1623 - 1628
In
September 1623, on the final leg of a voyage from England, the Katharine
runs into heavy weather off the coast of Massachusetts. Among the passengers
are two men who both hail from Horncastle, a town in the Lincolnshire wolds
lying equidistant from Lincoln and Boston. Besides their birthplace, they have
nothing in common.
William
Blaxton is the son of a minister at Horncastle, where he was born in 1595 and
attended a grammar school founded by the first Earl of Lincoln. In 1613, the
earl gave William a scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He earned the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1617 and in 1619 was made a deacon and priest.
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| Reverend William Blackstone |
The
reverend’s fellow townsman is a lusty eighteen-year-old knave, Adam Trane, from
an ancient family whose roots go back to the 13th century, when the
first Tranes emerged from the Wildmore Fens and infested Horncastle. Since
1229, Horncastle has been the site of an annual horse fair held at the Feast of
St. Lawrence, patron saint of butchers and cooks. Over the centuries, the
Tranes have been in the horse business, never far from the stables or the
farrier’s yard, and sometimes just a trot away from the gallows.
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| Horncastle Horse Fair - Old Print |
Like
many Trane ancestors not bred to the blood, Adam has a large head, straight
back and large feet. His figure is small and robust, not unlike the Wildmore
Tits, famed Lincolnshire ponies in demand for the Nottinghamshire coal pits.
When not working with horses, Adam was afoot in the fens, poaching wildfowl and
cutting fodder on lands forbidden to the Tranes. He has come perilously close
to the fate of his uncles Nick Trane and Ned Trane, who had their heads lopped off
for sheep stealing.
Adam
Trane comes to America as indentured servant of William Blaxton. Already on the
voyage, he proved a poor bargain for his master, getting into brawls with
sailors and “attempting uncleanes” with a female servant. The captain of the Katharine
ordered that he receive ten strokes with a cat-o’-nine tails. Mr. Blaxton, a
pale, rather tall young man dressed in canonical black agreed with the
punishment but took no pleasure in witnessing its execution. The servant girl
had coupled freely with others and the block was reeved to have her ducked, but
the reverend begged mercy for this Magdalene, a cheery creature who goes by the
name of Recompense West.
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| Cat-o-nine tails Image: Wikipedia |
Imagining Boston - 8
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