An ancestor appears in seventeenth-century New England records and then disappears. What if they crossed the Atlantic again? Some colonists made a short business trip, others returned to settle in England, and still others left family in America while they traveled. If your paper trail goes quiet, build a timeline on both sides of the ocean.
Why a colonist might go back
Trade, family business, and inheritance could draw settlers back to England. In New England, the political and religious upheavals surrounding the English Civil War offered some emigrants another reason to return. Open war between Charles I and Parliament began in 1642, after years of mounting tensions. The UK Parliament’s Civil War overview gives the dates and context. For the earlier wave of immigration to New England from 1620 to 1640, start with the Great Migration Study Project.
Robert Cushman shows why one passenger’s story can differ from another’s, even within the same family. He traveled to Plymouth on the Fortune in 1621, carrying the colony’s patent, and sailed back to England on that ship. His son Thomas stayed in Plymouth. See the Pilgrim Hall Museum’s account of the Fortune and the Plymouth patent.
How to trace a possible return
- Pin down the last record in America. Write down the date, town, occupation, relatives, and any associates named in a church register, deed, court record, or probate file. Look for later appearances by the same person before assuming they left.
- Search England with a place and a date range. If you know the family’s home parish, start with its registers and widen to neighboring parishes. Check variant spellings and look for the same spouse, occupation, or associates. Use The National Archives’ emigration guide to see what survives for the period. A gap in surviving passenger lists can leave land, court, and family records as your best clues.
- Look for wills, probate, and land records. A will might name a child living in New England, identify property in an English parish, or connect two records that otherwise share only a name. Check local probate courts as well as the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. The National Archives’ guide to wills and administrations before 1858 explains where to search.
- Compare the people as well as the names. A matching surname is a starting clue. A spouse’s name, a business partner, an occupation, or a sequence of dates can help distinguish two people and show whether the trip was temporary or permanent. Keep other explanations open, including a move to another colony, a death, or a gap in the records.
Start with one ancestor and one date. What is the last record you can place with confidence, and what might name that same person on the other side of the Atlantic?
