Hi All, Digging into genealogy a bit more recently and was able to finally find the missing piece to link my family back to our first US ancestor who came to Maine in 1635. Thought it would be fun to have a sample of the currency that would have been used! Would love everyone’s thoughts on what that would have been.
This English shilling of Charles I could have made it to Maine by 1635: England Shilling Charles I (1625-1649) Silver, 31 mm, 5.84 gm Struck 1634-1635 The colonists used just about any kind of money they could get their hands on.
He came over on the ship Speedwell as part of the Trelawny expedition so English currency is a high probability!
Chances are they didn't have much of any kind of currency when they came to Maine in 1635. They didn't have any paper money because Massachusetts introduced that the western world in 1690. Wampum was something they might have used. Maine was a part of Massachusetts at that time. The Massachusetts General Court, which was the ruling body, made wampum into money for a time. Here is some. Blue beads were scarcer and worth twice as much as white beads. If they brought any coins with them, they might been from their home country or they could have been Spanish Empire pieces which were becoming a world currency at that time. Here is a Lima 2 reales circa 1580. Here are couple of British coins, an Elizabeth I six pence and a Charles I six pence. I have some gold coins, but there is little chance that they had any of those. Gold was for rich merchants and royalty.
That early whatever they had. Probably some British copper and maybe some British or Spanish silver but was mostly in goods or barter. A sack of corn or flour some lumber tools etc. give it about 30 years and you’ll see Massachusetts silver there
