Debts hopeful and desperate

by Ruth A. McIntyre

[21] W. R. Scott, The Constitution and Finance of English ... Joint-Stock Companies (London, 1910), II, 310–311, calculated the share capital as £5600. Sherley spent the best part of £5000 in two years as treasurer. This probably did not include the period when Weston was in charge, Bradford, “Letter Book,” 49. On debts of £1400, see ibid., 32.

[22] Smith is quoted in Bradford, History, ed. Ford, I, 104n. Andrews observed that even though the names of a number of the adventurers were known, “of only a few can any further information be obtained,” Col. Per. Amer. Hist., I, 287n. The research on which the following paragraphs are based is probably the most sustained effort so far to find out more. The late Col. Charles E. Banks was interested chiefly in tracing the emigrants to Plymouth; see Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., LXI, 55–63, “William Bradford and the Pilgrim Quarter in London.”

For Sir Thomas Andrews, see Valerie Pearl, London and the Outbreak of the Puritan Revolution (Oxford, 1961), 309–311, 208, 240, 242. This work is invaluable for its mass of biographical detail about London merchants, interpretation of London’s role, and bibliography. J. C. Whitebrook, “Sir Thomas Andrewes, Lord Mayor and Regicide, and his Relatives,” Trans. Congregational Hist. Soc., XIII (1938–39), 151–165, informs us that Damaris Andrews, daughter of Thomas, married the son of Matthew Cradock, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company. The Richard Andrews connected with Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, appears to be the brother of Thomas, ibid., 159. For Thomas’s official career, see C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait, eds., Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–60 (London, 1911), 2 vols., passim, esp. I, 1150, 1255; II, 365, 595, 647, 917; A. B. Beaven, The Aldermen of London (London, 1908), II, 66. As an active member of the directorate of the East India Company, he was expert on shipping and the sale of Company wares; see E. B. Sainsbury, ed., Cal. Court Mins. E. I. Co., 1635–1676 (Oxford, 1907–35), III, xi, xvi, xxii-xxiii, 218, 222, 128, 224, 267; V, xxxii, 333. Among summaries of Independency in the Civil Wars, see J. R. Tanner, English Constitutional Conflicts of the 17th Century (Cambridge, repr. 1947), 128; Pearl, London and the Outbreak, 6, who reminds us of the distinction between religious Independents and “political independents.” The complex situation in England is not easy to summarize.

[23] This list has formerly been given as six, Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Morison, 185n., and slightly different in Bradford, History, ed. Ford, II, 7n. I add Richard Andrews and Christopher Coulson and retain both Robert Keane and John White.

[24] For Richard Andrews’ address, Winthrop Papers, II, 306; Thomas Lechford, “Notebook,” Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc., VII, 142; P.R.O., Exchequer, Depositions, E. 134, 22 James I, Mich. 59, on reverse of testimony by Francis Stubbs; Henry A. Harben, A Dictionary of London (London, 1918), 407. He may have resided in the ward of Cripplegate Within, where Richard Andrews, haberdasher, was one of the inhabitants most able to contribute to a Crown request for money, W. J. Harvey, ed., List of Principal Inhabitants of London, 1640 (London, 1886), 14. For links to Massachusetts Bay, Winthrop Papers, II, 306; Recs. Mass. Bay, I, 128; role as shipowner, Cal. S. P. Domestic, 1628–29, 440, and 1629–31, 469; Netherlands trade, P.R.O., E. 134, 12 Charles I, Easter, 39, and Michaelmas, 23; Winthrop Papers, V, 4. Gifts to Massachusetts in Winthrop’s Journal, ed. James K. Hosmer (New York, 1908), I, 128, and II, 70, 222; and discussion in R. P. Stearns, “The Weld-Peter Mission to England,” Pubs. Col. Soc. Mass., XXXII, 199, and The Strenuous Puritan: Hugh Peter (Urbana, 1954), 162, erroneously calling Richard Andrews an alderman. A.O.I., 1642–60, I, 970, 1088, 1240, for his public service; P.R.O., S.P. 16/515/146; William Kellaway, The New England Company, 1649–1776 (London, 1961), 66, for donations to a Puritan lectureship and to Indians; idem, “Collection for the Indians of New England, 1649–1660,” Bull. John Rylands Library, XXXIX (1957), 458.

[25] Rose-Troup, Mass. Bay Company and its Predecessors, 138; Recs. Mass. Bay, I, 37c, 40; P.R.O., Close Rolls, C. 54/2635/ no. 8; Harvey, Inhabitants of London, 14; Pearl, London and the Outbreak, 169.

[26] Winthrop’s Journal, ed. Hosmer, I, 15n., 30, 53; Winthrop Papers, II, 309, 317, 339, and III, 4, 5. Ownership of Welcome, S.P. 16/16/182. London addresses of Goffe in T. C. Dale, ed., Inhabitants of London, 1638 (London, 1931), 112; “Return of Divided Houses ... London, 1637” (typescript, Guildhall Library), 115.

[27] E. N. Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus (Norman, Okla., 1957), 69–70; Stearns, The Strenuous Puritan, 162, 166, 175, 180–181, 189; Bradford, History, ed. Ford, II, 5n., and facsimile opp. 5. Hartley and Stearns disagree as to amount Pocock lent to Massachusetts Bay, but Recs. Mass. Bay, II, 82, 262, and subsequent actions, appear to uphold the latter. Gift to St. Antholin’s, S.P. 16/515/146; public service, A.O.I. 1642–60, I, 143, 233, 371, and II, 1000.

[28] Recs. Mass. Bay, I, 60, 361, 386, 394, 395, 402, 367. Sharpe’s later career has not been traced, but he is not especially prominent after arrival in Massachusetts.

[29] Ibid., 60, 48, 53, 128. The ship’s name probably was the Eagle, 400 tons. Winthrop Papers, II, 215n., and III, 3; Winthrop’s Journal, ed. Hosmer, I, 44.