The Expansion of New England

An understanding of history can provide a solid foundation and flexible framework upon which genealogical research can grow. Understanding major migration patterns may help the researcher find and follow their own ancestors. The Expansion of New England, by L. K. Mathews, examines the spread and migrations of settlers from the colonial period through 1865, from New England to the Mississippi.

This books reviews migration patters over two hundred plus years. But, more than that, Mathews offers explanations for how and why settlements in New England expanded as they did. Using this book might help direct the researcher to additional works specific to local areas, such as town histories. Ralph J Crandall, Executive Director Emeritus for the New England Genealogical Society, said this about the book:

“Although today a large literature is devoted to New England settlement and migration…[t]his work is perhaps the foundational study of this subject, and deserves close examination. Much about the settlement patterns of early New Englanders can be learned form this book.”

The book was originally printed in 1909. The New England Historic Genealogical Society has just reproduced the book to share with modern 2012 audience of researchers. Topics covered in the book include socio-economics and religious reasons for westward migrations, plus wars and their affect upon people and the land, relationships with Native Americans, the history of states, and much more. There are also 30 maps to help show settlement patterns.

Written as a narrative, The Expansion of New England is easy to read. Detail after detail brings to life to the relentless march of emigrants from Europe to the colonies and from there continually westward.

The Expansion of New England is available from Family Root Publishing; Item #: NE17, Price $17.59.

Table of Contents

Chapter I. Introduction

• Unique character of American History
• Due to large areas of unoccupied land in the west
• Causes of pioneering from England to New England
• Religious
• Political
• Economic
• Social
• From New England to the west
• Character of the frontier
• Mutual distrust between frontier and settled community
• Illustrations of New England influence

Chapter II. The Beginnings of an American Frontier

• Settlement of Plymouth
• Causes of settlement
• Character of people
• Of settlement
• First offshoots of Plymouth
• Other Massachusetts settlements before 1629
• Settlement of New Hampshire
• Settlement of Maine coast
• Settlement of Massachusetts Bay
• Character of settlement to 1635
• Settlement of Connecticut
• Removals from Massachusetts bay
• Emigration from England
• Character of settlement
• Settlement of Springfield
• Settlement of Rhode Island
• Pequot War
• Type of later wars
• Services it rendered future pioneering
• Settlement after the Pequot War
• New character of settlement
• Extension of settlement in older colonies
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• Counter-current, and inducements offered in new settlements
• Expansion of New Hampshire
• Government of New Hampshire towns
• Growth of Maine
• Growth island towns
• Overflow into Westchester County, New York
• Character of frontier line in 1660
• Restriction on removal from frontier line
• Character of New England in 1660 Common desire for religious freedom factor in settlement
• Shown in plan of town
• Also in union of church and state
• The prevalence of town-meeting idea
• Tradition of popular education established

Chapter III. The Influence of Indian Warfare Upon the frontier, 1660-1713

• Revival of emigration from England under Charles II
• Increasing ill-will of Indians
• New charters granted after 1660
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island
• Acquisition of New Netherlands
• Proclamation of Duke of York’s laws
• Grant of New Jersey to Berkeley and Cateret
• Rapidity of settlement 1660-1675
• In Massachusetts
• Maine and New Hampshire
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• Long Island
• New Jersey
• Conditions in 1675
• King Philip’s war a great blow to all the colonies except New Jersey and New York (including Long Island)
• Character of period 1675-1713
• Almost continuous warfare the outgrowth of Eurpean struggles
• Peace only an armed truce
• Precautions against reckless extensions of the frontier
• Conditions in Maine and New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Rhode island
• Connecticut
• Emigration to Westchester County, New York
• To New Jersey
• To Dorchester, South Carolina
• The founding of a second New England college
• Estimates of population about 1713
• Differentiation of coast and frontier

Chapter IV. Forty Years of Strife with the Wilderness 1713-1754

• Character of Peace of Utrecht
• Effect of peace upon settlement in Massachusetts, especially Worcester County
• Hampshire County
• Berkshire County
• Speculation a marked feature of the period
• Especially in Massachusetts
• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Expansion of settlement in Massachusetts
• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Vermont settlement begun
• Rhode Island, merely growth in density of population
• Connecticut, new towns and new parishes
• Long Island, growth in population
• Putnam, Delaware, and Orange counties in New York
• Settlement in Georgia at Medway
• Movement for public improvements
• Roads, bridges, and ferries
• Conflicting tendencies of the period 1713 to 1754
• Lack of opportunity for investment because of English parliamentary policy
• Causes of repression of tendency to expansion
• Fear of Indians
• Difficulty in obtaining clear titles
• Decreasing quantity of good land available
• Differentiation between coast towns and interior settlements
• England’s attitude one of distrust, as in financial matters
• Preparation of the Seven Years’ War

Chapter V. The Frontier in War and in Peace, 1754-1781

• Dangers of the early part of the period 1750-1781
• Effect of the French and Indian War upon the frontier line
• Rush of settlers to the frontier after 1758
• Western Massachusetts
• Western Connecticut
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Vermont
• Effect of the Proclamation of 1763 upon extension of settlement
• Pennsylvania settlements
• Delaware Company’s towns
• Susquehanna Company’s towns
• Organization of town of Westmoreland
• The Lackaway Settlement
• The Pineas Lyman colony in West Florida
• The Nantucket emigration to North Carolina
• Effect of the Revolution upon expansion
• Character of the war as a frontier struggle
• Contraction of the frontier lines
• combined with its extension
• Pouring out of the tide of emigration after 1780
• Change in conditions after the Revolution
• Poverty leads to neglect of churches and schools
• Rise of movement for academies
• Founding of Dartmouth College
• New ideas of liberty lead to conflicts between proprietors and settlers
• Vermont and her neighbors
• Increasing differentiation between coast and frontier

Chapter VI. The Beginning of the Great Migrations from New England Towards the West, 1781-1812

• Impetus to emigrate after the Revolution
• Lines of expansion
• to New Hampshire
• to Maine
• To Vermont
• These three states from 1812 to 1850
• Character of settlement 1781 to 1850
• General observation on northern New England
• Founding of Bowdoin College
• differentiation of pioneers at the beginning of the great western emigrations
• New England in Pennsylvania
• Founding of Alleghany College
• Great emigration to New York
• East of the Hudson River
• enormous expansion of central and western New York
• The Phelps-Gorham tract
• Representative towns
• Representative settlers
• Characteristics of New Englanders in New York
• Tendency to establish public worship
• difference between New England and New York congregationalism
• Revival of missionary spirit in New England
• Transplanting of the town-meeting
• Its combination with the county system
• Resume of New York settlement
• Timothy Dwight’s testimony
• Shifting of interest after 1812

Chapter VII. The Planting of a Second New England, 1787-1865

• Pressure upon the frontier-line just after the Revolution
• Essential difference between method of settlement in Ohio and the thirteen original states
• Indian treaties entered into by the general government to make Ohio habitable
• The mode of settlement in the Western Reserve
• first New England settlement in Ohio
• Character of Marietta settlement
• Typical pioneers of Marietta
• Beginning of settlement in the Western Reserve
• James Kilbourne and his “Scioto Company”
• Character of settlement in the Western Reserve
• Settlement of Granville
• Effect of War of 1812 upon the frontier line
• Development of Ohio after 1815
• Timothy Flint’s observations
• The Oberlin colony
• Its offshoots in other states
• character of Ohio churches
• Ohio’s educational policy
• Reservation of township sixteen in every section
• Development of public school system
• Western Reserve College
• The town and county system in Ohio
• Resume of Ohio settlement to 1865

Chapter VIII. The Joining of Two Frontiers: Indiana and Illinois, 1809-1865

• General character of settlement in Indiana and Illinois
• Growth of settlement in Indiana before 1816, as a territory
• After 1816, as a state
• General location of New England settlement
• New England counties
• New England towns
• Typical pioneers
• Influence of the New England element upon education in Indiana
• Upon churches
• Upon local government
• Illinois settlement up to 1818
• Sectional antagonism in Illinois
• Mutual distrust of southern settler and New England element
• Causes of this distrust
• Climax of the antagonism about 1840-1842
• Great influx of New England immigrants after 1830
• Effect of the Black Hawk War
• Literature on emigration scattered broadcast at this time
• New England colonies in Illinois
• Indifference to fertile prairie soil shown by first settlers
• distribution of New England element in Illinois
• Shown by Congregational churches
• Illinois college a child of Yale
• Triumph of the township system
• Schools founded by New England Settlers

Chapter IX. The New England as State Builders: Michigan and Wisconsin, 1820-1860

• Settlement of Michigan and Wisconsin taking place chiefly in period 1825 to 1850
• Reasons for slow progress of settlement in Michigan
• Great influence of completion of Erie Canal and rise of steamboat navigation
• Successive stages of law-making in Michigan, showing changing states of settlement
• Character of Michigan settlers
• Arrival of New England element
• Routes of travel form Detroit
• Type of pioneer
• New England colonies, especially Vermontville
• Influence of Marietta, Ohio, settlers
• Nativity of governors of Michigan
• Michigan schools
• Normal schools
• The state university
• Olivet college
• Congregationalism in Michigan
• The Michigan town-meeting
• Wisconsin almost a wilderness in 1826
• Lead-mining district first settled
• Influence of Black Hawk War in promoting settlement
• County and township system both in existence in territorial days
• Final triumph of New York system
• Character of New England settlement in Wisconsin
• Racine County
• Founding of Beloit
• Schools in Wisconsin
• Congregationalism in Wisconsin
• character and nativity of prominent citizens
• Resemblance between Michigan and Wisconsin

Chapter X. Two Centuries and a Half of New England Pioneering, 1620-1865

• Resume of New England pioneering
• Character of the emigration
• Factors which have been operative in New England emigration
• Transplanting Puritan institutions
• Reaction of the frontier upon the older parts of the country
• Changing character of New England population