Stitching a key part of life for Pilgrims

Pilgrim Isaac Allerton was “a tailor of London” and, apparently, a very good one. In 1618, or perhaps the year before, he made a reddish-gray cloak lined with serge, decorated with gold cord, a gray satin collar and a silk ruff. He made this sumptuous cloak for fellow Pilgrim Nicolas Claverly, a pipe maker. The reason we know about the cloak is because Allerton made a deposition concerning the cloak in the city of Leyden, The Netherlands, when the Pilgrims lived there before their departure to the New World in 1620.

Allerton, age 30 at the time he made the deposition, had lived in Leyden at least since 1611, when he married Mary Norris there. Their three children, Bartholomew, Remember and Mary, were born in Leyden, where Allerton became a burgess and was a merchant engaged in trading with New England.

What isn’t known is why Allerton appeared before the Leyden magistrate or why Claverly required the document. Perhaps there was a disagreement about the cost of the cloak, valued at more than 64 guilders.

I see it now – the fine cloak in question slung around Claverly’s shoulders, its beauty and showy detail belying the popular image that has come down to us of Pilgrims dressed in grim black highlighted by fastidious white collars – probably starched. When you think of it, how in the New World would a Pilgrim housewife get her hands on starch? Or even have the goffering irons to smooth the ruff into its intricate folds?

The cloak makes me think, too, of Hawthorne’s fictional Hester Prynne, a Puritan whose virtue had been compromised by the birth of an illegitimate daughter fathered by the spineless Dimmsdale, stitching her lavish and defiant scarlet letter “A” upon her drab gray bodice.

That stitching played an integral part in the history of the Pilgrims is not surprising. In the New World, the Pilgrims had need of clothing and skilled tailors and seamstresses to fashion the garments. Surely they brought with them fabric and thread, if not the silk lining and gold cord, with which to make clothing. Yet, many died the first year and one wonders if a lack of warm clothes left them at the mercy of a severe Massachusetts winter.

Allerton survived the first difficult year in Massachusetts Bay Colony, but his wife, Mary, did not. In 1626, he married his second wife, Fear Brewster, daughter of Gov. William Brewster.

Circa 1631, Allerton was dismissed from Pilgrim society for “fleecing his brethren”- out of what? Did his infraction involve the making of another cloak – this one soberly black without the gold cord and ruff? History is silent on that point.

After his disgrace, Allerton went to Marblehead and operated a fishing fleet until Massachusetts authorities asked him to leave. What infraction of law, spiritual or secular, did he commit there?

By 1644 he was a merchant in New Haven, where he married his third wife, Joanna Swinnerton.

Between 1647-59, Allerton was engaged in trade with the Virginia colony and the West Indies. He was said to have made his fortune during those years. Yet, he died insolvent, according to historical records, in 1659 in New Haven.

I’d like to think that a reddish-gray cloak was salvaged from his diminishing fortune and that it became his winding shroud, silent testimony to a man who once knew how to stitch a fine and lavish seam.

Snippets

Teacher Anna Bragg has started a knitting club at the William S. Cohen School in Bangor. The club, open to boys and girls at the school, she said, was a boy’s idea, and drew seven pupils to its first meeting. None of the pupils know how to knit so they are starting from scratch. Club members want to knit scarves as their first project, but also will try their hands at dish cloths, hats and community service knitting projects.

Bragg, who is a seasoned knitter, said the club is ‘just for fun,” but it will help pupils learn to read and follow directions. “The kids are quite excited about it,” she said, “and are helpful to one another.” The club meets 2:45-3:45 p.m. Tuesdays and parents are welcome to attend. To learn more about the club, call Bragg at the school at 941-6230 after 2:30 p.m.

Ardeana Hamlin welcomes comments, suggestions and ideas. Call her at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.