Coming Over: Migration and Communication Between England and New England in the Seventeenth Century / Edition 1

by David Cressy

Overview

Coming Over discusses the English migration to New England in the seventeenth century and shows the importance of English connections in the lives of American colonists. David Cressy reviews the information available to prospective migrants, the decisions they had to reach and the actions necessary before they could settle in America. English men and women moved to New England with a variety of motives, and in a multitude of circumstances. 'Puritanism', involving religious harassment in England and the desire to follow God's ordinances in America, was only one of many factors impelling people to move. Rather than developing in wilderness isolation, the society and culture of seventeenth-century New England were constantly shaped by their English roots. A two-way flow of correspondence, messages and information linked colonists to their homeland. Family duties, political sympathies, friendships, business and legal obligations all led to a continuing attachment across the Atlantic. In treating early America from a British perspective, as a part of English history, Professor Cressy provides us with many insights into the seventeenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521338509
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/30/1987
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; List of figures and tables; List of abbreviations; 1. 'The excellency of the place': English impressions of New England; 2. 'A mixed multitude': the peopling of early New England; 3. 'Reasons moving this people to transplant themselves': migrant motives and decisions; 4. 'Needful provisions': the cost of emigration; 5. 'Promiscuous and disorderly departing out of the realm': the control of emigration; 6. 'The vast and furious ocean': shipboard socialisation and the Atlantic passage; 7. 'Occasions in England': debts, obligations and inheritances across the ocean; 8. 'A hankering desire for old England': homesickness, return visits and back migration; 9. 'A constant intercourse of letters': the transatlantic flow of information; 10. 'Dangerous and unsettled times': English news in New England; 11. 'The part of a kinsman': separation, reunion and the wider circle of kin; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.