Jane Keen

Topic: CRS Versions
Lynn Rohrbough’s Cooperative Recreation Service grew slowly from the 32 customers he mentioned in 1942. [1]  Larry Holcomb lists four new titles in 1946, seven in 1947, and five in 1948.  Instead of church groups, these were 4-H clubs. [2]  They were in addition to reprints and new editions of existing books. [3]

The musical plates all were made by Jane Keen.  As mentioned in the post for 26 September 2021, Rohrbough met her at the 1936 Northland Recreation Workshop near Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she made stencils of songs introduced by E. O. Harbin.  She began doing piece work for him from her home in Henry, South Dakota, in 1938.

To be useful to CRS, her work had to be as good as that done by a commercial company.  Below is the opening line of a song from Singing America, published by C. C.  Birchard.  Below that is the copy made by Keen.

She probably was using preprinted staff paper.  She had to compress the space between notes for a 3.75" page.  Singing America was 6" wide.  To do this, she had to continue a measure in the first line onto the second.  Birchard had no such needs.  She must have had some knowledge of music to make the break after two beats, so each part of the measure began on the strong pulse.

The first measure includes quarter and eighth notes.  The second has two quarter notes and a half note, while the third begins with a dotted eighth, followed by a sixteenth.  The stems are not quite as vertical as the mechanically produced ones, and the tails are straight, not curved.

Her lettering is narrow to fit the needs of the page.  The words do not all fall under their associated tones.  The “g’s” and the “m” in “blooming” have some flourishes, while she uses italics for the tempo marking.  The uneven fill of the notes may be the result of the printing press, rather than her work.

Her skills improved.  She, no doubt, got feedback from CRS’s customers through Rohrbough.  The plate for “Over the Meadow” was remade in 1944.  The stems of her notes are shorter: the C at the end of the first measure no longer extends below the staff lines.

Most of the changes accommodated singers with elementary skills in reading music.  Instead of a single verse with the music, and the others below, more verses are placed with the notes.  The eighth notes are connected by tie lines that replaced the tails.  Their length varies, so the text is almost always aligned with the tones.  The bowl of the half note is completely horizontal.

Around 1947, she moved to Delaware, Ohio.  This allowed easier communication with CRS, and exposed her to new ideas.  The next plate for “Over the Meadows” again simplifies the notation. The eighth notes are re-separated, with curved tails that are close to the original printed version.  They are spaced for the text.  The half note again is angled and the stems have returned to their former heights.

Keen completed more than 2,000 plates before Rohrbough bought a music typewriter in 1956. [4]  Then, she did an additional 500 more before she died in 1960. [5]

The plate for “Over the Meadows” was redone in 1957 to add guitar chords.  The key was changed to make it easier for a beginning instrumentalist.  All the stems are exactly the same length, and perfectly perpendicular.  While most of the words appear below their texts, the first word of the first verse remains a problem.

Notes on Performers
Keen’s father’s family migrated to the Hudson River valley of New York probably sometime in the 1750s. [6]  The earliest ancestor born in this country, Jacob Keen, was born in Orange County, New York, in 1758. [7]  Her great-grandfather moved from there to Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in the Poconos mountain, where he ran a sawmill and took in boarders. [8]

Her parents and great-grandparents settled in Garden City, South Dakota, [9] perhaps after her parents married in 1890 in Gravity, Pennsylvania. [10]  In 1915, her father, Edward Keen, was managing the local telephone company in nearby Henry. [11]  Jennie, as she then was called, [12] first came to public notice in 1913 when she won a scholarship for having the highest grades in Codington County. [13]  She probably quit school soon after her mother died in April of that year. [14]

The next public notice, this time for Jane Keen, appeared in 1923 when she was a supervisor of the Codington County girl’s club. [15]  By 1926, she was a 4-H leader, and in 1930 secretary for the state 4-H leaders’ association. [16]

She was sufficiently important in 1936 that Horace Jones, director of 4-H in South Dakota, took her to the Northland Recreation Laboratory when he was invited by the organizer, Fred Smith, to attend. [17]  She must have discovered puppetry at the spring workshop, [18] because in June she staged a puppet show at a local 4-H camp.  Jones led the singing. [19]  At State Club Week in October, she put on another marionette program, while Peter Olson taught folk games. [20]  He also had been at the Northland meeting. [21]

Codington County escaped the worst effects of the early Depression, which mainly hit central and western South Dakota.  However, the county population dropped 2.4%. [22]  Keen’s father’s telephone company probably had been merged into another years before, and telephone usage in rural areas, in general, started dropping in the 1920s. [23]  Whatever other employment Edward found, it is not the kind to appear on the internet.  With crop failures in the county in 1934, he may have lost his job.  Sometime in or after 1935, her obituary says she became a recreation leader for the WPA. [24]

Her name last appears in Huron, South Dakota, in 1946 when she was awarded a silver pin for twenty-years service as a 4-H leader. [25]   Her father had died in 1944, [26] and she moved to Delaware, Ohio, when she was 49 years old.  Mary Lea Bailey remembers when she visited the Rohrboughs in 1948, “she was working in the barn behind the Rohrbough house.” [27]

Keen died in 1960 when she tried to avoid a dog in the road and swerved into oncoming traffic.  She then was president of the Delaware Business Girls Club and still in touch with three cousins in Pennsylvania. [28]  Someone returned her ashes to Garden City and erected a headstone near those of her family. [29]

Life may never have been easy for Keen.  Bob Nolte recalled she “had a residual limp from childhood polio” and had an “uncorrected overbite.” [30]  Her mother suffered from inflammatory rheumatism for six years before she died. [31]  Even so, Keen was experimenting with writing as early as 1910, [32] and, in 1931, won a prize in a photography contest sponsored by Popular Science. [33]

By 1934, the local newspaper in Henry gave her space each week to publicize 4-H activities.  She sent a cartoon to National 4-H Club News that shows her lettering abilities and skills as a draughtsman when she was 36 years old.

She accompanied her submission with a note that indicated a sense of humor helps “especially since they lost their county agents and have to contend with drouth and hoppers.” [34]

The posts for 8 May 2022, 15 May 2022, 2022and 29 May  have more on her lettering skills.

Graphics
1.  “Over the Meadows.”  Czech tune with English words by A. D. Z.  53 in Singing America.  Boston: C. C. Birchard and Company, 1940.  Copy from the office of the Battle Creek, Michigan, Camp Fire Girls.  Singing America is discussed in the post for 26 September 2021.

2.  Jane Keen autograph for “Over the Meadows.”  Czech folk song from SINGING AMERICA, by permission of A. D. Zanzig.  27 in Joyful Singing, prepared for The National Convocation of the Methodist Youth Fellowship.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Custom Printed Songs.  The MYF meeting was held in 1944.  Joyful Singing is discussed in the post for 20 February 2022.

3.  Jane Keen autograph for “Over the Meadows.”  Czech song from Singing America, by permission of A. D. Zanzig.  22 in Songs of Many Nations, for Evangelical and Reformed Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Custom Printed Songs, 1944.  The editor probably was Edward Schlingman.  The songbook is discussed in the post for 20 February 2022.

4.  Jane Keen autograph for “Over the Meadows.”  Czech song from SINGING AMERICA, by permission of A. D. Zanzig.  16 in Sing Along the Way, edited by Marie Oliver for the YWCA’s Woman’s Press.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service.  Same cover and most of the same songs as the 1951, fifth printing.  I assume this was earlier, and the date was added to avoid confusion.  This songbook is discussed in the post for 20 March 2022.

5.  “Over the Meadows,” English by A. D. Z., plate made by Jane Keen using a music typewriter.  8 in Sing Along, edited by Mary Wheeler, Lura Mohrbacher, and Augustus D. Zanzig for the YWCA’s National Board, Bureau of Communications.  Czech song from SINGING AMERICA, by permission.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, Cooperative Song Service, revised 1957.

6.  Cartoon by Jane Keen published by National 4-H Club News 12(6):2:June–July 1934.

End Notes
1.  Rohrbough’s 1942 list is discussed in the post for 20 February 2022.

2.  Larry Nial Holcomb.  “A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service.”  PhD dissertation.  University of Michigan, 1972.  106–107.  One songbook was for Azalea Trails.  In 1976, it was sponsored by San Gorgonio Girl Scout Council of Colton, California.

3.  This is a conservative estimate.  I have purchased more that these on the internet that were published in this time period.

4.  “How a Sampler Is Made.”  Song Sampler Number 3:7–8:July 1956.  Quoted by Holcomb. 134.

5.  “Jane Keen Dies After Head-On Collision.”  The Delaware Gazette, Delaware, Ohio, 31 December 1960.  Copy provided by Joe O’Rourke, Delaware County District Library, Delaware, Ohio.

6.  James G. Leyburn.  The Scotch-Irish.  Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1962.  244.

7.  Dea Lowry.  “Jacob Keen.”  Geni website; last updated 10 November 2018.

8.  Rhamanthus Menville Stocker.   History of the First Presbyterian Society of Honesdale.  Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press Association, 1906.  194 on George Murray Keen.  It was a coal mining and glass making area then.  Tourists probably arrived later. [35]

9.  Blanch Flanigan.  “George M Keen.”  Find a Grave website, 15 January 2012.  He is Jane’s paternal grandfather and died in 1925.  Her uncle also moved with the family. [36]

10.  “Death of Mrs. Cybil H. Keen.”  The Citizen, Honesdale, Pennsylvania, 8 April 1913.  1.  Posted to the internet by makummerer on 30 April 2015.

11.  “Henry Union Telephone Company v. Dakota Central Union Telephone Company.”  In Public Utilities Reports, edited by Henry Clifford Spurr and Ellsworth Nichols.  Rochester, New York: The Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company, 1915.  938.  Codington County abuts Clark County, with Garden City, on the east.

12.  Her full name may have been Samantha Jane. [37]  “Jenny” had been a nickname for “Jane” in the family since the early 1800s. [38]

13.  “A Story from the West.”  The Citizen, Honesdale, Pennsylvania, 17 January 1913.  8.  Posted to the internet by makummerer on 30 April 2015.

14.  “Death of Mrs. Cybil H. Keen.”

15.  “Leader’s Cartoon.”  National 4-H Club News 12(6):2:June–July 1934.  Four-H became active in South Dakota in 1919. [39]  For more on the history of the rural youth group, see the post for 3 October 2021.

16.  Item.  “County, State and National News.”  National 4-H Club News 24(1):8:January 1946.  The government paid 4-H agents, but leaders were volunteers.  Her position as secretary may not have been paid.

17.  Bob Nolte.  Northland Recreation Lab: A History.  1984. 7.  Copy provided by Heidi Ryan, 21 June 2016. 13.  Minneapolis is about 200 miles due east of Watertown, the seat of Codington County. [40]  Northland is discussed in the post for 26 September 2021.

18.  Nolte.  “Jane Keen.”  13–14 in Nolte.  13.  He called her a “classic introvert” and believed she chose puppetry because “she could hide behind the set and project her usually restrained personality through the puppets.”  His memory may have confused her with Deborah Simmons Meador who was a puppeteer in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  She ran part of the WPA program on puppetry and offered workshops.  Either she, or one of her students, must have taught Keen at Northland.  Meador argued: “by protecting the children from the sight of the audience, it frees them from self consciousness.” [41]

19.  Evelyn Htrtatgei.  “Girls Enthuse About 4-H Camp Raymond Club Members Had Good Time At Lake Kampeska; Want To Return.”  The Daily Plainsman, Huron, South Dakota, 26 June 1936.  4.  Some errors introduced by digitization.

20.  Item.  The Evening Huronite, Huron, South Dakota, 26 October 1936.  20.
21.  Nolte.  15.

22.  W. F. Kumlien.  Graphic Summary of the Relief Situation in South Dakota (1930-1935).  Brookings, South Dakota: Agricultural Experiment Station South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Bulletin 310, May 1937.  53.

23.  Claude S. Fischer.  “Technology’s Retreat: The Decline of Rural Telephony in the United States, 1920-1940.”  Social Science History 11(3):295–327:Autumn 1987.

24.  “Jane Keen Dies.”  The WPA recreation program included puppetry. [42]
25.  National 4-H Club News, 1946.
26.  Blanch Flanigan.  “Edward L. Keen.”  Find a Grave website.  15 January 2012.
27.  Mary Lea Bailey.  Email to John Blocher, Jr., 25 June 2016.
28.  “Jane Keen Dies.”
29.  Blanch Flanigan.  “Jane Keen.”  Find a Grave website, 15 January 2012.
30.  Nolte.  13.  He added that as soon as she was able, she had corrective dental work done.

31.  “Death of Mrs. Cybil H. Keen.”  Inflammatory rheumatism was a generic term for debilitative anti-immune system diseases.

32. “Story from the West.”
33.  “Winners of First Contest.”  Popular Science Monthly, October 1931.  78.
34.  “Leader’s Cartoon.”

35.  Corinne K. Hoexter.  “A Colorful Corner of Pennsylvania.”  The New York Times, 31 May 1987.
 
Michael O’Malley.  “Wayne County: A History Deep and Clear.”  Pennsylvania Heritage, Summer 1988.

36.  Blanch Flanigan.  “Willard N Keen.”  Find a Grave website, 15 January 2012.  He was born in 1863 and died in 1931.

37.  “Ed L Keen.”  My Heritage website.
38.  “Matthias Keen.”  Ancestry website.  He was Jacob’s son and George Murray’s father.
39.  “History.”  South Dakota State Fair website.
40.  Google Maps.

41.  Curt Brown.  “Puppetry Lifted St. Paul Woman from Poverty.”  Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 17 July 2017.

42.  George H. Field.  Final Report on the WPA Program for 1935–43.  Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1946.  62.

Civil War in Barbados - 1648–1652

Topic: Gullah History
The end of hostilities in the English Civil War in 1647 did not bring peace.  Parliament still was divided between supporters of Charles I, Presbyterians, and Puritans. [1]  The fleet mutinied in May, because men had not been paid. [2]  Charles’ younger son, James, was given command of the rebel fleet when it reached Holland.  Francis Willoughby was named its vice-admiral. [3]

Meanwhile, Charles had concluded a secret treaty with the Scots.  They agreed to invade England, if Charles established Presbyterianism. [4]  The invasion began in summer of 1648.  Willoughby returned to command a unit. [5]  The uprising was put down in August, and leaders were treated as traitors. [6]  Most of the fleet returned to Parliament. [7]

Six ships remained with Willoughby when he returned to Holland. [8]  The son of Charles’ sister Elizabeth took charge of them. [9]  Rupert planned to turn them into pirates attacking English ships to raise money for his uncle. [10]  The cost of maritime insurance increased. [11]  Dutch ships were able to offer lower prices to planters in Barbados.

The New Model Army became alarmed when Presbyterian members of Parliament began negotiating terms for Charles to be restored.  Thomas Fairfax, mentioned in the post for 10 April 2022, enabled a coup led by Oliver Cromwell’s son-in-law, Henry Ireton.  Ireton then prevented the full House of Commons from meeting. [12]

The members deemed safe by Ireton tried Charles I for treason and hanged him in January 1649. [13]  The Scots declared his son, also Charles, their king in early February. [14]  When news reached Bermuda, it declared Charles Stuart king on July 5. [15]  Virginia, whose governor commanded the Royal army in Exeter, also supported Charles II of Scotland. [16]  The governor of Barbados, Philip Bell, kept the island neutral.

The Rump Parliament organized a Council of State to replace the king and his court. [17]  The navy was reorganized in February, and, in March, Parliament ordered new ships be built to combat piracy. Thereafter, it continued to add to the fleet. [18]

Parliament acted against Willoughby in December 1649, when it seized his estates. [19]  He left for Holland to get Charles Stuart to confirm his rights to Barbados. [20]  Stuart’s counselors saw the island as an important ally and recommended he appoint Willoughby governor, [21] on the condition he move there. [22]

Most news reached Barbados by merchant ships.  Since travel times could be two months or longer, reports from England always were obsolete.

Henry Walrond arrived on Barbados sometime in 1649, with his brother Edward. [23]  As mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022, his family’s land was in western Somerset.  He had connections with a more noble family in Devon, but his great-great-great-grandfather had been a younger son. [24]

Little has been written about Walrond on the island, until he began working to take control in 1650.  He probably did not arrive with the resources of Thomas Modyford.  This means he probably was not aware of land prices on the first landing in the Caribbean, nor that land was available on other islands.  Modyford’s original instructions had been to go to Antigua.  Only the yellow fever epidemic kept him on Barbados. [25]

Whether Walrond heard that Willoughby intended to take over the island for Charles Stuart, [26] or if he was driven by other forces is not known.  Apart from being unable to buy land, he may have been angry at men who had prospered while he was in jail. [27]  He also may have had a feudal view that only the gentry should become wealthy: the men he attacked were all self-made men who rose through talent and an ability to invent new ways of doing things.

In 1650, he engineered the removal of the treasurer appointed by the General Assembly, which gave him control of the arsenal. [28]  James Drax blunted his attempts to join Bermuda. [29]  In April, Walrond began organizing other young immigrants against Drax and others seen as supporting Parliament. [30]

Willoughby’s ship arrived on April 29, [31] but did not make its presence official until May 7. [32]  When Willoughby announced himself, he informed Bell that he now held the legitimate commission to be governor. [33]  Walrond convinced Willoughby to visit other islands in James Hay’s grant. [34]  They’d heard rumors Rupert was coming, and he might arrive anytime. [35]

With Willoughby gone, Walrond had the Assembly named Drax, Constant Silvester, and Thomas Middleton as disturbers of the peace. [36]  On May 11, he ordered all dissenters leave the island by July 2, a date before Willoughby’s planned return.  He reordered men out on May 23, [37]  and set up a commission to handle their estates. [38]  On June 13, he place Drax under house arrest. [39]  Drax left for London. [40]

Stuart landed in Scotland on June 23. [41]  Rupert finally headed for the Caribbean, but was foiled by a September storm near the Azores that sank one of his ships. [42]

Willoughby returned to Barbados on July 29, [43] and removed Walrond.  He then repealed the acts of sequestration, [44] and made peace with Modyford who had tried to negotiate earlier with Walrond. [45]  Willoughby also sent John Colleton to visit London merchants as his emissary. [46]

When Parliament heard news from Barbados, it passed as an act of October 3 forbidding trade with the island. [47]  It also ordered part of its new fleet to head to the island. [48]  The Dutch told the island about the fleet in February 1650, and Willoughby began strengthening the island’s defenses. [49]  He also reinstated the sequestering of estates and destroyed their livestock. [50]

Back in England, the New Model Army moved toward Perth, which allowed Stuart to invade England. [51]  A fleet, under George Ayscue, finally set sail for Barbados on August 5, with Drax on board. [ 52]

Cromwell defeated Stuart at Worcester on September 3, [53] but news reached Barbados in October that Stuart had been victorious and retaken London. [54]  Soon after, Ayscue sailed into Carlisle Bay and seized 14 ships from Dutch merchants. [55]  He took their provisions, and dispatched them to other islands to obtain water. [56]

Willoughby responded by stationing armed men around the island’s perimeter. [57]  Ayscue decide to blockade the island and starve it into submission. [58]

News reached Ayscue on November 12 that Stuart had been defeated.  He began sending messages to Willoughby, who still believed Stuart had won. [59]  When things remained stalled, Ayscue began trying to reach Modyford, who had learned the true state of affairs in England. [60]

Finally, on 3 January 1652, Modyford acted.  He and his regiment changed sides. [61]  Willoughby refused to negotiate until January 9. [62]  Finally, a treaty was signed on January 11 that restored everyone’s land to them, including Willoughby’s in England. [63]  Planters gained everything they had been demanding since the beginning of the war.  Daniel Seale became the governor. [64]

In March, the General Assembly banished Willoughby and Walrond for a year. [65]  Later the banishments were extended.  Willoughby probably went to the coast of Guiana where he had established a colony in what is now Surinam. [66]

Parliament was forced to accept that new status of the island on 18 August 1652. [67]  Soon after, Willoughby returned to England to resume ownership of his estate. [68]

Less is known about Walrond after his banishment.  On 5 August 1653, Philip IV granted him a Spanish title.  It is assumed he must have entered Philip’s service, perhaps in the Caribbean. [69]  A family genealogists notes these “‘vizcondados previos’ titles were created with fiscal purposes, as the beneficiaries had to pay a fairly large amount of money in order to obtain them.” [70]

Rupert finally made it to the Caribbean in March 1652, only to sail past Barbados.  Another hurricane struck his fleet, this one killing his brother Maurice on September 13. [71]  Rupert returned with the remains of his ships to France.  When he sold the ships and booty [72] in March 1653, his Stuart cousin took half the profits.  Charles saw it as his right as the oldest son of a king to take the earnings of an entrepreneur.  In a way, the war was fought to assert the superiority of the Stuarts and Walronds over self-made men like Drax and Silvester.

Rupert retired to the continent. [73]

End Notes
1.  “English Civil War.”  Wikipedia website.

2.  Ben Coates.  “The Impact of the English Civil War on the Economy of London, 1642-1650.”  PhD dissertation.  University of Leicester, June 1997.  152.

3.  Charles Harding Firth.  “Willoughby, Francis.”  62:31– 35 in Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sidney Lee.  London: Smith, Elder and Company, 1900.  62:33.  Willoughby is introduced in post for 10 April 2022.

4.  N. Darnell Davis.  Cavaliers and Roundheads in Barbados.  Georgetown, British Guiana: Argosy Press, 1887.  3.

5.  “Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham.”  Wikipedia website.
6.  “English Civil War.”
7.  “Prince Rupert of the Rhine.”  Wikipedia website.
8.  Robert H. Schomburgk.  The History of Barbados.  London: Longman, 1848.  269.

9.  David Plant.  “Biography of Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham.”  British Civil Wars Project website; last updated 19 January 2010.  The older sister of Charles I, Elizabeth, married Frederick V, Elector Palatine. [74]  The couple had thirteen children.  Rupert was the third son; Maurice was the fourth. [75]  Since they were not in the line of succession, they became mercenary soldiers during the Thirty Years War in Europe. [76]

10.  “Prince Rupert.”
11.  Coates.  36.
12.  “Rump Parliament.”  Wikipedia website.
13.  “English Civil War.”
14.  “Timeline of the English Civil War.”  Wikipedia website.
15.  “English Civil War.”

16.  Davis.  4-5.  The governor of Virginia was William Berkeley.  The commander at Exeter had been his brother, John Berkeley. [77]

17.  “Timeline of the English Civil War.”

18.  Rif Winfield.  British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603–1714.  Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing, 2009.  1652.

19.  Firth.  62:33.

20.  The transfer of Hay’s grant for Barbados to Willoughby is mentioned in the posts for 23 January 2022 and 10 April 2022.

21.  Schomburgk.  270.

22.  Antigua and the Antiguans: a Full Account of the Colony and Its Inhabitants.  London: Saunders and Otley, 1844.  2:350.  The author is assumed to be Mrs. Lanaghan, possibly Francis T. Lanaghan. [78]

23.  “Humphrey Walrond.”  Wikipedia website.

24.  Bernard Burke.  A Genealogical and Herlardic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland.  London: Harrison, 1862.  1625.

25.  Richard Ligon.  A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes.  London: Peter Parker, 1673.  21.  “Our intention at first was not to stay long there, but only to sell our goods, cattle, and horses, and so away to Antigua where we intended to plant: but the ships being for the most part infected with this disease and ourselves being unprovided of hands for a new plantation by reafon of the miscarrying of a fhip, which set out before us from Plymouth a month before, with men victuals, and all utensils fitted for a plantation we were compelled to stay longer in the island.”  He arrived during the yellow fever epidemic mentioned in the post for 27 March 2022.  The original is:

“Our intention at firft: was not to ftay long there, but onely to fell our Goods, Cattle, and Horfes, and fo away to Antigoa: where we intended to plant: but the fhips being for the moft part infected with this difeafe and our felves bting unprovided of hands for a new Plantation by reafon of the mifcarrying of a fhip, which fet out before us from Plimonth a month before, with men victuals, and all utenfils fitted for a Plantation we were compelled to ftay longer in the
Ifland.”

26.  Davis believes the news probably had reached Barbados by then. [79]
27.  This is mentioned in the post for 10 April 2022.
28.  Davis, 140, and Schomburgk, 270.

29.  Davis, 141, and Schomburgk, 270.  Drax is introduced in the post for 17 January 2022.

30.  Davis.  138, 140, 141.
31.  Davis.  160.
32.  Davis, 161, and Schomburgk, 270.
33.  Schomburgk.  271.
34.  Davis.  161, 163.
35.  Davis.  138.
36.  Davis.  164.  Silvester and Middleton are discussed in the post for 27 March 2022.
37.  Davis.  166.
38.  Davis.  168.
39.  Davis.  171–172.
40.  Davis.  173.
41.  “English Civil War.”
42.  Davis.  195.
43.  Davis.  173.
44.  Davis.  174.
45.  Davis.  173.
46.  Davis.  175.
47.  Davis.  186–187, 189.
48.  Davis.  189.
49.  Davis.  196.
50.  Davis.  200.
51.  “English Civil War.”
52.  Davis.  193.
53.  “English Civil War.”
54.  Davis.  208.
55.  Davis.  210, 212.
56.  Davis.  214.
57.  Davis.  212.
58.  Davis.  215.
59.  Davis.  220.
60.  Davis.  233–234.
61.  Davis.  239–240.
62.  Davis.  243.
63.  Davis.  249–250.
64.  Davis.  255.
65.  Davis.  256.
66.  Davis, 203, and “Francis Willoughby.”
67.  Davis.  250.
68.  “Francis Willoughby.”
69.  “Humphrey Walrond.”

70.  Paige Miller.  “Humphrey Walrond (abt. 1602 - bef. 1693).”  Wiki Tree website, 15 December 2019; last updated 29 Nov 2021.  Miller also notes that “a primary source for this title is yet to be located.”

71.  Davis.  258.
72.  Davis.  259.
73.  “Prince Rupert.”
74.  “James VI and I.”  Wikipedia website.
75.  “Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia.”  Wikipedia website.
76.  “Prince Rupert.”

77.  Eugene A. Andriette.  Devon and Exeter in the Civil War.  Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles, 1971.

78.  Gregory Frohnsdorff.  “‘Before the Public’: Some Early Libraries of Antigua.” Libraries and Culture 38(1):1–23:Winter 2003.

79.  Davis.  137–138.

Civil War in Barbados - 1645–1647

Topic: Gullah History
Politics on Barbados during the Civil War in England was driven by attempts of the proprietor, the younger James Hay, to gain control of the island from its trustees and creditors.  These were countered by the planters, who resisted his attempts to raise the money he needed.

In June 1643, the governor, Philip Bell, offered to yield his share of rents collected on the island if the assembly would pay him a salary.  This made him their representative, not Hay’s.  In April of the following year, the trustees agreed to stop demanding past-due taxes and confirm titles, if the Barbados assembly would accept a new rent schedule. [1]

The tides of the war began changing in England in the summer of 1645, when Parliament formed the New Model Army. [2]  Francis Willoughby had raised a regiment in 1643 that was stationed in Lincolnshire, [3] where Richard Ligon had lost his money. [C4]  He was typical of the nobility who found it hard to take orders from others.  Oliver Cromwell complained about the behavior of his men.  As a member of the House of Lords, he opposed the formation of the army and became a leader of the Presbyterians, [5] who were suspected of covertly supporting Charles I. [6]

1645 was the year Brazilians rebelled against the Dutch, and the price of sugar soared. [7]  This also was when John Winthrop and Constant Silvester became active in supplying the island with necessities. [8]

In July, the newly organized army took back Bridgewater.  Humphrey Walrond was one of the men the general, Thomas Fairfax, demanded be ceded.  His property was sequestered, and by October he was in jail. [9]

By July, the planters on Barbados were saying they would not pay rents until Hay came to island and negotiated with them directly. [10]  Charles heard a rumor that Hay was planning an alliance with Robert Rich, commander of Parliament’s navy, and regranted the Caribbean islands to John Ley. [11]  Bell persuaded the Barbados assembly to assert its neutrality. [12]  Ligon was later told “some of them of the better sort” vowed not to use the words “Roundhead or Cavalier” in public. [13]

Ley arrived in Barbados in August to assert his position, then moved on to the Leeward Islands also owned by Hay.  Parliament responded by abandoning Rich’s claim on behalf of the heirs of William Courteen in favor of Hay. [14]

Things remained at an impasse on Barbados.  In England, Fairfax moved towards Exeter in October 1645, but rain stopped his advance. [15]  He settled to the east and blocked the supply of goods to the city from that direction. [16]  George Goring’s royalist troops were pillaging to the west. [17]

Things were looking grim for Charles by the end of the year.  He ordered his son to leave Exeter; he had sent the fifteen-year boy there in September as symbolic commander of his troops. [18]

Fairfax finally prevailed in April 1646, when Exeter surrendered.  Everyone was allowed to leave the garrison and city if they took an oath not to fight again.  In addition, those who actively supported Charles had to send a plea to Parliament.  The usual fine was the value of two years’ income from their properties. [19]

Charles was captured in Nottinghamshire in May, [20] and Parliament was able to address the petitions from men whose property had been seized.  Thomas Modyford filed his appeal in May 1646, and received his fine that August. [21]  In June, Walrond was free and his fine was accessed. [22]

Hay’s problems became more severe in January 1647, when Parliament issued a demand for a loan.  He was too far in debt to contribute.  On the 23rd, he sold his lease to Willoughby.  [23]  In July, Willoughby was elected speaker of the House of Lords in July.  Two months later, the New Model Army arrived in London and arrested him. [24]  When he was released in December, he fled to the Netherlands. [25]

By then, Modyford was in Barbados as an agent for Thomas Kendall.  The latter was born in Cornwall in 1609, [26] and had married Modyford’s sister by 1636 when their oldest son was born. [27]  In 1639, Kendall was elected bailiff in 1939, when his father-in-law’s father-in-law, Robert Walker, was mayor. [28]  In the interim, he had been in Lisbon where he was involved in trade with Brazil. [29]  He apparently spent the war years in London, where he was associated with the London Merchant Adventurers, who sold unfinished cloth to the Netherlands. [30]

Kendall probably saw the profits being made in trade with the Caribbean, but did not quite trust Modyford’s commercial instincts.  He sent Ligon and another partner with him [31] when Modyford set said in June. [32]

End Notes
1.  J. H. Bennett.  “The English Caribbees in the Period of the Civil War, 1642-1646.”  The William and Mary Quarterly 24(3):359–377:July1967.  371.

2.  “New Model Army.”  Wikipedia website.  The ordinance establishing the army was passed on 6 January 1645, but it took time to get units organized.

3.  “Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham.”  Wikipedia website.

4.  The drainage program is mentioned in the post for 7 November 2021.  Ligon’s loss is mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022.

5.  “Francis Willoughby.”  Depredations committed by armies on both sides until the New Model Army. [33]

6.  “New Model Army.”
7.  This is discussed in the post for 17 January 2022.
8.  They are discussed in the post for 27 March 2022.
9.  “Humphrey Walrond.”  Wikipedia website.
10.  Bennett.  372.

11.  Bennett.  373.  Ley was the Earl of Marlborough.  As mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022, Rich also was head of the Commission of Plantations.

12.  Bennett.  373.

13.  Richard Ligon.  A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes.  London: Peter Parker, 1673.  57.

14.  Bennett.  373.

15.  Eugene A. Andriette.  Devon and Exeter in the Civil War.  Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles, 1971.  155.  Exeter is shown on the map with the post for 3 April 2022.

16.  Andriette.  131.
17.  Andriette.  136.  Goring is mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022.
18.  Andriette.  134.
19.  Andriette.  166.
20.  “Timeline of the English Civil War.”  Wikipedia website.

21.  Jane Stevenson.  “Richard Ligon and the Theatre of Empire.”  285–309 in Shaping the Stuart World, 1603 - 1714: The Atlantic Connection, edited by Allan I. MacInnes and Arthur H. Williamson.  Leiden: Brill, 2006.  289.

22.  “Francis Willoughby.”

23.  Bennett.  377.  Robert H. Schomburgk says the imprisoned Charles agreed to the transfer. [34]

24.  “Francis Willoughby.”  Schomburgk says Willoughby was “suspected of being connected with the intrigues of the Earl of Suffolk, Lord Hundesden, Lord Maynard, the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Barkley, and the Earl of Middlesex.” [35]

25.  Willoughby escaped to Holland in March 1647. [36]

26.  John. P. Ferris.  “Kendall, Thomas (1609-66), of Chiswick, Mdx.”  In The House of Commons, 1660-1690, edited by Basil Duke Henning.  London: Secker and Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1983.

27.  “Grace Modyford.”  Ancestry website.

28.  Richard Izacke.  Antiquities of the City of Exeter.  London: E. Tyler and R. Holt for Richard Marriot, 1677.  See the post for 3 April 2022 for more on Walker, and the importance of these offices.

29.  Bennett.  81.

30.  “Company of Merchant Adventurers of London.”  Marine Lives website.  They specialized in the “export of English cloth, especially undyed, white, broadcloth.”

31.  Ligon.  22.  “Upon this Plantation I lived with these two partners a while, but with Colonel Modyford three years: for the other went for England, and left Colonel Modyford to manage the employment alone: and I to give what assistance I could for the benefit of both: which I did partly at their requests and partly at the instance of Mr. Thomas Kendall who reposed much confidence in me, in case Colonel Modyford should miscarry in the voyage.”

The original is: “Upon this Plantation I lived with thefe two partners a while, But with Colonel Modiford three years: for the other went for England, and left Colonel Modiford to manage the imployment alone: and I to give what affiftance I could for the benefit of both: which I did partly
at their requefts and partly at the inftance of Mr. Thomas Kendal who repofed much confidence in me, in cafe Colonel Modiford thould mif-carry in the Voyage.”

32.  Ligon.  1.
33.  “New Model Army.”
34.  Robert H. Schomburgk.  The History of Barbados.  London: Longman, 1848.  269.
35.  Schomburgk.  269.
36.  Schomburgk.  269.

Civil War in Barbados: 1642–1644

Topic: Gullah History
Civil War was brewing in England long before it broke out on 22 August 1642.  Few were ready to take sides, and most who did had personal reasons.  For instance, during the summer of 1642 individuals in the Fen district of eastern England rebelled against drainage schemes promoted by Charles I.  They became supporters of Parliament, [1] and Richard Ligon, who had been an investor, became a Royalist. [2]

On Barbados, cotton and tobacco still were the main crops.  James Hay was still trying to pay off the debts of his father, the first James Hay, so he could inherit Barbados and the other Caribbean islands claimed by his father. When the planters heard rumors of Parliament’s activities in January 1642, they refused to pay their rents to Hay until they got approval from Parliament. [3]

When Charles learned Barbados had not sprung to his support in January 1643, he ordered Hay to replace the governor, Philip Bell, with a man selected by himself.  The trustees of Hay’s estate, who had their own interests in maintaining trade on the island, intervened. [4]

In March 1643, Parliament passed the Sequestration Ordinance, which allowed it to collect the rents of people who were actively supporting Charles. [5]  This was aimed at men who owned land, [6] but merchants in London saw potential dangers in Parliament’s attempts to raise funds to support its army.  This is when they began investing their movable income in land on Barbados. [7]

Meantime, as armies were formed in England, people were forced to take sides.  In the west country, shown in the map above, Cornwall, at the far left, supported Charles.  The peninsula was in an area where the western Amorica and eastern Avalonia plates joined to close an ocean basin many millennia ago.  Since the area west of the river flowing to Exeter was lifted, the granite area had been mined for tin. [8]  It enjoyed royal protection and became a safe haven for his troops. [9]

The central part of Devon, the county east of Cornwall generally supported Charles, and provided a roadway for armies going to and from Cornwall.  Much of the inland east of the river flowing from the north through Exeter was devoted to sheep, while the ports on both the north and south coasts supported fishermen.  Exeter was the exception.  It became the center for merchants who collected woven goods from the interior and shipped them to the Netherlands for finishing. [10]  Landowners, who held obligations to the king that dated back centuries, supported Charles, while merchants supported free trade promoted by Parliament. [11]

Since the port of London was controlled by Parliament, Charles’ armies secured all the west country ports, except Plymouth, to maintain supply lines with Ireland and France.  Garrisons were maintained in the cities, but citizens were expected to provide housing and food for the soldiers.  Groups raided the countryside for food, animals, firewood, and other supplies.  Nearly all could be vicious, but those of George Goring were the worst. [12]

Henry Walrond’s lands were in Somerset, the county to the northeast of Devon.  Ilminster is in the south where armies marched.  He joined one of the bands of citizens that formed to protect themselves from marauders.  When Bridgewater, the port on the river flowing into Bristol Channel, was taken in June of 1643, he claimed “he was robbed by the king’s soldiers and driven into the garrison at Bridgewater.” [13]

Charles established his headquarters in Exeter after the city surrendered in September 1643.  John Berkeley, brother of Virginia’s governor, was appointed governor. [14]  Thomas Modyford was made a county commissioner for Devon. [15]

Little has been written about Modyford’s background.  The family lands were in Halberton. [16]  This is in eastern Exeter in the little arc south of Taunton.  It is thought they had come from Somerset. [17]  One would guess, his father, John Modyford, became a middleman who purchased woolen goods in the country and sold them to export merchants in Exeter.  This placed him somewhere in the middle of the social structure in the port.

Before the Royal takeover, Exeter was governed by a council of twenty-four controlled by the merchant guild.  Each year a man was elected mayor and four were made bailiffs.  The latter actually were tax collectors. [18]

His father’s rise began in 1602 when he was elected bailiff in Exeter in 1602.  He was bailiff again in 1612, [19] when he bought land within Saint Mary Arches, [20] the Puritan-leaning merchant parish. [21]  The next year he was elected sheriff, [22] which was a county, [23] not city office.  His father-in-law, Thomas Walker, [24] was mayor in 1614.  Modyford held the office in 1622, and Walker again in 1625. [25]  When he died in 1628, John had half the wealth of Walker. [26]

Modyford was eight-years-old when his father died, and could not inherit money until 1642.  He apparently was raised to be the landowner, but did not gain his property until his mother died. [28]  His brother James was apprenticed to a merchant company in the Levant. [29]  His sister Grace married Thomas Kendall, who became a merchant in London. [30]

1643 was the year James Drax made his fortune in selling sugar. [31]  In November, Parliament asserted oversight of foreign colonies, and appointed Robert Rich head of the Commission on Plantations. [32]  Back in 1638, when Hay began demanding his then governor, Henry Hawley, forward monies owed the estate, Hawley began supporting Rich’s scheme to take over Barbados for the heirs of William Courteen. [33]  When Hay fired Hawley, he returned to Barbados and claimed the island now belonged to Rich. [34]

While Hay was finessing demands from Rich and Charles, Bell was investing in his plantation.  He had been granted 200 acres as his right, and gradually added to the land. [35]  He bought slaves from the Guinea Company, and, as mentioned in the post for 30 January 2022, was given slaves by a sea captain wishing to ingratiated himself in late July of 1644.

The Guinea Company, formally known as the Company of Adventurers of London had been granted a monopoly for trade with Africa by James I in 1618.  Nicholas Crispe had a controlling interest by 1628. [36]  In 1643, Parliament sequestered his property for debts he owed as farmer of the customs. [37]  The attempt to recover the funds led to the collapse of the Guinea Company in 1644.  When the records were audited, it was found Bell was the largest debtor. [37]

Graphics
Kelisi.  “A Map of England’s West Country.”  Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 5 January 2008; last updated by Carlog3 on 17 June 2009.

End Notes
1.  Ann Hughes.  The Causes of the English Civil War.  London: Macmillan, 1991.  127.  Cited by “English Civil War.”  Wikipedia website.

2.  Susan Scott Parrish.  “Richard Ligon and the Atlantic Science of Commonwealths.”  The William and Mary Quarterly 67(2):209–248:April 2010.  210.  Ligon published a survey of Barbados in 1673 that has been cited in previous posts.

3.  J. H. Bennett.  “The English Caribbees in the Period of the Civil War, 1642-1646.”  The William and Mary Quarterly 24(3):359–377:July1967.  368.  The senior Hay is introduced in the post for 7 November 2021.  He was the Earl of Carlisle.

4.  J. H. Bennett.  370.

5.  Charlotte Young.  “‘His Lands as well as Goods / Sequestred ought to be’: The Introduction of Sequestration, 1642-3.”  British History in the 17th Century seminar group, Institute of Historical Research, 9 June 2016.

6.  Ben Coates.  “The Impact of the English Civil War on the Economy of London, 1642–1650.”  PhD dissertation.  University of Leicester, June 1997.  81, 157.

7.  Michael D. Bennett.  “Merchant Capital and the Origins of the Barbados Sugar Boom, 1627-1672.”  PhD dissertation.  The University of Sheffield, June 2020.  127–128.

8.  Arjan H. Dijkstra and Callum Hatch.  “Mapping a Hidden Terrane Boundary in the Mantle Lithosphere with Lamprophyres.”  Nature Communications 9:3770:2018.

9.  Mark Stoyle.  Loyalty and Locality: Popular Allegiance in Devon during the English Civil War.  Exeter, Devon: University of Exeter Press, 1994.  16–17.

10.  Eugene A. Andriette.  Devon and Exeter in the Civil War.  Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles, 1971. 16–17.

11.  Stoyle identified 137 who were known to support Charles.  15% were gentlemen or squires, 13% were involved with producing cloth (fullers, weaver, combers), 12% were innkeepers, and 12% were merchants.  Many of the others were skilled tradesmen.  He found 57 who actively supported Parliament.  3.5% were gentlemen, 25% were cloth workers, and 21% were merchants.  Instead of innkeepers, 14% were shopkeepers. [39]

12.  Andriette.  77, 104.
13.  “Humphrey Walrond.”  Wikipedia website.
14.  Stoyle.  45.

15.  Jane Stevenson.  “Richard Ligon and the Theatre of Empire.”  285–309 in Shaping the Stuart World, 1603 - 1714: The Atlantic Connection, edited by Allan I. MacInnes and Arthur H. Williamson.  Leiden: Brill, 2006.  289.

16.  “John Modiford Will.”  Marine Lives website, 12 April 2011.

17.  William Henry Hamilton Rogers.  Archaeological Papers Relating to the Counties of Somerset, Wilts, Hants, and Devon.  Taunton, Somerset: 1902.

18.  Richard Izacke.  Antiquities of the City of Exeter.  London: E. Tyler and R. Holt for Richard Marriot, 1677.

19.  Izacke.

20.  “Feoffment.”  Devon Archives and Local Studies Service (South West Heritage Trust), Document 332A/PF 16.  National Archives website.

21.  David Cornforth.  “Exeter during the Civil War.”  Exeter Memories website, 2007; last updated 22 April 2009.

22.  Izacke.
23.  Andriette.  19.
 
24.  John Knox Laughton.  “Modyford, Sir Thomas.”  38:94–95 in Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sidney Lee.  London: Smith, Elder and Company, 1894.

25.  Izacke.
26.  “John Modiford Will.”
27.  “John Modiford Will.”

8.  “Sir James Modyford.”  Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slavery, University College London website.

29.  John. P. Ferris.  “Kendall, Thomas (1609-66), of Chiswick, Mdx.”  In The House of Commons, 1660-1690, edited by Basil Duke Henning.  London: Secker and Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1983.

30.  “Grace Modyford.”  Ancestry website.

31.  For more on the introduction of sugar in Barbados, see the post for 17 January 2022.
32.  J. H. Bennett.  370.

33.  Larry Gragg.  Englishmen Transplanted: The English colonization of Barbados, 1627–1660.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.  39  Rich was the Earl of Warwick.  He and Hawley are mentioned in the post for 30 January 2022.  Courteen is introduced in the post for 31 October 2021.

34.  Gragg.  40.

35.  Hilary MacDonald Beckles.  “White Labour in Black Slave Plantation Society and Economy: A Case Study of Indentured Labour in Seventeenth Century Barbados.”  PhD dissertation.  The University of Hull, August 1980.  317.

36.  “Guinea Company (London).”  Wikipedia website.
37.  Coates.  83.
38.  See the post for 30 January 2022.
39.  Stoyle.  105–106.