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The Morphology of Remigration: New England University Men and Their Return to England, 1640–1660

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

Harry S. Stout
Harry S. Stout
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Extract

Richard Mather's promising pastoral career in England suddenly ended in 1634 with the wholesale suspensions inaugurated by Archbishop Laud. With no choice other than submission to the Church of England, Mather set sail for New England and, in so doing, joined a large scale folk migration that was to total over 15,000 people in the decade between 1630 and 1640. Encouraged by the early successes of the ‘ Great Migration ’ to New England, Mather took the birth of his son in 1639 as a sign and named him Increase ‘ on the Account of the great Increase of every sort, which God favoured the country with about the time of his nativity ’. A year after Increase's birth, Richard Mather's joy was once again chastened when there ensued a remigration to England such that, in Increase Mather's words, ‘ since the year 1640, more Persons have removed out of New England, than have gone thither ’. Leading in the removal from New England were nearly half of the highly trained ministers and university men who, in large measure, accounted for the uniqueness of the New England settlements.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , August 1976 , pp. 151 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

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3 For a listing of New England university men, including those who returned to England, see Stout, Harry S., ‘ University Men in New England 1620–1660: A Demographic Analysis ’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 4 (Winter 1974), 375–400CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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33 In this and the following tables, the primary statistical tests of association were the chi square (χ2) and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (C). Unless otherwise noted, all correlations are significant at the 0.01 level or better. That is to say, the chances of the association between the two variables occurring by chance are less than one in a hundred. Also included in the table are cross-tabulations giving row and/or column percentages together with the number of university men (N) in the correlation. An excellent introduction to the use of historical statistics is Dollar, Charles M. and Jensen, Richard J., Historian's Guide to Statistics Quantitative Analysis and Historical Research (New York, 1971), esp. pp. 61–5Google Scholar.

34 In the absence of professional positions in New England, many university men experienced a period of time in which they lacked a settled position. The number of years in such an unsettled state have been totalled to ascertain the mean number of years' lag between professional positions, by generation, in New England.

35 On the suggested relationship between last position in England and remigration see Sachse, ‘ The Migration of New Englanders to England ’, p. 263. In Table 2, ‘ high prestige ’ positions include rectors, vicars, chaplains, political or legal appointments, or medical practices. ‘ Low prestige ’ positions include curates, teachers, students, or the unemployed.

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37 Thomas Allen returned to his post as pastor of the Congregational Church in Norwich; Robert Peck was reinstated to his rectory in Hingham; Thomas Peter returned as vicar of Mylor; and Thomas Willis resumed his educational duties as schoolmaster at Isleworth.

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54 The variable ‘ influential New England connexions ’ was ascertained on the basis of those individuals sharing familial ties with the ‘ upper class ’. Placement in the upper class category was based on the model provided in P. M. Harris, G., ‘ The Social Origins of American Leaders: The Demographic Foundations ’, Perspectives in American History, 3 (1969), Appendix A, 342Google Scholar. The upper class included all families of gentry origin in England, or of local prominence in New England such as lawyers, important merchants and landowners, ministers of the first seaboard pulpits, doctors, or presidents of Harvard College.

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58 Ibid.

59 Middlekauff's The Mathers is the best discussion of the first generation's sense of ‘ exile ’, in which New England was viewed as an appendage of their native England.

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67 Both the term and concept is taken from Geertz, Clifford, ‘ Religion as a Cultural System ’, in Banton, Michael, ed., Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (London, 1868), pp. 1–46Google Scholar.

68 See Middlekauff, , The Mathers, pp. 96–112Google Scholar.

69 I am indebted to Robert P. Swierenga, William H. Kenney, Stephen Foster, and Richard J. Jensen for reading earlier versions of this paper and offering valuable advice.