At 58 years of age, Brigadier General Samuel Waldo was a wealthy man. Not only was he a decorated soldier, he was also a merchant and land speculator. The small settlement he had started on his land a few years earlier was doing well. So well, in fact, that he decided the time was ripe for him to help it grow.
Settling in near the fire, Mr. Waldo began to plan. He knew he wanted to bring new settlers to his land, but from where? There were plenty of people in the southern parts of the colonies, but they were likely to be attached to whatever land they already called their own. No, he needed people who had little or nothing to hold them back. There were always people willing to emigrate from Europe, eager to improve their hardscrabble lives. The choice was clear; he would leave for England at once to spread the word about his land.
After successfully crossing the Atlantic, Mr. Waldo realized that not all of those who were eager to make the journey were of the sort that would contribute to the growth of his settlement. He would have to be choosy about who he brought back with him. Taking out an advertisement seemed like the best way to let everyone know exactly what kind of people he was hoping would join him in the colonies. Pen to paper, Mr. Waldo began to write.
First, he’d need to pique their interest. He’d mention the area was already settled so no one would fear leaving civilization behind. People traveling to his lands would also be guaranteed the right to practice any form of Christianity they desired, excluding Catholicism. He noted that the climate was similar to South Britain’s and that the winter snows were short-lived. Once he’d covered the basics, he started his pitch. Extolling the richness of the land, detailing t...
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.... William Grinlay (Greenlaw) and his sons: Jonathan and William Jr., were among the passengers pledging to pay Mr. Waldo back for passage at the end of three years. Not all of his conditions had worked as planned, but Mr. Waldo was still pleased with the outcome.
Captain Coulter breathed a sigh of relief as the Joanna left port on August 11, 1753. It was late in the year to start sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, but with fair winds he thought they would make it before the autumn storms arrived. Exactly 41 days after leaving Greenock, the Joanna arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Captain Coulter was quick to assure the papers that the journey had been smooth and all 60 of his passengers had arrived safely. Captain Coulter’s words reassured the friends and family his passengers had left behind and they too began to dream of improving their lives in the colonies.
Another reason they bought land was to give their children a better future so that he/she could do the same. The sons looked upon their father to inherit them with land, but how much can an average colonist afford if he had more than just one son. An example that Gross provides in his book is of a young man who looked upon his father to give him some land. That young man was Purchase Brown a seventeen year old boy, whose father Captain David brown “lived in a household crammed with thirteen people.”(Gross 83). Purchase had four younger brothers and Purchase could not “take over the family farm… before the youngest child came to age…” (Gross 84). This was a problem to all of Concords residents and as land became scarcer, men of Concord started looking west to the frontiers for more land. Another example that Gross describes in of the struggle of some residents of Concord, is a story of two couples named Lucy and Joseph Hosmer. They got married at a young age and Lucy lived her husband on “her in-laws land that was still owned by Joseph’s father.”(Gross 101). The couples worked hard to sustain a good family living. When the war approached in Concord Lucy Hosmer was scared that what if she loses her husband and he dies without “writing a will, then Lucy would struggle to make a living…”(Gross 103). Then Gross state how the
The Infortunate is an autobiography by William Moraley, an indentured servant who ventured from England to the America colonies in 1729. The book first includes an introduction and some notes from Susan E. Kelpp and Billy G. Smith. During editor’s introduction, William Moraley’s stories were confirmed with actual history. Klepp and Smith also gave a brief summary of Moraley’s life, and compared his lower class experiences in England and the colonies, to that fabulous success of Benjamin Franklin.
As a young child many of us are raised to be familiar with the Pocahontas and John Smith story. Whether it was in a Disney movie or at a school play that one first learned of Jamestown, students want to believe that this romantic relationship really did occur. As one ages, one becomes aware of the dichotomy between fact and fiction. This is brilliantly explained in David A. Price's, Love and Hate in Jamestown. Price describes a more robust account of events that really did take place in the poorly run, miserable, yet evolving settlement of Jamestown, Virginia; and engulfs and edifies the story marketed by Disney and others for young audiences. Price reveals countless facts from original documents about the history of Jamestown and other fledgling colonies, John Smith, and Smith's relationship with Pocahontas. He develops a more compelling read than does the typical high school text book and writes intriguingly which propels the reader, to continue on to the successive chapters in the early history of Virginia.
On 17 June 1576 the thirty ton bark Gabriel, accompanied by the smaller bark Michael and a tiny pinnace, set sail from London to seek out a north-west sea passage to the treasures of the Orient. The three small vessels, whose total complement was only thirty four men, were commanded by Martin Frobisher. Although the purpose of the voyage was to find a alternate sea route to the east the two subsequent voyages that quickly followed were a prelude to the establishment of English sovereignty in North America. What were the factors that initiated the voyage? Who were the key players in the enterprise and what was the eventual outcome of these three voyages? This essay will attempt to answer those questions.
| 1775 | Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Boston was the largest harbors during the colonial era. Products going to and from Britain were rotating out of Boston daily. When word reached Boston of the...
The small community of Hallowell, Maine was no different than any other community in any part of the new nation – the goals were the same – to survive and prosper. Life in the frontier was hard, and the settlement near the Kennebec Valley was no different than what the pioneers in the west faced. We hear many stories about the forefathers of our country and the roles they played in the early days but we don’t hear much about the accomplishments of the women behind those men and how they contributed to the success of the communities they settled in. Thanks to Martha Ballard and the diary that she kept for 27 years from 1785-1812, we get a glimpse into...
*Murray, Judith Sargent. Bonnie Hurd Smith, ed.From Gloucester to Philadelphia in 1790: Observations, Anecdotes, and Thoughts from the 18th-Century Letters of Judith Sargent Murray. Cambridge, Mass.: Judith Sargent Murray Society and Curious Traveller Press, 1998.
The first ship, Richard, was lead by Henry Challons, and carried Mannedo and Assacomiot. This ship took a southern route across the Atlantic and was captured by Spaniards off of Florida. They never made it to Weymouth's designated sight. The second ship, lead by Thomas Hanham and Martin Pring, brought Dehananda. They took the designated root and made it to Maine. When they arrived, they could not find the Richard. Dehananda showed crew to the mouth of Sagadahoc River. They thought that location to be superior to Weymouth’s pre decided location and decided to change the colonies location. In December, the second ship left without setting up the beginnings of the colony, as the Plymouth Company had requested (Higgins
In 1839 a man by the name of John Sutter arrived in California. Sutter appeared to be somewhat of a drifter, and had failed to establish himself before arriving in California. However, in the land of great promise, he planned to establish an empire for himself. Sutter was granted eleven square leagues, or 50, 000 acres, in the lower Sacramento area. This was a common land grant for the times. Sutter got to work and began to improve his land. He went on to build a fort, accumulated over 12,000 cattle and hired hundreds of workers to hel...
...y uses anecdotes and stories of women in the 17th and 18th centuries to provide evidence to the reader and demonstrate the roles women filled and how they filled those roles. Furthermore, she illustrates the individuality in each woman’s story. Although in several of the stories the women may be filling the same roles, the uniqueness of the situation varies from woman to woman. Ulrich’s use of period stories helps add to the credibility of the arguments she makes. She makes the reader feel the weight of responsibility on the shoulders of colonial New England women. A sense of appreciation is gained by the reader for the sheer number of roles fulfilled by the women of New England. In addition, Ulrich’s real life accounts also give valuable insight to life as it was during this time period in American history and the silent heroes behind it – the wives of New England.
Born in Austerfield England in 1590, William Bradford, orphaned at an early age, raised by several relatives, and with no formal education, became one of the most influential men of the original American Colonists, and is credited as the “Father of American history,” with his diaries of the Pilgrims’ journey and struggles to America. “Of Plymouth Plantation” the journals of William Bradford are still one of the major resources used for historians for this time in history. (Schoenberg, 2001)
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”
Franklin believes to succeed, America needs young men who are able to work and apply themselves to the land to make a name for themselves. According to Franklin, only those who are willing to work and strive for a better life should come to America. Robin is an innocent young man, barely eighteen years old, who has left the stability of his country life, and is now, “as it should seem, upon his first visit into town” (Hawthorne 374). However, Robin arrives to town, believing he will be able to establish himself, not through his own hard work, but through his name via his kinsman, Major Molineux. Major Molineux is a British official who “inherited riches, and acquired civil and military rank,” through his service to the British crown (Hawthorne 382). Hawthorne’s depiction of Robin quickly departs from Franklin’s ideal at this point. Robin plans on seeking out Major Molineux and using his success to further his own goals in this new town. Robin believes through “his kinsman’s generous intentions, especially as he had seemed to be rather the favorite, and was thought to possess the necessary endowments” he will prosper without much effort on his own part (Hawthorne 382-383). He trusts because his kinsman is successful, he will be successful as well.
In “ A Description of New England ”, Smith starts by describing the pleasure and content that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to men. On the other hand, Bradford reminds us how harsh and difficult the trip to the New World was for the p...