Family Life In Plymouth Colony Summary

While writing A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony, John Demos dealt with an unbelievably difficult task. Even though Plymouth Colony existed more than 300 years ago, he had to make his book relevant and appealing to those of his time during the 1960’s. In the past, many historians that have researched Plymouth and its inhabitants have fallen short when it came to appealing to a much newer audience. This was so because a lot of them were using the same bland sources; the ones that gave the basic information about Puritan society and the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. In other words, all of the stuff that everyone already knows! Therefore, John Demos decided to use a much different strategy while doing his research. In order to compile information about the physical setting of Plymouth Colony and the structure of households, Demos focused on obtaining evidence from the words of actual Mayflower descendents, the Plymouth Colony records
(court proceedings and transaction details), and primary sources that he found while directly visiting Plymouth himself. Two main parts of A Little Commonwealth are Demos’ descriptions of the physical setting in Plymouth Colony and the structure of households. In order to write on both of these subjects, it was necessary for Demos to consult the diaries and writings of actual Mayflower descendents. When it came to housing (physical setting), Demos talked for awhile in chapter one about the types of housing and the stages by which the settlers developed new types of dwellings for themselves in the New World. “It was what the English called a ‘cottage’; to us it would probably have seemed the meanest kind of hut.” (Demos, page 25) He goes on to state how these early hut dwellings would die out in Plymouth Colony. However, Demos was curious as to what happened to these huts later on because he found it impossible that all of a sudden they would have just disappeared. When researching a Mayflower descendent Web Adey, he came across the information he was looking for. In reference to what his house looked like, “The listing reads, one smale house and garden…The valuation is extremely meager even by the standards of the time, and the use of the adjective small is unusual.” (Demos, 26) He goes on to hypothesize that because of Adey’s poverty and the description of his house, he may have lived in one of the original hut dwellings till his death in 1652. This totally defies common belief on housing in Plymouth because most historians claim that by Adey’s death in 1652 the type of structure used for a house had become far superior to the original huts; therefore, wiping them out. This information and evidence makes A Little Commonwealth extremely worthwhile to readers of the present day. It was also crucial that John Demos consulted the histories of Mayflower descendents when it came to the structure of households. This was so because during his introduction on house membership on page 62, Demos gives a strong opinion that many more homes possessed nuclear families; not extended ones where numerous generations lived under one roof. He backs this thought up on page 63 significantly. “The most crucial single datum confirmed by the deeds is a clear assumption on all sides that married siblings would never belong to the same household.” (Demos, 63) John continues on by using the arrangements for the wedding of Joseph Buckland and Deborah Allen of Rehoboth as his source. “Buckland’s father promised to build the said Joseph a Convenient house for his Comfortable living with three score acres of land ajoyning to it.” (Demos, 63) This gives an example of a household that was arranged to posses just the married couple and their future children, not their extended families like many assume. Therefore, Demos’ hypothesis that nuclear families were much more abundant in Plymouth Colony may indeed be correct, disproving many previous historians. Another source that John Demos used while researching the structure of households in Plymouth Colony was the Plymouth Colony record which contained many court documents and transaction details. This proved to be the perfect source for Demos’ construction of chapter 5, which focused on the relationship between husbands and wives within the household. Of course, prior historians nailed this relationship on the head by saying that male dominance was huge in Plymouth Colony. (Demos, 82) However, through his research, it appears that Demos stumbled on many points that show early forms of women’s rights. On page 85, he goes into detail about a clause written by the court on the way Wills were interpreted. “For the laws also prescribed that if any man do make an irrational and unrighteous Will, whereby he deprives his Wife of her reasonable allowance for her subsistencey, the Court may relieve her out of the estate, notwithstanding by Will it were otherwise disposed; especially in such case where the Wife brought with her good part of the Estate in Marriage, or hath by her diligence and industry done her part in getting of the Estate, and was otherwise well deserving.” (Plymouth Colony Records; Demos, 85) John goes on to give an example of this coming from 1663. Widow Naomi Silvester had been given a terrible portion of her husband’s estate, but since she had been, “A frugall and laborious woman in the procuring of the said estate,” the court ruled that she be given more. (Demos, 85) Later on page 85, John Demos also talks about his research into contracts involving women in Plymouth Colony. In seventeenth-century England, women were denied the right to make contracts. (Demos, 85) Therefore, this right in the New World that they could indeed make contracts was truly a revolutionary idea amongst the settlers. He goes on to say that the most common case of contractual agreement involving men and women was that of one made prior to the marriage of a widow and her new husband. (Demos, 85) In other words, Plymouth Colony allowed a form of prenuptial agreement! The perfect example was that of the contract involving John Phillips of Marshfield and widow Faith Doty of Plymouth in 1667. It stated, “The said Faith Dotey is to enjoy all her house and land, goods and cattles, that shee is now possessed of, to her owne proper use, to dispose of them att her owne free will from time to time, and att any time, as shee shall see cause.” (Demos, 86) This agreement also contained more than just physical property. It regarded the possession of children, especially since both parties had children from previous marriages. “Children of both the said pties shall remaine att the free and proper and onely dispose of theire owne naturall parents, as they shall see good to dispose of them.” (Demos, 86) This contractual agreement proving the existence of women’s rights was a huge item of research used by Demos in A Little Commonwealth. It appeals directly to people of his time in the 1960’s and also to many today because of the constant struggle to improve women’s rights over the past 50 years. Lastly, when John Demos researched the furnishings of Plymouth homes (physical setting), the conclusions he made came directly from visiting Plymouth himself and examining primary sources. Footnote ‘6’ on page 38 reads, “The narrative which follows represents an amalgam of my own impressions, as formed from an extensive reading among the extant inventories from the Old Colony period, and the conclusions of certain specialists in the historical study of domestic furnishings. Miss Rose Briggs, curator the Plymouth Antiquaian Society, spent an afternoon instructing me in the use of many objects currently on display either at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth or at the Harlow House.” He was allowed to read through inventories that were written during the 17th century as well as examine household objects that survived to this day. Examples of this come on pages 42 and 43, “For liquids there were beakers, bowls, and cups-again available in any of several different materials.” (Demos, 42) As listed in footnote ‘12’ on page 43, “Both chests and boxes, of various shapes and sizes, can be seen in the display at Pilgrim Hall.” Therefore, it was easy for Demos to come to conclusions about the objects because he was able to see them for himself. “A ‘box’ was a much smaller type of object. Whereas chests might hold clothing, bedding, or large tools, boxes were customarily used for keeping spices, buttons, nails, thread, and the like.” (Demos, 43) This investigation on household and domestic furnishings is relevant to people of today because many wonder what life was like in the 1600’s and how people’s lives were different in the home itself. In the 1960’s, when John Demos wrote A Little Commonwealth, many had no idea about life in Plymouth Colony so to hear about the objects they used to survive really spiked readers’ interests. In conclusion, even though Plymouth Colony existed more than 300 years ago, John Demos was able to spark the interests of his contemporaries in the 1960’s and many people today.
This was so because of his elaborate use of sources from the 1600’s throughout his book, A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. In order to make old evidence worthwhile to readers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Demos compiled information on the physical setting in Plymouth Colony, as well as the structure of the colony’s households. He was able to effectively relay the messages of his research to the minds of others by using sources from the words of actual Mayflower descendents, Plymouth Colony court and transaction records, and primary sources that he studied while directly visiting Plymouth himself. All in all, I thought A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony by John Demos was a great read and it truly taught me numerous facts about life in Plymouth Colony during the 1600’s that I never had heard
before.