Colonists and the Colony

Current articles in this section:

1. The Mayflower Compact

2. The "Pilgrims" as People

3. "Stitches in Time: Sewing in Plymouth Colony"

4. Residents of Plymouth According to the 1627 Division of Cattle

5. Timeline of Plymouth Colony 1620-1692

Timeline of Plymouth Colony 1620-1692

The history of Plymouth Colony begins in 1620 with the landing of the Mayflower at Cape Cod and ends with the absorption of Plymouth into Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692. This timeline lists key events in the colony’s history. Arranged chronologically, it covers the expansion of the colony and major points of interaction with the Native Peoples.

1620s:

November 11, 1620
The Mayflower anchors in Provincetown Harbor, the passengers having decided to settle in New England.

December 8, 1620
A party of explorers from the ship encounter Wampanoag on Cape Cod for the first time. Although shots are exchanged, no one is hurt in this “first encounter.”

December 20, 1620
The colonists choose an abandoned Wampanoag village called Patuxet for their new site. The former inhabitants had died or been scattered by a European disease four years before.

March 22, 1620/1
Samoset, a Monhegan Native, brings Tisquantum (Squanto) to New Plymouth and announces the imminent arrival of the Wampanoag leader Massasoit. Governor Carver and Massasoit conclude a treaty of peace. Squanto stays with the colonists.

Late September/early October 1621
A 3-day harvest celebration is held in Plymouth with Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men.

November 9, 1621
The ship Fortune arrives at Cape Cod bringing 35 new colonists.

July/August 1623
Two more ships arrive, the Anne and Little James, bringing 60 more colonists. The passengers of these ships, together with those of the Mayflower and Fortune, comprise the “Old Comers” of the colony and are often given special treatment in later colonial transactions.

1626
Plymouth builds its first trading house at Aptucxet on the southwestern side of Cape Cod. It is used as a base from which to trade with the Natives of both the Cape and Narragansett Bay.

May 22, 1627
The colony begins to divide its assets in preparation for the dissolving of the company. The cattle are the first asset to be distributed.

October 1627
Isaack de Rasiere comes to Plymouth Colony on a trading and diplomatic mission from the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Because of him, Plymouth is introduced to the use of wampum as a medium of exchange with the Natives.

January 3, 1627/8
The Plymouth court begins to distribute land, 20 acres per share, to the planters.

1628
Plymouth establishes the second trading house on the east bank of the Kennebec River (Augusta, ME). Another post is set further north on the Penobscot River the following year.

1630s:

The 1630s are a time of great expansion in Plymouth Colony. Seven new towns are founded and the colony has great success supplying newcomers in Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay with livestock and other goods. Many of the specifics of expansion, however, are unknown. In many cases the first mention of a new town occurs after its settlement.

1632
Some Plymouth men are granted lands at Green’s Harbor, which is incorporated as the town of Marshfield in 1640.

1633
An outbreak of disease kills many Natives and at least 20 colonists. The resultant wills and inventories have been used in the furnishing of the 1627 English Village. Another trading house is built on the Connecticut River at Matianuck (Windsor, CT).

November 25, 1633
First reference in the Court records of the land north of Plymouth as “Duxburrow,” although Duxbury is not incorporated as a separate town until 1637.

1633/4
The first mention of the “ward of Scituate.”

1634-6
Plymouth loses all four of its trading houses: the Penobscot house to French traders in 1634; the Kennebec house the following year; Aptucxet is damaged by a hurricane in 1635; and in 1636, they lose the house on the Connecticut River to Massachusetts Bay colonists.

March 7, 1636/7
Seven men identified in the Court records as being of Cohannett, which becomes known as Taunton.

April 3, 1637
A group of 10 men from Saugus receive permission to settle in Plymouth Colony and choose the future Sandwich.

September 4, 1638
Inhabitants of “Mattacheese of Yarmouth” ordered to help build a bridge over Eel River, south of Plymouth.

March 5, 1638/9
First mention of the men of Barnstable in the Court records.

1630s: The Pequot War takes place during this decade. While the war occurred in the Connecticut area and Plymouth colonists were not directly involved, it set the tone for future English/Native relations.

June 18, 1633
Dutch sign treat with Pequots, establishing a trading house at present-day Hartford, to be made accessible to all Natives.

1634
Some Narragansetts traveling through Pequot lands to the trading house are slain. In retaliation, Dutch capture the Pequot Sachem, Tatobem, and hold him for ransom. When the ransom is paid, the Dutch deliver his dead body.

Spring 1634
Captain John Stone, West Indian trader and pirate, is killed in retaliation for the death of Tatobem. The Pequots are blamed although West Niantics were involved. The English consider this act the beginning of the war.

October and November 1634
The Pequots negotiate for peace with Massachusetts Bay. They sign a treaty agreeing to hand over Stone’s killers and “yield up Connecticut,” but it is never ratified by Pequot leaders.

July-August 1636
The body of John Oldham is discovered in his pinnace near Block Island. The Pequots are blamed for harboring the fugitive Block Island Natives. Massachusetts Bay send 90 men under John Endicott to Block Island to kill all Native men and seize women and children. They burn houses and cornfields there and near Saybrook, CT. The only Pequot death is caused by the Massachusetts, Cutshamekin. The Pequots consider this the beginning of the war.

Fall 1636-Spring1637
The Pequots attack Saybrook and other English settlements as far as Wethersfield.

May-July 1637
Connecticut sends 90 men under Captain John Mason against the Pequots. Accompanied by Narragansetts, Mason attacks the Pequot fort on Mystic River, setting houses on fire and killing by sword those who run. As many as 700 die. Captain Israel Stoughton traps the remaining Pequots in a swamp and the war ends.

September 21, 1638
The Treaty of Hartford is concluded. The Pequots are no longer to exist as a people and are assigned to either Mohegans or Narragansett.

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1640s:

1640
The lucrative trade in cattle to Massachusetts Bay colonists crashes with the slowing of immigration. In a month, the price of a cow drops from 20 to 5 pounds.

August 2, 1642
First mention of Seekonk, which in 1645 becomes the town of Rehoboth.

August 22, 1642
Beginning of the first English Civil War. The struggle for power between the Royalist forces and the Puritan Parliamentarians continues throughout the decade. Many New Englanders return to England during this period, among them former Plymouth Governor Edward Winslow.

1644
Some colonists from Plymouth move to Nauset on Cape Cod. In June 1646, Nauset becomes a town. Its name is changed to Eastham in 1651.

April 10, 1644
Plymouth religious leader Elder William Brewster dies.

March 23, 1649
The colonists purchase a tract of land from Ousamequin (Massasoit) which will be named Bridgewater.

1650s:

During this decade problems between the colonists and Natives increase. English expansion into Native territory, though done through purchase, brings English livestock into close proximity with Native fields. Incidents of livestock trespass and damage become common.

1652
Two Boston silversmiths are commissioned to mint coins, the first New England money.

May 8, 1655
Colony leader Edward Winslow dies at sea in the West Indies.

1656
Members of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly referred to as Quakers, arrive in Boston from England. While springing from the same religious turmoil that gave rise to the Separatist movement, the Quakers lack respect for hierarchy and believe in man’s ability to achieve his own salvation. Tenets so contrary to orthodox Puritanism quickly turn most New Englanders against them.

October 3, 1656
Myles Standish, military leader of Plymouth Colony since 1620 dies.

1657
The small number of Quakers in Plymouth Colony congregate primarily in Sandwich on Cape Cod and in Scituate. Laws are passed forbidding any to transport Quakers into the colony, give them “entertainment” (housing) or to attend a Quaker meeting. Punishments include fines, whipping, imprisonment or banishment. A number of people are brought before the courts on these charges.

May 9, 1657
William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony for many years, dies. Thomas Prence is elected governor at the June court.

1658
More laws are enacted preventing Quakers or their sympathizers from becoming freemen or exercising voting privileges.

June 3, 1658
Quaker Humphrey Norton confronts Governor Thomas Prence during his court appearance for entering the colony contrary to law.

December 3, 1658
The Plymouth Court attempts to prevent Quakers from coming to Sandwich by sea by seizing any boats carrying them.

1660s:

1659-1661
Laws tighten further against Quakers and sympathizers.

June 13, 1660
By June, Massasoit is dead. At the death of his father, Wamsutta desires to change his name “according to the custom of the natives.” He requests and receives from the Plymouth Court English names for himself and his brother – “Alexander Pokanokett” and “Philip.”

June 5, 1661
Charles II is restored to the throne. Upon receiving word the inhabitants of New Plymouth declare themselves loyal subjects.

June 8, 1661
Laws against Quakers are repealed.

Summer 1662
Pokanoket Sachem Alexander is ordered to appear before the Plymouth Court to answer charges of plotting war against the English. During his stay at Major Josiah Winslow’s house, he becomes ill and dies on the journey home. Some of his people suspect poisoning. Philip succeeds as Sachem.

1667
John Cotton Jr. accepts the call from the Plymouth church to become their minister. While he brings a new sense of religious commitment, his tenure will not be without controversy.

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1670s:

1671
Increased tension between Plymouth and the Wampanoag cause the court to demand official declaration of fidelity and submission from area Natives.

August-September, 1671
Controversy develops between Philip and the Plymouth government as Plymouth attempts to confiscate the Pokanokets’ arms.

September 29, 1671
Philip signs a new treaty, promising obedience to the Plymouth government.

May 20, 1672
A Harvard College graduate, Ammi Ruhamah Corlet, becomes the teacher of Plymouth’s free school “now begun and erected.”

March 29, 1673
Governor Thomas Prence dies and Josiah Winslow succeeds him as Governor.

January 29, 1675
John Sassamon, former secretary to Philip and an English informant, is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Three Natives are convicted on June 1 of his murder.

June 1675
Awashonks, Squaw Sachem of the Saconnet, requests Benjamin Church’s advice concerning the conflict between Philip and the English. He advises neutrality.

June 16, 1675
The “great Indian war” which will become known as King Philip’s War, begins with an attack by Philip on the outlying town of Swansea.

July 1675
The war spreads, with attacks on Taunton, Dartmouth and Middleboro. Philip is nearly captured several times, but escapes.

August 1675
The Nipmucks of central Massachusetts join in the war. The English troops combine and attack the Narragansetts in an attempt to keep them from joining in the war.

March 12, 1675/6
After a winter hiatus, the war resumes when Tatoson leads a party of 11 warriors on an attack of the Clark garrison house on Eel River in Plymouth. The house burns and 11 English die.

Late March 1676
Captain Michael Pierce’s company is wiped out in a battle at Pawtucket. Two days later Philip’s men burn Rehoboth. Towns begin to refuse to send more troops.

May 1676
The remaining houses in Middleboro burn, more die in Taunton and part of Scituate burns. Communications cease between Plymouth and Boston.

June 1676
Awashonks abandons Philip’s cause and allies herself with Plymouth.

July 1676
The tide of war turns and the English begin to capture or kill Natives, now desperately short of food.

July 22, 1676
The Court arranges for many Wampanoag children to be placed in servitude with English families until they reach the age of 24 or 25.

August 9, 1676
Governor Josiah Winslow approves the sale of 110 Natives to be sold as slaves out of the colony.

August 12, 1676
Philip and his forces are surrounded in a swamp at Mount Hope. A Pocasset Native named Alderman shoots and kills him. His body is quartered. The war is over although “mopping up” operations continue over the next few months.

Fall 1676
Debate rages among colonial religious leaders concerning the desire of some to execute Philip’s nine-year-old son. Although fearful of his possible actions as an adult, the colonists compromise by selling him into slavery.

1680s:

1681
Governor Thomas Hinckley negotiates for a new charter for Plymouth Colony.

December 29, 1686
Sir Edmund Andros arrives as Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Dominion of New England, which includes New York and New Jersey as well as New England. Under his regime many government functions move to Boston, causing Plymouth residents great inconvenience.

April 22, 1688
Hearing of the accession of William & Mary to England’s throne, Plymouth rises up against Andros. Thomas Hinckley resumes the governorship.

1690s:

October 7, 1691
England combines Plymouth and Maine colonies with Massachusetts Bay, although they had considered combining Plymouth with New York.

May 14, 1692
Sir William Phips arrives in Boston with the new charter.

June 8, 1692
The last meeting of the Plymouth General Court.

April 5, 1693
The Plymouth church sets apart a day of Thanksgiving “that the Government over us is yet in the hands of saints.”

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