Plymouth Undertakers

• English

• Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)

The Plymouth Undertakers were a group of eight colony leaders, joined by four London business partners, who in 1627 assumed responsibility for Plymouth Colony's crippling debts. Called "Undertakers" because they literally undertook the colony's financial burden, they agreed to repay the £1,800 owed to the Merchant Adventurers — millions in today's currency — in order to prevent the investors from seizing the colony or its assets. In return, Plymouth settlers granted them an exclusive monopoly on foreign trade, including control of fur-trading posts such as Cushnoc on the Kennebec River. Using this monopoly, the Undertakers built profitable trading operations that supplied beaver pelts for Europe's luxury markets, effectively rescuing Plymouth from bankruptcy and securing its political independence during a vulnerable decade. The partnership later fractured amid accounting disputes, especially over Isaac Allerton's management, but the Undertakers' efforts kept the colony financially afloat. Their four London partners were James Sherley, John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews and Timothy Hatherley. - AsNotedIn