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Crystal Roby Dr. Ridner Colonial America 19 March 2013 Paper Essay 2

The Luck of the Draw

Question: Thinking about the seventeenth-century colonies weve been studying (the New England colonies (Massachusetts), VA, and the Middle Colonies (NY and PA), write an essay in which you discuss how SUCCESS was defined in at least two of these colonies.

What is success? The definition of success is the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. The colonies in the New World would define success in different ways. Many of the colonists that travelled to the New World where working-class families, who choose to became indentured servants in order to better their lives. Success could also have been, if colonists could survive the first few months of living in the New World, they took a leap of fate so they could achieve the success they were all looking for by travelling to a new place and to work for strangers, for a certain amount of years. Most Englishmen and women viewed success very differently, men often wanted great wealth or a good reputation, and women wanted to find husbands and raise families, and to be support system to their husbands, but they all believed that they could find their success in the New World, in todays world we could call that the American Dream. The story of social climber William Kendall is the perfect example of success, Pagan should have named the chapter about William Kendalls life, How To Succeed in Life Without Trying, its a story of

2 how a man rose to become some great for that time, he changed his fate, he didnt let anything get in his way, its a very exceptional story, because was an older indentured servant when he travelled to the New World; Kendall was born into a working-class family in Brinton, where his family owned some land. Kendall life was full of ups and downs. Kendall was the youngest child, his father was a tailor; his family consisted of mostly farmers craftsmen. He would later move to the village of Yarmouth where he met a woman named Ruth, who would become his wife. They would have a son named William, but he would later die. Life was not very kind to Kendall, his loss of his wife and son affected him deeply, and whereabouts he wanted to start his life somewhere new. In order to do this he indentured himself to Edward Drew for about five years, in which he would receive his freedom and land to call his. Drew was planter who had been to England to conduct some business, Drew was also illiterate, but that didnt stop the planter to from holding various positions in the community, and he was well respected in the area. Wealthy colonists like Drew were consumed with greed; they were within hold land or other things from their indentured servants. When Drew died, Kendalls services were sold to William Strangbridge. Kendall finished his indentured service in 1654, that meant he would be able to work for good money that he in turn could save so he could buy his own piece of land, and sometimes the law would be in favor of the indentured servant, like for an example Drew withheld some clothes from two of his servants, the in turn sued him and they won their case, therefore Drew had to hand the clothes over to his servants. This really doesnt surprise me, that greed played a major role in some colonists lives, that maybe the only way to achieve they success they wanted you have lose your soul. There were other tactics that Kendall used in order to achieve the success that he wanted. When his former employer Strangbridge died, Strangbridge left Kendall a large amount of money that gave him a wealthy status. When Strangbridge died he left some of his other properties to his wife only if she remarried, even then the property would be in control of the next husband she married. I guess you could view Kendall as some type of con-man who saw an opportunity to increase his wealth. So a decent man can become greater, but sometimes it comes at a big price, so in a way Kendall had lost his soul so he could achieve that status hes wanted all of his life, you kind of have to respect him for that.

The story of Anne Orthwood, who was a young woman indentured servant who travelled from England to find a husband in the New World. At first glance, who wouldnt think that Anne achieved the success that she wanted for herself, I would like to think that she may have broken the cycle of poverty and illegitimacy, even though theres not a lot of information on her son Casper Orthwood, who she had John Kendall, who was the nephew of the powerful and respected leader in the colony William Kendal, who like came to the new from England to start over. Its a heartbreaking story about who wanted to escape her fate. Anne was born to an unwed in 15th century England; Annes childhood was not a happy one, illegitimate children were looked down as if there were trash. When Anne became an adult, she decided to come to the New World in search of building a new life and family there, shortly after arriving in the colony, Anne begins an affair with John that results in a pregnancy the rips through the colony, and further makes Anne and outcast and highlighted how women were viewed and treated in the newly established colony. The settlement of Jamestown was considered a success by the colonists who settled there, they may have a rocky start in dealing with Natives who lived in that area. Many of the colonists that travelled to the New World sometimes didnt make through, so the other colonists who survived the first couple of months in the New World as a success.

Success, its definition is simple, that can be viewed in various ways, and so the many colonists who gave up their lives in England to come to the New World looking for their success and some paid the price for that success. They had to have known, that it wasnt going to be easy and they knew it make cost them their lives. They left the comfort of a life that they were used to in England for a chance at something greater for themselves and their families. I really think that all the colonists who ventured over to the New World were successful, they wanted to change their fate, they wanted to bet greater, and build

4 legacies that were live on after they had died. The fact that they were willing to risk their lives for something really should be admired. I know that sometimes the colonists would use others to achieve their goals that they reaching for.