Who Were the Earliest Colonists in New England? Pilgrims, Puritans, and Others

The Founding Populations of English New England (1620–1640)

The "Great Migration" brought ~21,000 English men, women, and children to New England between 1620 and 1640. They were not a monolith.

1. The Pilgrims (Separatists) — Plymouth, 1620

• Mayflower (102 passengers, ~50 "Saints" + "Strangers").
• Leiden, Holland exiles (12 years); covenanted church.
• Small, struggling colony; absorbed by Massachusetts Bay 1691.

2. The Puritans (Non-Separating Congregationalists) — Massachusetts Bay, 1630

• Winthrop Fleet (11 ships, 700+ people 1630; 20,000+ by 1640).
• Chartered Massachusetts Bay Company; transferred governance to New England (Cambridge Agreement).
• Created "Bible Commonwealth": town churches, civil magistracy, Harvard College (1636).
• Demographically dominant: 80%+ of 1640 NE English population.

3. Other English Settlers — Diverse Motivations

• Dorchester Company / Cape Ann (1623–26): Fishing/trading station (failed).
• Salem (1626, Endicott): Pre-Winfleet Puritan toehold.
• Maine coast (1620s–30s): Proprietary grants (Gorges, Mason); fishing, lumber, trade stations (Pemaquid, Casco, Saco).
• New Hampshire (1623 onward): Strawbery Banke (Portsmouth), Exeter, Dover — mixed Puritan/Anglican, commercial.
• Connecticut Valley (1633–36): Hartford, Windsor, Wethersfield (Hooker, Stone, Warham) — pushed out by MA land pressure.
• Rhode Island (1636–44): Williams (Providence), Coddington (Portsmouth/Newport), Gorton (Warwick) — banished from MA for religious dissent.

4. Non-English Europeans — Minor but Notable

• Dutch: New Amsterdam (1624) — *not* New England (Hudson River); but traded heavily with NE (wampum, furs).
• French: Acadia (Port Royal 1605, present-day NS) — contested borderlands (Maine); Jesuit missions among Abenaki.
• Swedes/Finns: New Sweden (Delaware Valley, 1638) — absorbed by Dutch 1655, then English 1664. Not NE.

5. Africans — Enslaved from Early On

• First recorded in MA 1638 (*Desire* ship); RI, CT soon after.
• Never >3% of NE population (vs. 40%+ in Chesapeake), but present in merchant households, farms, ports.
• Some gained freedom; formed early free Black communities (Boston's New Guinea, Newport's God's Little Acre).

The "Great Migration" Profile

• Families (not single men like Chesapeake).
• Literate (60%+ men could sign names).
• Skilled (farmers, weavers, carpenters, smiths, merchants).
• Middle-aged (median 30s) — established adults, not youths.
• Self-selected for religious commitment + economic ambition.

This human capital — **families with skills, capital, and a covenantal worldview** — built the towns, churches, schools, and governments that defined New England.