Title: The Mayflower Society house: Being the story of the Edward Winslow house, the Mayflower Society, the Pilgrms
Author: Pratt, Walter Merriam
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.


*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mayflower Society house: Being the story of the Edward Winslow house, the Mayflower Society, the Pilgrms" ***

This book is indexed by ISYS Web Indexing system to allow the reader find any word or number within the document.

HOUSE ***





  TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

  The ‘Mayflower Compact’ was in the middle of a paragraph in the
  original book (on pages 28 and 29). It has been moved to the end
  of this ebook.

  All misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage,
  have been left unchanged.




[Illustration: (frontispiece)]

      “_Sand dunes beyond the blue salt bay,
      Stars twinkling on the rippling sea,
      Twin lights of Gurnet far away,
      And here sweet peace for thee and me._”
                            —KATE GANNET WOODS


[Illustration: THE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY HOUSE]




                                 The
                       Mayflower Society House

                         _Being the Story of_

           THE EDWARD WINSLOW HOUSE · THE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY
                           · THE PILGRIMS ·

                                 _By_

                         WALTER MERRIAM PRATT

                      _Governor-General of the_
               GENERAL SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS


                      1620  [Illustration]  1897


                            SECOND EDITION

                         _Privately Printed_

                           UNIVERSITY PRESS

                       Cambridge, Massachusetts

                                 1950


[Illustration: NORTH STREET, PLYMOUTH]




[Illustration: (decorative banner)]

THE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY HOUSE


A notable accomplishment of the General Society of Mayflower
Descendants was the purchase in 1941 of the Edward Winslow House in
Plymouth, Massachusetts, a house of great beauty and dignity, with
history and atmosphere, perfectly located on North Street, one of the
five streets laid out by the Pilgrims, overlooking Plymouth Rock and
Cole’s Hill, where lie the bones of many of the Pilgrims.

North Street was laid out before 1633. It was first named New Street,
later Queen Street, and for some years was called Howland Street,
presumably because Joseph Howland, son of John Howland, the Pilgrim,
owned land on the north side. His son Thomas inherited it, and in
turn it descended to the latter’s son, Consider Howland, who sold
it to Edward Winslow, the great-grandson of Edward Winslow, third
Governor of the Colony. The younger Winslow attended Harvard College
and then settled in Plymouth. He became Clerk of the Court, Registrar
of Probate, and Collector of the Port. He married in 1741, the widow,
Hannah Howland Dyer, a sister of Consider Howland, and in 1754 built
the house.

Winslow was a Royalist and an outspoken supporter of the King.
Although a popular man, the townspeople became infuriated at his
lack of patriotism, which eventually cost him his town offices
and revenue. His son joined the King’s forces, and he frequently
entertained the British officers at his home. After the evacuation of
Boston by the British, Winslow moved his family to New York, and was
granted a pension by Sir Henry Clinton.

Later the family went to Halifax, as did thousands of other Tories,
where Winslow died the following year, at the age of seventy-two. He
was buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard, mourned by all the dignitaries
of the city. At this time Canada was actively hostile to the United
States.

In order to support his family after losing his offices, Winslow
had pledged his house as security for loans of money made him by
Thomas Davis, William Thomas, Oakes Angier, and John Rowe. When he
left Plymouth the house was sold on an “execution” at a sacrifice to
satisfy the creditors, much to Winslow’s indignation. It is often
mistakenly stated that his property was confiscated. The house at
this time was half its present size and, as was customary in those
days, sat close to the ground, as well as to the street. The frame of
the house and some of the paneling are said to have been brought from
England, although American craftsmen could and did construct similar
houses and paneling.

From Winslow’s creditors the house passed into the hands of Thomas
Jackson who occupied it as a residence until 1813, when he moved to
the so-called Cotton Farm. The house then passed by an execution from
Mr. Jackson to his cousin Charles Jackson, who died in it in 1818
and whose son, Charles Thomas Jackson, born 21 June 1805, played an
interesting part in the civil history of this country. He had a keen
mind, was a student of electricity and magnetism, but medicine was
his main study. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1827,
finishing his studies abroad. He returned to America on the sailing
vessel with Samuel F. B. Morse, and their meeting may have helped
Morse perfect his telegraphic instrument. It is known that Jackson
made and displayed a model of a telegraphic instrument a year before
Morse patented the one that made him famous.

[Illustration: CHARLES THOMAS JACKSON   WILLIAM T. G. MORTON]

Jackson was greatly interested in geology and was the State Geologist
of Maine in 1836, Rhode Island in 1839, and New Hampshire in
1840, but his greatest claim to fame is his share in discovering
etherization and his association with Dr. W. T. G. Morton, a
dental surgeon, fourteen years his junior, who studied medicine in
his office. Jackson is believed to have made his first personal
experiments with the inhalation of ether in the house at Plymouth,
and the chair in which he sat is displayed in Pilgrim Hall. Morton
patented the process of anesthesia by ether in 1846 and he sued
Jackson for claiming the discovery of the anesthetic effects of
inhalation of ether back in the winter of 1841-42. The French
Government investigated the matter and decreed Jackson a 2500 franc
prize as the discoverer, and a similar prize to Morton for being the
first to apply it to surgical operations.

[Illustration: RALPH WALDO EMERSON IN THE EAST ROOM WHERE HE WAS
MARRIED]

Jackson’s slightly older sister Lydia, sometimes called Lidian,
became the second wife of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American poet and
philosopher. Their marriage took place in 1835 in the east parlor,
later known as the music room.

[Illustration: ROOM WHEREIN LYDIA JACKSON MARRIED RALPH WALDO EMERSON]

The house was sold by the Charles Jackson heirs in 1872 to Lucia J.
Briggs, the wife of the Rev. George W. Briggs, who occupied it as
a summer residence until 1898, when it was purchased by Charles L.
Willoughby, of Chicago, for a summer home. Gardens were planned and
planted. Joseph Everett Chandler, authority on the restoration of
New England houses and author of books on the subject, was retained
to supervise the work, and it is he we have to thank that so much
was saved when it was converted into a gentleman’s estate. He it was
who saw to it that the new windows, inner shutters, paneling, and
many details, are in keeping with the original structure. He even
saw to it that the Tory chimney, with its coping painted black, was
saved and that the two lovely linden trees, said to have been planted
by Edward Winslow’s daughter Penelope, were protected during the
alteration. In tearing off the ell on the north side, a board was
uncovered on which was painted “Built by William Drew 1820,” which
indicates additions were made that year. The house was moved back
thirty feet, raised five, porches were built, side doors, new rooms,
and a cupola or, as some erroneously call it, a Widow’s Walk, were
added.

[Illustration: FRONT HALL WITH CHARMING TWO-WAY STAIRCASE]

To own an old house is a great privilege, but it is also a great
responsibility. No amount of money could have made the Winslow house
so interesting as its association with events of history and famous
people has made it.

[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S BEDROOM WHICH HAS A GLORIOUS
VIEW SEAWARD]

Improvements were continued after Mr. Willoughby’s death. Adjoining
houses were purchased and razed, improving the view of the Rock
and the ocean, and the land they were on was added to the already
extensive garden.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE TWIN CORNER CUPBOARDS AND RECESSED WINDOWS
IN THE MAHOGANY DINING ROOM]

A five-car garage was built to the far side of the garden, arranged
so that it would be possible to use it as a charity theatre, with
quarters overhead for the gardener and his family. As protection
against the elements and the public, a six foot red brick wall of
Colonial design was erected on the south and east sides of the estate.

[Illustration: REAR GARDEN TEA HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY FROM THE
SOLARIUM]

After Mrs. Willoughby’s death, her daughter offered the property for
sale. It is fortunate that it passed into the hands of the General
Society of Mayflower Descendants (31 December 1941). It might have
become a Tea Room, a Road House, or something worse. The Society
immediately took up the work of restoration and preservation where
Mr. Chandler had left off, but before work could even be started,
World War II broke out and the entire Winslow House was turned over
to the Plymouth Chapter of the American Red Cross for the duration
without charge of any kind. Due to confusion, especially of legal
nature, likely to arise, and which in fact had arisen, by the
existence of a Winslow House in nearby Marshfield, it was decided
at the Seventeenth Congress of the General Society held in Plymouth
September 1946, and so voted, to change the name of the Edward
Winslow House to the Mayflower Society House.

[Illustration: THE PIAZZA WITH IMPOSING PILLARS. A BEAUTIFUL VIEW
ACROSS THE BAY]

[Illustration: CANOPY OVER PLYMOUTH ROCK. A VISTA THROUGH THE TREES.
DEDICATED IN 1920]

The house today is far different from the one Edward Winslow built
in 1754, but, as the headquarters of a large society, it is better
adapted. The interior is being brought back to something of its
original appearance with paint and replicas of old wall paper and by
gifts and purchases of furniture of the 18th Century period. Members
of the Mayflower Society and any interested in preserving the best of
the 18th century are asked to contribute items of furniture, wearing
apparel, books or other items of the period. All gifts and loans,
before being accepted, are passed on by a competent committee. To
have an item accepted and exhibited in the Mayflower Society House
will some day be a distinction.

[Illustration: SIMILAR VIEW TO THE FRONTISPIECE BUT SHOWING SOLARIUM]

The Mayflower Society House is not only a show place of Plymouth,
but of the entire country. This lovely and famous house is owned,
free and clear of indebtedness, by the General Society of Mayflower
Descendants. To insure its perpetual care through generations to
come, an endowment is sought to which the public is asked to and
should contribute.

[Illustration: FROM THE FRONT GATE—LOOKING TO THE LANDING]

[Illustration: This Canopy, built at a cost of $20,000.00, covered
Plymouth Rock from 1866 until the Rock was returned to its original
location in 1920. Behind the Canopy is Cole’s Hill, and just to the
right of it is the Mayflower Society House]




THE GENERAL SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS


Not until 1894 did descendants of the passengers of the _Mayflower_
organize to perpetuate the ideals and commemorate the memory of their
ancestors. The first Society was formed 22 December 1894 in New York,
followed by societies in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania
within 18 months. These societies founded the General Society 12
January 1897. The General Society now consists of 40 State Societies,
with a membership of over 7600 men and women.

19 February 1923 the General Society was incorporated under the laws
of Massachusetts. Among those signing the petition to the Great and
General Court were Major General Leonard Wood, William Howard Taft,
and Henry Cabot Lodge. The Mayflower Society is not interested in the
wealth of its members, or their social standing, or their politics,
although two Presidents of the United States have been members. Two
others were eligible but passed on before its organization. It is
proud, however, of the notable achievements of many of its members.

Some of the patriotic Societies were in early days largely social in
character. Many joined solely of pride in their ancestry. Democracy
was not then under attack and needed no defenders. The country’s
growth since the turn of the century has brought to the United States
a tremendous number of persons fleeing from Old World conditions. Our
melting pot did well for a time; of recent years our freedom has been
attacked. The Society now has a mission—that of spreading the wisdom
and ideals of our ancestors to the masses who have come to our shores.

The Society has accomplished much in its effort to discover and
publish matter relating to the Pilgrims. It has aided in establishing
memorials and has contributed over $100,000.00 toward the Bradford
Memorial Tablet, the Provincetown Monument, the Monument to the
Pilgrims at Southampton, England, the Sarcophagus on Cole’s Hill,
Plymouth, the Aptuxet Trading Post, at Bourne, the Mayflower Index,
and to lesser memorials throughout the country. One of the most
important things accomplished is the purchase and restoration of the
Mayflower Society House. This is more than a National Headquarters.
It is propaganda for Americanism. It is a landmark that will inspire
those who visit Plymouth to increase their knowledge of the Pilgrims
and thus help make better citizens of them, and it is a contribution
to patriotism. Plymouth welcomes another museum house, particularly
an 18th century one, where visitors may learn more of Colonial life
and customs. The important thing is that visitors to the Mayflower
Society House, who number thousands each year, coming from every
state in the Union, find there exists an organization to perpetuate
the memory and carry forward the ideals of the Pilgrims.

When the General Society of Mayflower Descendants was organized, it
adopted a declaration of purpose, the most important part of which
is to commemorate and honor the Pilgrims, to defend the principle of
civil and religious liberty, as set forth in the Mayflower Compact,
to discover and publish original matter pertaining to the Pilgrims,
and to authenticate, preserve, and mark spots of Pilgrim association.

These things the historian, orator, and poet have helped do. In our
libraries are carefully prepared writings on the subject by Fiske,
Dexter, John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster, Choate, Everett and
Sumner, and so on down to Henry Cabot Lodge, Calvin Coolidge, and the
third Governor Bradford. So diligent have writers and speakers been,
it is difficult to find and add new facts.

There are those who say, “It’s not what my ancestors did, it’s what
I’ve done. I live in the present, not the past.” One must make good,
but statistics prove those most successful are the first to preserve
the best of the past.

It is fitting and proper that the descendants of the Pilgrims should
gather in Plymouth from time to time and give expression to the
respect, gratitude and admiration they feel for the Pilgrims. To
express sympathy for them for the terrible months they spent crossing
the stormy Atlantic, and the added months on shipboard while shelters
were being erected on shore for the first winter in a foreign land,
when nearly half the company died of scurvy and ship fever, in spite
of which not one member gave up and returned to England when the
_Mayflower_ sailed.

The Pilgrims believed in the equality of all men before God; they,
therefore, made all men equal before the Law. On the Sarcophagus,
which contains the remains of some of the Pilgrims, is this
inscription:

  “This monument marks the first burying-ground in Plymouth of the
  Passengers of the Mayflower. Here, under cover of darkness, the
  fast dwindling Company laid their dead; levelling the earth above
  them lest the Indians should learn how many were the graves.
  _READER_, History records no nobler venture for Faith and Freedom
  than that of this Pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness, in
  watchings often, in hunger and cold they laid the foundations of
  a State wherein every man, through countless ages, should have
  liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire
  thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading throughout the
  World the lofty Ideals of our Republic.”

We must admire the Pilgrims for their courage and piety, for their
attachment to civil rights and religious liberty in exile, under
unhappy conditions.

There was a famine the first year, but no actual starvation as there
were wild fowl, shellfish, and berries in abundance, but there was
cold and snow, and there were Indians and sickness to cope with.

A great disaster befell the community the second year which seldom
seems to be mentioned, but which would have discouraged less resolute
souls. The ship _Fortune_ carrying their entire year’s yield of furs
and products to England to be sold, was captured by the French as a
prize.

The gist of the preface of a book entitled “The Pilgrim Fathers,” by
W. H. Bartlett, published in London, England, in 1853, is—

  “Of the many heroic emigrations from our island, which have covered
  the face of the earth, no one is more singular than the band of
  sectaries driven forth in the reign of James I. In an age when
  toleration was unknown, they were thrust forth from their native
  land, thus the harshness of the rulers became the instrument which
  planted on American shores a mighty republic, the proudest and most
  powerful offshoot of the mother country, whose institutions, as
  thus founded, are not without a powerful reaction upon her own.

  “The details of the story are unknown to the mass of English
  readers, while across the Atlantic they are known to almost
  every child, and numerous are the works published about them and
  many are the Americans who visit Boston, Scrooby and Leyden, but
  these publications and researchers are all unknown in England and
  therefore this continuous narrative.”




THE PILGRIMS


Who and what were the Pilgrims and in what way did they differ from
the Puritans? They both were English and both lived in the same
generation. The Pilgrims were a small band of staunch men, women
and children who came to America for religious freedom. They were a
part of a great movement. The Protestant Reformation, set on foot in
England during the reign of Henry VIII, was finally accomplished in
1588 by the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It did not secure freedom
of action or worship, however. There was no country then where such
liberty was allowed; in fact, such a thing had never been thought of.
The Reformation made the Sovereign, instead of the Pope, the head
of the church in England, and there were changes in doctrine and
ceremonials, but everyone was required to attend church whether he
wished to or not and was also taxed to support it. The Bible had just
been translated from Latin into English, and for the first time it
was being generally circulated (1557-60).

Among the Protestant reformers there were many who were not satisfied
with the doctrines and ritual of the English church. They wished
to simplify the government of the church and drop some of the
ceremonies. This they considered purifying the church, which gave
them the name of Puritans. Most of them had no thought or intention
of leaving the Established Church. They wished to stay and be a part
of it, but to change it according to their ideas.

[Illustration: EDWARD WINSLOW, third Governor of Plymouth Colony.
Great-grandfather of Edward Winslow, builder of The Mayflower Society
House. Painted during a visit to England. Winslow is the only Pilgrim
of whom there exists an authentic picture]

Early in 1567 a number of ministers, despairing of getting the
desired changes, made up their minds to separate from the church and
hold religious services of their own. Robert Brown was one of them
and went about the country advocating this policy of separation.
Those who adopted it became known as Separatists or Brownists. They
did not believe in having bishops rule over them. Some denied that
the queen was head of the church. This was called treason. These were
the people who became Pilgrims. The Puritans also questioned the
spiritual authority of the bishops and claimed the right to worship
as they saw fit, but they did nothing in particular about it.

The Separatists, or better, Independents, which describes them
accurately, established a little church in the hamlet of Scrooby,
near Lincoln, where a congregation listened to the eloquent preaching
of John Robinson. English laws provided imprisonment for those who
refused to attend the Established Church, or were present at unlawful
assemblies, with the further penalties, that the convicted must
conform within three months or leave the country. If he refused, he
should be deemed a felon and put to death without the benefit of
clergy. The little church at Scrooby could not continue under these
conditions. Some of the Separatists had given their lives, some were
in prison, and others were in exile. Brown had fled the country, and
so its members determined to cross to Holland. Under existing laws a
family could not migrate without a license, and they were denied one.
It was as dangerous to remain as it was to attempt to leave secretly.
Meetings were held, and Separatists from Scrooby, Bristol, Exeter,
Boston, and sundry other places planned to flee.

In October 1607 they made their first attempt to leave from Boston in
a chartered ship. They were seized, searched, and imprisoned. After a
month all but seven of the principal men were released.

The next year they arranged with a Dutch ship to meet them at a port
near Grimsby at the mouth of the Humber, but the cautious skipper
got scared and after taking a few of the women and children aboard,
cast off, leaving the husbands and a majority to be seized by the
sheriff and his men. Following this, there was no mass effort to
cross to Holland, but, with much difficulty and by departing one or
two at a time, all got over. After a short stay in Amsterdam they
made their way to Leyden. Here they were joined by other refugees
from England, until there were more than a thousand. The Pilgrims
remained in Leyden for eleven years (1609 to 1620). Brewster became
a printer, Robinson entered the University, and all found work in
different occupations. They labored hard and continuously. They
found in Holland peace and the religious freedom they had left
their English homes for, but there were other factors which made
them, after a decade, seriously consider leaving Holland. They
wished the protection of the English flag; they were losing the
English language, and their children were marrying among the Dutch.
After careful consideration they decided that the Virginia Colony,
extending from Florida to New York, offered the best opportunity.
Because of their separation from the Established Church, the King
would not guarantee them protection, but agreed not to molest them,
and under this agreement they obtained a patent from the London
Company to settle on the New Jersey Coast.

It was necessary to secure financial aid, and this they obtained from
a group of London merchants, known as the Adventurers. The contract
was an oppressive one and became more so as the colonists built their
houses; but it cannot be called unfair, considering the financial
risk involved. It provided that for seven years the income of the
colony should go into a common fund and from this the colonists
would get their living. At the end of the period the investment and
profits, real and personal, should be equally divided between the
Adventurers and the Planters in accordance with the number of shares
each held. Its effect was to establish a community life which, long
before the seven years were up, resulted in embarrassment and open
disaffection, and a compromise between the parties was effected by
which the Adventurers were to be paid the sum of eighteen hundred
pounds sterling 26 November 1626. Here was Communism pure and simple,
and it was a monumental failure and was given up after three years.
If Communism cannot succeed under these conditions, with the type
of people the Pilgrims were, speaking the same language, governed
by the same laws, with common history, tradition, and memories, how
could Communism possibly prove a success under far less favorable
circumstances today?

The conditions upon which the Pilgrims secured their transportation
to America indicate the exhausted state of their finances, and they
probably never would have given their assent to the conditions
imposed, if not absolutely forced to do so. The famous Captain
John Smith wrote in 1624 that the Adventurers who raised the money
to begin and supply the Plymouth plantation were about seventy in
number, some merchants, some handicraftsmen, some risking great
sums, some small, as their affection served. They dwelt mostly
about London, knit together by a voluntary combination in a
society, without constraint or penalty, aiming to do good and plant
religion. The sad intelligence conveyed by the _Mayflower_ on her
return to London of the sufferings, sickness, and death, produced a
disheartening effect in the most zealous friends, and the necessary
supplies required by the infant colony were refused, though they had
been promised.

After the Pilgrims had secured financial aid the little band (July
1620) left Leyden and sailed from Delfts-haven in Holland in the
_Speedwell_, which they had bought for the purpose, to Southampton
where the _Mayflower_ was awaiting them with friends. Two weeks later
the _Mayflower_ and the _Speedwell_ left Southampton for America. The
_Mayflower_ of one hundred and eighty tons burden (the _Queen Mary_
of today is over eighty-three thousand tons) had been chartered to
transport a part of the Leyden congregation to America.

Before they were out of the English Channel the _Speedwell_ began
leaking badly and they ran into Dartmouth for repairs. 2 September
they made a second start, but trouble developed and they returned
this time to Plymouth. Here they reorganized the expedition. The
_Speedwell_ was left behind, some of her passengers were taken on the
_Mayflower_ and the others left in England. On 16 September 1620 the
_Mayflower_ sailed again and ten weeks later, after a voyage filled
with hardships and peril, having been driven far off her course,
came to anchor in Cape Cod Harbor. When the Cape was sighted it was
decided to sail south for a permanent home, but before the day was
over they found themselves in dangerous shoals and roaring breakers
and turned back to settle beyond the limits of their patent.

Only about one half of the passengers on the _Mayflower_ were
members of the Leyden congregation. Other motives, without thought
of religious dissent or separation from the Established Church of
England, had added many strangers to the company, and there arose
mutterings of discontent among them.

It became evident, therefore, that some means should be devised
to maintain law and order as they were out of the jurisdiction of
their patent. To accomplish this the members of the Pilgrim Company
met in the cabin of the _Mayflower_ off the shores of Cape Cod on
21 November 1620 and banded themselves together by the now famous
document known as the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact is a great contribution to civil liberty and
democracy; it ranks with the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States. Our democracy was based on it
from the landing of the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims established what they
planned. The Plymouth settlement was the start of religious freedom.
We owe them a great debt of gratitude. They were unimportant people,
and their departure attracted little or no attention. Some were
educated, others were not; some had means, most little or nothing,
but all had character and courage. We call them ordinary people,
but their accomplishment made history. When they wrote and signed
the Compact they gave the world a new political idea for government
by the people, and when, under the Compact, they organized the
government of Plymouth, they laid the foundation of political liberty
for this nation.

Students of governmental history the world over, as well as
statesmen, now know of the Mayflower Compact and discuss it. It
cannot receive too much publicity, and there is no better place to
reprint it than here in this story of the “House of Edward Winslow”
where it can be easily and frequently perused.

In no part of the world up to then did there exist a government of
just and equal laws. It is the first incident where a government was
formed by the governed, by their consent in writing at one time.
One hundred and fifty years later its principles really framed the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United
States, and our laws today are interwoven with the ideals of this
band of Pilgrims.

One month after the signing of the Compact, the exploring party
of eighteen men in the ship’s shallop that had left the ship 16
December, landed at Plymouth. Plymouth was not just what they wanted,
but as Brewster said, it was the best they had seen. They returned to
the ship and on 26 December 1620 the _Mayflower_ and her passengers
reached Plymouth. It was 31 March that the last of them went ashore
for good.

On 15 April 1621 the _Mayflower_ sailed on her return trip, leaving
every one of the survivors of the Pilgrim Company behind. It was a
more striking picture than her departure from England. A situation
more discouraging for the Pilgrims could hardly be conceived.

Some interesting occurrences which happened on board the _Mayflower_
during the trip, are taken from the manuscript of “Prince’s Annals,”
in his handwriting. Prince had drawn his pen diagonally across the
passages, and they do not appear in his published work. They were
first printed in the April number 1847 the _New England Historical
and Genealogical Register_. It reads:

  “In a mighty storme a lustie yonge man called John Howland came
  upon some occasion above ye gratings, was with a seele of ye ship
  throwne into ye sea; but it pleased God yt he caught hould of ye
  top saile halliards, which hung overboard and rane out at length;
  yet he held his hould (though he was sundrie fadomes under water)
  till he was hald up by ye same rope to ye brink of ye water and
  then with a boat hook and other means got into ye shipe again,
  and his life saved, and though he was somewhat ill with it, yet
  he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both of
  church and comonwelth.”

And the manuscript goes on to tell of a proud, very profane young
man, one of the seamen of husky and able body, which made him the
more haughty, who was always annoying the poor people in their
sickness by cursing them daily and telling them he hoped to help cast
half of them overboard before they came to their journey’s end and if
he ever, by any was gently reproved, he would curse and swear most
bitterly. But it pleased God to smite this young man with a grievous
disease, of which he died in a desperate manner and so was himself
the first to be thrown overboard.

John Carver, who had been chosen Governor, died the first winter,
and William Bradford succeeded him. The Colony grew slowly. By 1630
it had but 300 persons in it, but it had paid the London merchants.
There is little question that the contract was burdensome and
oppressive. But as proof that the Pilgrims harbored no resentment is
this laudable act: the Plymouth Colony General Court in 1660 ordered
that twenty pounds should be sent to a Mr. Ling, one of the Merchant
Adventurers, “who had fallen to decay and had felt great extremity
of poverty, the same twenty pounds being bestowed on him towards his
relief and if it was not given voluntarily that the amount that fell
short ‘bee’ made up out of the ‘Countrey stocke’ by the Treasurer.”

The Colony made a treaty with Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoag
Indians, which lasted until broken by his son in 1675. By 1640 the
population had increased to over 3000.

As for the Puritans, they became powerful in England and comprised
many men of wealth and culture and social standing. Little bodies of
them, encouraged by the example of the Pilgrims, began to settle upon
the shores of Massachusetts. In 1628 John Endicott and a shipload
took command of the place the Indians called Naumkeag and gave it
the Bible name of Salem, or Peace. When they arrived they found
Roger Conant and his followers, who were, after several years of
struggling, happily settled. Endicott practically kicked them out.
Within a few years all of Conant’s followers had moved across the
river and established new homes in what became Beverly.

In 1629 a number of leading Puritans in England bought of the
Plymouth Company a large tract of land, bounded by the Charles
and Merrimac Rivers and stretching inland indefinitely. They got
a charter from Charles I and incorporated as the Governor and
Company of Massachusetts Bay. Under John Winthrop, a wise and able
man, they came over to Salem, bringing 1000 persons, with horses
and cattle, and during that year Charlestown, Chelsea, and a small
hilly peninsular, called by the Indians Shawmut and by the English
Trimountain, or Tremont, and soon changed to Boston, from which the
leading settlers had come, were settled. By 1634 nearly 4000 settlers
had arrived from England, coming usually in congregations, led by
their minister and settled together in parishes or townships until
there were about twenty.

In 1636 it was voted to establish a college three miles from Boston
at a place called New Town, now Cambridge. A young clergyman, John
Harvard, bequeathed his books and half his estate and the new college
was called by his name.

The colonization of New England was a complicated affair. The
Massachusetts Bay Colony was the largest. South of it was the
Plymouth Colony, the oldest. Then there was Rhode Island and
Providence Plantation and the Connecticut Colony. In 1643 these
four Colonies formed a confederation for defense called the United
Colonies of New England. In 1692 King William arranged things to
his liking; he annexed the Plymouth Colony to the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, but let Connecticut and Rhode Island keep their beloved
charters, and so the Plymouth Colony forever after remained a part of
Massachusetts.

The establishment of the New England Confederacy, the division of
the ancient church, the annexation to the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
the loss of wealth and population, marked the end of Plymouth as an
independent Colony, but not of the great influence which the Plymouth
Colony and the Pilgrims have exerted, and, we hope, will continue
to exert with increasing force, in perpetuating, as it originally
established, our democratic form of government.

[Illustration: (decorative icon)]




    [Illustration: The signing of the Mayflower Compact in the cabin
    of the Mayflower]


    THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

    _Signed in the Cabin of the “Mayflower,” Nov. 11th, Old Style,
    Nov. 21st, New Style, 1620_

    “In the name of God, amen, we whose names are underwritten, the
    loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the
    grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc and Ireland king, defender
    of the faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for the glorie of God, and
    advancemente of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and
    countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the northerne
    parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in
    the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine
    ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better
    ordering and preservation and furtherence of the ends aforesaid;
    and by vertue hereof to enacte, constitute and frame such just
    and equall laws, ordenances, acts, constitutions and offices,
    from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient
    for the general good of the colonie, unto which we promise
    all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have
    hereunto subscribed our names at Cap-Codd the 11 of November,
    in the year of the raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James of
    England, Franc and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the
    fifty-fourth, ANo Dom 1620.”

          ‡   John Carver             ‡†* Edward Fuller
          ‡ * William Bradford        ‡†  John Turner
          ‡ * Edward Winslow          ‡ * Francis Eaton
          ‡ * William Brewster        ‡†* James Chilton
          ‡ * Isaac Allerton          ‡   John Crackston
          ‡ * Myles Standish          ‡ * John Billington
            * John Alden               †  Moses Fletcher
            * Samuel Fuller            †  John Goodman
          ‡†  Christopher Martin       †* Degory Priest
          ‡†* William Mullins          †  Thomas Williams
          ‡†* William White               Gilbert Winslow
            * Richard Warren           †  Edmond Margeson
            * John Howland              * Peter Brown
          ‡ * Stephen Hopkins          †  Richard Britteridge
          ‡†  Edward Tilly              * George Soule
          ‡†* John Tilly               †  Richard Clarke
            * Francis Cooke               Richard Gardiner
           †* Thomas Rogers            †  John Allerton
          ‡†  Thomas Tinker            †  Thomas English
          ‡†  John Rigdale              * Edward Doty
                        Edward Leister

    (Note: November 21st of our Calendar is the same as November 11th
    of the Old Style Calendar.)

    * Has descendants now living.

    ‡ Brought wife.

    † Died first winter.



*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mayflower Society house: Being the story of the Edward Winslow house, the Mayflower Society, the Pilgrms" ***

Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.