blueprint for what would become the Post Road. (The King’s Best Highway, Eric Jaffe)

There are actually three Boston Post Roads, all of which merge in New Haven.

The Upper Road, or the Old Boston Post Road, runs from Boston through Worcester, Springfield and Hartford.

The Lower Road heads south from Boston through Dedham and Providence, then runs along the coast of the Long Island Sound.

The Middle Road, less used than the others, leaves Boston through Dedham, Medway, Uxbridge, Douglas, Pomfret and Coventry to Hartford, then to New Haven through Wethersfield, Berlin, Meriden, Wallingford and North Haven.

Much of the Post Road is now U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 5, and U.S. Route 20. (New England Historical Society)

First Formal Mail Delivery System

Then, Winthrop’s son, John Winthrop the Younger (then Governor of Connecticut), and Francis Lovelace, Governor of New York formalized the first intercolonial postal system.

In December of 1672, they initiated a monthly post between New York and Boston, which Lovelace describes in a December 27, 1672 letter to Winthrop Jr,

“I herewith present you with 2 rarities, a pacquett of the latest intelligence I could meet withal, and a post … by the latter you will meet with a monthly fresh supply;”

“so that if it receive but the same ardent inclinations as first it hath from myself, by our monthly advisers all publique occurences may be transmitted between us, together with severall other great conveniencys of publique importance, consonant to the commands laid upon us by his sacred majestie, who strictly enjoins all his American subjects to enter into a close correspondency with each other …”

“this person that has undertaken the employment I conceaved most proper, being voted active, stout and indefatigable…. I have affixt an annuall sallery on him, which, together with the advantage of his letters and other small portable packes, may afford him a handsome livelyhood….”

“The maile has divers baggs, according to the towns the letters are designed to, which are all sealed up ’till their arrivement, with the seal of the secretarie’s office, whose care it is on Saturday night to seale them up.”

“Only by-letters are in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes….”

“I shall only beg of you your furtherance to so universall a good work; that is, to afford him directions where, and to whom to make his application to upon his arrival at Boston; as likewise to afford him what letters you can to establish him in that employment there.”

“It would be much advantageous to our designe, if in the intervall you discoursed with some of the most able woodmen, to make out the best and most facile way for a post, which in processe of tyme would be the king’s best highway; as likewise passages and accommodation at rivers, fords, or other necessary places.” (Woolley)

The First Mail Deliveries

The first postal run took approximately two to three weeks, as the rider – traveling 250 miles altogether along mostly desolate trails in the wilderness – made mail deliveries in such communities as New Haven, Hartford, Brookfield, Worcester, and Cambridge before finally reaching Boston. He and subsequent postal riders used axes to mark-up trees enroute to help guide others likewise delivering mail

The Boston Post Road was pivotal in more closely linking what had generally been isolated settlements in the northeastern region of the British colonies and paving the way for similar routes elsewhere along the eastern seaboard.

In the longer term, the segments that constituted the Boston Post Road evolved into several of the first major highways in the United States. (TransportationHistory-org)

Governor Lovelace found his “stout fellow, active and indefatigable” in Mathias Nicolls, whose departure from New York City on January 22, 1673 marked the first official post ride. Nicolls departed from the southern tip of Manhattan with explicit orders to stop at the home of John Winthrop Jr in Hartford en route to Boston for further instruction and to switch horses. (Jaffee and HistoryBandits)

Along the way, the post rider would mark trees to aid others using the path for their own travels. He would also scout good locations for inns and taverns along the way. Nicolls stored letters marked “post-paid” in separate saddlebags organized by destination.

At each stop, he would find the ideal place to deliver the mail while also informing locals of his estimated time of return. Nicolls arrived in Boston on February 11, 1673 before returning south to complete the second half of his journey. (HistoryBandits)

On the first Monday of every month, the postrider was to leave New York and return from Boston within the month.

The first mail was to leave New York on January 1, 1673. Lovelace waited, though, to send Winthrop the latest rumors about a convoy of Dutch warships. The postrider left on January 22, 1673. (New England Historical Society)

Boston Postal Road Mileage Markers

The New England Historical Society clarified that it is a myth that Benjamin Franklin either set out or ordered the Boston Post Road milestones.

Franklin is said to have measured the road himself with an odometer strapped onto his carriage wheel. One of Franklin’s granite milestones still survives on East Main Street – 33 miles from Boston.

The Historical Society says, “It never happened.”

In 1971, Leonard Labaree, editor of the Benjamin Franklin papers at Yale, set the record straight. Labaree wrote that after detailed study of the Franklin papers,

“Not one document in this very substantial mass of contemporary documents has been found to contain so much as a single reference to roadside milestones, erected by Franklin or by any other persons.”

Further, he wrote, Post Office officials had neither responsibility nor budget for building and maintaining roads, bridges, ferries and milestones. The editors of the Franklin papers concluded,

“Milestones were of no particular use to the postal service, for the postriders were thoroughly familiar with the roads they traveled.”

“The convenience of other travelers, on the other hand, was not the Post Office’s responsibility or concern. There seems to have been no good reason why Franklin should have spent time, energy, or Post Office money in erecting milestones, and…there is no documentary evidence that he ever did.”

It is not clear who put them there and when they did it. But many of them along the route continue to incorrectly reference Franklin.

Postal Service “Motto”

Oh, one more thing … the reputed Postal Service ‘Motto’ …

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Again, it is not so. The U.S. Postal Service has no official motto. (USPS)

Those words are engraved on the front of the James A. Farley Post Office in NYC, set in stone by the architectural firm that built it.

William Mitchell Kendall was one of the architects. Kendall, who frequently read classic Greek literature for pleasure. He selected a passage (translated by Professor George Herbert Palmer of Harvard University) from book 8, paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (c 484–c 425 BCE). The Post Office Department agreed that Kendall’s slight modification of the original translation was suitable for the building, and approved it.

During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity. Herodotus wrote (of the Persians),

“While Xerxes did thus, he sent a messenger to Persia with news of his present misfortune.”

“Now there is nothing mortal that accomplishes a course more swiftly than do these messengers, by the Persians’ skillful contrivance. It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey.”

“These are stopped neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed. “

“The first rider delivers his charge to the second, the second to the third, and thence it passes on from hand to hand, even as in the Greek torch-bearers’ race in honor of Hephaestus. This riding-post is called in Persia, angareion.” (Herodotus)