Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-06-08
WHOLE NO. 28Ol.


with the Indians, they were able to
procure wonderful supplies of beaver
skins for expectation to England
They would send in one ship as much
as three thousand pounds weight of
beaver skins, the best of which was
worth in England twenty shillings a
pound. As many as three hundred
otter skins were sometimes sent in a
single vessel. The trade, conducted
| chiefly by Winslow, produced so large
a revenue, that when the colony was
/ twenty-five years old it had paid its
debts, bought its independence of the
/ London Company, brought over a
considerable number of their poorer
brethren from Holland, and possessed
sufficient capital to carry on a vigor-
Gus commerce with the Dutch in New
York, with their friends at Boston,
and with the fishing fleet off the
coasts of Maine and Newfoundland.
They went so far as to establish store
houses on the coast of Maine, well
supplied with goods for trade with the
fishermen and the French. One of
these storehOuses was captured by a
party Of Frenehmen, and the Plym-
Outh plantation was strong enough to
send three hundred ton vessel to re-
take it. Thus began the contest be-
tween New England and Canada,
which ended only with the conquest
of Canada, hundred and fifty years
after.
The extensive commerce of the
Plymouth people with the mother
country compelled Governor Winslow
to make frequent voyages thither.-
On his return from his first voyage,
in 1924, he brought with him three
heifers and bull, the first cattle ever
imported into New England. In three
years, by the natural increase of these
and by fresh importatiOns, there were
cattle enough to supply the whole
colony with little milk and butter.
They then divided themselves into
twelve families, or companies of thir-
teen persons each, and to each COM
pany was assigned two goats, a mileh
cow, and two or three cattle not imme-
diately productive, such as heifers,
steers and bulls. In this way every
body bore part of the burden, and en-
joyed part of the benefit. Shares in
the family herd or in single animals
were bought and sold. Thus, for ex-
ample, as l read in the records at Ply
mouth, under date of January 10th,
1927:
Edward Winslow hath sold unto
Captain Myles Standish his six shares
in the red cow, for and in cOnsidera-
ton of five pounds ten shillings, to
be paid in corn at the rate of six shil-
lings, per bushel."
Another entry begins thus:
Abraham Pierce hath sold unto
Captain Myles Standish two shares in
the red COW, for and in consideration
of two eve lambs, the one to be de-
livered at the time of weaving this
present year and the other at the same
time ammo. 1928"
In this beautifully sensible and Just
manner the Pilgrim Fathers managed
all their affairs, Edward Winslow be-
ing evidently the leading business
man of the colony, which he served
also for many years as governor. Du-
ring one of his visits to England in
1885, he as representing a Puritan
colony, fell under the displeasure of
the Archbishop of Canterbury. The
Archbishop arraigned him on the
charge of preaching without Ordina-
ton or license. He replied, very
mOdestly, that in the infancy of the
colony, when there was no minister
in Plymouth, he did "exereise his gift
to help the edifieation of his breth-
ren." The archbishop also accused
him of having performed the eere-
mony of marriage. He did not deny
that in his character as magistrate he
had married some couples, and main
tanned before the archbishop that mar
riage was a civil covenant, and added
that he found no warrant in the BIZ
BILE for the performance of the mar
riage ceremony by a clergyman.
Besides" said he, I'VE were ne
so to do, having for a long
time together at first no minister
Besides, it is no new thing, for was
so married myself in Holland by the
in their Stadt Haus.n
This defence did not avail. Hewas
to the Fleet prison, and
in confinement for four
to the great damage of the
which had to pay his ex-
Denses and to suffer the loss of his
services. At later date, when the
Puritans were in power in England,
The Protector Cromwell gave him an
honorable charge as one ofthree COM
to estimate the value of
some English ships destroyed by
Danish forces in the West Indies
On the voyage, near Jamaica, he was
aiken sick and died, in the sixty-first
rear of his age. He was the first, and
rot tie least able of the many humid
eds of bold, originating men Of busi-
less which New England has nurtur-
ID or produced.