ATLANTIC OCEAN

TheSouthAva lon Planters , 1.630to 1.7 0 0: Resid en ce ,Labour, DemandandExc ha ng e in Seve nte e n t h -Century Newfound land

by

©

Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for th e degree of Doctorof Philosophy

D.:partment of History Memorial university of Newfoundland

St.John's, Newfoundland

April1992

i i

Engl ishsettl eJ:lentof Ferry lana and other south.Ava loncom- mu n i t ie s, ~630to 1700 , is cons ider ed wi t h inthe context of the~a r lymoder n We s t Coun try miqrato rycOC:fish e ryatNev- foun41and. Theplan te r eco nomydivers ified but fishi ng remain e dth e staplere sour ce. In 1638 Sir David Kirke expropria tedFerr ylandfrom SirGeorgeCalv ert, who had in veste d in a permanent fishingstati onthere . TheKirke s we r e wine merchantswi thcommercia l conne c tionsinLondon, Spain, th e AtlanticIslands, Ne w England andthe Gulf of St.

Lawr e n ce. Arcbae <oloqy at Ferryland suggests thatKirke and hispartners inves ted as muchas hispr ed e c e s s o r . The Ki rke s pr ofitedfrom th eirNe wf oundlandinvestmen t and rema ine d impor tant planters until 16 9 6 .

The over-winteringpopulationof theEnq li s h Shore reached abo ut150 0by 1660 but did not qrow much beyo nd 1700 for th erestof the century. Document s suggestthe 1620s and 16405 were importan t for settle ment in th e studyarea.

Dec.ograpbyandmob i lityrates indi ca t e th a t he ad s of house h olds were nomoretransientthaninmanycommunities elsewher e. The soc i etyof th eEnglishShorecanbe understo odascons istingof servants, planteremploy e rsand a plan t e r gentryoflit e r ate merchant s . The re latio nof plantersand gent r yvasa formof cli e nt ag e . The rolesof wome n and reli g io n ar e bri efl y cons i d ere d .

iii

Fishe rmen 's incomesin seve nte e nth- c e n t u ry Newfound land werenotaslow as ofte naasueednordid pa yme n t bywages repla cesha resin thisperiod. comparative statis tic a l ana lysisof archaeo logic alasselDblages co n firm s documen tary indic a tio n s tha t vin eand tobacco were majo r compo nent s of de mand. The s epre f erence swerere l ated tocontempo r a rycon- sump t ion patterns and terms of excbangeat the fishing periphery. Thes e little luxuries function ed assymbols of warmth and sociabili ty. Both supplyand restr ic t i o n of these goods canbe understo od as formsof socialcontrol . Reta r de d developmen t c.17 0 0had as much to do withdevasta- tionof theEng lish Shore by theFrench, as itdi d witheco- nomic fa c torssuch aswa g e lev els or socio- cul tur al factors such asconsumptionpreferen c e s.

iv Acknowl ed gem e nt s

Manype opleand seve r a l institutions as sistedth e pre- sentstudy. I am part.icu larlygrateful tomysuperv i s or Ralph Pastorefo r hi s sens i b l e and generousguidanceduring a longproject, toDan iel Vic k e r s for introd u cingmeto American colonial recordsand fo r sharingunpubl i shed research, to .raaes Tuck. for in volving- me in the Ferryland project and to all thr e e for their though t f u l review ofmy workand the many helpf ul sug g e s tions th ey made. The Archaeoloqy Uni t and theMaritimeStudi e s Re search Unit pro- vid e d insti tut i on alsup po r t. Jack Mart in and Chri s Hallmlond of MUN Ph o tographicService s re p r od uc edma n y of thebla ck and white i ll u s t r a t i o ns, alwayswith profess ional care.

Specialthanks aredueHeat herWa r e ha m and the sta ffof the Marit i me Hi storyArchive, vno founddocuments, deskspa c e and comput er time forme. Inma ny respectsthey werethe ins t i t utio na l base of thisdissertat i o n .

I would als oliketotha nkAl i s on Gr a nt,ToddGr ay ,Gor- don Handcockand Jak e Ricefor drawi ng myattenti ontorele- va nt doc uments and for discu ssions which broadenedmy re s e a r c h interests. The latter debtI alsoowe Jean- ChristopheAgnew, Robincraig,LaurensHacquebord, Marcel Mousette , Ad ria nOswald, DavidStarkey,Laur i e rTur g e o n, Lorna Weatherill,AnneYent s c h and the archaeologi sts who gu i d ed mycomparative re s earchin ma te r ia l cu lture :John AllanoftheRoy~lAl be r t Museum, Exeter, HenryC.Millerof

Historic St.Mary's City, Ma r y l a nd , and rxencetse Nei ll on of theMi n i s t e r ede sAf f a ire s Culturell es, Qu ebec. Dr.Hand- cock and PatriciaThornto n made useful conaene s on a chapter in draft , Robert sweeneyof another ,as did Phili p Buc kn er of yetanothe r, which he went so far asto pUb lish. My wife,SharonGray Pope, cheerfu llywaded through th ewho l e, pUlling as many we e d s as possible. Non", are responsible, of co ur s e , forany misappli.cationof the ideas theyshared.

I must alsothank the ar c h ivists and libraria nsof the various other institutionswhere I was fortuna teenou gh to work , partic ularly tho s e at theBod l '~ i anLibrary, Oxford;

th e British Li bra r y , Lo ndon ; the Centre for Newfou nd la nd Studiesat MUN; th e Devon RecordOffice,Exe t.er ; theEssex Inst i tut e , Salem; theWestDevon RecordOf f i c e , Pl ymou t h ; the PublicRe cor d Office, xev an despeciallyth e staffof the Rou ndRoom, in th e PRO at cheneez-yLane. Me mor i al Univers ityof Newfoundland, its Institu te of Social and Eco- nomi c Research, the Government ofNewf oun d l and and Labrador, and the SocialScienceandHumanitiesResearchCouncilof Canada ea c h assistedmyresea r ch fi n a n c i a l l y and I am ve ry th an kf u l for th i s support.

Fl a tr oc k , Newfoundland , Oct ober 19 91

vi

Althou g h this stud y is self-consciouslyexclusive in time andspa c e , itis me thod o l ogic a l lyin clus i ve,attelllpt.ing to makethe 1II0st out of variouskindsofevidenc e. Any study pr o p osing to attempt, in part, hi storicalar chaeoloqy must facea methodologica l quandary: thi s is a discipline without an acceptedresearchpa r a di qm.! The usualpa t t ern is torev i e w regio na l history, cata l o gu e the resu l ts of excavati o nand the nus e the lat t e rasil l u str a t i o n s of the form e r , sothat historyand az-chae oicqy ar e maderhe t ori - cally cont i guo u s . Evenwhen issuesareraised thewho l e is not often more than thesum of its par ts.

Archaeology in theOldWorldhas be e nun d e r s t o od. as an approachtohi s t o ry. inthe New wor l dasant hropo logy. When the studyof European ar ch a e o l ogic a l sites inthe Americas emerged as a discipl i ne the r e..as,not surprising ly, atug of .. arbetween those .. hosa.. historicalarchaeologyas a ki nd of history and those..ho sa.. it asanthropology.2 It is, inevitab l y , both; that is, histor ical ar ch a e o l ogy is a kind ofhistoric!!l anthropologyandmu s t come to grips..ith both his torica l explanationandanthropological hypo th eses . ]

1. J.F.Dee t z, "sc ie n ti f icHumanism and Huma ni sti c Scienc e :APle a for Para d i gmaticPlu ra li sminHi sto ric a l Archa e o l ogy" , Geoscienceane.Ma n2] (1983),27- 34.

2. For contr i bution s to th i s debate , presented so asto suppo r t thecl a i msof anth ropo logy , seeR.L . Schuyl e r (ee.}, Hi storicalArChaeology·i 'Guideto SubstantiveandTh e oret i- calContribu tions (Fa rm i ng d al2', ~.Y ., 197 8) .

3. K.A.Oeaqan, "Ne i the r HistorynorPr e h i st or y :the Questionsthat count inHi:>torical Ar c h a e o l og y",HA22(1) (198 8 ). 7-12.

vii Three aspects of the relationship between archaeology and history will be parti c ularlyimportantfromth i s perspec- tive. First, sinc e archaeological data are mostuseful in understanding longtermpatternsof behaviourrather than specific events,the res ultsof archaeological researchare more likel yto articulateconstructivelywiththesocio- economicst u dy of the~ ~rather than witll the pol it icalhistoryof elites. Second,historians must observe a "Rule of LeastandBest",gatheringthe least amountof best evidence neededto solve thequestions at hand - thus materialhistory in general andthe history of demand inpa r t i cu l a r are areas in which history may well turn to archaeology.4 Third,and this point follows from the others, histor ica l archaeology has the potential to il l u mi na t e the livesof theil l i te r a t e and th e ig n or e d, among whom we must count most of theinhabit a n t s of the early modern fish ingperiphery. 5

In the course ofth e present research severalscholars assisted me in the formulation ofint e rpr e t a 't i on s which in some mannercontradicttheir own published positions: Or. Tuck on the datingof Ferryland locusB; Or.Vickers on the

4. C. Carson, "DoingHistory with Material culture", in I .Quimby (ed. ),Material CUlture and the S'tudy of American Life (Ne w York, 1978), 41-64;£1.R.Hodges,~­

tive and Peasant Markets (Ox f or d , 1988 ).

5. H. Glassie,"Archaeology and Folklore:Common Anxities , Common Hopes", in L. Ferguson(ed.) , Histor ical Archaeology and the Importance of Material Things, SHA spe- cial publication no.2 (1977), 23-35; B.G.Trigger, Natives and Newcomers' Canada's"Heroic Age" Reconsidered (Montreal, 1985), 168.

viii que st i on of whe the r NewEng la nd or Newfound landfishet1llen werebe tterpaid ; Dr. Hand co c k onthe relat ive trans i e nc e of planter s . The l:Iainpointis notyetwhethe r any oneagr ees with me (on these issuesI think Ihav e one conve r t), the point is that they helpedmeno attempt to advancethe decate onsubstanti ve issues, despit ethe factthat myposi- tionwa s not thei r cen. Th i s is, as I und ersta nd it ,one of th e fu nctio ns of gr ad u ate studies. Not all reinte rp ret a- ti ons are correct(perhapsnot many) but inapoor l y docu - mentedperiodfe wnovelhypotheses ..,illbefully -enough docueenced tostand or fal:' immediately. Theymust be examine dte ntat ively,to see ifres e a rc h st r ate giescanbe dev i s e d to te s t the i r exp l a na t o rysense. Apolicyof nip- pingnew hypothesesinthe bud willre s u l t in a well-tr immed gardenof' knowledge butnot much grow th . Care mustbe ta k en, of course , to avoidletting a weakly-s u pport e d hypothesissomehowbecome, over ti =e, acce p ted fa ct . Hence another major fu nctionofgra d uate stUdies, as Iund e r sta nd the m, istoexa mi ne acceptedwi s d om andtodareto doubt some of the conc lusionsor even emphasesof wi d e l y-re s pe c t ed SCholars. I ha v e been encourag e dtoas s umeth i s iswha t such scholarswouldwish . To make anyotheras su mpt i on is to makethe id e a of the un ive r sit y a fra ud .

Plea s e not e the fo llowing ccnvena te ns , used in the te xt andre f eren ces. Citati o ns of docu ments fol l ow the require- me n ts of'the Na tionalLi b r a ryandgive autho r, title and dateWhen known, aswell as tnesource. The practice of

ix citingonly the~is a bit like citin g bi b lica l cha pter and verse:one is left without th e context ne c e s s aryto evaluatethe ev i d e nc e. EarlyPRO papers arenot con- sistently nu me rat ed. The editorsofthe Calendarof State

~assignednumbersto documents, indicatedinth e pre- sen t study by brackets, g.g. "CO 1/5 (27)". Folio nu mbers ar ealso supp l ie d, where possible,g.g . "CO 1{5 (27), 75."

The folionu mbe r "75v" mea ns th e re v e r s e or "verso" offol i o 75, facingfolio76. The folio number"7 S , v" means 75 and itsverso. In the references names of authors of doc uments ar espel l e dasinthedocument, he n c e the y wi l l sometimes be inco nsis te nt. Asingleversion of such personalnameshas been selectedfor use inthe text. Oatesar e cited inth e oldstyle Julian ca lendar , except that the year istak en to havebegunonJanuary 1, rather th a n March 25. Tran s c r i p- tion followstheprinciplesset out by Dawsonand Kennedy - Ski pton.6 Themost important of these arethat "y" used for thesound "th", initial "f f " usedas"F", inte r c ha ngeable

"un and "ve , and common contra c t i o n s are 'tran s c r ibed in

modernform. For exchangeratesthe studyre l i e sthr ou gh ou t on JohnMc CUs k e r and for measureson Lester Ross.7

6. G.E.Da ws on and L.Kennedy-Skipton,Elizabetha n Handwriting 1500-1650: cI.Guideto Readingof Documentsand Man u s c ri p t s (London, 19 81 ).

7. J.J. McCu s k er, Money aDdExchangein Europeand Ameri ga 16 00-177 5:A Hand book , In s t i t u t e of Early American Historyand CUl tu re(Ch ape l Hill, 197 8 ); L. A.Ross Archaeo logical Me tro l ogy: English Frengh Americ an and Canadi a n Syst ems ofwe ight s andMe a s ure s for Nort hAmerican Historical ArChaeo logy,Par k s CanadaHistory andArcha eol- ogy, no. 68 (Ottawa, 1983).

Ta ble of Contents

Abstract .. .• •.. • •••••• • • • ....• • • •• •• •..• • • • ..• • . • ....••.• i1

Ack n o. l e dge me nts •••••...••••• . .. . . ..•... . ... .... ..• ••••iv

Preface. . . .•••• •• • • • • •• •. •••••• • ••• •• ••••• • •. •... .. vi

Tableof Contents •••••.. •••• •••• •• • • • • ••• • • • • •••.. ... x

Li stofTable s •••••••••• •.•.•• ••• ••• • •.••. • ••••...•. xiv

Listof Figures •• •••••••....• ••.. • • • ••• •• • •••..• •• • ••• •xvi i

ListOf Appendice s ••...••• •••. .•.. .. .. .• • •••.••. ... .. xix

Abbre viations•. .••••••• •••. . .. • • •••••••••• ••••.• ••... • ••••xx

Chapter1. PlACEAND PERI OD..•..•••• • ••• • • • .. .••• •••••••1 1.Newfou ndla nd and thehistoryof No r th AlDeri ca .• •• ••• 1 2.The period 16 30to 17 0 0•• •••• ••••• • ••••••••••••• ••• 19

Chapt er2. THE FISHERY ASTHE MATRIXOFSETTLEMENT... 39 1. "The Man ner ofcat Ch i ng and Mak ing Fi sh" ••••••• • •• • 40 2.Varia t i o n s inscale and base.••. .••. .•••.•. . ...• ... 48 3.Theeconomicl09i c of Newfoundland se t tleme nt ••••• • ss .;. The plantereconomy••• • •• •• • .•.•••••• • ••••••• • •• •• • 67 S. Theca s e of the fur: iers' boats •. .•• •...•...•..••

6. The inter nalstructureof the sout hAvalon •••..••.• 90

xi

Chapter3. ADV ENT URES IN THESACK TRADE •••••• •••.• • •• • • 93 1. Fishint o wine:wine-merchants in t o fish-merchants 9"

2. Kirke, BarJceleyand Company ...•.•. ..• • •• •• • •••••••104 3.Voyag e of a sack ship: tne FAITH of London, 163 4 113 4.Th e seventeenth-centurysack ship.•...•.• •••••...•11 9 5. Dut c h competition.. ...•... ... . .•.• •... 129 6. The rationaleof inv e stment inN~wfoundland •••.... 13 6

Chapter4. COLONIALCONNECTI ONS •••••.•. •••••••••• ••••• 144 1.Me t ro p o l i t anin v e s t me n t at Ferryl and :the Calverts 147 2. Metropolitaninvestmentat Ferryland: the Kirkes 155 3. WestCountry connections •••• • . . . . ... . ..• ••• • • ••• •• 17 7

"Gr eat er New England" ..•••. •• •••. .. .. ....••••••••• 186

Chapter 5. POPULATIONS: RESIDENT AND TRANSIENT •• ••.• •• 19 8 1. "Planter"and"P l a n t a t i o n" ..•.. ...• • •••••• • ••••••• 198 2. Sources for thepopulat ionhistory of Newfoundland 203 3. Popul ationlevels:fluctuationand grorth ••• ••.••• 206 .;.comparisonswithothercolonies••••••••• •• •.••.•• •213 5. First-generation plantersin the south Avalon••••• 217 6. Proportions of plantersand servants•... .••• .•••.. 225 7. Permanenceof residence in a contextof mobility••235

Kii

Chapte r 6 MASTERS: PLANTERS AND THE PLANTER"GENTRY".• 257 1.Socialclasses?• •••.... • ••....•.•...• ....•.•...•. 262 2.Planters •••••.• .••••.••...• •.•.... •. . ...•.••...• 267 3.Planter aexcnent.sas provincial gentry•. ••••••• ••• 276 Socialand political relati onsamong the planters 284 5. P"".t:::-',.lO-c!ier,trelations.•••••.•••.... ...••••...289 6. Comme r cia l cooperation and contract ..••... . . .• ...• 294 7.The complications of religion.••••. .•.. ....•.. . .. . 298 8. "Womenwouldbenecessaryheere" .... .•••.••• •. • • •. 306 9. Discussi on .•.•....•••• ••..••.•.. ...•••••• •••• • •••.31 4

Chap te r 7. SERVICEINTHE FISHERY: WAGES AND SHARES••.•.318 1."Service in fishery"••.•• •.• • •.•. ..•.. . .•.•• ...•. . 318 2. "Wa ges" and"Sh a r e s"••••••• •••. .•. ..•. . • • • .• . • . • . . 328 3.Wa g e s an dshares as component!;of totalincome ... . 334 4. Boat-keepers 'wage levels •... . ... .•• • ... ....• 339 5. Income levelsinth e Newfoundla nd fi s h ery ••••••• •• 343 6.Sharesas a proportion of tot·.ll remuneration .•..•. 349 7. David Kirkeand theintroduct i o n of wages •••. •• ••. 356 8.Por tage forfr e ebornEng li s h me n .• •• ••• • • ••.•. . ..•. 360 9. Conclusic.n.••••. .•. •••.•••• • • ••.•. ..•. .•.•. . .•. . .. 363

xiii

Chapter8. DEMAND: TOBACCOAND ALCOHOL.. .••••••• ••••• . 365 1. The historiography of demand .• •...•. • •.••••••••••. 366 The"co n s ume r society"of the seventeenth century 369 3. Terms of exchange• ••• •.•• ••••••..• ••. .•...•. .•.•.• 380 4.The materialcultureof earlymodern Newfoun dl and 388 5. Int e r p r e t a t i v e problems••••.••• . .•..•..•...••• ••••408 6.Ar c h a e olog ica l analys isof demand •• •.• •.•...•••• •• 41 4 7.The signif icanceof alcoholand tobacco.•.•• ••••• •435 8. Consumptionandso cial control .. . •....•.•.••. •••• •44 6

Chapter 9. CONCLUSION:THETURNOF THE CENTURy •••.. •.• 44 9 1.Review of theperiod 163 0-17 00.••••• • ••••••• •.• ... 45 1 2.Socialcon t r ol : supply and credit •••...•.•.• 462 3.Vernacular industry ••••••••• • ••• • •••••• ••••• ••••••47 3 4. Questionsfor further research••• ••• ••••••••• • •••• 478 5.Conclusion •• •..•• • ••• •••• •• •• • •••• ••• •••••••••••• •481

Bibliography •.... . ••....••.•••• •••.•• • •••• • •••••• •.•••. .48 3 1.Manuscript so urc e s •• ••••...•• •..••.• . .•••..• .••.•••48 3 2. Published documents and calendarsofdocu me n t s •• •••485 3.Printedsources originallypUblishedbef ore170 0 .•• 489 4. Secondarysources .•.••. .•••••••••••• .••.•••• ••••••.491

Appendices•••••• •• ••••••.•••.•.• •.•. •...•.. •.•.• •.•....•520

xIv

List of Tables

1.1 Pr i c e s ofNew fo u ndland merchantablecod, New Englandspringmerchantablecod and merchantablecodinSpanishmarkets, 1602-1702 2.1 Meannumber ofbo ats and mal e servants withnu mber

of pla nt ers, by harb ou r , southAv al o n and

St.Jo h n ' s regions, Ne wf o u ndl an d, 1677 •.. .•••.• ••.•51 2.2 Planterswi t h th r e e or moreboats, southAv a l on and

St.John'sre g i o ns , Newfoundland, 1677 ••••• •• ••• •• •52 3.1 Mean tonnage, mean number of boats,mean number of

boatsper10 0 tons, for"f i s h i ng" and sack ships.

south Avalon and St. John'sareas Newfoundland, 1675, (n=12 0) .•••••....•..•... . . . .. .. .... •.. •• •.. . 121 3.2 Number of Ships by actiVityand tonnageclass,

south Avalon and St.John's areas,

NeWfoundland, 1675 ••••.•. .... ...•.•...••. ..•12 3 3.3 Number of ships by activi tyandhome port,

southAvalo nand St.John's areas,

Newfoundland, 1675 .. •• ••••.• •.•••..••. • •.•••. ....•127 3.4 Estimated annual earningsfor the freighter

andownerof a Newfoundlandsackship

of abou t 250 tons, in the 16305 .. ••... . . ... . . ...138 4.1 structuresreported at Ferryland,1677 ••• •.••.• .. .171 4.2 proportionofcl a y pipebo wl s with "southern" and

"n orth e r n" provenances, in selected seventeenth - century contexts from Ferryland (CgAf-2) 183 5.1 South Avalon plantersurnames,

by periodof establishment and type of presence, 1621-1670 .•• ..• •• •• •••• •• •• • •• •••••.• • ••.••••••• ••224 5.2 Planters' servantsas a percentage of persons in

plante r householdsand all servants as ape r c e nt a g e oftota l popula tion, south Aval o n and St. John's regions, Newfoundland , 1677 .... .•.. •• ..•• •• ••••.. • 227 5.3 Household st ructur e, Newfo und l a n d (winter 1677)

withBridgetown, Barbados (1680)

and Bristol,RhoC'~Island (1689) ...••• ••.•• •• ...• . 229

5.4 Number of families,by size, as a percentage of famileswithchildren, Newfoundland (16 77 ), Bridgetown, Barbados (1 6 80), Bristol, Rhode Island (1689 ) and Chesapeake families

of fathers born before 1689 .... ... ....•.•... •.231 5.5 Annua l turnover rates for householders,

selected regions in England, NewEngland,

the Chesapeakeand Newfoundland, 16 18- 1 69 8 246 5.6 Number of individualsinCo rw i n acco unts

(Salem, Massachusetts, c. 1660) by period

of persistencein NewEngland..•.• ...•..• .• ....• .•253 6.1 Distributionof plantersbynu mbe r of boats

Newfoundlan d1675, 1677, 1681•.•.•. •. .•. •.. ...270 6.2 Mean nu mbe r ofser v a n t s and mean ratioof

servantsperboat, by number of boats per planter, Newfoundland, 1675... .•.•... ... ... •.. . . ..•. ... 272 6.3 Comparative ma l e lit e r a cy rates, early modern

Newfoundlandand other selectedpopulations 274 6.4 Thematic analysisof ships ' names,Plymouth

andDa r t mou t h , 16 1 9,Newfoundla nd,167 5.•...•296 6.5 Agricultural activities of all-male householdsand

households with female, Newfoundland, 1677 ... •. . •.309 7.1 Ad j u s t e dremu n e r a tion , with weighted averages,

Newfoundland migratoryship-basedfishery

1663, 1677,1684, 1708 .•.•.••.•.•. •.•..• . . ....•...336 7. 2 Adjustedremuneration, with weightedav e r a g e s,

ship-basedand planter boat-keeperfishery,168 4 340 7.3 Adjustedtotal incomefor skilled fishermen

inNe w Englandand Newfoundlandcomparedwith averageable seamen 'swages 1640-1684 ....•...348 7.4 Share proportionof total recorded remuneration,

ship-based fishery, 1663 and 1684 ... .•..••..•. .•..350 8.1 Accounts of William Lucas, a Richmond Island, Maine,

fishing servant, with John Winter,

for Robert Trelavney, 1638 /16 39 ..•. •.. .••. •..•..•.382 8.2 Account of clothes and other "n e c e s s a r i e s " for a

Richmond Island, Maine, fishing servant,1639/1640 38 3 8.3 Imports to Newfoundland , 1639, by the Adventurers

for the Plantation of Newfoundland... . ...•. •390

xvi

8.4 Importsto New England and. Newfoundland, 1640, on the CHARLES of Bristol ••• •••.•.•.•.•••••••••• •.391 a.5 Dutiable goods exported to Newfound land

in the REO LYONof Oartl:louth, Andre wNeale master , for RichardNe W1lla n , from Dartmouth , 22 June 1679 39 2 8.6 Householdinv e n t o ry of Charles Atty e, a London

merchant andsome t ime s par tnerofKir k e, Berkeley an dCompany, 1637.•.•• • ••...•••• ••• • ••.• ••••.••• • •39 4 8 •7 Probate inventory of AmbroseBerry.

a Maineplanter, mortuit1661... . .•.•.. • •.••.•.•397 8.8 Proba te inve n toryof JohnTuc k e r,

aMaine fisherman, mo rtu i t1671 ••.•••••••• .. ...••.399 8.9 Goo dsshipped to NewEn g l a n d

on th e DAVIDof Ferryland ,September16 48 •.••.••..402 8.10 Dutiableexports to Ne wfound la nd

from Barnstaple, 1664., by vessel.•....•.. . ... ... ..404 8.11 Impor tsof provisions , byorigin,

in t o St.Joh n ' s, Newfoundland ,1677 •.•... .. ...• .407 8.12 Ceramicbeveragevesselsas a percentag eof all

ce r a mi cvesse l s at seventeenth-century Ferryland (Lo cus B) andselect e dcompa r a t ive contexts •.•.•.•4.2 3 8.13 MinimWllnuml:lerot ceramic ve s s e l s,beverageve s s els,

claytobacco pipe bowls and glassbottles,with se l e cte dra t i o s, se v e nt eenth-c e ntu ry Ferrylandand se l e c t e dcomp a r a ti ve contexts•. •.. ...• .•.••. . • •429

xvii List of Figures

1.1 Locationof Newfound land... .•.•. .. . ... . • ..•.•.• . .10 1.2 The AvalonPenins ula,withharboursand

settlementsof the southAv alo n •...••. •.. •...•...14 1.3 Jamesvcnqe, nFery l an dn, c.1663 •••. .•••••••••••• ••16 1.4 John Thornto n "A NewChartoftheTrading Part

of New FoundLand", 1675••.••.•... . ... .••••••••.•• 38 2.1 Augustine Fitzhug h, "Ne w- FoundLand", 1693 •• • • •.• • •42 2.2 Jamesyonqe,sketch of a stage, c. 1663•••.•.•.•• • •46 2.3 Stone biface.•.• . . . . .. ...• .• .•... .. .. .. ... .. ....64 2.4 Boats, from De Veer, waeractighe (1605) 73 2. 5 NorthDevon coa r s e earthenware tal l pot... ... . . . .•.79 3. 1 Avis i onof th e late six teent h - centurybalance of

payments problem, fromRobertHitchcock, ~ Platt for th e HonourofthePrince (1580) ••.•••.•.•97 3.2 We stCou nt r y po r ts inthe Newfound l andfishery,

1675to16 8 4 .•••••••• ••••••••. •.• • •• •••••• •.•••..••98 3.3 Eu r o p e a n markets for driedcod , exp ort ed from the

Eng li sh Shore, 16 7 5to16 8 4 •••••••. .• • • ••• •.••••••101 4.1 Locationof Ferryland,ccxe-a. locuses Band C....16 6 4.2 Excavationplanof Fe r r yla nd locus C.••.•.. ..••.. .167 4.3 Rober t Sherwood, Exeter Quay, c.1620 ••• ••••••• •.•16 9 4.4 Totnestypecoarse earthenwa repots ... . ..• . •... . •.18 1 5.1 Non-n a t i v e (Europe an andAfrican) ~opuldti on

Nort h American col on i es,1600-1720•••..•• .•••• • ••• 215 5.2 Descendants of Gervaise Kirkeand El izabe t h Gou d e n

with th e Hopkins alliance .... .. .. ...•.•..•.•.•.• •.219

xviH

6.1 Inscribedobjects fromthe southAvalon..•...283 6.2 Baroque cross, Fer-ryland ForgeRoom••••••• ••• • •...304 7.1 Totalmonthlyearnings for skilled fi she rmen

in Ne....fo un d l a n d an dNe.... Eng l and, Britishable seamen, journeymenbu i lde r s and builders'

la b our e rs, 1620to 1720..•... ... .. . • • . 347 8.1 No rth Devoncoars e earth e n....are sgrafitto dish..• . • 374 8.2 "Ma r c h ants wife ofLo nd on" , 16 43••. ... .... .396 d.3 Ex c ava tio nplanof Ferryland, CgAf -2,Locus B

Forge Room.•...••••• ... . .. ... 416 8.4. Excavationpr o file of Ferryland, CgAf-2, Locus B

Forge Room••••• •...•.••••••• ••• • ••..••. . . .... ...417 8.5 Vessel forms (schematic), Fo rg e Room, 1640-1660 .. . 419 8.6 Vessel forms (s c h e mati c) , For g eRoom, 1660-1700 ••. 420

xdx List ofAppe~dices

A.1 Seventeenth-centuryclay tobaccopipebo~,;ls from theFo r g e Roomwork i ng floor at Ferryland (CgAf -2,locus B, stratum3b) ...•... ... ... ...520 A.2 Seven tee nth-centuryclaytob a c c o pipe bowls

from the fill ove r the Forge Room at Ferryland (CgAf- 2, locusB, stratum 2b) .... . ... ...•...521 A.3 Seven teen t h -centuryclay to ba c c o pipe bowls

from the stratumimmediatelyunder theWate r f r o nt Structures at Ferryland

(CgAf-2, locus C, stratum 4) ... ...•... ...•.• . •• .•.522 A.4 Seventeenth-centuryclay tobacco pipe ccvr.s

fromtheFe r r y l a ndWa t e r f r on t structures

occupationfloor (CgAf-2, locusC, stratum3) ....•523 A.5 Seventeenth-centuryclaytobaccopipe bowls

from the Ferryla ndWaterfront ,cistern-like stone-linedpit (cgAf-2, locus C,feature 1a ) 524 A.6 Clay to b a c c o pipe bowl types from fe rry l a n d 525 B.1 Ceramic vesselsbyware and form

fromFerry landWaterfrontStructures

(CgAf -2, locus C, stratum3) .•.... .••.•.• . •..•.•..530 B.2 Ceramicvesselsbyware andform

fromtheFerrylandWaterfront cistern-like stone-lin edpit (CgAf - 2, locus C, feature1a) .. ... 531 South Avalonplanternames162 1 to16B1

establishedbefor e1670 ...• .•..•.. . .•.... ... . •....532

Add ms ADM

BAR

BL BristolRS cell,

Newfoundland Discovered

l:IiB CO eNS

Abbreviat i on s

Addi t io nal manu s c ri p t Great Britain, PRO, AdJlli ralty Arcb u ojogy in Newf ound land and Lab r a d or, Ne wf o und.ia nd MuseuJII,HistoricResources Di v i sion.Annual Reports . St.Jo h n ' s , Nfld . W.L. Gran t , J.Munro, and A.W. Fitz roy (eds),Acts of the privyCounc ilofEng l an d Colonial series, vol. I, A.D. 16 )]-168 0 (London, 19 08 ) .

Briti ShArcha eologicalReports J.P. Ba x t e r (ed.), Doc ume nta r yHis t o r yof theStateof Maine, vote4 and 6,~

~ (Po rt l and , Ma ine , 1889 and 1900 )•

Bri tishLibrary BristolRecord society

G.T. Cd l (e d.), Newf ound landpissovered EnglishAttemptsat:.Col o n i sation 1610-1630 , HakluytSociety (2 ndser i e s) vol. 160, (Londo n , 1982).

Canad ianHistoricalRev i ew Great Britain , PRO,ColonialOffice.

Cent reforNew f ou ndl an d Studies, MUN W.N. Sai nsburyand J.W.Fortes c ':!e

xxi

CS P Dam J.Bru c eand M.A .E.Green (e d s ) , ~ state Papers Domesticseries, ~

~ , ~ ,Reign of Charlesli, (London,1858-1.909).

CTP Council of/for (Fo r e i g n ) Trade and Plantations

DCB, vol. 1 G.W. Brovn and M.Trudel (e d s ) , ~ of Canadian Biography, vol.1, 1000 to 1700 (Toronto, 1979) .

vo l. 2 D.M. Hayne andA.Va c h o n (e d s) , ~ of CanadianBiography, vol.2, 170 1to 1740 (Toronto,1982) .

Devon&Corn- Devon and Corn....al l Record society wall RS

de vries,

~

Docu me nt a r y Historyof the State of Ma ine L.stephen and s. Lee (e d s ) , Dict ionaryof NationalBiography, 22 vols (Oxford,1917-). G.M. story,W.J.Kirwin and J.D.A. widdowson (eds), Dictionaryof NewfoundlandEnglish (Toronto, 1982).

diss.

ORO

dissertation

Devon Record Office(Ex e t e r) Great Britain, PRO,Exchequer

~ EconomicHistoryReview

Essex IHC Essex In s t i t u t e Histor icalCollections Firth and Rait C.H . Firth and R.S .Rait (eds), Acts and

Or d i n a n c e s of the Interregnum 1642-1660,3 vols(Lo n d o n, 1911).

GA Amsterdam NA GemeenteArchie! Amsterdam, Notarial Archi ves

RCA

Kupp, NAC, HG 18 012

Maryland HS

~ Matthews, constitutional 1"-".!!

HUN NAC NORO

f:2, PRO PROB

rev. ed. EEOCEssex Co

xx ii Great Brita in, PRO,Hi g h cou rtof Ad p iralt y

"ist-ai nsodal e/socialHi s t ory Int;una tjgo alJourn a l ofMa r i t i llle His tcn:

.Jo urn al of ECODOp icHisto ry

.ran Kup p, "DutchDocume nt s tak en fr o m th e Nota r i al Archi vesof Ho l land Rela t i ng tot.h e FurTrade and Cod Fisher ies ofNorth Ameri ca " ,NAC MG 18 012 , 12vols.

Maryland Historicalsoc i e t y

Ma s s achu s ettsHi storica1 so cietyCol l e c tio ns KeithMatthews, collecti on and Commentary on the Constitutional La ws of seve nt e e n na

Cen tu ry Newfoundland(St . John'S, 1975 ).

Mariti me His t ory Archi v e , MllN Memo r ial unive r sityof New f o u nd land Nation al Archives of Cana da NorthDevon Re cor dOffice (Barns t a ple) Simpson, J. A.,and E. S. C. We iner, eds.

OxfordtngliS h Dic tiona ry. 20 vols. (2n d edi tion, Oxfo rd., 1989 ).

Pastand Prese n t Po st-Med ie val Archa e o l ogy Gr e a t Br i t ai n, PublicRecordOff ice Gr e at Britain, PRO, pr e r ogati v ecourt of Canterbury

revised edition

G.F.Dow and M.G.Thresher (eds) ~ File softh e Quarterlycourt of Essex Cou nty Haasacbusetit;s, 9vo l s. Essex Institute. (Salem,Mass, 1911-1975 ). Revue d'His t o i re de l' Am~ rigueFrancai se Repon sandTrans ,'j~tion softh e Devo n s hi re

~

xxiii

~ Socia l History

SHA Society for HistoricalArchaeology Southampton R.C.Anderson (ed.) Book of Examinationsand

~ Oepoiitions ]601-1602,Southampton Record Society, vol. 26 (Southampton, 1926);.§Qgk of Examinations and Depositions16 2 2-1 644,

vol. 1~, vol. 2~, vcj, 3

~, vcj,, 4~, Southampton

Recordsociety, vols 29 , 31, 34, 36 (Southampton, 19 2 9-1 9 3 6 ). SP Great Britain, PRO, State Papers SPMA Societyfor Post-MedievalArchaeology Stock L.F. Stock (ed.), Proceedin g s and pebates of

the British Parliament~Respecting North

~,vol . 1 , ~.

~ J.P. Baxter (e<:!.. ) ,Documentary Hi story of

~ the State of Maine, vet . 3.,The Trelawny

~ , (portland, Maine,18S4).

l:BJ::!..§. Transactionsof the Royal Historical Society

unpub. unpublished

WDRO We s t nevcn Record Office (Plymouth) Whitbourne, Whitbourne,A Discourseand piscov<!!'v

piscourse d [1622J, in G.Cell (ed.),

iscove e . s A em ts at 6 - 6 , Hak.luyt Society 2nd no.160 (London,1982), 10 1-2 0 6.

~ William and Mary Quarterly

'tonge, James 'tonge. "Journall", Plymouth Athenaeum,

"J o u r n a l" in r.N.L.Poynter (ed.),The Journal of James Xonge (1647-17211' Plymouth Surgeon

(London, 1963).

CHAPTER1 PLACE AND PERI OD

There is besidesa Colon y of Eng li sh se t tledupon the Easte rn Co a s t ofNewfoundl<!.ndwithou tGovernment Ec c l e s i a st i c al or Civilwholive by cat c hi ngFish .

-- "AnAccount of hisMa j e s t ies Plantations in America" [c. 1680J1

1. NewfoundlandandNorthAmerica

TheEuropea ninha bitantsof seventee nth-centuryNew- foun d land were few innumbe r. The over-winte ringpopulation alon g the Eng l i s hShore wa sneve r much more tha n2000, While th e French ar ou nd Place nt i a numbered lessth a n one third tha t.2 These earlyinhabita nts of Newfoundlandare so me - ti me s overlooked, in the intt! restof empha siz inga pe rfectly valid gen e ra l ization:the earlymodern Newfoundlandcod.

fishe ry was predominant l y a seas onal,migratoryadve ntu re.

Therewere , neverth ele s s,people who consid ered th ems e l v e s andwere considered inh a b i ta nts of Newf oundlandlong be fo r e the island unde rwentitsma jor wave of set tlement c. 1800.

1. BL,Add ms158 9 8, 129-1 31 v.

2. on the Eng lishsee Chap ter 5, below; on the French, A.F . Williams , Fath e r Baudo jn'sWar· p'Xberville'scanpajgns inAc a d i a end Newfoundland 169 6 1697 (St.';o h n' s, 198 7), 7.

These people are, surely, no more to be forgottenthan the Beothuknativepopulation,who probablynumbered about 100 0 at Europeancontact c. 1500, orth e Norse, severaldozen of who m resided briefly, at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, five centuriesearlier. 3 The early res i d e nts of the EnglishShore areof interest becauseth e y lived by catching fish, because they often lived withoutformal gov e r nme n t and because they ver-e one of the first ripplesin th e tidal wave of European migration to Northxner Lca.

Thanks to several fine studies, early settlement is knownto specia lists. Newfoundlandvas the SUbject of a lively Victorian nationalhistoryby Judge Prowse. Despite an unexamined premise th a t settlement was inevitably opposed by migratory fishermenandth eir merchant backers, this remains useful as a politicalhistoryand as an introduction to ColonialOffice sources. 4 Unt i l re cent decades much scholarly workon Newf ound landcent redon administra tive history, returningfrequentlyto the effectsof mer- chantilismon settlement policy.5 A broader approach to the Island's history is evident in GillianCell's work on early

3. Estimatesof pre-contac t Beoth~popu lationrange betwee n500 and 11 00;see R. T. Pastore, Th eNewf o un dl a n d

~ (St. Joh n's, 1978), 9n; I. Ma r s h all , "Di s e a s e as a Fact orin theDemi s e of the Beothuck In d i a n s " , ~1(1) (1981) , 71-77 . On the Norsesee B.L.Wa llace, "TheL' Ans e auxMe ad ows Site", in G. Jo n e s , The Norse Atlan ticSaga (2nd edition, Oxford, 1986), 28 5- 3 04.

4. D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundlandfrom the English Colonia l and Foreign Reco rds (1895, rep. Bel- leville,Ontar io, 19 72 ). Prowse's abstracts of documents are not,unfortunately, completelytrust worthy.

5. For are v i ew of this l iteraturesee K.Mat thews,

"Hi s t or i c a l Fence Building :A Critique of the Historiography of Newfoundland",NewfoundlandOu a r t e r l y 74 (1978), 21-30 .

English ente r p r i s e in Newfoundland.6 She examinesth e pro - prietary exp e rime nt s of John Guy, sir George Calvert and others, and offersa brief acc ou n t of settlement aft e r 1630, on~_1.etra d i ti ona l preJDiseof invariable mig r a t o ry/ s ett ler conf lict. In his important dissertation on theWe s t Country fishery atNewfoundland, th e la t e Keith Matthews challenges th i s.i.Q.tl~and interprets the various sectorsof the fishery , planters incl uded,as compon ents ofan int e r- de pe nde nt system.7 Th i s re v i s ioni st in t erpre t a t i onof the re lationshipbetween the fisheryandset t lement isa corner- sto ne of thepre s e nt study. Ma t t hews re cogn i z e s set t l emen t, butthe sub jects of his studyarenotplanters but the mi g rat ory fishe rm e n whowent annually to Newfou ndland lito win a livingwh ichwou l d enable them to remainstill in England",as he pu ts it.8 LikeJames Davies' later dis- serta tion, hisis primarilyanexa mi natio n of policy and trade.9 Matthews discussesse t t lementas ase c o nd a ry topic, of inter estasan aspect of thetra d e . l O

C.Gra n t Head'sdetailed historicalgeographyof eigh t e e nth-ce ntu r y Newf oundland rev i ewsth e beginn ingsof

6. G.T. Cell , EnglishEnt e r p risein Newf ou n d l and 1577- .l.§.§.Q(Tor on to, 1969 )i "Introduc t i o n", Newfoun dl andDi scov-

~and her manybiographical notices in~.a, vo l. 1- 7. K.M. Matthews, "AHistoryof the We st of England- NewfoundlandFisher ies", unpub.O.Phil.di s s ., universityof Ox f o r d (1968) , 4 (abs t r ac t), l64f f.

8. Matthews, "Newf oundlandFi s h eri es", 3. For brief comme nts onsettle ment, see.i..Q.ig. 20,3 i,12 0 f f.

9. J.G. Davies , "Englandand Newf ou ndla nd: Po l i c y and Tra de, 1660-17 83 ",unp ub.Ph.D.diss.,unive rsi tyof Southaltpton, 1980.

10 . Matthe ws, "NeWf ou nd la nd Fisheries", 20, 24, 31, 53, 99-122 , 134-144 , 150-155 , 172-181,197-239.

year-aroundhabitation in the previouscentury but, like Cell,he finds the mid-seventeenthcentury "obscure"and he moves from the decline of calvert's Colony of Avalon c. 1630 to a brief review of the situation reflected in census records of c. 1680. 1 1 Gordon Handcock's research on the lon g- t e rm process of settlement shows how the migration of permanentresidents flowedin channelsestablished by sea- sonal migration.12 Hisintroductory reviewof seventeenth- centurysettlement is important to the present studybecause it recognizes the establishment of planter li n e a g e s in this period, although in the last analysis Handcock does not see earlysettlement as successful: "e f f e c t i v e permanent settle- ment was not achieved forne a r l y two centuries... 13 Work by these and other historical geographers on the early exploitationof the Atlanticlittoral is concisely presented in volume1.of the HistoricalAtlas of Canada.H

Despite such scholarship, inthe contextof the early British North American colonies (among which i t surely con- stitutesa distinctive area) Newfoundland is one of the least intensively studied and most often over-lookedby North AlIlerican scholars.IS One currentre g i on a l classifica-

11. C.G . Head, Eighteenth Century Newfoundland: a Geog-

tion ofcol o n i esomitsit.1 6 xaer rcansu rvey s typically treat AtlanticCanada as ·offshoot colonies" of New England, a generalisa tion whichdc.es notfi t Newfoundlandwell until the lateseventeenthcentury.17 The earlyse t t l e me n t of Newfoundland isso completelyoverlooked byCa n a d i anhis- tor i a n s that a re s e a r c h survey can equatestud i e s of Cana da befor e1763 wi thstudiesof NewFrance.IS An int roduc tory textdevote s severalchapters to the seventeenth - cent u ry devel opment ofthe latte r , mak ingbutpa s s ingref erence to the former.19 In popu la r works , insome older spec i alist litera ture, andevenin some recent scholar ly tre atments the ear ly Engl i s h occupatio:;of Ne wf oundla nd isremembered only vague ly. Condit i o ns in differ e nt periodsare confusedand th e failureof 'the proprie tarycoloniesand inst i tutional opposition'cosettlementc. 1675andc. 177 5 ar e stressed.20 Such discussions stra i n 'the evidenceand. as sueean effec - tivenessfo r colonial legislation'that wasno rma l l y ig n ore d . As Matth ews pointedoutin an icportant historiog:-aphic essay, 'theysupposebydefaultan ahistor icalNewfoundland whosesocia-economiclife was static for hundreds of years

16. J.P. GreeneandJ.R. Pol e, "Reconstructing Bri t i s h- Ameri c a nColonialHistory: an Intr oduction ", in~ British America : Essaysinth e New Historyof theEarly

~ (Ba l timo re, 19 84), 1-17.

17. Se e Cha p ter 4, below .

18. Canadian Histor icalAs sociation, "Reg i s te rof Po st- GraduateDis sertat i on s inProgress inHi story andRelate d SUb j e c t s ", surve y fo rm, (Ottawa ,c. 1986 ).

19. R. D. Francis ,R. Jon es andD. B. Smith, ~ Canadia n Hi story to Confederatio n (Toronto , 1988).

20 . ~.g . P. Neary and P. O'Flahe rty , part ofthe Main : An Illust ratedHistory of Newfound landandLabra d or(St.

andthen erect , acros s this featurele s s background, a series of political-fe nceposts...21

Thepresent stud y isa consciousat te mpt totake up Matthews' challengetooperate between thefen c e po s ts and to expand Newfoundland ' s early hi s torybeyo ndthe political, thatis tosa y , beyondtheconceptions of a small literate tHite. Thesepagesareno t int end e d asa political or administrativehistoryof the period nor do the ydiscuss in detail settlement policy, for this has been done anddone 'IoIel1. 2 2 This studyexa mi ne s social andeconomiclife.

Although i tis not the first to do so,significantissues in the early history of Newfoundlandsettl'! mi::nt ar e, surely, st i l l open.23 Someareeconomic, liketheexte nt of diver- si f i c a t io nand lo ca l sp ecia li z a t i o n , the ori gi ns ofinte r - co l o n i a l tradeand shif tsinregiona lti e swiththeOl d World . Othersrelatetose t.tneaenc, Wa s i t, in somesense , necessaryfor thefishery? If so, how? What was the extent ofse t t le me nt ? Was settlementper=anent or wereplanters typically transient? Did these settlementshave their own classstructure? What were the social orig i nsof planters?

Of servants? Werethe latter well or poorly paid? And how wer-e they paid? What was the roleof women? How sig- ni f i c a nt was indebtedness? Howwa s debt relatedto patterns of consumer demand? How did consumption patterns affect

21. Hatthews, "HistoricalFence Building".

22 . Foran introd uctionto these mattersconsult Prowse,!!ill2rr;Ce l l, "English Enterprise" ; Matthews, "New- fou nd l a n d Fisheri e s"and "HistoricalFence Building".

23. £f.Head, Eigh teenth Century Nqwf oundl a nd , xiii.

eccnoafcdevelopment? This isan issuewh i ch is given spe- ci a l attent i o n inthepresent stud y.

The probl e m of "d e l a y e d developlllent" is ath e J:le which perva d e s much work. onear l y mod ernNewfoundland . Thenorm of deve lopm entis usual lynotdi s c u s s e d but ofte nseems to be, imp l icit ly, Ne wEng l a nd- a "norm"whichhistor i an s are comi ng tosee asa special case.24 Fro lllthepo int of view of dependencytheoryone pa r t icul a r expla na tion for underdevelopme ntwil l sug gest itself:j..§..the normal eco- nomicdomin ati onof sate l l i teby metrop ole.25 Whether or not we acceptthisas a given , wecansurelyagreetha t th e history of a pe r iph e r y of the world-ec o no my is fullycom- prehensibleonly in contextof the historyofth ecore.26 The signifi ca ntpost-medievaldevelopmentfor trans-Atlantic re g i on s li k e Newfoundlandwaste Ch no l og ica l as Illuch as eco - nomic: there f i n eme nt of weatherlyshipsth a t couldnot onl y cr oss theoceanbutre l i ab l yreturn.27 Thistechnologyhad profound economiceffect, permi t tingEuropeto"d i g e s t "th e re stof the "'orld, asBr a ude l puts it. The proble m of identif yi n g what forces tr i ggered this episodeof dige st i o n,

24. j;.g. Inni s,Cod Fisheries, ssr e, ^OnNe w Englandas a poorhi s tori cal mode l for other colonies se eJ.P.Greene,

"Re centDe v el ts in the Histori ographyofColonial New Engla n d" , 2) (1988), 143 -17 6 .

25 . Worl dAcc umulat i on 14n-1789 {New

Yor k, 19 umu ·0 d de dve met

(NewYo r •

26. I.wallerste in,

Ls .

-zc cn m t ee h

27. J.A. Williamso n (ed.).

Bristo l DiscoveryunderHe n ryVII, Ha ser i e s),vo l. 12 0 (Camb ridg e, 196 2 ).4.

.r.s, the emergen ceof the modern, capitalist, world-system, is sure lythece n tra l question inth e historyof theearly modern peri od .2 8 Whet he r or not the peripherywas pro f- ita b l eenoughtohave beenth e main sourceof thepr i ma r y accumu l ationth a t madeth e eighteenth-centuryindustrial re vo l ut ion possibleis sti l lopento debate.2 9 The impor- tant point here is that Ne wfoundland wa s discovered and devel op e d (or"under-d evelo ped" ) withinthecon tex t of an eme rg i ng, extractiv e tu r o-c entr e d worldsystem.

Inthe end, dominationis of people rather than of regions. Mec h a n i s ms of domination arenot alwaysself- evident . Consider th e organizationofla bou r. Ma ny modes ofcont rolexist :slavery ,peonage , servitude, wage labour andso on, pe r h ap sexp l i c abl e inte rms ofre g i onal resour ce base,perhapsnot .³⁰ Par t of what is distinct iveof modern cap i ta lis m isth e way inWh i c hwor kers participate in social cont r o l by acceptingcerta in con s umpt i on priorities. Con- sump tionpatter nsare th us of interesttothe histo ri anor anthropologist no t simplyas imagesofclassstructurebut

28. Wallerste i n, to!

Braudel,ctv .zation 3, TePe e 'v

29. P.O'Brien ,

contribution of th e periphery" , tc HR (2nd seri es) 35 (1982), 1-18; I.Wallerste i n, "Euro pe a n Economic De v e l opme n t :ACom- menton O'Brien " andP.O'B r ien , "Europe an Econ omi c Devlop- ment: ARe ply" ,~(2ndse ries) 36 (1983 ), 58 0 -585 .

30. R.E. Baldwi n, "Pa tternsof Development in Newly Set tledRegions",Ma nc he sterSch oo l of Economicsand Social

~29 (1 95 6 ) , 16 1 -17 9;E.E.Rich, "Co l o nial Settl emen t an dits Labou r Pr ob l ems ", inE.E.RichandC.H. Wil so n(eds ) ,

Em~Mig; :~~~:iinHt~;Qrrrt;e~hoa~d S~;~n~~e~g6 8;nt~~re~f

(Ca mbridge, 1967),302-373; E. Domar,"Th e Ca u s e s of Slavery orSerfdom: aHypothe s i s"!IIDi30 (1970), 18-3 2 .

as indications of economi cmodernization. IlIIportsto the periphery may tell us something about how the core managed the extr a cti on of staples from the restof the worldeco- nomy . 3 1 This is another respect in whichthe earlyEngl i sh inhabitants of Newfound land may beofwi d e r inte r est.

We have , fortunately,a solidbody of evidenceabout pl a nte r s andth e i r se rva nts , c. 1675 to168 4, in the form of censuses, na v a l cceaeaeree- rep ort s and afe w court ca s e s. Like ncs.t;Coloni a l Officepape rs , many of these sou r ces have beenusedbefore .32 Socio -econo micdatafor earlier decades, on the otherhand, mu s t be re consu r u ct.ed froma patchwork of referencesincou nt y records , court documents andportbooks.JJ The epic legalstruggle which fo llowe d the expropriationof SirGeorge Calvert' s Ava lonColonyby Sir David Kirke generateda level of doc umentationrelating to the Ferrylandregionunma t c he d elsewhereinNe wf ou nd l a nd in thisperiod. Furthet"1llOre,the area'scloserelations with New England are reflected in AI:lericancolonialre c o r d s. Thismakes the region a usefulplace to start, if we wish to worktowa r d s an understand ingof the early so cia l life of English Newfoundland .

31. See Chapte r8, below.

32. Prowse, ~, 134-209;Mat thews , ..Ne....found land Fisheries", 181 f t ; Head, Eightee nt h Century Newfo un d l a nd , 35ft; Handcock, Englishsettlement, 25-46.

33. ~. Cell, Engli s h Enterpri s e,Davies,"Policy and Trade-.

10

o ^{2 4 6}

IOO km

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Figu r e 1.1 Locati on of Newfoundland.

Newtoundlandwas once part of a fishingperiphery that stret chedalonq the Atlantic li t to r a l nor thwardfromCape Cod.3 4 (Fiqure1.1, p. 10, is a lllap showinq th e loca t i o n of Newfoundland.) AlthouqhtheIs la nd lies in the same lati- tudes as England, its clima t e is subarctic,essentiallybe- cause itsshores arewashed by the Labrador CUrrent rather t.han the Gulf Stream.35 It was almost complete lyqlaciated by the last (Wisconsina n) iceshe ettoc. 13,000B. p . 36 Mo stofthe Isla nd's soils are there fore you t hful and shal- low, becaus etheyha v e nothadmuchtime todevel op under thecool mariti me climatic reg i me. Soils derived from gla- cial ma t erialsarede e p er but are limited in exte n t.37 Cool climateand po o r soils restri c t bi oma s s and the accidentsof insular ge ogra p hy have set the scene for a relativelysimple ecosystem.38 There ...re only fourteenmammals indigenous to the Island, nine of which are pre d a t o r s. Thispr od u c e s boom andbus t cycles in populations of prey, tor exampl e caribou.39 Ja me s Tuck and. Ralph Pastore arguethat such in sta b i lit y , exacerbatedby err a t i c weather fluctuations,

34. ~.C.O. Sauer, Seventeent hCentury North America (Berke l ey , 198 0 ) , 69ff.

35 . C. E. Banfield,"Cl i mate " , inG.R.South (e d.) , Biogeograph yand Ecologyof theIsland of Ne\o'fou nd l a nd (The Hague,1983) , 37-106 .

36. A.S.Dyk e and V. I<. Prest,"LateWis c o ns i n an and Holocene Historyof the Laurentide lee Sheet ",~ physiqueet Quater na i r e41(2 ) (1 9 87), 237-2 63 , map 170211..

37 . B. A.Rob e rts ,"Soils" , inSou th, Biog eography, 107- 163 .

38. R.J .Med n i s ,"IndiqenousPl ants and An imals of New- fo un dl a n d: their geogra phic a l af fi n i ti e sand di stribut ions ", in A.G.Macphers on andJ.B.Macp h ers on (eds),~ Env iron ment of Ne....foundland Past andPresent (St..Joh n's , 1981) , 218 - 250.

39. A.T. Bergerud , "Prey S\o'itching in a Simp le Ecosyst em",Scientific American 249(6) (1983). 130- 1 41 .

12 fatally affected prehistorichWll&n populations at times.4 0 The same environt:lentaltrap Would await any inhabitants of the Island who relied completelyon terres:~ialresources.

Climateandso i l limit economic agriculturalproductionto li v est ock and vec;etables and these have, historically, been supplementsto subsistence, rather thanst a p l es.

Europeans 1O'l!:::'enot, however ,attractedbyNewfoundland's agricul t u ralpotentia l but byAtlanticcod. They cou ld expl o i t thisre l atively stable resource,wh i le the na t ive pe op l eof theisland didnot , bec a u s ethe y had hook s and lines, had developeda processof salt preservation, and could rely on Europeanmarketsto tr a r.s f o rmthe ir catchof one speciesof fishinto thegood s th e y perceived as neces- saryfor the life they expected to live. Cod ""erepresent along the coasts of the Islandin huge quant i tiesuntil recent decades,""hlch haveseen the developmentof large, all-season, deep-""atertra""ler fleets. 41 ~IlIQrhu a occupies an ecological niche nearthe top of thema r i n e food-chain,preying on caplinandcrus t a c e a ns ,""hich graze in turnen pl a nk t o n. 4 2 Giventhe sens itivityof codtic tempe ratureandthe fact that plankt o nbl oo ms ca nbe expect e dnear upwel lingsof cold er , nut rient-riCh vacees, ins h or econ c e ntrati o n s of cod canbepred i cte d insumme r,

40. J. A.Tuc k and R.T.Pastor e , "A Nice PlacetQ Visit, bu t ...• Prehi s t or ic Human Extinc tionsonthe Isla ndofNew- foundland",CanadianJQurnalof Ar chaeology9(1) (19 85 ), 69- 80.

41. w. Te mp l ema n, Maring Resourcgsof NewfQundland , Fisheries Research Board of Can ad a Bulletin , no.154 (1966).

42. W.B.Scott and.M.G. Scott, Atlantis;Fishes Qf

~ (Toronto, 1988), 266-27 0 .

13 downcurrent frotl upwellingofth e Labrado r CUrrent at promentories , shoalsand islands.4 3 Head projecteda dis- tributi o n ofthe inshorecodres ou r c e ,bas e don this hypothesisand his results agreeverycloselywi th the actualdi stribut ion of fish i ng station sand settlements in theseventeenthce ntury.44 Onecological grou nds, con- centr a t i onsof cod couldbe expe c tedon the north shore of co nc e pt i o n Bay and on the southeasternshore of theAva l o n . In terms of human exploitation. the latterre gionvas ac t u a l l y bifur catedculturallyinthe seventeenthcentury.

Th e St.John's ar ea , from th e mouth of conceptionBay to Petty Harbour , became JlIore impo rta ntCOMmerciallyand political l ythanth e south Av a l on . These two re g i o ns, with conc e ptionBay,werethe cr a d l esofset. tl e ment ontheeas t- erncoast ofthe Av al on Pen inins u la, kno wnin the seven- teent.h ce ntury,as the Eng lishShore. (Fig u re1.2, p , 14, is a map of t.heAvalon Peninsula , showingthe barboursand set tlementsofthe south Avalo nand St. John'sregions.) It is the south Avalontha t is the SUbject ofth i s study.

The studyarea comprises,essentially ,Sir GeorgeCa l- ve r t ' s Pro v i nce of Avalo n, from Bay Bulls to Aqua-forte, plus theharbou rs betwe e nFermeu s ~andTr e pa s s e y. James I gave

43. Hea d, Eighteenth Ce nt u ry Newfoundland, 21-23 ;Sc o t t andScottAt l a ntic Fishes ofCa na d a , xxiv-xxvi.

44. Head, EighteenthCe nturyNewfGYndland, Figure1.4.

, - - - ,1 4

I7ZJ l~

o

N t

Fiqure1.2 The Avalon Peninsula, with harboursand settlements of thesou thAvalon.

15 hi sUndersecreearyof State a propr ietarypatent in10 2 1and Calver t , wh o bec ame FirstBaron Balt i mor e in 1626 , organi z ed th e permanentsettlemen t of Ferryland,hithertoa seasonal fis h ing station .4 5 Calvertlostinte r est in Newf ou ndlan d after a year'sresidenc e in1628 / 29. Althoughthe fa mi ly se cur ed the pro p r i etors h i p ofMaryla nd, his so nCeci lma d e pers istant cl aims torec o v e rcontrolof theno rth erncolony from SirDavidKi r lte and his heirs,who expropriated Fer - ryland and the Colony of Avalon in1638 undera patent gi v e n byCharlesI to Kirke and a group ofcou rt favourites. sir Dav idXirke died in 1654. but his wife Sara and hisfo u r so nsGe or ge, David II,Ph il i p andJarv is remainedin New- foun dl a nd,operati nglarge fiShingpl an tat i on s in the st udy area unt il thes e weredev a stated by the French in169 6 . 46 (Figu r e 1.3,p. 16 isJames'(o ng e's map ofFe r r y l an e c. 1663, showingthe lo cat i o n of KLa dyKi rk". ) The Kirkes were, withoutdoubt, unusually we ll-c on ne c t e d: they were literateand litigiou s;relati vel ywealthyand long-lived . The y cannotbe taken, byanystretc h ofthe imagi n a t io n, as representat i v eplanters. The sedist i nct i o ns alsome a n we know more aboutthem thanwedo about ot h erplan te r s. Their liv esareat the centreof thi s study,as the ymu~thave beenat th e centreof theeconomic an dso ci a l exp eri e nc e of those whoonc edwel tin th e studyarea.

45. On Calv ert'sAvalonColo ny see Cell, Eng li sh Ent;,r-

~, 92-96; Newf oundlandpis cover ed, 45-59 , 250-302.

46. Prowse,~, 141ft.; Ce l l , Engli shEnterprise , 115-117 ;Handcock, Engli s h Settlement,35.

· '

; tr"

Figure 1. 3 James Yonqe, "Feryland^{l l ,} c. 1663, from IlJ ou r n a l" , cou rt.e sy Plymouthl~theneurn,

showing the Pool and "Lady Kirk^ll•

"

...

16

"

.

17 Fo rtun a t e ly. an ext ensiveand sub s tan t iallyund isturbed archaeolog ica l si t e has surv ived at Ferryl and . Inthe tngli s h pi l o tof 1689,He nry Southwoodsaysthat in MFerryland-Port orHarbou r " thema ri n e r will find :

th e E22.lwh ichisa placeon the Larbord- s ide (g oing in) ....ithin a point of~. whereyo uride in 12Foot Water at lo w-Wa t er, and therethe AdmiralShipgenerallyride s (th e Stages being near,several PlantersInhabitants live in thisplace ).47

Thiswa s the siteof Calvert'sestablishment ,Wh i c h Kirke appro priat edand Whichbecameknown as thePool Plant a tion.

I twas exploratoryexcavationofthis sit~by theMe mo r i a l Universityof NewfoundlandArchaeologyUnit,under the direct ion of JamesTuck, that providedth e oc c a s i o n , as it were,to lookat thesoc ia l historyandhist o ri c al anthropology of a seventee nth-c en tury Newfoundl an d co mmunity.48

This is, insho rt , anint e rd is ciplin ary stU dy gr owi ng out of the historicalarchae ology of Ferr yland, todate. Theaimhere is not toinsis t ona particular in t erp r e t a t ion of seventeenth-ce nt ury se t t l eme nt in Newfoundland. What is int e n d e d is theex ami n a tio n of a part icularca se , Ferryland, inthecentext; of theneighbouringcommunitiesof thesouth

47. Southwood, Henry, "A Tru e Descriptionof ...New- found- land " , inThe English pilot (Lond o n , 16 8 9 )vol. 4, 13.

48. On excavationssee:I.A. Tu ck, "Looking for the Col o nyof Aval on " , inJ. sp roul l Thoms on and C.Thomson (eds) ~, no. 5, (1 9 8 5 ) , 378-397;:I. A . Tuck andD.

Robbins, "AGlimpseat theColony of Avalon",inJ.Sproull Thomso••and C. Thomson (eds)~, no . 6, (198 6 ), 23 7- 249;:I.A. Tuck, "Excavati onsat Ferryl an d. Newfoundland- 1986", inJ.C. ThomsonandJ. Spr ou l l Thomson (eds) Am.

.l.1M., no.7 (19 8 9), 296-303 .

re Avalon. The periodexaminedis 1630 to 1700, inthe context of th epe r i od of contestedEnglishdomina t ion of thestudy area , c. 15 7 0to 17 1 3. The point of thi s study is toput the socia l hi sto r yor histo rica l anthropo l ogyof onepart of New f o un d land's seventeenth-centuryEnglishSh ore on the re cord so that general isationsthat have been offer ee!maybe tested and, if fou nd wanting, reformul a ted.4 9 When alterna - tive inte rpretationsareproposed thi sis done withthe clear, if sometimes tacit, unders t a ndi ng that theyar e based on limited eviden c ean dmust remainhypotheses,pending re s earc h onother contemporary communitiessuch as St. John's, Carbo nea ror Bay de Verde.

The mode l for this study isthe typeof communitysocial history that has predomi na tedin recentresearch onear l y modern New En g l a nd.5 0 Fruitful as this community-orie nted ap proachhas proved tobe, i tra i s e s three potentia l prob- lems. Fi r st,par ticula rlywi th re f eren c e to the seventeenth centur y, local documenta tionmay beinte rm i tt e nt. Itis thereforenecessary , at ti me s,to wi d e n the geographicscope ofdis cu s s i o n in orde r to makea best approximationfor th e study areaand th i s isce r t a i n l y true of thesouthAvalon.

Second,is thecommun ity in questio nto be consideredone of a ran g eof pos s ibil it i e s in the larger re g ionoras a paradigm for that region? In thecaseof Ferry l a nd there

49. Forsome thoughtsonthe distinct ion be t we e n social histo r y and histori ca l an thr opology , see I. McKa y, "Hi s- to ri an s , Anthropology , andtheConcept of CUlt ure" . Labourfr.eTr a v aill e ur , 8-9 (1981 -82). 185-241. £I.De ag a n ,

"Ne i t h e r HistorynorPr e history".

50. SeeMcCUs k e r and Me n a r d, Econo my, 102ff.

i.s are reas on s to suspect that this community doe s no t reflect the eode butra th er one limit of social orga nization in seventee nth-century Ne wf ound l an d . Finally, local studies tend totreat particular cOlll::lunitiesin isolation£rOlll in te rnati on a lor evenre g i o na l con tex't.5 1 An a.t te=pt is made in the presen t studytoavoidthisbyde vot i ng several chapt ers toth e interna tion a l econom iccon text withi n wh i ch set t l e me nt on the south Avalondev elope d. Regiona l com- parisons areprovid ed , where poss i ble , with the St.Joh n 's are a. St.John'swa s a central early settlemen t, which rap idly beca me, in thestudy peri od , the most impo r t an t har- bour bothfor settlement and fo r the mig r atory fishery. It constit u tes the r e f o r e a use fu l loc a l compar ison , pend ing detail e d re s e a r c h on conce ptionBay, re s e a r chwh i c h is genera l ly be y on d thescopeof the present study.

Compa r i s on is needed to make sense of fragmentarysocio- metricdata,whether archaeologicalor documen tary. Ralph Lounsburyconcluded his widely-citedstudy of the British fishery at Newfoundlandwith the assertionthat:

The history ofNewfound l a nd to 1763, at least , must be ap p r o a chedfromanenti r e l y diff erent stand p oi nt, and appraised ac c ordi ng tototal l ydif fere n t sta nd ard s from those thatar e us ed ininte r p r e ti ng the hi storyofother parts of pre-Rev o lut ion a r y Briti ShAmer ica .52

It isa premi seof the s e pagesthat this ismi staken, tha t ea rlymod e r n Newf ou nd landwa s les s pecuj. Laz- than th iskind

51. .Qt.McCUs k er and Menar d,~, 106. 52. R.G.Lounsbury ,TheBritishfishery at Newfound- land ]634-17 63 (1934, rep . Hamde n , Conn.,1969), 336.

20 of interpretationsupposes and best understood economically, socially and culturally,in comparative context.

2. The period 1630 to 1700

Fenceposts persist. Once erected they define space around them; replacements tend to perpetuate rather than to obliterate delimitation. Eventually, when a series of fenceposts has outlived its usefulness, subterranean rem- nants endure. This is so, likewise, with the historical turning-pointswe.use to turn the continuum of time into discrete. periods. In other words, to ignore the fenceposts and attend the territory bet....een them, we must first locate what we wish to see beyond.

To see 1630 to 1700 as a period in Newfoundland's his- tory is to propose the terminal decades as turning points. What counts as a turning point depends on preconceptions.

Prowse organized his history into chapters divided by reign, an approach we might reject while accepting, for example, that colonial policy was affected by the accession of CharlesI in 1625.53 Each turning point can be examined from various vantages, of course. Cell sees Calvert's 1629 decision to abandon his fisheries-based settlement as a failure which marked the end of an early era of organized attempts at colonization.54 Calvert's efforts through the

53. zrcvse , History;tl.J.G. Reid, Acadia Maineand New Scotland· Marginal Colonies in the Seventeenth Century (Toronto, 1982), 37ff; K.R .Andrews, Trade Plunder and Settlement Mariti1neEnterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire 1480-}630 (Calllbridge, 1984), 303.

54. Cell, English Enterprise, 94-95.

21 16205to set up asettlement -basedfisherycould,on th e other hand, beseen as a foundationon Wh i c h self-sustaining' plantation ....ould. intime , bebas e d. If therationaliza- tions for periodi zlItion are no t li mit l e s s , theyaremany.

The decades :'6 30 to 1700 make sense as a periodin the his- tory of Newfoundland toth eextent that theycan be related toevents over a longerterm. in II....ider context.55

The meteo r o logicalhistori an H.H. La mbfindsth e seven- teenthcentu ry the colde s t in the last milleni u m.56 Kar en Kup p erm an's analy s is ofNewEnglandwea th e r recor d ssuggests thatther e were two major climatefluc t u ati ons inno rth - easternNo rthAmericain the seventee nthcentury: a....armi ng in the 16505 fromthe coldwi n ters of th e 16305and 16405, followed by a cooling in tilemid 1670 s to the extrelllely harsh wi nters of the 1680s and 16905.57 There were, in fa c t, consistentreportsfrom Newfoundland in the1670 s of wet sw:mers and extensive seaice.58 The Europeanev i d e n c e also suppo rtsthe New England data. Temperaturesin Iceland, the Faroes and Scotland fell in the 16705 and

55. Fo r a differe n t periodi s ati on , emphasizi ngcha nge C. 16 60, see K.M.Ma tthews, Y,e ct u re s on the Hi s t oryof Ne w-

~(S t.John's, 1988), 12-17.

56. H.R . Lamb, Climate History and theModernWorl d (Me t hue n , 1982 ), 201-2 31 .

57. K.O. Kupp e rm a n, "Cl imat eandMa s t e ry ofthe Wilder- ness in Sev e n t e e nth-Ce ntur y NewEng l a nd" , inD. Hal l and D.

Allen(eds), Seventeent h -C!i!nturyNe wEngland,Colonial so cie t yof NewEngland(Bost on , 19 8 4 ), 3-37.

58 . J. Pocock,Let ter to J.arexes , 17 Se p te'llber 167 0, SP29/278 (179 ) ; (W.Hurt], Lett er to J. mcxes ,4 November 1672, SP29/3 16 (41);both in~Q2!!1.; (?] Pa g e ,Let t er (to J. Will iams o n ? ] , 20 September 1675,CO1/ 3 5 (2 1) , 16 6,v .

22

remainedverycold un t i l the early 17005.5 9 Generalcooling over th e NorthAt l a nt i c provokeda completefailure inthe Icelandicand Faroesecod fisheries in the late seventeenth century.60 Cooling at Newfoundlandwouldnot havethe same effect, since theIsla ndis not at the northern limitof the cod'5 range.61 Oceantemperaturechanges do, however , affect reproductio n, recruitmentand the local dis tribut ion of codstock s.62 It is possiblethat poor catches (g.g.c. 1663to c.1671) werecli ma t e - r e l a t e d.6 3 Aninspection of ei g hteent h - c e nt u r y catch rates for the study areasuggests that catches could fluctuat efro mless than 50to almost 200 percentof the expected 200 quintals per boat and that poor seasons often occurredin runs, for example1723to 1725 or 17 53 to 1755.6 4 When such periodsof depressedcatches

59. Lamb, Climate History, 207,210,2 14, 22 1; £.t.

fI:£lliinaryReport, CanadianTechnica l Report of Fisheries and AquaticSciences(Ottawa,1988).

63. Onpoor ca t c h e s in 1663 and1664seeYo n g e,

"Journal", 56,67;on 1668 to 1671 see G. Pley,Letter, c. 167 1 , SP 29/295 (76), in~129m; on 1671 see W. Davies, Letter [to Mr. Wren], 16 September 1671, CO 1/27 (2 7), 74, v .

64. R. ForseyandW. H. Lear,Hist o ri c a l Catches and CatchRa t e s of AtlanticCod at Newfoundland During ] 677- 1833 , Canadian Data Reportof Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, no. 622 (ot t a wa , 1987), Table 18. (Th isre p o r t doesnot actually in c l u d e usefulseventeenth-centurydata.)