The Next Twenty Years after the First Thanksgiving

Last time we looked at the growth over the first decade after the Mayflower arrived and celebrated the first Thanksgiving.

Let’s take a look at how growth continued.

June 1630—The Winthrop fleet arrive with 700 colonists, some of whom settle in Plymouth Colony

September 30, 1630—first execution in the colonies after John Billington murdered John Newcomen

1632—land granted at Green’s Harbor to some colonist {would become town of Marshfield n 1640}

1633—outbreak of disease kills 20 colonist and another trading house built

1634-1636—loses four trading houses

1640—cattle trade crashes due to slow immigration and Plymouth goes into economic decline.

1644—some colonists settles in Nauset on Cape Cod

1646—Edward Winslow returns to England to work for Oliver Cromwell

1649—Plymouth purchases a tract of land from Massasoit

1640-1660– The Great Puritan Migration comes to an end due to Puritan success in the English Civil War. Many colonists return to England.

Next week we’ll finish up the 17^th Century and changes in Plymouth.