Plymouth's Thomas Begley Wins D'Agostino Prize for Excellence in History From Stonehill College

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Thomas Begley

EASTON, MA (05/22/2012)(readMedia)-- Plymouth's Thomas Begley has been awarded the fifth annual Peter R. D'Agostino Prize for Excellence in History from Stonehill College for his Senior Thesis Project, "Governor William Bradford: The Pragmatic Leader of Plymouth Colony and His Influence on Relations with the Wampanoag."

Supervised by History Professor Edward McCarron, Begley's thesis examined the policies of Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford in his dealings with the Wampanoag, and with other local Indian groups, during the more than thirty years he served as governor between the early 1620s and late 1650s.

Begley showed that while Bradford harbored what might be considered typically seventeenth-century European views of the American Indians, he was also able to transcend those views, and to deal with the Wampanoag in a pragmatic manner, in order to secure Plymouth Colony's survival and growth.

In fact, it was Bradford's commonsensical approach that helped to secure decades of peaceful relations between Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag. Through a close reading of Bradford's works and of other primary source materials, Begley dissected the complex relationships between the various European and Indian groups of the area.

In doing so, he showed the Indians, and the Wampanoag in particular, to be historical subjects in their own right, and not simply the objects of European action. His work reflects the sophistication, creativity, personal initiative, and mastery of both secondary and primary sources that are the hallmarks of excellent scholarship.

Begley received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Stonehill's 61st Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 20. A Moreau Honor's Scholar, he graduated cum laude.

This past semester, he worked as a Production Intern at Brill, an international publishing company. In 2009, Begley sought to become the youngest Town Meeting member in Plymouth history. However to win his seat in Precinct 14, he had to bounce his mother Theresa Begley from a second term. In the end, his mother won by just one vote.