Plymouth

3762

Plymouth

Davis' History of the Town of Plymouth and
Bradford's History.

Plymouth, town, Connecticut, Litchficld
co., on the New York, New Haven, and Hart-
ford Railroad; 22 m.s.w. of Hartford. Impor-
tant industries are the quarrying of granite,
wood turning, and the manufacture of malle-
able iron, oven thermometers, and automatic
screw machines. A cabinet lock factory locat-
ed here is said to be one of the largest of its
kind in the world. Plymouth includes the vil-
lage of Terryville; p. 6,043.

Plymouth, City, Indiana, county seat of
Marshall co. It has lumber, planing and flour
mills, foundries, and manufactures of wagons,
barrels, gas engines, and grinding machines. It
is in a lumbering and agricultural district, and
much grain is shipped; p. 5,7*3*

Plymouth, town, New Hampshire, coun-
ty seat of Grafton co., on the Pemigewasset
River, and the Boston and Maine Railroad;
40 m. n.w. of Concord. It is a popular tourist
and summer resort, and the seat of a State
normal school. Products include buckskin
gloves and sporting goods. Here Nathaniel
Hawthorne died; p. 2,533.

Plymouth, city, Wisconsin, Sheboygan co.
It is in a rich farming district, with extensive
cheese and dairy interests. Manufactures in-
clude furniture, foundry and machineshop
products, and flour; p. 4,170*

Plymouth Brethren, a Christian sect
which since 1830 has extended throughout the
British dominions, and other parts of Europe,
particularly France, Switzerland, and Italy,
and in the United States. Its origin may be
ascribed to John Nelson Darby (1800-82),
from whom the Brethren on the Continent are
generally known as Darbyitcs. He withdrew
from the Church of Ireland because of a revolt
against ministerial ordination and in 1830
founded at Plymouth the congregation now
known by its place of origin.

The tenets of the Brethren in general are
founded on the most literal interpretation of
the words of Scripture, each one of which is
regarded as directly inspired. The Lord's
Supper is celebrated every Lord's Day, or
'first day of the week.' The distinctive pe-
culiarity of the sect, in comparison with other
Calvinistic churches, is its complete rejection
of ecclesiastical organization. Practically any
brother may preach or pray, but those 'not
gifted with utterance' are quietly discouraged
from officiating. The Brethren own compara-
tively few church edifices, usually meeting in
halls or private houses*

Plymouth Colony. The founding of

Plymouth Colony was one of the great events
in the early history of the American colonies.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth of Eng-
land, a party of Brownists, one of the sects of
Puritans, took refuge from persecution in Hol-
land. They could not reconcile themselves to
a country alien in manners and speech, how-
ever, and they determined to emigrate to Am-
erica. Crossing from Delft Haven, in Holland,
they sailed to Southampton, England, were
joined by others, and embarked in the May-
flower for America (Spet. 6,1620.)

When they reached the American coast,
strong winds drove them into the neighbor-
hood of Cape Cod. Here they decided to re-
main, and after some exploration settled on the
site of Plymouth, Mass. They numbered in
all about 100, and during their first year had
many troubles to face. Fully half of the orig-
inal colonists were dead when the second ship-
load of pilgrims, numbering about 30, arrived
in the fall of 1621. In 1623, 60 other colonists
came over. After many difficulties concerning
food, the French of the Maine coast, religious
observances and intolerance, and new char-
ters, Plymouth Colony was united in 1691
with other New England colonies to form the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Plymouth Company. As a result of the
voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold, James i. of
England in 1606 granted a charter to the Vir-
ginia Company to settle Virginia, which was
the name then given to all the Atlantic coast
of the United States. The new company was
divided into the London Company and the
Plymouth Company, the latter being empow-
ered to settle between lat. 38° and 45° N. The
Dutch had already established trading posts
at New York and Albany; but New England
was still a wilderness when Sir George Popham
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent out the first
band of colonists under the Plymouth Com-
pany (1607). These numbered 120, and settled
on the west bank of the Kennebec River, in
what is the present State of Maine. They were
half starved and frozen, and had all returned
to England by the end of 1608. After Captain
John Smith had explored the New England
coast for the company, further attempts were
made to form colonies, but these failed,

Plymouth Rocky the portion of rocky
ledge in the harbor of Plymouth, Mass,, on
which the Pilgrim Fathers first set foot when
they landed from the Mayflower in December,
1620. Through the efforts of the Society of
Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth Rock,
which in 1834 had been moved to a position in
the > front of Pilgrim Hall and later covered with