Friday, February 22, 2013

VOYAGE OF THE ABIGAIL, 1628

(9th Great-grandfather MATTHIAS BUTTON to Thomas/Dort)
On June 20, 1628, the ship ABIGAIL sailed from Weymouth with a numberof 'Old' England emigrants bound for 'New' England. Among them, our ancestor MATTHIAS BUTTON arrived in Naumkeag, (Salem) Massachusetts on September 6th of that year.  Also aboard was the newly appointed governor for London's Plantation, JOHN ENDICOTT.

The article excerpt below is based on the work "The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut" published by Joseph Anderson in 1896:

'In 1628, Mr. John Endicott was commissioned to begin a colony at Massachusettes Bay.
In 1629, his group was joined by 300 men, 80 women, and 26 children, sailing for London's Plantation in the "George Bonaventure", the "Talbot", and the "Lion's Whelp". These passengers, paying 5 pounds apiece for passage, were joined by 140 head of cattle and 40 sheep. Among the possessions they brought were mill stones, stones for peaches, plums, filberts, and cherries; "kernells" of pear, apple, quince and pomegranates; seeds of liquorice, woad, hemp, flax and madder; roots of potatoes and hops; utensils of pewter, brass, copper, and leather; hogsheads of wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans, peas, and "bieffe"; thousands of bread; hundreds of cheese, and codfish; gallons of olive oil, and Spanish wine; tons of water and beer; thousands of billets of wood, besides chalk, brick, and "chauldrens of sea coales" to be used as ballast. Weaponry included halberts, muskets, fowling pieces, full muskets, bandaleeres with bullet bags, horn flasks for powder, "cosletts", pikes and half pikes, barrels of powder and shot, eight pieces of land ordnance for the fort, whole culverings, demiculverings, sackers and drakes, great shot, drums, and a sword and belt for each of the three hundred men. Scores of other ships soon followed, most notably, the WINTHROP FLEET.'
(revised 4/21/2018)

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