<P> The Plymouth settlement faced great hardships and earned few profits, but it enjoyed a positive reputation in England and may have sown the seeds for further immigration . Edward Winslow and William Bradford published an account of their experiences called Mourt's Relation (1622). This book was only a small glimpse of the hardships and dangers encountered by the Pilgrims, but it encouraged other Puritans to immigrate during the Great Migration . </P> <P> The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony . In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company . The first group of Puritans moved to a new town at nearby Naumkeag after the Dorchester Company dropped support, and fresh financial support was found by Rev. John White . Other settlements were started in nearby areas; however, the overall Puritan population remained small through the 1620s . </P> <P> A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England . Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, except that the Pilgrims were "separatists" who felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church of England . The separate colonies were governed independently of one other until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . </P> <P> Early dissenters of the Puritan laws were often banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony . The Connecticut Colony was started after Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts Bay with about 100 followers in search of greater religious and political freedom . John Wheelwright left with his followers to a colony in New Hampshire and then on to Maine . The Puritans also established the American public school system for the express purpose of ensuring that future generations would be able to read the Bible for themselves, which was a central tenet of Puritan worship . </P>

What religious groups lived in the new england colonies