Insubordinate Spirit: A True Story of Life and Loss in Earliest America 1610-1665

by Missy Wolfe

Overview

Insubordinate Spirit is a unique exploration into the life of Elizabeth Winthrop and other seventeenth-century English Puritans who emigrated to the rough, virtually untouched wilderness of present-day New England. Excerpts from newly discovered personal diaries and correspondence provide readers with not only fascinating insights into the hardships, dangers, and losses inherent to English and Dutch settlers in the 1600s, but also first-hand descriptions of the local Native Americans' family life, allegiances, and society. Caught between the unendurable expectations of her Puritan relatives and land disputes with the neighboring Dutch, Elizabeth Winthrop demonstrated a tremendous strength of resolve to protect her own family and remain true to her heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762790654
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Missy Wolfe is a historian who has researched earliest Connecticut history for many years and lectures on it regionally. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and is a former advertising strategist and copywriter in New York.

 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Family Trees viii

Prologue x

Chapter 1 "Such braving oppositions" 1

Chapter 2 The Move to America 14

Chapter 3 Elizabeth's Second Wedding 31

Chapter 4 Mustermasters Daniel Patrick and John Underhill 49

Chapter 5 The Feakes and Patricks Leave the Bay Colony 63

Chapter 6 "She lives where all good means are wanting" 71

Chapter 7 New Netherland 83

Chapter 8 Contempt, the Father of Hate 94

Chapter 9 The Indians Near Manhattan 112

Chapter 10 Munsee Massacres Launched from Old Greenwich 120

Chapter 11 Her Case is Very Dangerous 132

Chapter 12 Martha Johana Winthrop Lyon 143

Chapter 13 "She is resolute in her course" 148

Chapter 14 The Halletts Abandon New England for New Netherland 158

Chapter 15 Hellgate 170

Chapter 16 Religious Evolution 178

Chapter Seventeen Dutch and Munsee Decline 183

Chapter Eighteen Hallett Epilogue 189

Chapter Nineteen Feake-Patrick-Hallett Disputes Resolved 201

Appendix I The Munsee Massacre Site 208

Appendix II Greenwich Place Names 217

Source Notes 221

Bibliography 240

Index 254

About the Author 262

Editorial Reviews

"Missy Wolfe's work is an important contribution to the literature of New Netherland."Dr. Charles Gehring, Director, The New Netherland Research Center "Wolfe has the rare ability to glean rich and engaging stories of real people from centuries-old archival sources."Ondine Le BlancDirector of Publications, Massachusetts Historical Society "Missy Wolfe's work on Greenwich's earliest history has made a huge contribution to our understanding of this complex period in time wrapped in so much Romanticism."Debra Mecky, Ph.D., Executive Director, Greenwich Historical Society "Extremely informative and corrects a lot of folklore."Ron Marcus, Stamford Historical Society "The real treasure of this work is the uncovering of the lost world of the New Netherland / New England borderlands. Wolfe's focus on Elizabeth lets her get at this in a way that the majority of accounts, which focus on men, miss."Evan Haefeli, Associate Professor of History, Columbia University

From the Publisher