Coming Over: Migration and Communication Between England and New England in the Seventeenth Century

by David Cressy

Coming Over discusses the 17th century English migration to New England & shows the importance of English connections in the lives of colonists. Cressy reviews the information available to prospective migrants, the decisions they had to reach & the actions necessary before they could migrate. Englishmen & women moved with a variety of motives, a multitude of circumstances. Puritanism, involving religious harassment in England & the desire to follow God's ordinances, was only one of many factors impelling people to move. Rather than developing in wilderness isolation, the society & culture of 17th-century New England were shaped by their English roots. A two-way flow of correspondence, messages & information linked colonists to the homeland. Family duties, political sympathies, friendships, business & legal obligations all led to a continuing attachment across the Atlantic. In treating early America from a British perspective, as a part of English history, Prof. Cressy provides insight into the 17th century.
Preface
List of Figures & Tables
List of Abbreviations
The excellency of the place: English impressions of New England
A mixed multitude: the peopling of early New England
Reasons moving this people to transplant themselves: migrant motives & decisions
Needful provisions: the cost of emigration
Promiscuous & disorderly departing out of the realm: the control of emigration
The vast & furious ocean: shipboard socialization & the Atlantic passage
Occasions in England: debts, obligations & inheritances across the ocean
A hankering desire for old England: homesickenss, return visits & back migration
A constant intercourse of letters: the transatlantic flow of information
Dangerous & unsettled times: English news in New England
The part of a kinsman: separation, reunion & the wide circle of kin
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History, British Literature, 17th Century

340 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 1987

About the author

David Cressy is Humanities Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University. His specialty is the a social history of early modern England, a topic on which he has published a number of monographs.

Reviews

[Barry Cotton]

Although David Cressy's COMING OVER was heralded as ground breaking in the depth of its research into the 'Great Migration', I discovered it to be outdated compared with what is currently available on the subject. I purchased the book for research/reference purposes looking into migration from Lincolnshire, England between 1620 and 1640. I gathered my own data by researching NEHGS databases online and using the various works of Robert Charles Anderson. When I compared my data with that of David Cressy, I showed 236 individuals migrated from Lincolnshire between 1630 and 1640, where as Cressy showed 132. That is a difference of 44%. Given the fact that Cressy first published in 1987, perhaps this discrepancy is understandable. However, I contacted Cressy through his university and he did not want to discuss the matter.

Bottomline, although a good early attempt at accounting for the Great Migration, the research presented is sadly outdated. As a result, I my rating must be a one.

[Christy Robinson]

This book has well-written commentary and is organized coherently. It might have been used as a resource for university studies.

The descriptions of the voyages were helpful to my research. But it's not what I expected or hoped for: letter after letter between England and New England. I wanted insight into personal communications, and did find a few, but perhaps that sort of letter wasn't archived for the ages.

[Leonardo]

Sobre el pasaje Atlántico de la tradición republicana desde la Revolución Inglesa a la Revolución Americana.

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