The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1868-11-19
cU1RIos1rIEs OF As1ERIcAs HISTORY

CURIOSITIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
The following historical gleanings
are curious and instructive illustra-
tions of the principles and practices
of our immediate progenitors, They
are fixed facts-fnger-boards along
the highways of human progression:
/ ssThes first Legislative Assembly II,
America was the Governor of -Vir-
ginia, Council, and a number of Bur
gesses, who. assembled in one cham
ber, at Jamestown, in 1917.
4 In l620421, % one hundred and fifty
young women of agreeable man
nersn were sent from England to Yir-
ginia, and sold to the planters for
/ wives for from /" 120 to 100 pounds of
tobacco, EACH" This traffic in wives
continued many years, and, in 1852,
two young women were seduced on
their passage out, and were immedi-- d.
atefy sent back, as unworthy to
propagate the race of Virginians." In
4 deed, SO scarce and valuable were
"agreeable" women in 1924, that a
fine; was imposed upon any woman
4 who should encourage more than one
4 suitor at a time. This was to obViate
the inconvenience resulting from the
"ardor and frequency of amorous
competition" ,.a I-4 ..--
/ The early chivalric cavaliers of the
Old Dominion were hardly up to the
present age, as appears from the fol-
lowing letter of Sir William Berkeley,
descriptive of. the Virginia colony,
Iiyears after the restoration of Charles
I'LL: .g5-a .aa.E..s. ..s, .ar -,,,.r S..
81 thank God there are no free
schools and printing; and hope we
shall not have them these hundred
years for learning has brought heresy
and disobedience and sects into the
world, and printing has diyulged them
and ibels against the best govern
ment. God keep us from both! p"
In 1858 a great majority of the pco-
pie of Virginia belonged to the Estab-
lished Church, and the preaching of
Dissenters was prohibited. Quakers
were, ,banished, and, if they returned,
were punishable with death by stat
ute, Adultery and fornication were
punished by fine of one thousand
dollars for the first offense, and five
hundred pounds of tobacco for the
second. Women convicted of SANDER
4 were ducked, if the husband did not
redeem them by a money mulct. AT
this period there was not book-sell-
er's shop in Virginia, and even at the
beginning of the eighteenth century,
there was not one in Virginia, Mary
Hand or Carolina, only one in New
York, while Boston had five printing
offices and many book-shops.
The Puritans landed at New Plym-
outh, Noyember.9, 1920, but they in
tended to settle on the Hudson river.
Their Dutch captain, it is said, was
bribed- to land them further to the
North, so as not to interfere with the
Dutch settlement on the. Hudson,
/ which had been established some years
previous. These Plymouth Rock en-
igrants were mostly Brownists or
tfIndependents," who had been perse-
cuted in England, and fed to Holland,
and while there purchased the right of
j the " Plymouth Company" to colonize
portion of their American posses
!, sions.
), h Robert Brown was an English cler-
gyman, who, being censured by the
Established Church, in 1886, rallied
against the Bishops and the ordination
of ministers. He was prosecuted as a
dangerous fanatic, and repeatedly
imprisoned. He roamed about, ex-
/ ultingly proclaiming that he had been
, inearcerated in thirty-two different
prisons. His proselytes naturally in
: creased, and he emigrated with his
! followers to Zealand. Here his church
> was, soon dissolved, and he returned
) to England, rejoined the Established
f Church, became dissolute, and finally
ended his days in Incidence and con-
! tempt The, followers of the same
| Robert Brown were at the first called
: Brownfsts, and then Independents
3 Those who fled from England called
f themselves Brownists. And wheI
t they were about leaving Delft Haven
e to plant a colony in the New World
n their good Pastor, Robinson, in his
il farewell sermon, urged them to ''aban
i. don, avoid and shake off the name O
o Brownists It's a mere nickname, ani
brand for making religion and th'
t., professors of it odious to the Chris
i tian world"
e In 1887 it was customary in Bostol
= to hold meetings to consider the ser
s mon of the previous Sunday, and ar
+ que the doctrinal points. Female
were not allowed to participate in tn
: discussions, and Anne Hutchinson,
n strong-mined married woman, deter
j. mined that she. would no longer be de
barred from joining the debates. A
n the Scripture enjoins the elder womel
d to teach the younger, she established
= separate female assemblies. She wa
.e called the Nonesuch, and her feminin
= gatherings were styled Gossippings-
ID a word before that time of respecta
s. BILE import, but from thence consigne
,r to contempt and ridicule. She wa
~, cnrdiaJlv esteemed by John COttO
20 and Governor Vance, and became tn
is leader of sect. She was banishe
es from MASSACHUSETTS, went to Rhod
lg Island, and was finally killed by tn
or Indians. Her followers were guilt
lg of the grossest immoraiities.
I'd From 1884 to 1914, the Council an
Freemen Of Massachusetts, assemble
at together, forming the General Cour