Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_.
[Illustration]
Debts
Hopeful and Desperate
_Financing the Plymouth Colony_
by Ruth A. McIntyre
[Illustration]
PLIMOTH PLANTATION
© Plimoth Plantation, Inc., 1963
The publication of this study
was made possible through a grant to Plimoth Plantation
by the partners of Hornblower and Weeks
in memory of their senior partner
RALPH HORNBLOWER
who died at Plymouth
September 18
1960
_“For had not you and we joined and continued together, New England
might yet have been scarce known, I am persuaded; not so replenished
and inhabited with honest English people as now it is. The Lord
increase and bless them....”_ An extract from a letter written in 1633
by James Sherley, London merchant, to Governor William Bradford of the
Plymouth Colony.
Contents
Acknowledgments 7
Foreword 9
Part I 11
The Pilgrims decide to emigrate to America § They obtain a patent
and seek financial backing § Some London merchants offer to invest
in the colony § 1620--Pilgrims and merchants form a joint stock
company § Despite difficulties and controversy, the colonists set
sail § Contrary to their patent, the Pilgrims settle at Plymouth §
New Plymouth struggles with hardship and debt § Quarrels develop
among the London merchants § The joint stock company breaks up
§ The Pilgrims agree to purchase the merchants’ interest in the
company § The London investors were linked by common associations