This is the first book in “The Everyday Life in America Series”, which consists of six books, by as many authors, and which goes through 1945. This book takes us from initial European settlement on the East Coast, up to the beginning of the seventeenth century. It covers pretty much every aspect of what life would have been like. Chapters include descriptions of the challenges of starting a farm, what a home and home-life might have been like, and rhythms of daily life. Life for the initial European settlers changed only slightly from the life they left behind, mostly because they clung to what they knew for as long as they could. There was some variation between life in a town vs. life on a farm, especially the further one got from the coast. There were also variations between the northern and southern colonies.
The first chapter discusses the early immigrants themselves, describing who came and their reasons. These two things had an impact on what they brought with them, and how they interacted with their new home. While they did occasionally receive assistance from the indigenous peoples who were already here, many tried to cling to what they had left behind. That included not only farming methods and the food they ate, but also architecture, religion, clothing, and social structure. Of course, many things had to be adapted to new conditions, which sometimes took a while. Also, although contact with the Mother Country was rather sporadic, the new settlers would try to keep up with fashions and trends back home. Including the introduction of the fork.
While Hawke does not look at specific individuals, the description of daily activities, yearly rhythms, and the surrounding environment should help us imagine what it would have been like for our ancestors. It was very far removed from our lives today. While we may think that life would have better back across the pond, in at least some respects, life in the colonies was a slight improvement. In the North, life expectancy was longer, for example. And many who would not have been able to afford land in England, were able to acquire land in the New World. While the stratification of society was pretty much fixed in England, there was at least the potential for that to change in the colonies.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Very little changed in the way people lived in the 1600’s and 1700’s. The differences in living conditions were mainly due to location. A farm in the south would be very different than life in a city in the north, for example. If you wanted more specific detail about your ancestor’s locale, there are seven pages of references in the Selected Bibliography in the back of the book. Many reference more specific locations and time frames.