Re: Congregationalist or Puritan

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>I've been intrigued by the way Puritan practices survived in our Midway colony
> so late in American history--right up until the mid 1800's, I guess, when the
> society dispersed and other churches (Walthourville, etc.) rose up to replace
> it.  I can't think offhand of the quote in the book about the man who visited
> during the 1800's and commented on the genteel Puritan community, or somethin
>g like that.  
>
>How were their practices preserved so intact while other Puritan communities i
>n New England were swallowed up by history?
>
>My working hypothesis is that perhaps it was BECAUSE they were a more moderate
> form of Puritanism, their beliefs and practices were more sustainable to futu
>re generations.  What do you think?

Possibly.

Some other possible factors:

The Great Awakening apparently didn't affect them; it diminished as it went
southwards from Philadelphia.  This fits with Stacy's comment about the Midway
group preferring ordinary means, not revivals and the like.

The shift towards unitarianism, perhaps partly provoked by the
Transcendentalists, doesn't seem to have had any effect on them,
perhaps because they were far away from New England by then.

Perhaps the Darien Presbyterian influence was a stabilizing factor.

Maybe the rice plantation culture, which didn't exist farther north,
had an effect.

Maybe the failure of Sunbury as a commercial port kept them from
becoming as commercially oriented as their relatives to the north.

So many possibilities....

I picked up some materials when I was in Andover the other week.
Among them is a statement by the Andover Osgood ancestor that may
bear some relation to how they thought differently.

>-Connie

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>

>>In their southern homes they were even more unusual than they had
>>been in Massachusetts, because they were the only Puritan colony
>>in the southern states.  Their standards of religious practice,
>>learning, decorum, etc. made them stand out.
>>
>>
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