Struggle and Survival in Colonial America

406 Pages·1981·7.398 MB·English

by  David G. Sweet, Gary B. Nash

STRUGGLE AND SURVIVAL
IN COLONIAL AMERICA

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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1981 by
The Regents of the University of California
Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Struggle and survival in colonial America.
Includes bibliographies.
i. America—History—To 1810 2. America—
History—To 1810—Biography. 3. America—Biography.
I. Sweet, David G. II. Nash, Gary B.
E18.82.S77 92o'.oo9i8i2 80-14413
ISBN 0-520-04110-0
# CONTENTS
General Introduction
GARY B. NASH AND DAVID G. SWEET I
I Survival Through Collective Struggle
Introduction 17
1 Opechancanough: Indian Resistance Leader
J. FREDERICK FAUSZ 21
2 Diego Vasicuio: Native Priest
ANN M. WIGHTMAN 38
3 Red Shoes: Warrior and Diplomat
RICHARD WHITE 49
4 Thomas Peters: Millwright and Deliverer
GARY B. NASH 69
5 Francisco Baquero: Shoemaker and Organizer
LYMAN L. JOHNSON 86
6 Damiana da Cunha: Catechist and Sertanista
MARY KARASCH 102
II Survival Through Individual Defiance
Introduction 123
7 Martín Ocelotl: Clandestine Cult Leader
J. JORGE KLOR DE ALVA 128
8 António de Gouveia: Adventurer and Priest
MANOEL DA SILVEIRA CARDOZO 142
9 Juan de Morga and Gertrudis de Escobar:
Rebellious Slaves
SOLANGE ALBERRO 165
10 Cristóbal Béquer: Wayward Prebend
PAUL B. GANSTER 189
III Survival Through Individual Accommodation
Introduction 211
11 Isabel Moctezuma: Pioneer of Mestizaje
DONALD CHIPMAN 214
12 Squanto: Last of the Patuxets
NEAL SALISBURY 228
13 Beatriz de Padilla: Mistress and Mother
SOLANGE ALBERRO 247
14 Catarina de Monte Sinay:
Nun and Entrepreneur
SUSAN A. SOEIRO 257
15 Francisca: Indian Slave
DAVID G. SWEET 274
IV Survival Through Competition
Introduction 295
16 Miguel Hernández: Master of Mule Trains
John c. super 298
17 Hernando de Valencia: Tax Promoter
FRED BRONNER 311
18 Enrico Martinez: Printer and Engineer
LOUISA SCHELL HOBERMAN 331
19 Jacob Young: Indian Trader and Interpreter
FRANCIS JENNINGS 347
20 Micaela Angela Carrillo:
Widow and Pulque Dealer
EDITH COUTURIER 362
21 Joseph Rachell and Rachael Pringle-Polgreen:
Petty Entrepreneurs
JEROME S. HANDLER 376
Note on Contributors 393
Illustration Credits 397

General Introduction
GARY B. NASH AND DAVID G. SWEET
his collection of essay-biographies had its inception
C-X in a chance meeting during which the editors, a
historian of the United States and a historian of Latin Amer­
ica, discovered that each had long been fascinated by the lives
of little-known but remarkable individual human beings
from the inarticulate lower strata of colonial society. The
experiences of such people, surfacing from time to time in the
documents with which we work, had captured our imagina­
tion in ways different from the ordinary interest in historical
information. These fleeting acquaintances had left us feeling
enlightened and inspired, because their lives provided vivid
insights into the real workings of societies difficult to bring
into focus. They had also left us with some frustration: while
such stories were clearly illuminating, they were difficult to
communicate to serious students of history except as anec­
dotes in classroom lectures.
As we discussed the stratagems by which these men and
women seemed to have coped with their circumstances, it
became clear to us that there was indeed a great deal to be
learned about the colonial period of American history
through a closer examination of the experiences of such ex­
traordinary "ordinary" people. Believing that others must
i
2 & General Introduction
also have stumbled on such characters in the course of their
research on more traditional subjects, we broadcast an appeal
for contributions to a book of capsule biographies of un­
known early Americans and their struggles to survive. The
initial results were promising. Then for more than two years
we coaxed and counseled, corresponding with a great number
of people in many places and at the same time experimenting
with writing serious historical essays about "unimportant
people"—essays that would be both scholarly and entertain­
ing, both substantial and interesting to a general readership.
In the course of doing this we learned that some of the best
stories of individual experience are too fragmentary for ex­
position in essay form, and that more needs to be done with
combining the experiences of many people to sketch compos­
ite pictures of ordinary colonial life. But that will be a dif­
ferent project.
This book assembles some of the fruits of our search. It is a
collaborative effort by twenty people, for the most part un­
known to one another, to break through the crust of a schol­
arship that has focused on political and institutional history
to the nourishing substance of the real history that lies be­
low. In the stories assembled here we provide glimpses of the
hard-to-trace process of social transformation that has been
taking place since earliest times, with the full participation
of all people. "To study the laws of history," wrote Leo
Tolstoy in War and Peace, "we must completely change the
subject of our observation, must leave aside kings, ministers
and generals, and study the common infinitesimally small
elements by which the masses are moved."1 This book,
though not pretending to discover any laws of history, is a
response to Tolstoy's challenge to take a closer look at the
central concerns of most human beings and at the details
surrounding real human experience. It is also a response to
the lesson of social science and our present-day lives and
times that "life is with people" rather than with abstractions.
Our first plan was to group the stories by racial categories,
perhaps even with separate volumes for Indians, blacks,
whites, and racially mixed persons. Race, after all, was a
highly salient factor in colonial America. Colonial society
was organized to a considerable extent around racial distinc­
tions. While the impact of race varied with the modes of