On the Massachusetts North Shore
The Great Migration brought nearly 14,000 Puritan settlers, unprepared for the hardships and trauma that awaited them. Building a new society in the wilderness induced transgenerational post-traumatic stress culminating in the Salem Witch Trials, which some professionals describe as mass conversion disorder.
In 17th Century Ipswich, funeral services were without eulogies, but extravagant outlays were often made for mourning garments, gloves, rings, wine, refreshments and the coffin. In the 18th Century, public opinion turned against such excesses.
As the young boys who arrived with the first settlers of Ipswich approached adulthood, they developed a fondness for hard liquor and rowdiness, which frequently landed them in court.
When Ipswich was settled in the 1630s, the immigrants came from only one area of England, and they brought with them the socio-economic ranking system they knew in the old country.
Historic Ipswich 