Puritans, Plagues, and Promises: Cole, Clarke, and Collier in England to America

Puritans, Plagues, and Promises transports you back four centuries into some of England's most tumultuous times. From the beginning pages, a web of intrigue engulfs the first two characters: the Cole family patriarch and his Puritan vicar. A participant in secret nonconformist meetings, the vicar is arrested, imprisoned, and put on trial in England's highest courts. Standing firm for his faith, he and eight fellow Puritans reveal conflicts of conscience with the Church of England's powerful leaders and with Queen Elizabeth's hand-picked Privy Council. In the face of adversity in London, powerful forces collide-with consequences of life or death.

Author Cole's meticulously researched creative nonfiction narrative contains more than 500 citations to early books, manuscripts, court records, and other sources, some dating back hundreds of years. These records illuminate his characters' lives and reveal long-lost details hidden in England's archives-underutilized treasure troves of genealogical gems. The author provides eighty-five images of people, places, and parchment. Two dozen have never been published, revealing more than twenty historic genealogical breakthroughs.

The resulting stories expose formidable influences and challenges-political, religious, legal, and economic-that set the stage for conflicts of Church and State, the rule of law, and a monarch's absolute power. Puritans are caught up in extraordinary circumstances that reveal the adventures of ordinary people who were brave and daring. Plagues decimate some families and skip others. Their stories rivet our attention. Deeply touched, we are left to reflect on what might have been. Promises are made, broken, fulfilled, unfulfilled, and sometimes deferred. These multi-faceted storylines draw us into the lives of those who set the stage for colonizing America.

As a fitting climax, the author delves deeply into the final straws that push, pull, and propel the author's ancestors and 21,000 other English men, women, and children to leave England during the Great Puritan Migration and forge new lives in America. The story of Puritans, Plagues, and Promises is one that represents us all.