[11] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 95; Cushman’s discourse, printed as A Sermon Preached at Plimoth in New England ... (London, 1622), is reprinted in part in Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers (2d ed., Boston, 1844), 255–268.
[12] See note 5 above; Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 100–103, 104, 105, 107, 119; Treasury warrant, Ms. Calendar of Cranfield Papers, 8680, Hist. Mss. Commission, P.R.O., London. Charles Francis Adams, Three Episodes in Massachusetts History (Boston, 1892) I, 45–104, is still the most readable account of Weston’s colony at Wessagusset, although inaccurate in a few details.
[13] Dexter, Mourt’s Relation, xxxv-xxxviii; Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 124–125; New Eng. Hist. Gen. Reg., LXVII, 147–153; P.R.O., C2/P44/43, Peirce’s suit. Andrews, Col. Per. Amer. Hist., I, 281–282 and 282n., takes Bradford to task for “pretty deliberate misrepresentation” of the Peirce matter. The search in English records for information on Peirce proved unusually difficult, because of the commonness of his name. For example, two John Peirces were admitted to the Clothworkers’ Company, one in 1597, the other in 1612 (letter to author from Mr. J. E. Coombes, Clerk, Clothworkers’ Company, Aug. 9, 1961). Mr. Coombes’ report of scanty records for the period precluded further search. A Mr. John Peirce sold John Winthrop provisions, Winthrop Papers (Boston, 1931–47), III, 3, 4, 5.
[14] The leaders of the adventurers named by Peirce in his Chancery suit were James Sherley, John Pocock, Christopher Coulson, William Collier, John Thornell, and George [Robert] Keane, New Eng. Hist. Gen. Reg., LXVII, 149. Usher, The Pilgrims and Their History, 147–148, and John A. Goodwin, The Pilgrim Republic (Boston, 1888), 252–254, sum up the misadventures of the Little James. The original evidence is in Bradford, History, ed. Ford, I, 341–346, 350–351, 403–405, 433–435. Additional details are in the Admiralty suit of two crew members, Stephens and Fell, Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., LXI, 148–151; H. C. A., Instance and Prize Court, Libel Files, Bundle 82, no. 124 (Library of Congress transcript). An effort to locate this document in the Public Record Office under this reference was unsuccessful.
[15] For the transcript of Altham’s letters to his brother, Sir Edward Altham, Sept. 1623, Mar. 1623/24, June 10, 1625, I am indebted to Dr. Sydney V. James’s “Three Visitors to Early Plymouth,” a typescript in the possession of Plimoth Plantation. The original letters belonged to Dr. Otto Fisher of Detroit, Michigan, who gave permission for use of quotations. James, “Three Visitors,” 36, 42, 46, 50. Altham invested some of his friends’ money in the common stock and suggested that if he came back on a fishing voyage, he could use £400 or £500 of their ventures, ibid., 62, 66.
[16] William Bradford and Isaac Allerton to the adventurers, Sept. 1623, Amer. Hist. Rev., VIII, 297; John W. Thornton, The Landing at Cape Anne (Boston, 1854); Goodwin, Pilgrim Republic, 255; Bradford, History, ed. Ford, I, 377–379, 407–410, for the patent.
[17] Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 120–121, 132, 144–145, 187; Edward Winslow, Good Newes from New England (1624) in Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 346–347; Bradford, History, ed. Ford, I, 300n.
[18] For further light on these factions, see James, “Three Visitors,” 104ff., letter of June 10, 1625.
[19] Ibid., 70, 72; Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 170; Bradford, “Letter Book,” 28, 34, 29, 32.
[20] The most complete list of investors in Plymouth is that of the signers of the composition of 1626, ibid., 48. To these should be added Christopher Coulson, William Greene, John Peirce, Edward Pickering, and Thomas Weston. The Plymouth leaders accepted in 1627 the terms the merchants had signed in November 1626. Thus it is correct to refer to 1627 as the date of the final business settlement with the original company.