Southern New England

Having been given a chance to look at descendant lines from Virginia, I had to take advantage of learning about its History. As I read, parallels with Northern New England stood out. For instance, in the south, there was early migration out west just as we saw in Massachusetts. Too, there were two  rides similar to Paul Revere's. One of them saved Thomas Jefferson. Then, the themes related to Albion's Seed apply to our work.

Today, I picked up a book that I had purchased in D.C. back in 1997. I lived in Virginia for a while. Too, I visit the area often. 1997 was 12 years  before I started to do this historic genealogical work. And, it has taken a while for me to get to read it. Til now, it sat on the shelf.

The book? It had been copyrighted in 1957. The author is Charles E. Hatch, Jr. The title: The First Seventeen Years, Virginia 1607-1624 (text version of the book, archive[.]org) There are various on-line versions that one can find on the web. Some of these have a preview mode.

It was this content on page 23 that got my attention.

Participation in the affairs of government was another element in the new Company approach. Soon after his arrival, Yeardley issued a call for the first representative legislative assembly in America which convened at Jamestown on July 30, 1619, and remained in session until August 4. This was the beginning of our present system of representative government. The full intent behind the moves that led to this historic meeting may never be known. It seems to have been another manifestation of the determination to give those Englishmen in America the rights and privileges of Englishmen at home that had been guaranteed to them in the original Company charter. It seems to be this rather than a planned attempt to establish self-government in the New World on a scale that might have been in violation of English law and custom at the time. Whatever the motive, the significance of this meeting in the church at Jamestown remains the same. This body of duly chosen representatives of the people has continued in existence and its evolution leads directly to our State legislatures and to the Congress of the United States.

That is, in 1619, Virginia had the first meeting that relates to our current way of life. This was before the arrival of the Mayflower. As the northern crowd gets into the mood (and the tone ramps up, I can hear it out hear in the netherlands, already) of celebration, we ought to juxtapose the whole scene with southern incidents, albeit not with any direct time association. In fact, as I read, parallels are all over the place.

Too, the Mayflower destination was more southern than not.

Many families had representatives in both the north and the south. Some of those who have both pedigrees had ancestors who met while heading west. One example is covered in the article on our flyover country.

Remarks: Modified: 11/24/2022

11/22/2017 -- Looking at parallels will also consider differences: Dales' code (Laws, Divine, Moral, and Martial).

07/27/2018 -- Some editing. Added links, like this one: What is an American?

03/07/2019 -- Added image from this post to our portal to truth.

05/24/2022 -- Melissa Davenport Berry article on the Queen's visit to the area in 1957. 

11/24/2022 -- Thanksgiving Day. The first one was in Virginia. Also, they had food problems like we saw with Plymouth later and even Cape Ann when too many people came over.