Mayflower and Ships Following

The Mayflower came to Plymouth Rock in 1620. There was another ship the very next year in June 1621. It was the Fortune which came over in November 1621 with 35 people. Then in July of 1623 cme the Anne and Little James. Another larger group of ships came in 1630. A Captain Wolcott came over with 20 proprietors and many indentured servants. They started a plantation near the SW corner of Boston Harbor called "Mount Wollaston" which was later called QUINCY.'' Plimoth Plantation was settled in 1627 and William Bradford was the governor for many years. He called those who came over on the Mayflower with him "pilgrims" because he hoped they would had journeyed to a new kind of Holy Land where they would have freedom of worship. More than half died during the winter of 1620, after which nine more ships arrived from England with additional settlers.

Our ancestors of our grandfather, Frank Hugh Robinson, said they came over on the ship right after the Mayflower. I'm not sure if that was a Robinson, or possibly could have been someone on his mother's side, which could have been a Tuller or a Durkee. At any rate, they were early arrivals.

Our ancestors were probably Pilgrims that came over after the Mayflower. They were separatists from the Church of England. The 30 years after the Mayflower saw about 20,000 English immigrants arrive in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and because of the strictness there, our ancestors moved into what was to become New Hampshire and Connecticut. The journey on the terribly overcrowed ship took over 6 to 12 weeks and often ran out of food even though they were promised food. It cost about 30 pounts ($1,000) for a family of 8 with a ton of freight to come over.

The majority of people living in England in the 1620's were very poor. The monarch, Queen Elizabeth I and James I, wanted to maintain the Church of England as the only permissible religion. Anyone suspected of religious deviance was imprisoned, threatened, fined, sometimes tortured and even hanged. Therefore, the ones who came over sought to escape religious persecution and wanted to worship in the manner they believed to be the "proper Christian way." Children were put to work by the time they were age 6 or 7. They were expected to do as they're told. Complete and unquestioning obedience was the rule. Sunday was a day of rest and religion. Church services began at 8 in the morning and lasted until noon. Services resumed around 2 p.m. and continued until 5 p.m. or 6p.m.

They could have come over in 1630 as one of 700 people who left from Bristol Bay as that is so close to Wales. Our ancestor could have been one of the West Country folks. The Puritans of South Wales were in a weaving center. It was the closest association to the English plains or coastal plains. It was developed by Independents and Baptists. These people were especially selected for persecution in S.W. Wales. So they could also have come here because of religious persecution.Wolcott began selling off servants to Virginia. Thomas Morton took over and called it MERRY MOUNT. He freed the servants and set up a joint trading enterprise.

Ten years later, a fleet of eleven ships came over with the flagship Arbella from Southampton. This was now the year 1630. The people went to Boston, Charleston, Waterdown, Roxburg, New Town (Cambridge), Mystic, and Dorchester. Other ships mentioned in the fleet were the Talbat, Ambrose, and Jewel. They left England from Bristol and Plymath (by Wales), and Southampton.

Wolcott began selling off servants to Virginia. Thomas Morton took over and called it MERRY MOUNT. He freed the servants and set up a joint trading enterprise.

Thirty years after the Mayflower arrived, another ship landed at the Mass. Bay Colony. This was in 1650. The ship took from 6 to 12 weeks to get here and ran out of food. They settled in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut.