Class #5 PURITAN PEDIGREES The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England New England Historic Genealogical Society AmericanAncestors.org November, 2014 Meet the instructor Robert Charles Anderson, FASG Director of the Great Migration Study Project OVERVIEW Presentation (90 minutes) Lecture 13: York House Conference and the Feoffees for Impropriations (1625 1628) Lecture 14: The Winthrop Migration (1629 1633) Lecture 15: The Laudian Migration (1633 1640) Course summary Q&A sessions (30 mins.) 1
Lecture 13: York House Conference and the Feoffees for Impropriations Lecture 1 Robert Gorges I Born 1595, son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges Council for New England issued patent to Robert Gorges on 30 December 1622 for all that part of the mainland commonly called Messachusiac, on the northeast side of the bay known by the name of Massachusett Gorges with servants and other families sailed for New England in 1623 Robert Gorges II Settled at site now in Weymouth, settled the year earlier by Thomas Weston but soon abandoned Gorges returned to England in 1623 Among those left behind were Thomas Walford, John Bursley, and William Jeffreys Patent eventually held by Sir William Brereton Sir William Brereton 2
Bristol Fishermen I Robert Aldworth of Bristol He was a distant kinsman of William Laud Aldworth traded with Spain and the Mediterranean as early as the 1580s Aldworth invested in Martin Pring s exploratory voyage of 1602 3 His niece married Giles Elbridge about 1617 Bristol Fishermen II In 1626 Giles Elbridge and Robert Aldworth hired Abraham Shurt to go to New England to purchase Monhegan Island On 29 February 1631/2, Elbridge and Aldworth obtained a patent from the Council for New England for land at Pemaquid Map of Ancient Pemaquid, 1625 from Narrative and Critical History of America Vol. III Dorchester Company I A group of merchants inspired by Reverend John White of Dorchester, Dorset, obtained a license from the Council for New England on 18 January 1622/3 to erect a plantation The idea was to found a permanent fishing settlement combined with a reformed religious community Reverend John White 3
Dorchester Company II Under this license, ships and settlers were sent out in 1624, 1625, and 1626 These settlers resided briefly at Nantasket, then Cape Ann, and finally Salem Activity flagged in 1627, and negotiations were begun which led to merging with merchants and ministers from London and East Anglia New England Company Council for New England grants patent to New England Company 19 March 1627/8 John Endicott sails for New England with a few dozen settlers, summer 1628 Joins Conant party at Salem and assumes leadership Statue of Roger Conant, Salem, Mass. Pace of Migration 4
York House Conference Two sessions on 11 and 17 February 1625/6 Arminianism main topic Equal representation on both sides King not present Laymen and churchmen Open discussion No firm conclusions Boosted standing of Arminians Feoffees for Impropriations I Feoffees = Trustees Impropriations = The annexation of a benefice or its revenues to a corporation, office, or individual (in later use) to a lay corporation or a lay proprietor [OED] Impropriation is properly so called, when the advowson is in the hands of a laymen [1708] Feoffees for Impropriations II Formally organized on 15 February 1625/6 Governing board comprised four ministers, four lawyers and four merchants Raised funds to buy in lay impropriations, to be followed by settling like-minded ministers First purchase was the priory church of Dunstable, Bedfordshire 5
Feoffees for Impropriations III Installed Zachariah Symmes as minister Obtained control of lectureship at St. Antholins, London Laud initiated action against the Feoffees in 1632 After lengthy court proceedings, the Feoffees were suppressed in 1633 St Antholin's, as rebuilt in the 17th century, Engraving c. 1830 QUESTIONS? Lecture 1 Lecture 14: The Winthrop Migration 6
Massachusetts Bay Company Charter of 4 March 1628/9 creates Massachusetts Bay Company Direct from Crown rather than through Council for New England Replaces New England Company Completes transfer of power to London and East Anglian factions Preparations of 1629 In April and May six vessels carry about 300 passengers to New England Endicott instructed to build new town at Charlestown Three ministers included (Higginson, Skelton and Bright) John Winthrop elected Governor on 29 October and begins recruitment for 1630 John Winthrop Winthrop Fleet Four vessels sailed in April 1630, carrying most of the 700 passengers (Arbella, Ambrose, Jewel, Talbot) Seven other vessels followed shortly after, mostly with cattle and provisions At least seven other ships sailed in 1630, including Mary & John out of Plymouth 7
Planters Plea Title page of The Planters Plea Sailing of the Arbella Stained-glass windows, St. Botolph s Church, Boston, Lincolnshire Migration Companies Gentlemen s Companies Merchants Companies Clerical Companies Family Companies 8
Gentlemen s Companies Affluent gentry, such as Sir Richard Saltonstall and Isaac Johnson Some nuclear families with many servants Often sent servants and cattle a year or two ahead Supervised by a steward, who might himself be of lesser gentle status [Brereton/Aspinwall] Sir Richard Saltonstall Merchants Companies Similar to Gentlemen s Companies, but Fewer nuclear families More unattached servants Merchants did not come to New England Owen Rowe, a London merchant and member of John Davenport s St. Stephen Coleman Street congregation, sent servants to both Boston and New Haven and had land grants there Top-down Organization Merchant or gentleman Hires ship Supplies provisions Hires steward and servants Recruits families Mostly between 1628 and 1632 9
Winthrop List Beginning of Laudian Migration I William Laud installed as Bishop of London, July 1628 Institutes aggressive campaign to suppress preaching in his diocese Silences Thomas Hooker, who leaves for the Netherlands in June 1631 William Laud Beginning of Laudian Migration II 14 August 1632: The Braintree Company (which had begun to sit down at Mount Wollaston) by order of Court removed to Newtown. These were of Mr. Hooker s company. Spring 1633: Meeting of Hooker, Cotton and others at Ockley, Surrey 4 September 1633: Cotton and Hooker arrive in New England on Griffin 10
Pace of Migration QUESTIONS? Lecture 1 Lecture 15: The Laudian Migration 11
William Laud Born in 1573 and attended St. Johns, Oxford Bishop of St. Davids, 1621 Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1626 Bishop of London, 1628 Archbishop of Canterbury, 1633 Strong Arminian and sacramentalist Promoted ceremonies and decorations Pace of Migration Clerical Companies I With such potency through preaching and soul saving, and with so many emigration catchment areas puritanically inclined, it is hardly surprising that when clergy decided or were driven to emigrate they usually influenced others to join them. Roger Thompson, Mobility & Migration, 187 12
Clerical Companies II Dozens of clerical companies, mostly arriving during Laudian Migration Not all ministers generated clerical companies Not all clerical companies included a migrating minister [ remote clerical companies ] Families might migrate at the same time as the minister, or before or after Family Companies However powerful mutual clientage or church membership might be, the tie that bound most tightly was kinship, through either blood or marriage. Within the companies of gentlemen or clergymen, or among those traveling independently, there were extended families of sometimes extraordinary complexity. Roger Thompson, Mobility & Migration, 189 Rogers Family 13
Parker-Noyes Cost of Passage Large Family Company 14
Ruggles Rice End of the Great Migration I 1639 was the last year in which the Great Migration proceeded at the high level of two to three thousand passengers a year, while 1640 was a transition year, in which some migration continued with a structure similar to that of the immediately preceding years, but in smaller numbers. GMN 22:6 15
End of the Great Migration II Passenger ships began gathering immigrants at London docks in early 1640 as usual Parliament called for 3 April 1649, first time in more than a decade Some passengers continued with their plans and migrated, but many chose to remain in England Last of Clerical Companies in 1640: Richard Blinman Lecture 1 Puritan Pedigrees: Summary Great Migration Network CC FC CC CC CC CC = Clerical Company FC = Family Company 16
Conversion Lollardy University Family Immigrants Conflict Predestinarianism Preaching Presentation Presbyterianism Continuity University friendships Family connections Transmission of traditions Cycle of hope and despair 17
Great Migration Network CC FC CC CC CC CC = Clerical Company FC = Family Company QUESTIONS? education@nehgs.org Closing Remarks 18
AmericanAncestors.org/puritan-pedigrees-course THANK YOU! AmericanAncestors.org/learning-center New England Historic Genealogical Society New England Historic Genealogical Society 2014 19