George Alsop, an English

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, was probably born in London in 1636; the year and place of his death are unknown. Very little about his life is known, except for what is mentioned in his book, which indicates that he was likely to have been born, and certainly spent some of his youth, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Alsop is remembered for a significant work on colonial

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

with a title unusually long even by the standards of the seventeenth century: ''A Character of the Province of Mary-Land, wherein is Described in four distinct Parts, (Viz.) I The Scituation, and plenty of the Province. II The Laws, Customs, and natural Demeanor of the Inhabitant. III The worst and best Usage of a Mary-Land Servant, opened in view. IV The Traffique and vendable Commodities of the Countrey. Also a small Treatise on the wilde and naked Indians (or Susquehanokes) of Mary-Land, their Customs, Manners, Absurdities, & Religion. Together with a Collection of Historical Letters''.(London, 1666). Map of Chesapeake Bay George Alsop 1666

After an obscure two-year

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

he left London in 1658 due to a hatred for its local

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

s, according to his own account. Alsop worked as an

indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...

for two years. His master, Thomas Stockett (1635-1671), was one of four brothers who immigrated from England in 1658 and settled in

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

. George Alsop appreciated the new colony, but at the end of his service to Thomas Stockett, he grew ill and returned to England. He then published his book, and may also have written a volume of ''Sermons'', a work presented later by someone of the same name. In the work on Maryland, Alsop asserts that his design is to encourage European and English

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Alsop's eagerness to praise every aspect of Maryland makes his work a permanent record of the psychology of advertising. It also serves to a lesser extent as a reliable historical source of information for early Baltimore County, Maryland, and the then native

Susquehannock The Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by some English settlers or Andastes were Iroquoian Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, ranging from its upper reaches in the southern p ...

.Mereness, Newton D. (1902).
Introduction
, in: George Alsop, ''A Character of the Province of Maryland''. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers. p. 5-14; here: p. 10.

References

*Johnson, Allen, ed. ''Dictionary of American Biography''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. 1630s births Writers from Maryland Writers from London Year of death unknown American indentured servants 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers {{US-journalist-stub