Life in Plymouth Colony
The Billington family appeared a number of times in the accounts of early Plymouth Colony and were reported to be the colony‘s troublemakers. Francis made squibs and fired a musket in the Mayflower while the ship was anchored off Cape Cod. Francis went exploring soon after their arrival and discovered the body of water now known as Billington Sea.
In March 1621 John Senior challenged Myles Standish’s orders for “contempt of the Captain’s lawful command with several speeches" and was punished for it. He would do this many times more.
In May 1621 John Billington (the younger) became lost in some woods for several days, eventually being returned home by some natives from Nauset on Cape Cod. 449, 452
In 1624 John Billington was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal (a revolt against the rule of the Plymouth church), but insisted he was innocent and was never officially punished.
In 1625 Governor Bradford wrote a letter to Robert Cushman saying “Billington still rails against you…he is a knave, and so will live and died.”
In 1636, wife Elinor (Eleanor) was sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane.
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Famous quotes containing the words life, plymouth and/or colony:
“Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“In clear weather the laziest may look across the Bay as far as Plymouth at a glance, or over the Atlantic as far as human vision reaches, merely raising his eyelids; or if he is too lazy to look after all, he can hardly help hearing the ceaseless dash and roar of the breakers. The restless ocean may at any moment cast up a whale or a wrecked vessel at your feet. All the reporters in the world, the most rapid stenographers, could not report the news it brings.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““Tall tales” were told of the sociability of the Texans, one even going so far as to picture a member of the Austin colony forcing a stranger at the point of a gun to visit him.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)