[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They were not middle class as we would understand it now. They were Gentry. Sons of Gentlemen who had never actually worked a day in their life.

If they had brought what we would consider middle class Yeomen or tradesmen it would have done much better.

[oldvirginian]

True about the middle class, I guess my mind f#rted when one of the other posters said something about middle class. Thanks for the correction.

The Gentry had the time to go haring off to the new world because they didn’t have to worry about anything as tawdry as earning a living, that was for commoners.
What they COULD do was pay their way.
In an era when the eldest son usually inherited everything, haring off to the new world might seem less chancey than hoping big brother didn’t turn you out.

The Yeoman class would have been perfect.
All of them worked hard and the vast majority had military experience. Most of them had gotten their little plot of land by serving in this or that war, one expedition or another.
And they sure would have picked a better spot for a colony!