“Cavaliers” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many Green Dragons
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment
Featured Generation: “Cavaliers” (aka Green Dragons, Pursuers, Postmark Pilots, Contrivers, Burlwood Dreamers)
Who they are: The generation who came-of-age as Massachusetts Bay Colony’s power struggles intensified, eventually being amongst the younger half of senior citizens enduring the Salem Witch Trials after having watched “The Glorious Revolution” from afar
When they were born: Approximately between 1628–1639
Key Members
Enforcers: Nathaniel Saltonstall, Metacomet, Colonel Benjamin Church of Rhode Island, Wamsutta, Robert Beverley Sr., Peter Jenings, Edward Randolph, Philip Ludwell, George Mason I, Edmund Andros, William Markham, Fitz-John Winthrop, Nicholas Gassaway, Thomas Dongan (2nd Earl of Limerick), Muttawmp, Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck, Charles Calvert (3rd Baron Baltimore), Timothy Dwight, Philip Carteret, Francis Rombouts, Colonel John West Jr. of West Point, Colonel Thomas Dent Sr., Popé, Elisha Cooke Sr., Pumham, Charles Frost, John Ingram, Colonel John West Jr., Straight Tail Meaurroway Opessa, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Mathews, Nehemiah Blakiston, John Douglas Sr.
Debaters: Elizabeth Key Grinstead, Bridget Bishop, Matoonas, Frances Culpeper Berkeley, Weetamoo, Henry Corbin, Awashonks, Nicholas van Rensselaer, John Proctor, Edward Burrough, Dorcas Hoar, Elizabeth Howe, Thomas Dongan (2nd Earl of Limerick), Mary Eastey, Roger Toothaker, Madockawando, Wilmot Redd, Mary Parker of Salem
Scholars: Increase Mather, Christopher Holder, Jacques Marquette, William Stoughton, George Keith, Mary Rowlandson, John Rogers of Cambridge, Nathaniel Mather, Catherine Van Rensselaer
Creators: John Hale, Michael Wigglesworth, Susanna Cole, Philip Pieterse Schuyler, Margaret Hardenbroeck, John Washington, Lemuel Mason, Roeloff Swartwout, Marmaduke Johnson, Nicholas Spencer, John Custis II, Francisco Ayerra de Santa María, Major Thomas Brooke Sr., William Custis, Jeremias van Rensselaer, Unity Croshaw, Richard Lawrence, Councilor William Cole of Warwick County, Thomas Hawkins, Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, Theodorick Bland of Westover
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “Rumpus Rebels” (1623–1627)
Prominent “Rumpus Rebels”: Thomas Danforth, Sarah Wildes, George Fox, Wilhelmus Beekman, Robin Cassacinamon, Herodias Gardiner, Peter Folger of Nantucket, Tamanend, Frederick Philipse, Josiah Winslow, Charles Morton, Pessicus, Anna Hack Boot, John Bowne, Cornelius Steenwyk, William Bradford, John Easton, Mary Fisher, Samuel Appleton, Johannes de Decker, Thomas Trueman, John Hull of Boston, Canonchet, William Tucker of Jamestown, Antonio de Otermín, James Atherton of Sherborn, William Bond of Watertown, Isaac Allerton Jr., Colonel John Page of James City County, Richard Nicolls, Johan van Rensselaer, Phillip Calvert, Johannes Pieterse van Brugh, Gerrard Fowke, John Richards of Boston, William Coward, Henry Sloughter
Subsequent Microgeneration: “Emerald Knights” (1640–1644)
Prominent “Emerald Knights”: Jacob Leisler, John Hathorne, Samuel Willard, John Lederer, Cockacoeske, Sarah Osborne, Jonathan Corwin, Jan Jansen Bleecker, Benjamin Fletcher, Samuel Wardwell, Augustine Warner Jr., Solomon Stoddard, William Rittenhouse, Edward Taylor of Westfield, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Herman Isacks op den Graeff, Sarah Cloyce, Daniel Coxem, John Pell, Nicholas Bayard, Matthew Mayhew, Diego de Vargas, Bartholomew Gedney, Jonathan Singletary Dunham, Wait Winthrop, René-Robert Cavelier (Sieur de La Salle), Lieutenant Governor Thomas Lloyd of Pennsylvania Province, Governor Patrick Gordon of Pennsylvania Province, Rice Hooe II, Peter Sergeant, Francis Howard (5th Baron Howard of Effingham)
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