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A Little Commonwealth Family Life In Plymouth Colony Summary

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A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony is a study of seventeenth century Pilgrim families who first established the Plymouth Colony, to put together a case study that introduces a new approach of historical research that can provide insightful information of the larger historical context. John Demos argues that the family takes a central role as a primary unit of seventeenth century life and therefore studying it will give different kinds of information pertaining to different aspects of colonial communities. He takes a close look at the Puritan households of the Old Colony as his focal point of study but in the process, presents informations that gives out a better understanding of early colonial communities as a whole. Demos lists the three basic types of sources he used to reconstruct family life in the colony: physical artifacts found in seventeenth century houses, people’s wills and inventories, and general official records. Throughout the book, Demos provides his readers with good examples and …show more content…

He studies this in terms of: membership, husbands and wives, parents and children, master and servants, and wider kin connections. Using a 1689 census from the town of Bristol, Demos determines that the basic makeup and size of a colonial household, typically, two adults--the mother and the father--and their children. In some cases, there was also a servant or an elderly person who lives with the immediate family. The census also reveals statistical figures like total population, low mortality rates. Using wills and town records like court cases, Demos made inferences on the type of obligations and responsibilities members of the family had to fulfill. This shows us that family homes served as sort of schools, churches, economic institutions, and/or welfare

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