This evening I will share a few books that I am currently reading, and some that I have read in the past.
They are all about American Colonial History. There is much to learn about Colonial History that is not covered in our school systems today.
I just finished reading The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Andrew Lawler.
Of course, many of us have heard of ‘The Lost Colony‘, but few know much of the story behind the founding of it.
This book does a great job of telling the story of both the events that lead up to the founding of the colony, the search for the inhabitants of the colony after they disappeared and also covers many of the theories about what happened and where the possible survivors ended up.
There was quite a bit of intrigue with this colony.
I am almost finished reading Saints and Strangers: Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers and Their Families, with Their Friends and Foes, and an Account of the Posthumous Wanderings, and the Strange Pilgrimages of Plymouth Rock by Robert F. Willison.
This is an interesting read as it was published in 1941 and there has been so much research done since that time on the history of Plymouth Colony. However, I have really enjoyed it as it really gives some insight into the backgrounds of the founding of the colony and the trials that they went through. There is quite an interesting story about their relationship with the men who backed their voyage and how they worked for years to pay off this support.
I am also reading Robert Cushman of Kent: Chief Agent of the Plymouth Pilgrims by Robert E. Cushman and Franklin P. Cole.
This book covers more of the story of the relationship between the Plymouth settlers and the Merchant Adventurers. Robert Cushman played a key role as their agent. Cushman helped organize the initial voyage of the Mayflower and then worked as their agent until his death in 1625.
Cushman did visit Plymouth in 1621, but returned to England on the Fortune, which was the same ship that brought him. Cushman brought two things with him to Plymouth Colony. One was his son Thomas who was left in the care of Governor Bradford, and the second was a patent for the colony. Up to this time they did not have a legal right to settle at Plymouth. More on this in a future post.
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick is a more up to date history of Plymouth Colony. I read this book a couple years ago and may have to read it again soon. I am especially interested in Plymouth Colony as the 400th anniversary is coming up next year.
Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger Among the Pilgrims by David Lindsay is also a very interesting account about one of the Mayflower passengers. I read this book during a Christmas Break from work three years ago. It had rocketed to the top of my to-read list after skimming through the book on Robert Cushman and learning some interesting facts about Richard More who is the subject of the the book.
There is definitely much more to learn about Colonial History, and I have a lot more research to do.
Steven
I titled the post Harry and His Horse, as that was the title of this picture. Here is my Grandpa Harry with his horse. I thought about cropping out the right side of the picture, but since the picture was taken off center I wanted to keep it original.
Here is another picture of Harry with his horse. Here the picture is centered but is a bit blurry.
Now we see Harry with his mule. This picture also allows me to get an approximate date for the picture series as the little boy is my Uncle Howard. He was born in 1939, so the picture was taken around 1940.
Here Grandpa has taken off his hat and you can see his face better. Look at that interesting smile on his face.
Here he is more serious and the mule looks a bit calmer than he did in the previous picture.
Braman's Wanderings 