The Founders of New England: Result of Some Research Among the British Archives for Information Relative to the Founders of New England: Made in the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860

Historians and genealogists owe an enormous debt to preservationists like Samuel G. Drake for his concerted effort to replicate documents of historical significance that might otherwise be lost forever to neglect and decay. From records found in various repositories like the Chancery Lane Rolls Office and Her Majesty's State Paper Office, and acquired from private sources elsewhere he excerpted and reproduced lists of passengers bound for New England during the early to mid 1600s. Carefully footnoted, the author points out problems, explains obscurities and makes observations about the collective data as he describes it. Some of the documents had been partially destroyed by the time they came into his possession, and it is likely that only through his efforts are we now able to examine them today. Compiled in 1860 the volume itself is an interesting piece of history and preserves a crucial link between the old world and the new. Duplicated even to the script of the particular time, these lists identify many of the working class individuals who hoped to make a new and better life in the colonies. There are names and ages of entire families and in some instances occupations of heads of households accompanied by a brief description of the document, its origins and content. As the author points out, most of these first passengers being without title, property or inheritance left little else of their lives behind when they sailed for America, so here is a chance to discover what is known about the kind of people who first made their way to the New World.