Old Age in Early New England

A few weeks ago I became a tour guide with Boston By Foot and will begin giving tours of some of the historic downtown sites beginning in June. That left room to look into what being old in early New England (1600s) might have been like. The research on the subject is sparse since little attention has been given to issues of chronological development and change in that era.

But I did find a book that delves into the topic by John Demos, Past, Present and Personal--The Family and The Life Course in American History. And so we begin with a 10-year old girl named Anne Pollard, who arrived in Boston (Massachusetts Bay Colony) with John Winthrop and his Puritan followers in June 1630, and lived to the ripe old age of 105. For the rest of the story, click here.  

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