{"id":1062,"date":"2022-02-22T22:08:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T21:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relativelyspeaking.one-name.blog\/wp\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2022-02-22T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T21:08:10","slug":"landed-52ancestors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relativelyspeaking.one-name.blog\/wp\/?p=1062","title":{"rendered":"Landed – #52ancestors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A short and late post this week. I have a good reason though – on Thursday 17th February I landed in Massachusetts with my family, where we will be living for the next 3 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s a bit of a culture shock, and the weather is taking a bit of getting used to (-8c at the weekend, 17c tomorrow, snow by Friday). But we are slowly settling in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our journey made me think of another traveller<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My post this week concerns a man who made a similar journey, albeit by sea rather than air, 300 years ago, and an unusual, but potentially useful resource that he created while on his travels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas Prince (1687-1758)<\/em> was pastor at Boston’s Old South Church, a scholar and historian. But before he settled, he travelled widely to both the Caribbean and England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Joseph Badger – American Antiquarian Society. http:\/\/www.americanantiquarian.org\/Inventories\/Portraits\/97.htm, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=10529214<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a young Harvard graduate setting out around the world, in an era when his return was anything but guaranteed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His journey was partly motivated by religious fervour, as he was to preach to communities in East Anglia and even persuade some of them to return with him to New England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I can equally see a 21 year old man, eager to see what lay beyond his own familiar surroundings, the land where his ancestors were born and where many of his acquaintances hailed from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By John Robinson, George Francis Dow – The Sailing Ships of New England 1607-1907, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=31394623<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Prince kept a journal of his return journey to Boston in 1717, but more importantly for this post, he kept a correspondence log. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see the original here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas was a very diligent young man<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1709 to 1751 he recorded in his journal every letter received and sent, dates, places and postage costs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, most of the letters are no longer extant, but we can get so much good information from the log itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Southgate, a distant relative and part of my Southgate study, was on the ship with Thomas Prince, persuaded that he would find a welcoming community and a better life for his family in the new world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records of his life before he arrived in America are scant, but using Thomas Prince’s log I can accurately plot his movements, based on when and where he posted letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n