The Trials of Thomas Morton - Peter C Mancall

Subtitle: An Anglican lawyer, his puritan foes, and the battle for a New England

I picked this off the non-fiction shelf at the library because it was about the history of America in the mid-1600s.  My passion for genealogy told me it wouldn't hurt to learn more about that time period.

It's a scholarly written book, with pages of references documenting the well structured tale of a real person, Thomas Morton, who attempted to launch an alternative approach in the settling of New England.  An adherent to the Church of England, who the Puritans and Pilgrims were escaping, he advocated cooperating with the indigenous people and sharing their homeland.  He lost, obviously.

I found it fascinating that Morton had written a book about his mistreatment at the hands of the Puritans of Massachusetts.  The book, published in the mid-1600s, was referenced by President John Adams when writing of the early history of America more than a century later.  A copy of the book stayed in the Adams family and kept the story of Thomas Morton alive as a different perspective on the settling of New England.  A quirky read and great history lesson.

P. 31.  [quoting from Morton's book when he is describing the Algonquian natives] Morton claimed that there were "wake withes" among them, called Powahs," who had "some correspondency" with the devil..."

This quote caught my eye because of the story my uncle told of my great-grandmother "making Pow-wow", that is, a ritual healing practiced by the Pennsylvania Dutch for decades.  I wonder if it actually originated with the native culture?

Published:  2019  Read: February 2020 Genre: Historical biography