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ChaPter three Marriage and Motherhood, 1694–1696 Mehetabel noted the exact date of her arrival in new London in her fifth chronological diary entry: “novembr 2: 1694 i came to new london with my brother John Chandler & his wife.” She did not disclose why she accompanied John, his wife Mary, and their one-year-old son, John, to new London , or whether she had ever been there before. John himself had previously spent time in the area; in fact, he had met Mary, a new London native, while doing some local surveying for Major James Fitch, an agent for the Mohegans and substantial landowner who in 1686 had deeded a fifteen-thousandacre parcel to John Chandler senior and eleven other roxbury shareholders.1 Mehetabel had family roots in new London, as her mother’s parents, William and anne douglas, and three of her siblings—robert, Sarah, and William junior—had moved there decades earlier. William douglas had been one of the town’s original grantees and had subsequently held a number of public offices, including that of deputy to the colony’s General Court. he had also acted as church deacon for several years. both he and anne had died by the time Mehetabel was twelve, however, and in 1689 her mother’s sister Sarah also passed away, a likely victim of the “distemper of sore throat and fever” that had spread throughout new London in the extreme heat of that summer.2 Little is known about Sarah other than that she left behind a husband named John keeny and a grown daughter, Susannah. She had also attained the status of a member of new London’s church, as had her mother. Sarah and anne left behind no personal documents that have survived, and there 37 Chapter Three 38 is evidence that anne, at least, may not have been able to write, since she signed a deposition she gave when making a claim on her father’s estate in england with her mark. Unlike the male members of the douglas family, who all achieved public recognition through roles they played in local affairs, anne’s and Sarah’s names are conspicuously absent from town records. although her aunt and grandparents were no longer alive, the presence of so many other douglas relatives, who by now extended into the fourth generation, likely helped ease Mehetabel’s transition to life in the seaport town. in many ways, new London could not have been more different from Woodstock. Located on the Connecticut coast, at the convergence of Long island Sound, the Thames river, and the atlantic, the town was surrounded by water. The area had originally been part of the homelands of the Pequot tribe, whose numbers had greatly diminished as a result of a 1636–1637 war with the colonists. after the conclusion of the war, John Winthrop Jr., son of the Massachusetts governor and himself a later governor of Connecticut, set about establishing a permanent settlement, with the goal of capitalizing on the potential for trade with the new York dutch and local tribes. Considered the “founder” of new London, the enterprising Winthrop recruited settlers, planned the town’s layout, and organized the local government. his reputation as one of the colonies’ foremost alchemical healers—using what he believed were divinely sanctioned medicines that were developed from metals and minerals rather than plants—ultimately turned new London into a hospital town, attracting prospective patients from across new england . Those unable to make the journey were often treated by Winthrop’s widespread network of female healers, on whom he depended to dispense his pharmaceuticals and advice.3 early settlers quickly established maritime trade networks, and by 1680 new London had become one of Connecticut’s major harbors; new London merchants eventually conducted business with ports around the world. Much of the early trade was coastal; commodities such as wood, grain, livestock , and animal pelts were shipped down the Thames river and on to boston, new York, rhode island, and other destinations, where they were in turn traded for clothing, tools, military supplies, and other goods. The seventeenth century also witnessed the development of a triangular trade: fish obtained in newfoundland by new London vessels were transported together with provisions, horses, and locally produced goods to the West indies, where they were exchanged for sugar, molasses, rum, salt, and cotton. These products were then either brought directly back to new London or carried to boston or new York to be bartered for manufactured goods...

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