Reply #8: lots of misconceptions

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

first of all, the everyday clothing of the Puritans wasn't black and white. The reason we see these colors are that they were the ones the people wore who had their portraits painted. Black was one of the more difficult and expensive dyes to get-to wear black meant you had money. Most regular folk wore reds, browns, and greens.

Not everyone who lived in Plymouth was a Puritan, as most folks know. What most don't know is that the Puritans who arrived in the three years after the establishment of the colonies didn't all toe the Puritan line. Gabriel Wheldon, who came on the Ann in 1623, I believe, ran off to Cape Cod, where he lived with the natives, eventually marrying Chief Massasoit's neice. Other freethinkers in the area included Stephen Hopkins, who had sojourned in Jamestown ca 1611, gone back to England, and was hired to come aboard the Mayflower because he knew Pilgrim ways.

The great Puritan migration happened around 1630, when Gov. Winthrop's fleet dropped anchor in the bay by Boston. There were numerous ships in the fleet, and most of the people arriving were Puritans. But some did draw the line. When women were first accused of witchcraft around 1650, many spoke out calling it nonsense, and the hysteria was suppressed for a number of years.

The 'witches' that were condemned at Salem came not only from there but from neighboring towns, such as North Andover. At least one condemened witch wasn't hanged; she died of natural causes (probably old age and exposure) in the Salem Jail in 1693.

A few years after 1700, there was a general recanting of the hysteria, with the foreman of the Rebecca Nurse jury writing an explanation for the conviction that pointed directly to manipulation by the preachers who were also the judges. Families of many, if not most, of the witchcraft victims received monitary compensation (they had had to pay for their relative's incarceration in jail, as well as food, etc), and were also given a written apology.

If one studies the annals of the church records in New England, you find an awful lot of bickering, of people getting mad and deciding to move elsewhere-and this was in the Puritan churches! People like Roger Williams and others who didn't try to toe the Puritan line were exiled.

I can cite sources on this if you'd like-learned all this while doing genealogical research on my family.