Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620-1691

This brief history of the Plymouth colony fit my needs exactly. I grew up on the South Shore of Massachusetts in Plymouth County and have taken a deep dive into a family history that is closely aligned with the history of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies. I was looking for a concise history of the Plymouth colony and this book filled the bill. Stratton covers the evolution of Plymouth colony from its founding to its incorporation into Massachusetts in detail, quoting from original sources and providing a useful appendix that lists the settlers that participated in the division of land and cattle in the colony. The short biographical sketches of the "Old Comers" proved to be useful for my own research and should be entertaining for the general reader, as well. I am certain that corrections to this account will be made in the future, but in the meantime this book is a good starting point for anyone interested in the history of the settlement of Massachusetts in the 17th century.

The book is an excellent source for anyone researching Mayflower ancestors. The book was written in 1986, so you might need to do a bit of additional research to see if some new information has surfaced. The author also does an excellent job of providing concise and clear information on Plymouth Colony and its development. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, is that the printing quality and quality of the paper of this hardcover book is very poor. Overall I would buy it again, but I would buy the paperback version.

This is the 1st book I have read on the Lost Colony but I would like to read more to see what others say about it & the conclusions they come to. If there were numerous reports of interaction with the colonists from a variety of locations after the original colony was found abandoned I don't know why it hasn't been assumed they just scattered so I'd like to read at least one more book about it to see what those authors say. I plan on reading this again, too, to be sure I correctly understand the conclusions put forth here. One thing I found annoying was the overuse of incomplete sentences which is sometimes used for effect when a period is used instead of a comma followed by a phrase rather than a sentence. I thought this was longer than it needed to be & that the author went down a few too many rabbit holes. Also a lot of time was spent on linguistics which I found boring & skimmed over. I am going to read it again, tho, b/c the politics going on in England at the time & his theories about that are confusing but intriguing. I didn't know anything about any of that but have since learned a little so I may understand it better. It's definitely worth reading & I did enjoy it, I just couldn't give it 5 stars.

Don’t buy this if you think it will be an easy read because it’s not. However, if you had family in early day Plymouth, or think you did, this is a great research tool. For me, it just verified that my research was correct, and that’s always a great thing!

Very informative book. I was looking for clues to my family roots.

I found this book highly informative and not too bogged down in details. The facts I learned help me understand the world of the Colony better, and expanded my knowledge beyond just the Mayflower passengers. It gave me a better idea of how my ancestors lived, why they lived the way that they lived, and what choices they needed to make along the way.The biographical section is valuable, because if I'm not related to a particular family, those families were neighbors of my families, and it's always good to understand what was going on in the "neighborhood".

This is a great book if you are looking to read a quick overview of life in Plymouth Colony. Nicely packaged. Quickly shipped.

While this book does have a plethora of information (I have just received the book). As I flip through it I find very few drawings - just a few at the very beginning. I was hoping for more information from the archaeological digs along with all of the info this book contains and perhaps artist renderings.I believe this large book will reveal much in its writings about our early ancestors.