The Great Migration To New England: Conventicles To Companies To Congregations

During the 1630s the migration process to New England was evolving from a pre-planned, top-down system, to a more spontaneous, bottom-up organization. This webinar will explore the evolution of the manner in which committed puritans moved from old England to New England, beginning with clandestine and illegal meetings known as conventicles, which gave rise to small groups or companies of families crossing the Atlantic together, resulting in the formation of new congregations and communities in the New World. We will study five different examples of this process, three led by ministers and two by laymen: Rev. John Wilson’s Sudbury company; Mr. Thomas Oliver’s Thorpe Achurch company; Rev. Thomas Hooker’s Braintree company; Mr. Edmund Hobart’s Hingham company; and Rev. Richard Blinman’s Welsh Marcher company.