The Massachusetts Bay Company's claim on New England was preceded by those of two other joint stock companies. The first of these was the Dorchester Company, organized by the Anglican minister John White. When it went out of existence in 1626, the company's claim was transferred to a new organization, the New England Company, led by John Endecott. Endecott would ultimately found the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1628. Endecott's shares and those of fifty-six other New England Company investors would soon be absorbed into those of the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629. The author ably recounts the fortunes, intrigues, and shifting allegiances of these formative companies, listing members or investors wherever such information has survived. Of great interest to genealogists are the sketches of 125 Adventurers (investors) in Massachusetts Bay.

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This complete handbook of the Philadelphia Museum of art's permanent collection of Pennsylvania German objects is the first resource of its kind, revealing the full range, depth and quality of a folk art collection 90 years in the making. Photographs of 1,115 Pensylvania German ceramics and glass, furniture and household objects, books, tools and implements, textiles and basketry, are accompanied by individual descriptions when known, artist, date and place of manufacture. Objects are arranged according to medium: wood, metal, ceramics, glass, horn, eggshell, basketry, textiles and paper. A biographical index of makers and artist and English translations of inscriptions are included. This comprehensive reference tool is invaluable for art historians, genealogists, and collectors.