Mrs. Gallop, Dorset, England, 1632

The stories of those who left England during the Great Migration are familiar to historians, but those who stayed behind also exercised agency. In a letter to John White on July 4, 1632, John Winthrop recounted the story of a Dorset woman who refused to come to America despite relentless pressure from her husband and other powerful men:

I have much difficultye to keepe John Galloppe heere by reason his wife will not come. I mervayle at the womans weaknesse, that she will live miserably with her children there, when she might live comfortably heere with her husband. I praye perswade and further her comminge by all meanes: if she will come let her have the remainder of his wages, if not, let it be bestowed to bring over his children, for he so desires it: it would be above 40 li losse to him to come for her.

While withholding her husband’s wages from a woman and threatening to take away her children seems to merit a stronger verb than “perswade,” it is clear that Mrs. Gallop was asserting her own wishes in the face of enormous obstacles. Perhaps she did not wish to part from family members, perhaps she feared the crossing or the prospect of starving, freezing, or being killed by Native Americans. Whatever her reasons, Mrs. Gallop shows that ordinary people exercised their own will when it came to emigration.

18th-Century Connecticutian or Muppet?: Answers

Below are the answers for "18th-Century Connecticutian or Muppet?"

People:
2. Sherlock Doolittle (b. 30 Sept 1795, Cheshire)
3. Hannah Hobby (b. 19 Nov 1720, Greenwich)
6. Orange Wedge (b. 3 Oct. 1775, Kent)
9. Bathsheba Bugbee (b. 26 Jan 1795, Pomfret)
10. Appleton Osgood (b. 15 May 1788, Pomfret)
11. Lola Tuttle (b. 18 April 1769, Farmington)
13. Noble Lyon (b. 20 Oct. 1796, New Milford)
16. Grover Partridge (b. 5 Jun 1777, New Milford)
18. Comfort Hungerford (b. 12 May 1796, Waterbury)
21. Remember Baker (b. 15 Feb 1767, Woodbury)
23. More Bird (b. 21 Mar 1729, Litchfield)
25. Festus Canada (10 Apr 1800, Windham)

Muppets:
1. Herbert Birdsfoot (lecturer, assisted by Grover)
4. Vincent Twice (host of "Mysterious Theater")
7. Alice Braithwaite Goodyshoes ("This is Alice Braithwaite Goodyshoes, the smartest girl in the whole world!")
8. Bathsheba Bird (Big Bird's cousin)
12. Algernon Snerp (President of the Cookie Baking Club)
14. Nobel Price (hapless inventor)
15. Samuel Snively (shape salesman)
17. Fanny Nesselrode (a.k.a. Granny Fanny Nesselrode)
19. Christopher Clumsy (star of "Jumping Over a Hole" and "Jumping Over Another Hole")
20. Forgetful Jones (scatterbrained cowboy)
22. Abby Cadabby (fairy-in-training)
24. Polly Darton (country-western singer)

Both:
5. Herman Bird (b. 5 Jan 1740, Farmington; also Big Bird's country cousin)

Nickname Quiz Answers

Here are the answers. How did you do?

1. Bess          H. Elizabeth

2. Jemmy      K. James

3. Sookie      D. Susan (can also be L. Sarah)

4. Harry        A. Henry

5. Nancy       J. Anne

6. Pip            O. Philip

7. Daisy        F. Margaret

8. Kit            C. Christopher

9. Sally         L. Sarah

10. Hodge     M. Roger

11. Polly       P. Mary

12. Ned         E. Edward

13. Nell         B. Ellen

14. Hitch       G. Richard

15. Fanny      N. Frances

16. Hob         I. Robert