Those of you who know me know I’m not at all hesitant
to tell the juicy story of my Civil War ancestor, Matthew Potter, and his
“encounter” with a chicken. WELL, this, sadly, was not an isolated occurrence or behavior.......... even in the Plymouth Colony among our revered Pilgrim fathers:
The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love,
and Death in the Plymouth Colony, by James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz,
2000, ISBN 0-7167-3830-9
The
introduction begins with this: “Who really were the Pilgrims? Far from the
somberly clad, stern, and righteous figures children learn about in school,
many of the settlers of Plymouth actually dressed in bright colors, drank
heavily, and often got into trouble.”
This book is “a surprising look at America’s founding fathers and
mothers. The Times of Their Lives,
presents a realistic factual account of the Plymouth colony based on
contemporary archaeology, cultural research and living history. Taking little
known trial transcripts, personal accounts, wills, and probate records, as well
as physical artifacts such as shards and spoons unearthed from old foundations,
the authors reveal what life in the 17th century Plymouth was really
like. In the process they blow the dust off the dull, wooden figures of
tradition and show the Plymouth colonists as vibrant people who lived out
complex and colorful lives in a world profoundly different from our own.”
Page
11:
Although we frequently hear references to
reconstructing the past, this is an impossibility simply because we do not
have access to all of the complexities of life in earlier times. What we do is construct the past, and in so doing,
decide what is important and what is not. Such constructions invariable
reflect, to some extent, the values and biases of the time in which they were
written.
Page 135-6: This was a chapter on sex-related capital
crimes. In 1642, Thomas Granger, a 17
year old servant to Love Brewster in Duxbury, was executed for buggery (sexual
relations with animals). “He was this year detected of buggery, and indicted
for the same, with a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a turkey.”
He was sentenced to be “hanged by the neck until his body is dead.” The poor
animals were all slaughtered and buried.
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