For the first eight or so years of its existence, the Plymouth Colony enjoyed the serenity of their separation from the Old World. To be sure, people came—about a hundred a year—and some left. Certainly, life was difficult, but the utopian religious community desired by the Pilgrim Separatists seemed within reach.
Suddenly, in 1630, an armada of 17 ships appeared in the waters of New England. Within months, about a thousand settlers were unloaded in the area that we now call Boston. In the next decade, more than 21,000 Puritan immigrants transited from old England to “New England”, because of increased pressure by King Charles and the Church of England upon those who wanted to reform the church.
Among those who wanted to take a chance in the New World was George Lewis, a clothier in Brenchley, Kent. There was only one problem—George and his wife, Mary Doggett, had four children below the age of 9. While mulling his choices, George and the family moved to Staplehurst, Kent.
When the opportunity came, George took it. In 1634, he and his brother John sailed from England to Scituate (in the Plymouth Colony) leaving behind Mary, with four children and heavily pregnant with a fifth.
What!? Did the family starve?
By the 16th century, England, like most European countries, had a social safety net of sorts. (It wasn’t until the 19th century that the grim workhouses described by Dickens were instituted.) After all, “charity” is one of the seven Christian virtues, and most people of the time considered the existence of poverty as an inevitability, rather than as a character flaw of the impoverished. In England, support for the poor was accomplished via a Poor Tax levied on residents and businesses by the local church. The parish administered the use of these funds to support those in need, usually persons who were old, infirm, orphaned, or who otherwise lacked a suitable worker in the family.
So, the solution for Mary Lewis and her family of four-going-on-five was obvious: go on welfare.
Well, the parishioners of Staplehurst had a different opinion. Such a large family would be a big drain on the parish funds. Maybe they didn’t want to deny assistance to Mary, but they thought someone else should pay for it. After all, the first four children had been baptized in Brenchley and George had been born in Brenchley.
The 1598 Vagrancy and Poor Relief Acts said that a “wife and children under seven years of age should go to the place where the husband belongs” and that “children over seven should go to the place of their birth.” So, the Staplehurst parish attempted to have her sent back to Brenchley.
The Brenchley parish disagreed, and the matter ended up in court.
At its Easter Sessions, on 15 April 1634, the court considered the case. Applying the law, the oldest child, who was older than seven, could have been sent back to Brenchley, but the wife and the younger children could be sent to the place where the “husband belonged”. The court decided that the husband had become a legitimate resident of Staplehurst and elected to ignore the age of the oldest child: “It is ordered by this court that the said Mary Lewis and her children be settled and remain in Staplehurst where they now are, and the said parishioners of Staplehurst are to see them provided for according to the law.”
The fifth child was born a month later and baptized in Staplehurst. It’s unknown whether Mary’s family was treated well while living in Staplehurst. Within three years, Mary and the children emigrated to New England, where she and George had three more children. Despite the hardships, all eight survived to adulthood.
George and Mary (Doggett) Lewis were tenth great-grandparents of the Moore brothers.
Sources used in this article include:
Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower, Penguin Books, 2006.
Gordon Lewis Remington, "Mary Doggett, Wife of George Lewis of Brenchley, Kent and Scituate, Massachusetts," The American Genealogist, 72:3-4, pp 321-328.
The illustration accompanying this article is:
John Burnet (1784-1868), Dutch Peasant Family, date unknown, displayed in the Tate museum