ABSTRACT
In his New World narrative, Wonder-Working Providence of Sion’s Savior in New England, Captain Edward Johnson described the material wealth accumulated by his fellow colonists between the years 1628 and 1651 with great detail. In terms nearly as reverent although not as poetic as Edward Taylor, Johnson extolled the phenomenal growth of Massachusetts’ livestock herds. His interest is not surprising. In the agricultural economy of early New England, domestic animals were an essential ingredient which, when combined with land, became a primary source of wealth and prosperity. Moreover, an abundance of domestic animals guaranteed the future growth and prosperity of the new settlements.2
