INTRODUCTION AND THE PURITANS
I thought it might be helpful to many of you if I did a "Recipe" on
the four largest groups of emigrants from the British Isles to Colonial
America. They were: the PURITANS who came, primarily, from East Anglia to
the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1629 and 1640; the CAVALIERS AND SERVANTS
who came, primarily, from the south of England to Virginia between 1642 and
1675; the QUAKERS who came, primarily, from the English Midlands to
Pennsylvania between 1675 and 1725; and the SCOTCH-IRISH who came, primarily,
from the English/Scottish border counties (sometimes via northern Ireland) to
Virginia (via Pennsylvania) between 1717 and 1775. There were other groups of
immigrants, but these were, by far, the largest. Therefore, most of us have
ancestors in one or more of these groups.
I have written an article on each group, presenting the characteristics that
are most important to a genealogist--such as, migration patterns and naming
practices. I did not go into things not so important to a genealogist--such
as architecture and sports. If you would like to study these groups in more
depth, I recommend that you read the book, ALBION'S SEED: FOUR BRITISH
FOLKWAYS IN AMERICA by David Hackett Fischer, Oxford University Press, 1989.
It can be found in the History section of your local library or bookstore
(paperback edition $25.00). Much (but not all) of the material in this
"Recipe" is from that book. As I describe each group, please be aware that
their ways of life here in America correspond directly to their ways of life
in before they came.
THE PURITANS
It is estimated that, between the years 1629 and 1640, about 80,000 Puritans
fled from England because of religious persecution. About 21,000 of them came
to Massachusetts Bay Colony (the others went to Ireland, the Netherlands and
the West Indies). They came from all over England, but most heavily from the
East England counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herfordshire,
Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire, and Kent. Of the total, about
60 percent were from these counties. The next largest number came from the
southern counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Devonshire, and Hampshire.
Less than 10 percent came from the City of London.
The majority of the Puritans were from the middle class of English society.
They were educated--two thirds of the adult males could sign their own
names--and most of them could afford to pay their own passage. They were
usually (about 60 percent) skilled craftsmen or tradesmen. Less than a third
of them had been employed in agriculture in England. Those who did farm
followed the East Anglia practice of mixed husbandry and a trade. They tended
to migrate in families. More than 40 percent were adult men and women over
the age of 25 and about half of them were children under the age of 16. The
gender ratio was about 150 men to 100 women. Very few were elderly and very
few were servants. Those servants who did come were usually already part of
the family before leaving England--not part of a labor draft. With the
Puritans, the nuclear family was very important and the extended family not as
important as in other groups. Therefore, we don't see them migrating in clans
as, for example, the Scotch- Irish did. When they settled in the new world,
their settlements were the same style that they had been used to in England:
Towns, villages, and farmsteads outside of a village but no more than 1/2 mile
from the nearest "meeting house". As a group, they tended to stay in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony (greater Boston area)--but a small minority did
migrate to the Connecticut River Valley.
The Puritans were a part of what became the Congregational Church here in
America. They subscribed to a modified Calvinist Doctrine--which can best be
defined by five words: depravity, covenant, election, grace, and love. One
thing that was extraordinary about this group of immigrants was that they were
screened. If anyone "unsuitable" showed up in the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
they were asked to leave. That was because their basic sense of order was one
that required unity. In spite of the fact that there were more men than women
who came, among church members there were more women than men. (Nothing has
changed!)
The family ways of the Puritans came out of their religious convictions.
Family relationships were covenants that could be broken. Marriages,
therefore, were not usually performed by a clergyman, but by the magistrate.
Divorce was allowed if the covenant was broken. Valid reasons for divorce
were: adultery, fraudulent contract, willful desertion, and physical cruelty.
It was against the law for husbands and wives to strike each other. Sex was
supposed to be confined to marriage and offenders were punished severely--both
parties were punished but the men more severely than the women. The average
age for marriage was higher than in any other group of immigrants. For men it
was age 26 and for women age 23. (This is something to consider when trying
to estimate a possible birth date from age at marriage.) There was a strong
imperative to marry--those who did not were ostracized. Therefore, 98 percent
of men and 94 percent of women did get married. The practice of celibacy was
disapproved of by the Puritans. Both parents and children had to consent
before a marriage could take place--and parents were not allowed to withhold
consent arbitrarily. They had to have a valid reason. The Puritans married
for love--there were no arranged marriages. Courtship practices were strict
and weddings were simple affairs. Banns had to be posted before a marriage
could take place. First cousin marriages were forbidden and second cousin
marriages were discouraged.
Families were larger among the Puritans than any other group. They did not
approve of doing anything to prevent pregnancy and they valued their children
very much. The naming of a child was not a trivial matter. Biblical names
were preferred and they named children after family members. Ninety percent
of all Puritan children had Biblical names--this is much higher than in any
other group of immigrants. The most common names for boys were John, Joseph,
Samuel and Josiah; the most common for girls were Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah,
followed by Hannah, Rebecca, Anne, Deborah, Huldah, Abigail, Rachel and Ruth.
These were all names of Biblical persons of great virtue. The hope was that
the child would follow in the footsteps of the namesake. Some names were
forbidden: Jesus, Emmanuel, Christopher, Gabriel, Michael, Angel, etc. They
did not allow anyone to have Christ's name or the name of an angel. People
were thought to be much too unworthy for such names. Children were never
named after God- parents as in some other groups, but were often named after
family members. Two thirds of all eldest children in a Puritan family were
named after their parents; this was followed by grandparents and other
relatives (omitting, of course, any disapproved names). Children were often
named for a previous child who had died. A small group of Puritans (only
about 1 percent) from the area of Sussex gave oratory names to their children
(i.e. Be-worthy, Safely-on-high, Kill-sin, etc.).
Puritans were strict parents who loved their children very much but believed
their wills needed to be broken (due to basic depravity of human nature).
This will-breaking was achieved by strict and rigorous supervision in which
the fathers took an active part. They tried to use mental discipline and love
but, if it didn't work, they were quick to use physical constraints. The
practice of "sending out" was used. Children often were sent to stay with
other families for training, discipline, apprenticeship, etc.
Puritans had a great respect for the elderly and ranked people according to
age. The elderly had the best seats in the meeting house, held the highest
offices, etc. This was because they believed that God, the bestower of life,
gave them long life for a purpose--to influence the younger generation to
salvation. The Puritans valued education. All children were taught to read
by parents or masters; schools were available very early; and four colleges
were founded prior to the Revolution.
When looking for records in New England, your two best sources are town
records (marriages were recorded here) and Congregational Church records (for
burials and baptisms--the Puritans practiced infant baptism). In many cases,
the church records were turned over to the town clerk and everything will be
found in the town records. Later on, marriages began to be performed and
recorded by clergymen. The best bet is to do a thorough search of both!
THE CAVALIERS AND SERVANTS
In ALBION'S SEED, David Fischer referred to this second group of immigrants as
"Distressed Cavaliers and Indentured Servants". As we go along, I think you
will see why. These were a group of people who emigrated mostly from the
Southwestern English Counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devonshire,
Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and several others to the Chesapeake Bay area of
Virginia and Maryland between 1642 and 1675, the peak period being the 1650's.
The reason for this migration was a bit more complicated. The Puritans had
gotten control in England and the Anglicans were now being persecuted. So
some of the people who left did it for the reason of religious persecution,
just as the Puritans had. But there was a secondary motivation for some. The
laws of inheritance in England gave all real property to the eldest son of the
family. Some of those who left England were second or third sons of "elite"
families who wanted to go to a place where they could have land of their own.
In the beginning, Virginia attracted people of mixed religious backgrounds.
But the main religion was the Church of England (Episcopal). After Virginia
became a royal colony, the Assembly passed laws making the Church of England
the State Church in Virginia (1632). Over a period of time, it became more
and more difficult for persons of dissenting religions to remain in Virginia.
About 25 percent of the persons in this second migration were from the English
"elite"--they had wealth, social standing, and education in England. They
were members of the Anglican Church and they were Royalist in their politics.
The other 75 percent were from the lower classes and came as servants, many as
indentured servants, to work on the large plantations established by the
"cavaliers". These were poor, illiterate, and unskilled. Right away, there
was a class system established in Virginia that did not exist and would not
have been approved of in New England.
In this migration, males outnumbered females by about 4 to 1. A majority of
those who came were unmarried males between the ages of 15 and 24.
The family feelings were just as strong in this group as among the Puritans,
but different in substance. There was much more emphasis on the extended
family. Members of the same extended family tended to settle together and
stay near each other. The unit of residence was the nuclear family, but the
unit of association was the extended family. They flocked together in
neighborhoods and buried their dead in family plots. (Unlike New England
where there were common burial grounds in each town.) The terms "brother" and
"cousin" were used more loosely--and can't always be taken literally when
found in records. Households often included servants, lodgers and visitors.
All were treated as family as long as they were in the household. Virginians
didn't seem to be suspicious of strangers as New Englanders were.
In Virginia, families tended to be smaller--mainly because the death rate was
much higher. There were more step-relationships for the same reason. This
group shared the Puritans' strong imperative to marry. Bachelors and
spinsters were condemned as unnatural and dangerous to society. But marriage
was not a contract as in New England; it was a indissoluble union, a sacred
knot that could not be untied. All marriages were performed in the state
church (Anglican) and divorce was not allowed. There were 5 required steps to
marriage: espousal, banns, religious ceremony, marriage feast, sexual
consummation. Written permission from parents was required. Love was not
thought to be necessary before marriage. When it didn't occur before, it was
expected to follow. Parents had an active role in marriage decisions but
didn't usually force a child to marry against his/her will. First cousin
marriages were okay in Virginia and often happened. This followed their
pattern of "keep it in the family". Marriage feasts were elaborate--unlike
New England where they weren't allowed. The average age at marriage for a
male was about the same as in New England, 25-26, but for females it was
younger, 18-20. Some men did not marry because there simply weren't enough
women to go around. Sexual relationships were supposed to be confined to
marriage, but punishments were not so severe as in New England and females
were punished more severely than males.
The naming patterns for children followed the customs of Southwest England.
Children were often named for family members, but in a different pattern than
New England. The eldest son was named for his paternal grandfather, next son
for the maternal grandfather, next for the father. The same pattern was used
for girls. They used fewer Biblical names than in New England and often named
children for Kings and Knights--favorites were Robert, Richard, Edward,
George, and Charles. They also used names of Christian saints not found in
the Bible and English folk names--favorites were Margaret, Jane, Catherine,
Frances, and Alice. But the Biblical names of Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah were
just as popular as in New England. Infant Christening was practiced.
The parents in Virginia were more indulgent than the parents in New England.
Children were actually encouraged to be self-willed, but they were also
expected to observe some rather elaborate rituals of self-restraint. The
elder patriarch idea was very strong and much ritual surrounded it also.
There were few schools. Children of the elite class were educated at home and
the poor remained illiterate. There were no townships as in New England.
People settled on plantations and there were small market villages.
The best source of records is the Episcopal Church, where all baptisms,
marriages and deaths were recorded. There was a period of about 100 years
when everyone had to do these things in the state church, even if not a
member.
THE QUAKERS
Between 1675 and 1725, the Quakers left the North Midlands of England in great
numbers and came to the Delaware River area of Pennsylvania and West Jersey.
Although there were some Quakers in New England earlier, they were not Quakers
when they arrived. They came as Puritans and were converted at the hands of
Quaker missionaries during the 1650's and 60's. When this happened they were
driven out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and went to Rhode Island and places
beyond. The Quakers we are talking about here became Quakers in England and
then left, not so much because of persecution (although they were persecuted),
but because they felt called to a spiritual pilgrimage.
It is estimated that about 23,000 Quakers left England in this migration,
about 80 percent of them from the North Midland counties of Cheshire,
Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire. About
10 percent were from Wales and Ireland and the rest from scattered counties in
England. But it is interesting to note that there were none from East Anglia
(Puritan territory).
This was as Christian migration, but different than those of New England
Puritans and Virginia Anglicans. The Quaker view of the Bible was
different--with a great emphasis on the New Testament and no formal doctrine,
no formal worship service, no ordained ministers. They did, however, have a
highly organized system of meetings and record keeping. Their doctrine might
be described and one of love and light. The Quaker migration was not as much
a family affair as the Puritan migration, but much more so than in Virginia.
The Quakers came from the lower middle class of English society. They were
farmers, craftsmen, laborers, and servants.
The Quakers lived in nuclear family households--but had much emphasis on
extended family. All uncles, cousins, etc. were family--so were in-laws. In
fact, there were no in-law relationships. If someone married in they became
son or daughter or cousin. (So you may not find a distinction in records.)
The Quakers even extended this feeling of family to the family of God. The
whole community was family to them! Quaker families tended to be a bit
smaller than Puritan families, but a bit larger than those in Virginia. There
were fewer servants but, when there were servants, they were treated as
family. Quakers put a strong emphasis on love in all their relationships--but
they only seemed to love other Quakers. They lived in communities unto
themselves.
The Quakers had a strict set of marriage customs. A Quaker could not marry a
non-Quaker. If they did, they were disowned. For this reason, there were
more of them that did not marry than in other groups. But this was not
condemned as in other groups. First cousin marriages were not allowed--but
they often married relatives of a lesser degree of closeness. Marriage was a
community affair. Parental consent was required, but the marriage had to be
approved by the community as well. Quaker weddings had seven steps--most
involving the community. The wedding ceremony itself was very plain. Average
age at marriage was similar to the Puritans-- 26 for men, 22 for women. For a
Quaker, there was a sharp distinction between love and lust. They married for
Christian love, not for sexual attraction.
The Quakers believed that souls had no gender. Men and women were equal and
were to be helpmates for each other. So equal were they, that the Quakers
even allowed women to be preachers. Their households were less male dominant,
a folkway they brought from the North Midlands of England. They believed that
sex was to be confined to marriage and went to great pains in their style of
dress to keep it that way.
The Quakers did not believe in Christening babies, but names for babies were
very carefully selected by the parents and then approved by the community. In
keeping with their belief in equality, they named the first son for the wife's
father and the first daughter for the husband's mother, then reversed the
process on the next son and daughter. About 50 percent of Quaker children
were given Biblical names. The most common were John, Joseph, Samuel, Mary,
Elizabeth, Sarah, Anna/Hannah, Esther/Hester. They also used Teutonic names
such as George, Thomas, or William, and plain English names such as Jane,
Catherine, Margaret, or Phebe. "Grace names" were popular with Quakers (i.e.
Grace, Mercy, Chastity, Preserve, Restore, Increase).
The rearing of children was done in an atmosphere of loving, nurturing, and
sheltering. Children were thought to be incapable of sin before the age of 11
or 12. Rewards were usually used rather than punishments and corporal
punishment was rare. There was a strict behavior code and the whole community
helped to instill it in their children. Children were never "sent out" as in
New England. They always lived at home until married. They were encouraged
to socialize, but only with other Quaker children.
The Quakers practiced something called "Eldering". The elder members of the
community were given a place of respect just as in the other groups of
immigrants, but it was not one of authority. They had more of a nurturing
role. They gave advice to the young, who were required to listen
respectfully, but not required to obey. Literacy was not as important to the
Quakers as it was to the Puritans and the Virginia elite. They were hostile
toward public schools and home schooled their children if they knew how. They
lived in neighborhoods of farms--none were ever isolated. There was a village
in the center of a group of farms--this constituted the township.
The best resource for genealogists is Quaker Meeting records. They kept
meticulous records and also had their own separate burial grounds.
THE "SCOTCH-IRISH"
This last article is about a group of people who came to be known as the
"Scotch-Irish" or the "Ulster Irish", both of which are completely American
terms and very misleading--since very few of the people in this migration had
any Irish blood at all. To help you understand who these people really were,
I'm going to start with a brief history lesson.
Over a period of several centuries, there was almost constant war between
England and Scotland. The battles took place in the border counties of both
countries and the people who lived there, whether English or Scottish, were
living in a war zone. This made their lives quite different than anywhere
else in the British Isles; they had much more in common with each other than
with the rest of England or the rest of Scotland. The men were very warrior-
like and often away at battle. They lived with constant economic oppression
because soldiers trampled their crops, rustlers stole their livestock, taxes
were high, and wages were low. The border kept changing; sometimes both
countries claimed the border counties at once. Eventually, many of them
decided to leave. Some went to Northern Ireland, settling in the area of
Ulster.
In the period between 1717 and 1775, these English/Scottish Borderers (a much
better name for them) came into the port at Philadelphia in great numbers.
Some came directly from the Northern English counties of Yorkshire,
Lancashire, Westmoreland, Durham, Cumberland, and Northumberland. Some came
directly from the Southern Scottish counties of Ayr, Dumfries, Wigtown,
Roxburgh, and Berwick. Others had gone to the Northern Irish counties of
Derry, Down, Armagh, Antrim, and Tyrone and migrated from there to America. A
few Northern Irish came with them, but most of the people in this migration
were English or Scottish. When they arrived, their behavior, dress, and
speech patterns were so very different from those people (mostly Quakers)
already living in Pennsylvania that they were rejected, ridiculed, and called
"Scotch-Irish"--a derogatory term used to be certain nobody would think they
were English!
The reason for this migration was much different than for the other 3 groups.
It had nothing to do with religion, but was for the purpose of material
betterment. The Borderers were not the poorest of the poor (those people
didn't have enough money to migrate) but they were mostly from the economic
lower class. They were farmers and semi-skilled craftsmen. Very few came in
bondage; very few were servants. They were of mixed religious backgrounds.
The largest number were Presbyterian, but there were Anglicans and other
protestant sects represented as well. There was a very broad age range; all
except elderly were well represented. Males outnumbered females by about 149
to 100. In spite of their poverty, they were a very proud people--and this
was a source of further irritation to their neighbors. They settled in the
"back- country" of Pennsylvania and, when the roads to the south began to
open, they left and went down into the Shennandoah Valley of Virginia. They
continued to follow this pattern of living in the "back country" for years,
going first into the Carolinas, then into Tennessee and Kentucky, then further
west to Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. (If this was the migratory
pattern of your ancestors, they may have been "Scotch-Irish".)
Family life was different for the borderers. They lived mostly in nuclear
families, but the extended family was much more extended than for most other
people. The family extended out for 4 generations and connected one nuclear
family to another and one generation to the next. This group was called a
clan. Clans tended to live and move together. This was the way in the
borderlands of England and Scotland and it continued to be the way in the back
country of America. The Borderers had large families just like the Puritans.
The age at marriage was much younger than in any of group of British
immigrates. The average age for men was 21 and for women 19. Weddings were
wild affairs, full of ritual, and costly. Sometimes brides were abducted,
usually (but not always) willingly. First cousins often married to "kept it
in the clan". There was a shortage of clergy in the back country and
sometimes couples got tired of waiting. Premarital pregnancies were common.
But they were not thought to be scandalous. The Borderers made a joke of it!
Family life was very different. Men were warriors and women were workers.
These men had to be warriors in the old country for generations and the
pattern didn't change just because they migrated. The most important
possessions for a man were his gun and his horse. In any society where the
men go off to war, the women do much more heavy labor at home. This was true
for the Borderers. In these families, the women labored in the fields right
beside their husbands. Families were male dominant; women and children were
supposed to obey. Borderer families also had a strange mix of love and
violence in their homes. And feuds between clans sometimes occurred.
These Borderers brought their child-naming practices with them. There was a
pattern but they were the least likely group to follow it. The pattern in
this male dominant society was for the two eldest sons to be named after their
grandfathers and the third son after his father. They also used Biblical
names (John the most common), Teutonic names (Richard or Robert the most
common), names of Border saints, such as Andrew, Patrick, or David, Celtic
names, such as Ewan/Owen, Barry, or Roy, names from other cultures, such as
Ronald or Archibald, names of Scottish Kings, such as Alexander, Charles, or
James, names of brave border warriors, such as Wallace, Bruce, Perry, or
Howard, place names, such as Ross, Clyde, Carlisle, Tyne or Derry. Sometimes
they made up names or feminized family names and gave them to their daughters
(i.e. Hoyt=Hoyette). The most common names for girls were the same as in all
3 of the other groups of English immigrants--Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah. There
were also some naming taboos: they did not use Scotish Highlander names, such
as Douglas, Donald, Kenneth, Ian, or Stewart; they did not use Gaelic names,
such as Sean, Kathleen, Maureen, or Sheila.
Child-rearing practices in the back country were very different. Borderer
parents were highly indulgent and permissive. Socialization began at birth.
Children, especially boys, were taught to exercise their wills. They doted on
their male children, who were reared to have fierce pride, stubborn
independence, and a warrior's courage. Girls were taught the domestic virtues
of patience, industry, sacrifice, and devotion to others. Men shared in the
care of their children from infancy. Corporal punishment was often used.
There were very few schools in the back country and formal education didn't
seem to be important. There was more illiteracy in this group; 20 to 30
percent couldn't even sign their own name. The main occupation was a
combination of crop farming and herd grazing. There was no class system;
everyone was seen as equal. This was the most mobile of the four groups.
They moved more often and they were the only group to have scattered, isolated
settlements. Whereas the other groups tended to live along roads, the
Borderers tended to live along creeks and streams. Because they had to travel
long distances to visit, over-night stays were much more common.
Finding records for this group is tough. They tended not to keep them. In
Virginia, the best source would be Episcopal Church records, in the Carolinas
try Presbyterian Church records. In all areas, look for collections of family
Bible records. Mostly you need luck!
Compiled by Sue Roe
May 1998