Immigration to Massachusetts differed from immigration to the Chesapeake and to South Carolina. Most newcomers to Massachusetts arrived with their families. Whereas 84% of Virginia's white population in 1625 was male, Massachusetts had a normal gender balance in its population from the beginning. The result was a rapid natural increase in population. Further, the population of Massachusetts quickly became more "American" than the population of southern or Caribbean colonies, whose survival depended on a steady flow of English immigrants and slaves to counter high mortality rates. Massachusetts was also more homogenous and less hierarchical than the southern colonies. Source: Ch.17 The Earth and its Peoples 6th Ed. :)