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Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, August 23, 2024 ~ 375th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Town of Malden ~ Foundation of Charlestown: Challenges of colonial settlement By Inna Babitskaya I n June 1630, the Winthrop Fleet arrived in Salem Harbor. In July 1630, the colonists began to settle in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, trying to keep closely to their neighbors or friends. The immigrants belonged to different social groups. The colonial leaders were well-educated clergymen, lawyers, successful merchants and gentry. Lady Arbella Fiennes, daughter of an earl of Lincoln, represented the nobility; Sir Richard Saltonstall was considered the titled gentry; Isaac Johnson, husband of Lady Arbella, and John Winthrop were esquires. A few others belonged to the “gentleman” class. So, about “twenty-five of the two hundred and forty-seven possible heads of families were of a social rank above that of yeomen or husbandmen.” (Charles E. Banks, The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, 1930) The majority of immigrants represented the working class of England (seasonal laborers, artisans, traders and farmers). According to the passenger lists and early colonial records, among them were “...armorer, baker, blacksmith, butcher, carpenter, cordwainer, merchant, five of each; clothier, chandler, cooper, military officer, physician, tailor, three each; fisherman, herdsman, mason, two of each; tanner and weaver, one of each.” (Thomas Prince, A Chronological History of New England, 1826) The Winthrop Fleet brought to New England “passengers of all occupations skill’d in all Kinds of Faculties needful for Planting a new colony.” (Banks, The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, 1930). There were also some mercenaries, or soldiers of fortune. The Massachusetts Bay Company sent at the beginning the necessary supplies to the colony for the construction works: “...over ten thousand bricks, stowed in the ballast with five chauldrons of sea coals for the use of the blacksmiths. At the same time came iron and steel, nails, red lead, salt, and sailcloth. Even fourteen hundred weight of plaster.” (George F. Dow, Everyday Life in Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1675) The colonial rulers formulated the construction regulations, which were mandatory for those who planned to build a house. As a famous colonial politician and the future governor, Thomas Dudley (1576– 1653), wrote to the Countess of Lincoln in March 1631, “We have ordered that no man shall build his chimney with wood nor cover his house with thatch, which was readily assented unto, for that divers houses have been burned since our arrival (the fire always beginning in the wooden chimneys) and some English wigwams which have taken fire in the roofs with thatch or boughs.” (Alexander Young, Chronicles of the First Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, from 1623-1636, 1846) Dudley created a very vivid picture in his letter: “Thatch as a roof covering was in common use in the early days... Rye straw also was much used. The roofs of these thatched houses were not boarded as the thatch was fastened to slats...The earliest frame houses were covered with weather-boarding and this before long was covered with clapboards. The walls inside were sheathed up with boards moulded at the edges in an ornamental manner and the intervening space was filled with clay and chopped straw, and later with imperfect bricks. This was done for warmth and was known as ‘nogging,’ following the English practice. When roofs were not thatched, they were covered with shingles split from the log by means of a ‘frow’ and afterwards handshaved. The window openings were small and were closed by hinged casements...” made from wood or iron. (Young, Chronicles of the First Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1672), known as a “father of Woburn,” in his “Wonder-Working Providence of Sions Savior in New England” (1654), described how the colonists tried to adapt to the new reality: Governor John Winthrop 1846) The glass, which wealthy immigrants brought with them, was “usually diamond-shaped, set in lead ‘cames’... but... in the poorer cottages and wigwams, oiled paper was in common use.” (Dow, Every Day Life, 1675) The servants mostly lived in wigwams and huts. Despite all the efforts, the construction was slow, and in June, there was only one house in the town – the Great House. During the first three months, it served as the home to Governor John Winthrop after his arrival in June 1630. Later, due to the lack of drinking water supplies, infectious diseases spread among the colonists. So, many of them, including Governor Winthrop, decided to move to Shawmut Peninsula and founded a new town that Isaac Johnson, the wealthiest colonist, who came with Winthrop aboard Arbella shortly before his death, named Boston after his native town in England. A few immigrants left invaluable narratives telling about life in the newborn colony, and, due to their efforts, we can vividly imagine the harsh realities of that epoch. Thus, Roger Clap (1609–1690), who immigrated to New England in 1629/1630, mentioned in his memoirs (1630) that he “found some Wigwams and one House ...they lived many of them in tents and Wigwams...” Some colonists created the “English wigwams” that had brick or stone fireplaces, rushes or straw for the floor cover and real wood doors. Capt. Edward Johnson (1598– “They kept off the short showers from their lodgings, but the long rains penetrated through to their disturbance in the night season, yet in those poor wigwams they sang Psalms, praise and pray their God till they can provide them homes which ordinarily was not wont to be with many till the earth by the Lord’s blessing brought forth bread to feed them, their wives and little ones.” Johnson added that the colonists, who could not build a wood house or wigwam, “after they have thus found out a place of aboad, they burrow themselves in the Earth for their first shelter under some Hillwainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up and cover the spars with the bark or green sods, so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two, three or four years, it being understood that partitions are run through those cellars which are adapted to the size of the family. The wealthy and principal men of New England, in the beginning of the colonies, commenced their first dwelling houses in this fashion.” (Dow, Every Day Life) The lucky owners of good houses could more successfully withstand the challenges of the cold season. Besides the shelter problems, there were also health and food issues. Governor John Winthrop wrote in his Journal “History of New England” (1630–1649) (ed. by James K. Hosmer, 1908) that “the poorer sort of people (who lay long in tents) were much afflicted with scurvy and many died, especially at Boston and Charlestown.” Clap remembered that “it was Thomas Dudley side, casting the Earth aloft up on Timber: they make a smoky fire against the Earth at the highest side, and thus these poor servants of Christ provide shelter for themselves, their Wives and little ones.” According to the Secretary of the Province of New Netherlands, “Those in ... New England who have no means to build farmhouses at first, according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, 6 or 7 feet deep, as long and as broad as they think proper, case the earth inside with wood all-round the wall, and line the wood with bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth, floor this cellar with plank and not accounted a strange thing in those days to drink water and to eat samp or hominy without butter or milk. Indeed, it would have been a strange thing to see a piece of roast beef, mutton, or veal; though it was not long before there was roast goat. After the first winter, we were very healthy, though some of us had no great store of corn. The Indians did sometimes bring corn and truck with us for clothing and knives; and once I had a peck of corn, or thereabouts, for a little puppy-dog.” During the winter, due to the diseases and limited amount of food, eighty colonists died, and the survivors were weak and sick. To be continued... (Inna Babitskaya is a Malden historian, a member of Malden Historical Commission and author of historical books “From Maldon to Malden,” “Time of Converse” and “Fellsmere Park – Emerald of Malden.”) Thatch-roofed, one-room cottages Interior of the English wigwam English wigwams

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