The Women Who Came in the Mayflower

Annie Russel Marble

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Title: The Women Who Came in the Mayflower

Author: Annie Russel Marble

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THE WOMEN WHO CAME IN THE MAYFLOWER

BY

3 AUDIOBOOK COLLECTIONS

6 BOOK COLLECTIONS

ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE

FOREWORD

This little book is intended as a memorial to the women who came in

_The Mayflower_, and their comrades who came later in _The

Ann_ and _The Fortune_, who maintained the high standards of

home life in early Plymouth Colony. There is no attempt to make a

genealogical study of any family. The effort is to reveal glimpses of

the communal life during 1621-1623. This is supplemented by a few

silhouettes of individual matrons and maidens to whose influence we

may trace increased resources in domestic life and education.

One must regret the lack of proof regarding many facts, about which

are conflicting statements, both of the general conditions and the

individual men and women. In some instances, both points of view have

been given here; at other times, the more probable surmises have been

mentioned.

The author feels deep gratitude, and would here express it, to the

librarians of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New England

Genealogic-Historical Register, the American Antiquarian Society, the

Register of Deeds, Pilgrim Hall, and the Russel Library of Plymouth,

private and public libraries of Duxbury and Marshfield, and to Mr.

Arthur Lord and all other individuals who have assisted in this

research. The publications of the Society of Mayflower Descendants,

and the remarkable researches of its editor, Mr. George E. Bowman,

call for special appreciation.

ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE. _Worcester, Massachusetts._

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

I ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE: THE VOYAGE AND LANDING

II COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623

III MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN "THE MAYFLOWER"

IV COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN "THE FORTUNE" AND "THE ANN"

INDEX

CHAPTER I

ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE: THE VOYAGE AND LANDING

"So they left ye goodly and pleasante citie, which had been ther

resting-place near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, &

looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye

heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."

--_Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantations. Chap. VII._

December weather in New England, even at its best, is a test of

physical endurance. With warm clothes and sheltering homes today, we

find compensations for the cold winds and storms in the exhilarating

winter sports and the good cheer of the holiday season.

The passengers of _The Mayflower_ anchored in Plymouth harbor,

three hundred years ago, lacked compensations of sports or fireside

warmth. One hundred and two in number when they sailed,--of whom

twenty-nine were women,--they had been crowded for ten weeks into a

vessel that was intended to carry about half the number of

passengers. In low spaces between decks, with some fine weather when

the open hatchways allowed air to enter and more stormy days when they

were shut in amid discomforts of al kinds, they had come at last

within sight of the place where, contrary to their plans, they were

destined to make their settlement.

At Plymouth, England, their last port in September, they had "been

kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there

dwel ing," [Footnote: Relation or Journal of a Plantation Settled at Plymouth in New-England and Proceedings Thereof; London, 1622

(Bradford and Winslow) Abbreviated In Purchas' Pilgrim, X; iv; London,

1625.] but they were homeless now, facing a new country with frozen

shores, menaced by wild animals and yet more fearsome savages.

Whatever trials of their good sense and sturdy faith came later, those

days of waiting until shelter could be raised on shore, after the

weeks of confinement, must have chal enged their physical and

spiritual fortitude.

There must have been exciting days for the women on shipboard and in

landing. There must have been hours of distress for the older and the

delight in adventure which is an unchanging trait of the young of

every race. Wild winds carried away some clothes and cooking-dishes

from the ship; there was a birth and a death, and occasional illness,

besides the dire seasickness. John Howland, "the lustie young man,"

fel overboard but he caught hold of the topsail halyard which hung

extended and so held on "though he was sundry fathoms under water,"

until he was pul ed up by a rope and rescued by a boat-hook.

[Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 9.]

Recent research [Footnote: "The Mayflower," by H. G. Marsden;

Eng. Historical Review, Oct., 1904; The Mayflower Descendant, Jan.,

1916] has argued that the captain of _The Mayflower_ was probably

not _Thomas Jones_, with reputation for severity, but a Master

Christopher Jones of kindlier temper. The former captain was in

Virginia, in September, 1620, according to this account. With the most

generous treatment which the captain and crew could give to the women,

they must have been sorely tried. There were sick to be nursed,

children to be cared for, including some lively boys who played with

powder and nearly caused an explosion at Cape Cod; nourishment must be

found for all from a store of provisions that had been much reduced by

the delays and necessary sales to satisfy their "merchant adventurers"

before they left England. They slept on damp bedding and wore musty

clothes; they lacked exercise and water for drink or cleanliness.

Joyful for them must have been the day recorded by Winslow and

Bradford, [Footnote: Relation or Journal, etc. (1622).]--"On Monday

the thirteenth of November our people went on shore to refresh

themselves and our women to wash, as they had great need."

During the anxious days when the abler men were searching on land for

a site for the settlement, first on Cape Cod and later at Plymouth,

there were events of excitement on the ship left in the harbor.

Peregrine White was born and his father's servant, Edward Thompson,

died. Dorothy May Bradford, the girl-wife of the later Governor of the

colony, was drowned during his absence. There were murmurings and

threats against the leaders by some of the crew and others who were

impatient at the long voyage, scant comforts and uncertain future.

Possibly some of the complaints came from women, but in the hearts of

most of them, although no women signed their names, was the resolution

that inspired the men who signed that compact in the cabin of _The

Mayflower_,--"to promise al due submission and obedience." They had pledged their "great hope and inward zeal of laying good

foundation for ye propagating and advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom

of Christ in those remote parts of ye world; yea, though they should

be but as stepping-stones unto others for ye performing of so great a

work"; with such spirit they had been impel ed to leave Hol and and

such faith sustained them on their long journey.

Many of the women who were pioneers at Plymouth had suffered severe

hardships in previous years. They could sustain their own hearts and

encourage the younger ones by remembrance of the passage from England

to Holland, twelve years before, when they were searched most cruel y,

even deprived of their clothes and belongings by the ship's master at

Boston. Later they were abandoned by the Dutchman at Hul , to wait

for fourteen days of frightful storm while their husbands and

protectors were carried far away in a ship towards the coast of

Norway, "their little ones hanging about them and quaking with cold."

[Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 2.]

There were women with frail bodies, like Rose Standish and Katherine

Carver, but there were strong physiques and dauntless hearts sustained

to great old age, matrons like Susanna White and Elizabeth Hopkins and

young women like Priscilla Mul ins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth Tilley and

Constance Hopkins. In our imaginations today, few women correspond to

the clinging, fainting figures portrayed by some of the painters of

"The Departure" or "The Landing of the Pilgrims." We may more readily believe that most of the women were upright and alert, peering

anxiously but courageously into the future. Writing in 1910, John

Masefield said: [Footnote: Introduction to Chronicles of the Pilgrim

Fathers (Everyman's Library).] "A generation fond of pleasure,

disinclined towards serious thought, and shrinking from hardship, even

if it may be swiftly reached, will find it difficult to imagine the

temper, courage and manliness of the emigrants who made the first

Christian settlement of New England." Ten years ago it would have been as difficult for women of our day to understand adequately the

womanliness of the Pilgrim matrons and girls. The anxieties and

self-denials experienced by women of all lands during the last five

years may help us to "imagine" better the dauntless spirit of these women of New-Plymouth. During those critical months of 1621-1623 they

sustained their households and assisted the men in establishing an

orderly and religious colony. We may justly affirm that some of "the wisdom, prudence and patience and just and equal carriage of things

by the better part" [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth

Plantation; Bk. II.] was manifested among the women as wel as the

men.

In spite of the spiritual zeal which comes from devotion to a good

cause, and the inspiration of steady work, the women must have

suffered from homesickness, as wel as from anxiety and il ness. They

had left in Holland not alone their loved pastor, John Robinson, and

their valiant friend, Robert Cushman, but many fathers, mothers,

brothers and sisters besides their "dear gossips." Mistress Brewster yearned for her elder son and her daughters, Fear and Patience;

Priscilla Mullins and Mary Chilton, soon to be left orphans, had been

separated from older brothers and sisters. Disease stalked among them

on land and on shipboard like a demon. Before the completion of more

than two or three of the one-room, thatched houses, the deaths were

multiplying. Possibly this disease was typhus fever; more probably it

was a form of infectious pneumonia, due to enervated conditions of the

body and to exposures at Cape Cod. Winslow declared, in his account of

the expedition on shore, "It blowed and did snow all that day and

night and froze withal. Some of our people that are dead took the

original of their death there." Had the disease been "galloping consumption," as has been suggested sometimes, it is not probable that many of those "sick unto death" would have recovered and have lived to be octogenarians.

The toll of deaths increased and the illness spread until, at one

time, there were only "six or seven sound persons" to minister to the sick and to bury the dead. Fifteen of the twenty-nine women who sailed

from England and Hol and were buried on Plymouth hil side during the

winter and spring. They were: Rose Standish; Elizabeth, wife of Edward

Winslow; Mary, wife of Isaac Allerton; Sarah, wife of Francis Eaton;

Katherine, wife of Governor John Carver; Alice, wife of John Rigdale;

Ann, wife of Edward Fuller; Bridget and Ann Til ey, wives of John and

Edward; Alice, wife of John Mul ins or Molines; Mrs. James Chilton;

Mrs. Christopher Martin; Mrs. Thomas Tinker; possibly Mrs. John

Turner, and El en More, the orphan ward of Edward Winslow. Nearly

twice as many men as women died during those fateful months of

1621. Can we "imagine" the courage required by the few women who remained after this devastation, as the wolves were heard howling in

the night, the food supplies were fast disappearing, and the houses of

shelter were delayed in completion by "frost and much foul weather,"

and by the very few men in physical condition to rive timber or to

thatch roofs? The common house, twenty foot square, was crowded with

the sick, among them Carver and Bradford, who were obliged "to rise in good speed" when the roof caught on fire, and their loaded muskets in rows beside the beds threatened an explosion. [Footnote: Mourt's

Relation.]

Although the women's strength of body and soul must have been sapped

yet their fidelity stood wel the test; when _The Mayflower_ was

to return to England in April and the captain offered free passage to

the women as well as to any men who wished to go, if the women "would cook and nurse such of the crew as were il ," not a man or a woman

accepted the offer. Intrepid in bravery and faith, the women did their

part in making this lonely, impoverished settlement into a home. This

required adjustments of many kinds. Few in number, the women

represented distinctive classes of society in birth and education. In

Leyden, for seven years, they had chosen their friends and there they

formed a happy community, in spite of some poverty and more anxiety

about the education and morals of their children, because of "the

manifold temptations" [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth

Plantation, ch. 3.] of the Dutch city.

Many of the men, on leaving England, had renounced their more

leisurely occupations and professions to practise trades in

Leyden,--Brewster and Winslow as printers, Allerton as tailor, Dr.

Samuel Fuller as say-weaver and others as carpenters, wool-combers,

masons, cobblers, pewterers and in other crafts. A few owned

residences near the famous University of Leyden, where Robinson and

Brewster taught. Some educational influences would thus fal upon

their families. [Footnote: The England and Hol and of the Pilgrims,

Henry M. Dexter and Morton Dexter, Boston, 1905.] On the other hand,

others were recorded as "too poor to be taxed." Until July, 1620, there were two hundred and ninety-eight known members of this church

in Leyden with nearly three hundred more associated with them. Such

economic and social conditions gave to the women certain privileges

and pleasures in addition to the interesting events in this

picturesque city.

In _The Mayflower_ and at Plymouth, on the other hand, the women

were thrust into a smal company with widely differing tastes and

backgrounds. One of the first demands made upon them was for a

democratic spirit,--tolerance and patience, adaptability to varied

natures. The old joke that "the Pilgrim Mothers had to endure not

alone their hardships but the Pilgrim Fathers also" has been

overworked. These women would never have accepted pity as

martyrs. They came to this new country with devotion to the men of

their families and, in those days, such a call was supreme in a

woman's life. They sorrowed for the women friends who had been left

behind,--the wives of Dr. Fuller, Richard Warren, Francis Cooke and

Degory Priest, who were to come later after months of anxious waiting

for a message from New-Plymouth.

The family, not the individual, characterized the life of that

community. The father was always regarded as the "head" of the

family. Evidence of this is found when we try to trace the posterity

of some of the pioneer women from the Old Plymouth Colony Records. A

child is there recorded as "the son of Nicholas Snow," "the son of John Winslow" or "the daughter of Thomas Cushman" with no hint that the mothers of these children were, respectively, Constance Hopkins,

Mary Chilton and Mary Al erton, all of whom came in _The

Mayflower,_ although the fathers arrived at Plymouth later on

_The Fortune_ and _The Ann_.

It would be unjust to assume that these women were conscious heroines.

They wrought with courage and purpose equal to these traits in the

men, but probably none of the Pilgrims had a definite vision of the

future. With words of appreciation that are applicable to both sexes,

ex-President Charles W. Eliot has said: [Footnote: Eighteenth Annual

Dinner of Mayflower Society, Nov. 20, 1913.] "The Pilgrims did not

know the issue and they had no vision of it. They just loved liberty

and toleration and truth, and hoped for more of it, for more liberty,

for a more perfect toleration, for more truth, and they put their

lives, their labors, at the disposition of those loves without the

least vision of this republic, or of what was going to come out of

their industry, their devotion, their dangerous and exposed lives."

CHAPTER II

COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623

Spring and summer came to bless them for their endurance and

unconscious heroism. Then they could appreciate the verdict of their

leaders, who chose the site of Plymouth as a "hopeful place," with running brooks, vines of sassafras and strawberry, fruit trees, fish

and wild fowl and "clay excel ent for pots and will wash like soap."

[Footnote: Mourt's Relation] So early was the spring in 1621 that on

March the third there was a thunder storm and "the birds sang in the woods most pleasantly." On March the sixteenth, Samoset came with

Indian greeting. This visit must have been one of mixed sentiments for

the women and we can read more than the mere words in the sentence,

"We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkins' house and watched him."

[Footnote: Mourt's Relation.] Perhaps it was in deference to the women

that the men gave Samoset a hat, a pair of stockings, shoes, a shirt

and a piece of cloth to tie about his waist. Samoset returned soon

with Squanto or Tisquantum, the only survivor of the Patuxet tribe of

Indians which had perished of a pestilence Plymouth three years

before. He shared with Hobomok the friendship of the settlers for many

years and both Indians gave excel ent service. Through the influence

of Squanto the treaty was made in the spring of 1621 with Massasoit,

the first League of Nations to preserve peace in the new world.

Squanto showed the men how to plant alewives or herring as fertilizer

for the Indian corn. He taught the boys and girls how to gather clams

and mussels on the shore and to "tread eels" in the water that is still cal ed Eel River. He gathered wild strawberries and sassafras

for the women and they prepared a "brew" which almost equalled their ale of old England. The friendly Indians assisted the men, as the

seasons opened, in hunting wild turkeys, ducks and an occasional deer,

welcome additions to the store of fish, sea-biscuits and cheese. We

are told [Footnote: Mourt's Relation] that Squanto brought also a dog

from his Indian friends as a gift to the settlement. Already there

were, at least, two dogs, probably brought from Hol and or England, a

mastiff and a spaniel [Footnote: Winslow's Narration] to give comfort

and companionship to the women and children, and to go with the men

into the woods for timber and game.

It seems paradoxical to speak of child-life in this hard-pressed,

serious-minded colony, but it was there and, doubtless, it was normal

in its joyous and adventuresome impulses. Under eighteen years of age

were the girls, Remember and Mary Al erton, Constance and Damaris

Hopkins, Elizabeth Tilley and, possibly, Desire Minter and Humility

Cooper. The boys were Bartholomew Al erton, who "learned to sound the drum," John Crakston, Wil iam Latham, Giles Hopkins, John and Francis Bil ington, Richard More, Henry Sampson, John Cooke, Resolved White,

Samuel Fuller, Love and Wrestling Brewster and the babies, Oceanus

Hopkins and Peregrine White. With the exception of Wrestling Brewster

and Oceanus Hopkins, al these children lived to ripe old age,--a

credit not alone to their hardy constitutions, but also to the care

which the Plymouth women bestowed upon their households.

The flowers that grew in abundance about the settlement must have

given them joy,--_arbutus_ or "mayflowers," wild roses, blue

chicory, Queen Anne's lace, purple asters, golden-rod and the

beautiful sabbatia or "sentry" which is stil found on the banks of the fresh ponds near the town and is cal ed "the Plymouth rose."

Edward Winslow tells [Footnote: Relation of the Manners, Customs,

etc., of the Indians.] of the drastic use of this bitter plant in

developing hardihood among Indian boys. Early in the first year one of

these fresh-water ponds, known as Billington Sea, was discovered by

Francis Billington when he had climbed a high hill and had reported

from it "a smal er sea." Blackberries, blueberries, plums and cherries must have been delights to the women and children. Medicinal herbs

were found and used by advice of the Indian friends; the bayberry's

virtues as salve, if not as candle-light, were early applied to the

comforts of the households. Robins, bluebirds, "Bob Whites" and other birds sang for the pioneers as they sing for the tourist and resident

in Plymouth today. The mosquito had a sting,--for Bradford gave a

droll and pungent answer to the discontented colonists who had

reported, in 1624, that "the people are much annoyed with musquetoes."

He wrote: [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,

Bk. II.] _"They_ are too delicate and unfitte to begin new

plantations and colonies that cannot enduer the biting of a

muskeet. We would wish such to keep at home til at least they be

muskeeto proof. Yet this place is as free as any and experience

teacheth that ye land is tild and ye woods cut downe, the fewer there

wil be and in the end scarce any at all." The _end_ has not yet

come!

Good harvests and some thril ing incidents varied the hard conditions

of life for the women during 1621-2. Indian corn and barley furnished

a new foundation for many "a savory dish" prepared by the housewives in the mortar and pestles, kettles and skillets which they had brought

from Hol and. Nuts were used for food, giving piquant flavor both to

"cakes" baked in the fire and to the stuffing of wild turkeys. The fare was simple, but it must have seemed a feast to the Pilgrims after

the months of self-denials and extremity.

Before the winter of 1621-2 was ended, seven log houses had been built

and four "common buildings" for storage, meetings and workshops.

Already clapboards and furs were stored to be sent back to England to

the merchant adventurers in the first ship. The seven huts, with

thatched roofs and chimneys on the outside, probably in cob-house

style, were of hewn planks, not of round logs. [Footnote: The Pilgrim

Republic, John A. Goodwin, p. 582.] The fireplaces were of stones laid

in clay from the abundant sand. In 1628 thatched roofs were condemned

because of the danger of fire, [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New

Plymouth.] and boards or palings were substituted. During the first

two years or longer, light came into the houses through oiled paper in

the windows. From the plans left by Governor Bradford and the record

of the visit of De Rassieres to Plymouth, in 1627, one can visualize

this first street in New England, leading from Plymouth harbor up the

hil to the cannon and stockade where, later, was the fort. At the

intersection of the first street and a cross-highway stood the

Governor's house. It was fitting that the lot nearest to the fort hill

should be assigned to Miles Standish and John Alden. Al had free

access to the brook where flagons were fil ed for drink and where the

clothes were washed.

A few events that have been recorded by Winslow, Bradford and Morton

were significant and must have relieved the monotony of life. On

January fourth an eagle was shot, cooked and proved "to be excellent meat; it was hardly to be discerned from mutton." [Footnote: Mourt's Relation.] Four days later three seals and a cod were caught; we may

assume that they furnished oil, meat and skins for the household.

About the same time, John Goodman and Peter Brown lost their way in

the woods, remained out al night, thinking they heard lions roar

(mistaking wolves for lions), and on their return the next day John

Goodman's feet were so badly frozen "that it was a long time before he was able to go." [Footnote: _Ibid._] Wild geese were shot and

used for broth on the ninth of February; the same day the Common House

was set ablaze, but was saved from destruction. It is easy to imagine

the exciting effects of such incidents upon the band of thirteen boys

and seven girls, already enumerated. In July, the cry of "a lost

child" aroused the settlement to a search for that "unwhipt rascal,"

John Billington, who had run away to the Nauset Indians at Eastham,

but he was found unharmed by a posse of men led by Captain Standish.

To the women one of the most exciting events must have been the

marriage on May 22, 1621, of Edward Winslow and Mistress Susanna

White. Her husband and two men-servants had died since _The

Mayflower_ left England and she was alone to care for two young

boys, one a baby a few weeks old. Elizabeth Barker Winslow had died

seven weeks before the wedding day. Perhaps the Plymouth women

gossiped a little over the brief interval of mourning, but the

exigencies of the times easily explained the marriage, which was

performed by a magistrate, presumably the Governor.

Even more disturbing to the peaceful life was the first duel on June

18, between Edward Lister and Edward Dotey, both servants of Stephen

Hopkins. Tradition ascribed the cause to a quarrel over the attractive

elder daughter of their master, Constance Hopkins. The duel was fought

with swords and daggers; both youths were slightly wounded in hand and

thigh and both were sentenced, as punishment, to have their hands and

feet tied together and to fast for twenty-four hours but, says a

record, [Footnote: A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas

Prence.] "within an hour, because of their great pains, at their own and their master's humble request, upon promise of better carriage,

they were released by the Governor." It is easy to imagine this scene: Stephen Hopkins and his wife appealing to the Governor and Captain

Standish for leniency, although the settlement was seriously troubled

over the occurrence; Elder Brewster and his wife deploring the lack of

Christian affection which caused the duel; Edward Winslow and his

wife, dignified yet tolerant; Goodwife Helen Billington scolding as

usual; Priscilla Mul ins, Mary Chilton and Elizabeth Til ey condoling

with the tearful and frightened Constance Hopkins, while the children

stand about, excited and somewhat awed by the punishment and the

distress of the offenders.

Another day of unusual interest and industry for the householders was

the Thanksgiving Day when peace with the Indians and assured

prosperity seemed to fol ow the ample harvests. To this feast, which

lasted for three days or more, came ninety-one Indians bringing five

deer which they had kil ed and dressed. These were a great boon to the

women who must prepare meals for one hundred and forty people. Wild

turkeys, ducks, fish and clams were procured by the colonists and

cooked, perhaps with some marchpanes also, by the more expert

cooks. The serious prayers and psalms of the Pilgrims were as amazing

to the Indians as were the strange whoops, dances, beads and feathers

of the savages marvel ous to the women and children of Plymouth

Colony.

In spite of these peaceable incidents there were occasional threats of

Indian treachery, like the theft of tools from two woodsmen and the

later bold chal enge in the form of a headless arrow wrapped in a

snake's skin; the latter was returned promptly and decisively with the

skin filled with bul ets, and the danger was over for a time. The

stockade was strengthened and, soon after, a palisade was built about

the houses with gates that were locked at night. After the fort of

heavy timber was completed, this was used also as a meeting-house and

"was fitted accordingly for that use." It is to be hoped that

warming-pans and foot-stoves were a part of the "fittings" so that the women might not be benumbed as, with dread of possible Indian attacks,

they limned from the old Ainsworth's Psalm Book:

"In the Lord do I trust, how then to my soule doe ye say,

As doth a little bird unto your mountaine fly away?

For loe, the wicked bend their bow, their arrows they prepare

On string; to shoot at dark at them

In heart that upright are."

(Psalm xi.)

Even more exciting than the days already mentioned was the great event

of surprise and rejoicing, November 19, 1621, when _The Fortune_

arrived with thirty-five more Pilgrims. Some of these were soon to wed

_Mayflower_ passengers. Widow Martha Ford, recently bereft,

giving birth on the night of her arrival to a fourth child, was wed to

Peter Brown; Mary Becket (sometimes written Bucket) became the wife of

George Soule; John Winslow; later married Mary Chilton, and Thomas

Cushman, then a lad of fourteen, became the husband, in manhood, of

Mary Al erton. His father, Robert Cushman, remained in the settlement

while _The Fortune_ was at anchor and left his son as ward for

Governor Bradford. The notable sermon which was preached at Plymouth

by Robert Cushman at this time (preserved in Pilgrim Hal , Plymouth)

was from the text, "Let no man seek his own; but every man another's wealth." Some of the admonitions against swel ing pride and

fleshly-minded hypocrites seem to us rather paradoxical when we

consider the poverty and self-sacrificing spirit of these pioneers;

perhaps, there were selfish and slothful malcontents even in that

company of devoted, industrious men and women, for human nature was

the same three hundred years ago, in large and smal communities, as

it is today, with some relative changes.

Among the passengers brought by _The Fortune_ were some of great

helpfulness. Wil iam Wright, with his wife Priscil a (the sister of

Governor Bradford's second wife), was an expert carpenter, and Stephen

Dean, who came with his wife, was able to erect a small mil and grind

corn. Robert Hicks (or Heeks) was another addition to the colony,

whose wife was later the teacher of some of the children. Philip De La

Noye, progenitor of the Delano family in America, John and Kenelm

Winslow and Jonathan Brewster were eligible men to join the group of

younger men,--John Alden, John Howland and others.

The great joy in the arrival of these friends was succeeded by an

agitating fear regarding the food supply, for _The Fortune_ had

suffered from bad weather and its colonists had scarcely any extra

food or clothing. By careful allotments the winter was endured and

when spring came there were hopes of a large harvest from more

abundant sowing, but the hopes were kil ed by the fearful drought

which lasted from May to the middle of July. Some lawless and selfish

youths frequently stole corn before it was ripe and, although public

whipping was the punishment, the evil persisted. These conditions were

met with the same courage and determination which ever characterized

the leaders; a rationing of the colony was made which would have done

credit to a "Hoover." They escaped famine, but the worn, thin faces and "the low condition, both in respect of food and clothing" was a shock to the sixty more colonists who arrived in _The Ann_ and

_The James_ in 1623.

The friends who came in these later ships included some women from

Leyden, "dear gossips" of _Mayflower_ colonists, women whose

resources and characters gave them prominence in the later history of

Plymouth. Notable among them was Mrs. Alice Southworth soon to wed

Governor Bradford. With her came Barbara, whose surname is surmised to

have been Standish, soon to become the wife of Captain Standish.

Bridget Ful er joined her husband, the noble doctor of Plymouth;

Elizabeth Warren, with her five daughters, came to make a home for her

husband, Richard; Mistress Hester Cooke came with three children, and

Fear and Patience Brewster, despite their names, brought joy and cheer

to their mother and girlhood friends; they were later wed to Isaac

Al erton and Thomas Prence, the Governor.

Fortunately, _The Ann_ and _The James_ brought supplies in

liberal measure and also carpenters, weavers and cobblers, for their

need was great. _The James_ was to remain for the use of the

colony. Rations had been as low as one-quarter pound of bread a day

and sometimes their fare was only "a bit of fish or lobster without

any bread or relish but a cup of fair spring water." [Footnote:

Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.] It is not strange

that Bradford added: "ye long continuance of this diete and their

labors abroad had somewhat abated ye freshness of their former

complexion."

An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the

women as wel as men, was made at this time. Formerly the

administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. Al the

men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt

for the common use of al the households. The women also did their

tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a

new division of land was made, allotting to member householder an acre

for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was cal ed

"every man for his owne particuler," was told by Bradford with a comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints nor

martyrs. He wrote: "The women now went wil ingly into ye field, and

tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would

aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compel ed would have bene

thought great tiranie and oppression." After further comment upon the failure of communism as "breeding confusion and discontent" he added this significant comment: "For ye yong-men that were most able and

fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their

time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without

any recompense.... And for men's wives to be commanded to doe servise

for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc.,

they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well

brooke it."

If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in

the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and

looms to the women who came in _The Mayflower_, but we can

scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There

could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful

weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial

history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for

their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity

on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to

the supplies which each brought from Hol and or England; in some

families there were sheets and "pil ow-beeres" with "clothes of substance and comeliness," but other households were scantily

supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting bal ad, cal ed "Our

Forefathers' Song," is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that

she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would

approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was

written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of

poverty and brave spirit:

"The place where we live is a wilderness wood,

Where grass is much wanted that's fruitful and good;

Our mountains and hil s and our val eys below,

Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.

"Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn,

They need to be clouted soon after they are worn,

But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing,

Clouts _double_ are warmer than _single_ whole clothing.

"If fresh meate be wanted to fil up our dish,

We have carrots and turnips whenever we wish,

And if we've a mind for a delicate dish,

We go to the clam-bank and there we catch fish.

"For pottage and puddings and custards and pies,

Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies!

We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon,

If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon."

[Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.]

What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is,--what they

had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the picture

of these Pilgrims "in uniform," gray gowns with dainty white collars and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical

garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no

evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were

proud of their English birth; they left Hol and partly for fear that

their young people might be educated or enticed away from English

standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth

Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely

[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that the

"sad-colored" gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not "dismal"; the list of colors so described in England included (1638) "russet,

purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and scarlet."

The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns and greens, and cloaks

with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say,

paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers,--often

with bright tone,--ful , sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace

collars or "whisks" resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns were plaited or silk-laced; they often opened in front showing

petticoats that were quilted or embroidered in brighter

colours. Broadcloth gowns of russet tones were worn by those who could

not afford silks and satins; sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins

of black and browns. For dress occasions the men wore black velvet

jerkins with white ruffs, like those in the authentic portrait of

Edward Winslow. Velvet and quilted hoods of al colors and sometimes

caps, flat on the head and meeting below the chin with fullness, are

shown in existent portraits of English women and early colonists.

Among relics that are dated back to this early period are the slipper

[Footnote: In Pilgrim Hal , Plymouth.] belonging to Mistress Susanna

White Winslow, narrow, pointed, with lace trimmings, and an

embroidered lace cap that has been assigned to Rose Standish.

[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume In America; Earle.] Sometimes the

high ruffs were worn above the shoulders instead of "whisks." The children were dressed like miniature men and women; often the girls

wore aprons, as did the women on occasions; these were narrow and

edged with lace. "Petty coats" are mentioned in wil s among the garments of the women. We would not assume that in 1621-2 _al _

the women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even homespun clothes of

prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in

inventories and retained heirlooms, with rich laces and embroideries,

were brought later from England; probably Winslow, Allerton and even

Standish brought back such gifts to the women when they made their

trips to England in 1624 and later. If the pioneer women had laces and

embroideries of gold they probably hoarded them as precious heirlooms

during those early years of want, for they were too sensible to wear

and to waste them. As prosperity came, however, and new elements

entered the colony they were, doubtless, affected by the law of the

General Court, in 1634, which forbade further acquisition of laces,

threads of silver and gold, needle-work caps, bands and rails, and

silver girdles and belts. This law was enacted _not_ by the

Pilgrims of Plymouth, but by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

When Edward Winslow returned in _The Charity_, in 1624, he

brought not alone a "goodly supply of clothing" [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] but,--far more

important,--the first bul and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old

tradition of the white bul on which Priscilla Alden rode home from

her marriage, in 1622 or early 1623, must be rejected. This valuable

addition of "neat cattle" to the resources of the colony caused a redistribution of land and shares in the "stock." By 1627 a

partnership or "purchas" had been, arranged, for assuming the debts and maintenance of the Plymouth colony, freed from further

responsibility to "the adventurers" in London. The new division of lots included also some of the cattle. It was specified, for instance,

that Captain Standish and Edward Winslow were to share jointly "the

Red Cow which belongeth to the poor of the colony to which they must

keep her Calfe of this yeare being a Bul for the Companie, Also two

shee goats." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] Elder Brewster was granted

"one of the four Heifers came in _The Jacob_ cal ed the Blind

Heifer."

Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of

this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford:

[Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] "Some

looked for building great houses, and such pleasant situations for

them as themselves had fancied, as if they would be great men and rich

all of a suddaine; but they proved castles in air." Within a short

time, however, with the rapid increase of children and the need of

more pasturage for the cattle, many of the leading men and women

drifted away from the original confines of Plymouth towards Duxbury,

Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater and Eastham. Agriculture became

their primal concern, with the allied pursuits of fishing, hunting and

trading with the Indians and white settlements that were made on Cape

Cod and along the Kennebec.

Soon after 1630 the families of Captain Standish, John Alden, and

Jonathan Brewster (who had married the sister of John Oldham), Thomas

Prence and Edward Winslow were settled on large farms in Duxbury and

Marshfield. This loss to the Plymouth settlement was deplored by

Bradford both for its social and religious results. April 2, 1632,

[Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England,

edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] a pledge was taken by Alden,

Standish, Prence, and Jonathan Brewster that they would "remove their families to live in the towne in the winter-time that they may the

better repair to the service of God." Such arrangement did not long

continue, however, for in 1633 a church was established at Duxbury and

the Plymouth members who lived there "were dismiste though very

unwillingly." [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,

Bk. 2.] Later the families of Francis Eaton, Peter Brown and George

Soule joined the Duxbury colony. Hobomok, ever faithful to Captain

Standish had a wigwam near his master's home until, in his old age, he

was removed to the Standish house, where he died in 1642.

The women who had come in the earlier ships and had lived close to

neighbors at Plymouth must have had lonely hours on their farms in

spite of large families and many tasks. Wolves and other wild animals

were sometimes near, for traps for them were decreed and

allotted. Chance Indians prowled about and the stoutest hearts must

have quailed when some of the recorded hurricanes and storms of 1635

and 1638 uncovered houses, felled trees and corn. In the main,

however, there was peace and many of the families became prosperous;

we find evidence in their wil s, several of which have been deciphered

from the original records by George Ernest Bowman, editor of the

"Mayflower Descendants," [Footnote: Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon St., Boston.] issued quarterly. By the aid of such records and a few

family heirlooms of unquestioned genuineness, it is possible to

suggest some individual silhouettes of the women of early Plymouth, in

addition to the glimpses of their communal life.

CHAPTER III

MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN THE MAYFLOWER

It has been said, with some justice, that the Pilgrims were not

remarkable men, that they lacked genius or distinctive personalities.

The same statement may be made about the women. They did possess, as

men and women, fine qualities for the work which they were destined to

accomplish,--remarkable energy, faith, purpose, courage and

patience. These traits were prominent in the leaders, Carver and

Bradford, Standish and Winslow, Brewster and Dr. Fuller. As assistants

to the men in the civic life of the colony, there were a few women who

influenced the domestic and social affairs of their own and later

generations. From chance records, wil s, inventories and traditions

their individual traits must be discerned, for there is scarcely any

sequential, historic record.

Death claimed some of these brave-hearted women before the life at

Plymouth real y began. Dorothy May Bradford, the daughter of Deacon

May of the Leyden church, came from Wisbeach, Cambridge; she was

married to William Bradford when she was about sixteen years old and

was only twenty when she was drowned at Cape Cod. Her only child, a

son, John, was left with her father and mother in Holland and there

was long a tradition that she mourned grievously at the separation.

This son came later to Plymouth, about 1627, and lived in Marshfield

and Norwich, Connecticut.

The tiny pieces of a padded quilt with faded threads of silver and

gold, which belonged to Rose Standish, [Footnote: Now in Pilgrim Hal ,

Plymouth.] are fitting relics of this mystical, delicate wife of "the doughty Captain." She died January 29, 1621. She is portrayed in

fiction and poetry as proud of her husband's bravery and his record as

a Lieutenant of Queen Elizabeth's forces in aid of the Dutch. She was

also proud of his reputed, and disputed, inheritance among the titled

families of Standish of Standish and Standish of Duxbury

Hal . [Footnote: For discussion of the ancestry of Standish, see "Some Recent Investigations of the Ancestry of Capt. Myles Standish," by

Thomas Cruddas Porteus of Coppel , Lancashire; N. E. Gen. Hist.

Register, 68; 339-370; also in edition, Boston, 1914.] There has been

a persistent tradition that Rose was born or lived on the Isle of Man

and was married there, but no records have been found as proofs.

In the painting of "The Embarkation," by Robert Weir, Elizabeth Barker, the young wife of Edward Winslow, is attired in gay colors and

extreme fashion, while beside her stands a boy of about eight years

with a canteen strapped over his shoulders. It has been stated that

this is the silver canteen, marked "E. W.," now in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The only record _there_ is

[Footnote: Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, iv, 322.]

"presentation, June, 1870, by James Warren, Senr., of a silver canteen and pewter plate which once belonged to Gov. Edward Winslow with his

arms and initials." As Elizabeth Barker, who came from Chatsun or

Chester, England, to Holland, was married April 3, 1618, to Winslow,

[Footnote: England and Hol and of the Pilgrims, Dexter.] and as she

was his first wife, the son must have been a baby when _The

Mayflower_ sailed. Moreover, there is no record by Bradford of any

child that came with the Winslows, except the orphan, El en More. It

has been suggested that the latter was of noble lineage. [Footnote:

The Mayflower Descendant, v. 256.]

Mary Norris, of Newbury in England, wife of one of the wealthiest and

most prominent of the Pilgrims in early years, Isaac Allerton, died in

February of the first winter, leaving two young girls, Remember and

Mary, and a son, Bartholomew or "Bart." The daughters married well, Remember to Moses Maverick of Salem, and Mary to Thomas

Cushman. Mrs. Al erton gave birth to a child that was stil -born while

on _The Mayflower_ and thus she had less strength to endure the

hardships which followed. [Footnote: History of the Al erton Family;

W. S. Al erton, N. Y., 1888.]

When Bradford, recording the death of Katherine Carver, cal ed her a

"weak woman," he referred to her health which was delicate while she lived at Plymouth and could not withstand the grief and shock of her

husband's death in April. She died the next month. She has been

called "a gracious woman" in another record of her death. [Footnote: New England Memorial; Morton.] She was the sister or sister-in-law of

John Robinson, their pastor in England and Holland. Recent

investigation has claimed that she was first married to George Legatt

and later to Carver. [Footnote: The Colonial, I, 46; also

Gen. Hist. Reg., 67; 382, note.] Two children died and were buried in

Hol and in 1609 and 1617 and, apparently, these were the only children

born to the Carvers. The maid Lois, who came with them on _The

Mayflower_, is supposed to have married Francis Eaton, but she did

not live after 1622. Desire Minter, who was also of the Carver

household, has been the victim of much speculation. Mrs. Jane

G. Austin, in her novel, "Standish of Standish," makes her the female scapegrace of the colony, jealous, discontented and quarrelsome. On

the other hand, and stil speculatively, she is portrayed as the elder

sister and house keeper for John Howland and Elizabeth Til ey, after

the death of Mistress Carver; this is assumed because the first girl

born to the Howlands was named Desire. [Footnote: Life of Pilgrim

Alden; Augustus E. Alden; Boston, 1902.] The only known facts about

Desire Minter are those given by Bradford, "she returned to friends

and proved not well, and dyed in England." [Footnote: Bradford's

History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.] By research among the

Leyden records, col ated by H. M. Dexter, [Footnote: The England and

Hol and of the Pilgrims.] the name, Minter, occurs a few

times. Wil iam Minter, the husband of Sarah, was associated with the

Carvers and Chiltons in marriage betrothals. William Minter was

purchaser of a house from William Jeppson, in Leyden, in 1614. Another

record is of a student at the University of Leyden who lived at the

house of John Minter. Another reference to Thomas Minter of Sandwich,

Kent, may furnish a clue. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 45, 56.]

Evidently, to some of these relatives, with property, near or distant

of kin, Desire Minter returned before 1626.

Another unmarried woman, who survived the hardships of the first

winter, but returned to England and died there, was Humility

Cooper. We know almost nothing about her except that she and Henry

Sampson were cousins of Edward Tilley and his wife. She is also

mentioned as a relative of Richard Clopton, one of the early religious

leaders in England. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist.; iv, 108.]

The "mother" of this group of matrons and maidens, who survived the winters of 1621-2, was undoubtedly Mistress Mary Brewster. Wife of the

Elder, she shared his religious faith and zeal, and exercised a strong

moral influence upon the women and children. Pastor John Robinson, in

a letter to Governor Bradford, in 1623, refers to "her weake and

decayed state of body," but she lived until April 17, 1627, according to records in "the Brewster Book." She was only fifty-seven years at her death but, as Bradford said with tender appreciation, "her great and continuall labours, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it

before y'e time." As Elder Brewster "could fight as wel as he could pray," could build his own house and til his own land, [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin.] so, we may believe, his wife was

efficient in all domestic ways. When her strength failed, it is

pleasant to think that she accepted graciously the loving assistance

of the younger women to whom she must have seemed, in her presence,

like a benediction. Her married life was fruitful; five children lived

to maturity and two or more had died in Hol and. The Elder was "wise and discreet and wel -spoken--of a cheerful spirit, sociable and

pleasant among his friends, undervaluing himself and his abilities and

sometimes overvaluing others." [Footnote: Bradford's History of

Plymouth Plantation.] Such a person is sure to be a delightful

companion. To these attractive qualities the Elder added another proof

of tact and wisdom: "He always thought it were better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the

same."

While Mistress Brewster did not excel the women of her day, probably,

in education, for to read easily and to write were not considered

necessary graces for even the better-bred classes,--she could

appreciate the thirty-eight copies of the Scriptures which were found

among her husband's four hundred volumes; _these_ would be

familiar to her, but the sixty-four books in Latin would not be read

by the women of her day. Fortunately, she did not survive, as did her

husband, to endure grief from the deaths of the daughters, Fear and

Patience, both of whom died before 1635; nor yet did she realize the

bitterness of feeling between the sons, Jonathan and Love, and their

differences of opinion in the settlement of the Elder's

estate. [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.]

A traditional picture has been given [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic;

John A. Goodwin; foot-note, p.181.] of Captain Peregrine White of

Marshfield, "riding a black horse and wearing a coat with buttons the size of a silver dol ar, vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last,"

[Footnote: Account of his death in _Boston News Letter_, July 31,

1704.] paying daily visits to his mother, Mistress Susanna White

Winslow. We may imagine this elderly matron, sitting in the Winslow

arm-chair, with its mark, "Cheapside, 1614," [Footnote: This chair and the cape are now In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth; here also are portraits of

Edward Winslow and Josiah Winslow and the latter's wife, Penelope.]

perhaps wearing the white silk shoulder-cape with its trimmings of

embossed velvet which has been preserved, proud that she was

privileged to be the mother of this son, the first child born of white

parents in New England, proud that she had been the wife of a Governor

and Commissioner of eminence, and also the mother of Josiah Winslow,

the first native-born Governor of any North American commonwealth.

Hers was a record of which any woman of any century might well be

proud! [Footnote: More material may be found in Winslow Memorial;

Family Record, Holton, N. Y., 1877, and in Ancestral Chronological

Record of the William White Family, 1607-1895, Concord, 1895.]

In social position and worldly comforts her life was pre-eminent among

the colonists. Although Edward Winslow had renounced some of his

English wealth, possibly, when he went to Hol and and adopted the

trade of printer, he "came into his own" again and was in high favor with English courts and statesmen. His services as agent and

commissioner, both for the Plymouth colony and later for Cromwell,

must have necessitated long absences from home, while his wife

remained at Careswel , the estate at Green Harbor, Marshfield, caring

for her younger children, Elizabeth and Josiah Winslow. By family

tradition, Mistress Susanna was a woman of graceful, aristocratic

bearing and of strong character. Sometimes called Anna, as in her

marriage record to Wil iam White at Leyden, February 11, 1612,

[Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, vi , 193.] she was the sister of

Dr. Samuel Fuller. Two children by her first marriage died in 1615 and

1616; with her boy, Resolved, about five or six years old, she came

with her husband on _The Mayflower_ and, at the end of the

voyage, bore her son, Peregrine White.

The tact, courtesy and practical sagacity of Edward Winslow fitted him

for the many demands that were made upon his diplomacy. One of the

most amusing stories of his experiences as agent for Plymouth colony

has been related by himself [Footnote: Winslow's Relation.] when, at

the request of the Indians, he visited Massasoit, who was ill, and

brought about the recovery of this chief by common sense methods of

treatment and by a "savory broth" made from Indian corn, sassafras and strawberry leaves, "strained through his handkerchief." The skil with which Winslow cooked the broth and the "relish" of ducks reflected credit upon the household methods of Mistress Winslow.

After 1646, Edward Winslow did not return to Plymouth for any long

sojourn, for Cromwel and his advisers had recognized the worth of

such a man as commissioner. [Footnote: State Papers, Colonial

Service, 1574-1660. Winthrop Papers, i , 283.] In 1655 he was sent as

one of three commissioners against the Spaniards in the West Indies to

attack St. Domingo. Because of lack of supplies and harmony among the

troops, the attack was a failure. To atone for this the fleet started

towards Jamaica, but on the way, near Hispaniola, Winslow was taken

il of fever and died, May 8, 1655; he was buried at sea with a

military salute from forty-two guns. The salary paid to Winslow during

these years was L1000, which was large for those times. On April 18,

1656, a "representation" from his widow, Susanna, and son was

presented to the Lord Protector and council, asking that, although

Winslow's death occurred the previous May, the remaining L500 of his

year's salary might be paid to satisfy his creditors.

To his wife and family Winslow, doubtless, wrote letters as graceful

and interesting as are the few business epistles that are preserved in

the Winthrop Papers. [Footnote: Hutchinson Collections, 110, 153,

etc.] That he was anxious, to return to his family is evident from a

letter by President Steele of the Society for Propagating the Gospel

in New England (in 1650), which Winslow was also serving; [Footnote:

The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin, 444.] "Winslow was unwil ing to be

longer kept from his family, but his great acquaintance and influence

were of service to the cause so great that it was hoped he would

remain for a time longer." In his wil , which is now in Somerset

House, London, dated 1654, he left his estate at Marshfield to his

son, Josiah, with the stipulation that his wife, Susanna, should be

allowed a full third part thereof through her life. [Footnote: The

Mayflower Descendant, iv. i.] She lived twenty-five years longer,

dying in October, 1680, at the estate, Careswel . It is supposed that

she was buried on the hil side cemetery of the Daniel Webster estate

in Marshfield, where, amid tangles and flowers, may be located the

grave-stones of her children and grandchildren. Sharing with Mistress

Susanna White Winslow the distinction of being mother of a child born

on _The Mayflower_ was Mistress Elizabeth Hopkins, whose son,

Oceanus, was named for his birthplace. She was the second wife of

Stephen Hopkins, who was one of the leaders with Winslow and Standish

on early expeditions. With her stepchildren, Constance and Giles, and

her little daughter, Damaris, she bore the rigors of those first

years, bore other children,--Caleb, Ruth, Deborah and Elizabeth,--and

cared for a large estate, including servants and many cattle. The

inventory of the Hopkins estate revealed an abundance of beds and

bedding, yel ow and green rugs, curtains and spinning-wheels, and much

wearing apparel. The home-life surely had incidents of excitement, as

is shown by the accusations and fines against Stephen Hopkins for

"suffering excessive drinking at his house, 1637, when Wil iam

Reynolds was drunk and lay under the table," and again for "suffering men to drink in his house on the Lord's Day, both before and after the

meeting--and allowing his servant and others to drink more than for

ordinary refreshing and to play shovell board and such like

misdemeanors." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New

Plymouth.] Such lapses in conduct at the Hopkins house were atoned

for by the services which Stephen Hopkins rendered to the colony as

explorer, assistant to the governor and other offices which suited his

reliable and fearless disposition.

These occasional "misdemeanors" in the Hopkins household were slight compared with the records against "the black sheep" of the colony, the family of Billingtons from London. The mother, Helen or El en, did not

seem to redeem the reputation of husband and sons; traditionally she

was cal ed "the scold." After her husband had been executed in 1630, for the first murder in the colony, for he had waylaid and killed John

Newcomen, she married Gregory Armstrong. She had various controversies

in court with her son and others. In 1636, she was accused of slander

by "Deacon" John Doane,--she had charged him with unfairness in mowing her pasture lot,--and she was sentenced to a fine of five pounds and

"to sit in the stocks and be publickly whipt." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] Her second husband died in 1650 and she

lived several years longer, occupying a "tenement" granted to her in her son's house at North Plymouth. Apparently her son, John, after

his fractious youth, died; Francis married Christian Penn, the widow

of Francis Eaton.

Their children seem to have "been bound out" for service while the parents were convicted of trying to entice the children away from

their work and, consequently, they were punished by sitting in the

stocks on "lecture days." [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin.]

In his later life, Francis Bil ington became more stable in character

and served on committees. His last offense was the mild one "of

drinking tobacco on the high-way." Apparently, Helen Bil ington had

many troubles and little sympathy in the Plymouth colony.

As companions to these matrons of the pioneer days were four maidens

who must have been valuable as assistants in housework and care of the

children,--Priscilla Mul ins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth Tilley and

Constance Hopkins. The first three had been orphaned during that

first winter; probably, they became members of the households of Elder

Brewster and Governor Carver. All have left names that are most

honorably cherished by their many descendants. Priscilla Mul ins has

been celebrated in romance and poetry. Very little real knowledge

exists about her and many of the surmises would be more interesting if

they could be proved. She was well-born, for her father, at his

death, was mentioned with regret [Footnote: New England Memorial;

Morton.] as "a man pious and wel -deserving, endowed also with

considerable outward estate; and had it been the will of God, that he

had survived, might have proved an useful instrument in his place."

There was a family tradition of a castle, Molyneux or Molines, in

Normandy. The title of _Mr._ indicated that he was a man of

standing and he was a counsellor in state and church. Perhaps he died

on shipboard at Plymouth, because his, wil , dated April 2, 1621, was

witnessed by John Carver, Christopher Jones and Giles Heald,

probably the captain and surgeon of the ship, _Mayflower_.

This will, which has been recently found in Dorking, Surrey, England,

has had important influence upon research. We learn that an older

sister, Sarah Blunden, living in Surrey, was named as administratrix,

and that a son, Wil iam (who came to Plymouth before 1637) was to have

money, bonds and stocks in England. Goods in Virginia and more

money,--ten pounds each,--were bequeathed equal y to his wife Alice,

his daughter Priscilla and the younger son, Joseph. Interesting also

is the item of "xxj dozen shoes and thirteene paire of boots wch I

give unto the Companie's hands for forty pounds at seaven yeares." If the Company would not accept the rate, these shoes and boots were to

be for the equal benefit of his wife and son, Wil iam. To his friend,

John Carver, he commits his wife and children and also asks for a

"special eye to my man Robert wch hath not so approved himself as I

would he should have done." [Footnote: Pilgrim Alden, by Augustus

E. Alden, Boston, 1902.] Before this will was probated, July 23, 1621,

John Carver, Mistress Alice Mul ins, the son, Joseph, and the man,

Robert Carter (or Cartier) were al dead, leaving Priscil a to carry

on the work to which they had pledged their lives. Perhaps, the

brother and sister in England were children of an earlier marriage,

[Footnote: Gen. Hist. Register, 40; 62-3.] as Alice Mullins has been

spoken of as a second wife.

Priscilla was about twenty years old when she came to Plymouth. By

tradition she was handsome, witty, deft and skilful as spinner and

cook. Into her life came John Alden, a cooper of unknown family, who

joined the Pilgrims at Southampton, under promise to stay a

year. Probably he was not the first suitor for Priscilla's hand, for

tradition affirmed that she had been sought in Leyden. The single

sentence by Bradford tells the story of their romance: "being a

hop[e]ful yong man was much desired, but left to his owne liking to

go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here." With

him he brought a Bible, printed 1620, [Footnote: Now in Pilgrim Hal ,

Plymouth.] probably a farewel gift or purchase as he left

England. When the grant of land and cattle was made in 1627, he was

twenty-eight years old, and had in his family, Priscilla, his wife, a

daughter, Elizabeth, aged three, and a son, John, aged one. [Footnote:

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.]

The poet, Longfel ow, was a descendant of Priscil a Alden, and he had

often heard the story of the courtship of Priscil a by Miles Standish,

through John Alden as his proxy. It was said to date back to a poem,

"Courtship," by Moses Mullins, 1672. In detail it was given by Timothy Alden in "American Epitaphs," 1814, [Footnote: American Epitaphs, 1814; ii , 139.] but there are here some deflections from facts as

later research has revealed them. The magic words of romance, "Why

don't you speak for yourself, John?" are found in this early

narrative.

There was more than romance in the lives of John and Priscil a Alden

as the "vital facts" indicate. Their first home was at Town Square, Plymouth, on the site of the first school-house but, by 1633, they

lived upon a farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres in

Duxbury. Their first house here was about three hundred feet from the

present Alden house, which was built by the son, Jonathan, and is now

occupied by the eighth John Alden. It must have been a lonely

farmstead for Priscil a, although she made rare visits, doubtless on

an ox or a mare, or in an ox-cart with her children, to see Barbara

Standish at Captain's Hil , or to the home of Jonathan Brewster, a few

miles distant. As farmer, John Alden was not so successful as he would

have been at his trade of cooper. Moreover, he gave much of his time

to the service of the colony throughout his manhood, acting as

assistant to the Governor, treasurer, surveyor, agent and military

recruit. Like many another public servant of his day and later, he

"became low in his estate" and was al owed a smal gratuity of ten pounds because "he hath been occationed to spend time at the Courts on the Countryes occasion and soe hath done this many yeares."

[Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] He had also been

one of the eight "undertakers" who, in 1627, assumed the debts and financial support of the Plymouth colony.

Eleven children had been born to John and Priscilla Alden, five sons

and six daughters. Sarah married Alexander Standish and so cemented

the two families in blood as well as in friendship. Ruth, who married

John Bass, became the ancestress of John Adams and John Quincy

Adams. Elizabeth, who married Wil iam Pabodie, had thirteen children,

eleven of them girls, and lived to be ninety-three years; at her death

the _Boston News Letter_ [Footnote: June 17, 1717.] extolled her

as "exemplary, virtuous and pious and her memory is blessed." Possibly with al her piety she had a good share of the independence of spirit

which was accredited to her mother; in her husband's wil [Footnote:

The Mayflower Descendant, vi, 129.] she is given her "third at Little Compton" and an abundance of household stuff, but with this

reservation,--"If she wil not be contented with her thirds at Little Compton, but shal claim her thirds in both Compton and Duxbury or

marry again, I do hereby make voyde all my bequest unto her and she

shal share only the parte as if her husband died intestate." A

portrait of her shows dress of rich materials.

Captain John Alden seems to have been more adventuresome than the

other boys in Priscil a's family. He was master of a merchantman in

Boston and commander of armed vessels which supplied marine posts with

provisions. Like his sister, Elizabeth, he had thirteen children. He

was once accused of witchcraft, when he was present at a trial, and

was imprisoned fifteen weeks without being allowed bail.

[Footnote: History of Witchcraft; Upham.] He escaped and hurried to

Duxbury, where he must have astonished his mother by the recital of

his adventures. He left an estate of L2059, in his wil , two houses,

one of wood worth four hundred pounds, and another of brick worth two

hundred and seventy pounds, besides much plate, brass and money and

debts amounting to L1259, "the most of which are desperite." A tablet in the wall of the Old South Church at Copley Square, Boston, records

his death at the age of seventy-five, March, 1701. He was an original

member of this church. Perhaps Priscilla varied her peaceful life by

visits to this affluent son in Boston. There is no evidence of the

date of Priscilla Alden's death or the place of her burial. She was

living and present, with her husband, at Josiah Winslow's funeral in

1680. She must have died before her husband, for in his Inventory,

1686, he makes no mention of her. He left a small estate of only a

little over forty pounds, although he had given to his sons land in

Duxbury, Taunton, Middleboro and Bridgewater. [Footnote: The

Mayflower Descendant, ii , 10. The Story of a Pilgrim Family;

Rev. John Alden; Boston, 1890.] Probably Priscil a also bestowed some

of her treasures upon her children before she died. Some of her

spoons, pewter and candle-sticks have been traced by inheritance. It

is not likely that she was "rich in this world's goods" through her marriage, but she had a husband whose fidelity to state and religion

have ever been respected. To his memory Rev. John Cotton wrote some

elegiac verses; Justin Winsor has emphasized the honor which is stil

paid to the name of John Alden in Duxbury and Plymouth: [Footnote:

History of Duxbury; Winsor.] "He was possessed of a sound judgment

and of talents which, though not brilliant, were by no means

ordinary--decided, ardent, resolute, and persevering, indifferent to

danger, a bold and hardy man, stern, austere and unyielding and of

incorruptible integrity." The name of Mary Chilton is pleasant to the ear and imagination. Chilton Street and Chiltonvil e in Plymouth, and

the Chilton Club in Boston, keep alive memories of this girl who was,

by persistent tradition, the first woman who stepped upon the rock of

landing at Plymouth harbor. This tradition was given in writing, in

1773, by Ann Taylor, the grandchild of Mary Chilton and John Winslow.

[Footnote: History of Plymouth; James Thatcher.] Her father, James

Chilton, sometimes with the Dutch spelling, Tgiltron, was a man of

influence among the early leaders, but he died at Cape Cod, December

8, 1620. He came from Canterbury, England, to Hol and. By the records

on the Roll of Freemen of the City of Canterbury, [Footnote: Probably

this freedom was given, by the city or some board therein, as mark of

respect. N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 63, 201.] he is named as James

Chylton, tailor, "Freeman by Gift, 1583." Earlier Chiltons,--Wil iam, spicer, and Nicholas, clerk,--are classified as "Freemen by

Redemption." Three children were baptized in St. Paul's Church,

Canterbury,--Isabella, 1586; Jane, 1589; and Ingle, 1599. Isabella

was married in Leyden to Roger Chandler five years before _The

Mayflower_ sailed. Evidently, Mary bore the same name as an older

sister whose burial is recorded at St. Martin's, Canterbury, in

1593. Isaac Chilton, a glass-maker, may have been brother or cousin of

James. Of Mary's mother almost nothing has been found except mention

of her death during the infection of 1621. [Footnote: Bradford's

History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.]

When _The Fortune _arrived in November, 1621, it brought Mary

Chilton's future husband among the passengers,--John Winslow, younger

brother of Edward. Not later than 1627 they were married and lived at

first in the central settlement, and later in Plain Dealing, North

Plymouth. They had ten children. The son, John, was Brigadier-General

in the Army. John Winslow, Sr., seemed to show a spirit of enterprise

by the exchange and sale of his "lots" in Plymouth and afterwards in Boston where he moved his family, and became a successful owner and

master of merchant ships. Here he acquired land on Devonshire Street

and Spring Lane and also on Marshall Lane and Hanover Street. From

Plans and Deeds, prepared by Annie Haven Thwing, [Footnote:

Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Also dimensions in Bowditch

Title Books: 26: 315.] one may locate a home of Mary Chilton Winslow

in Boston, a lot 72 and 85, 55 and 88, in the rear of the first Old

South Church, at the southwest corner of Joyliffe's Lane, now

Devonshire Street, and Spring Lane. It was adjacent to land owned by

John Winthrop and Richard Parker. By John Winslow's will, probated May

21, 1674, he bequeathed this house, land, gardens and a goodly sum of

money and shares of stock to his wife and children. The house and

stable, with land, was inventoried for L490 and the entire estate for

L2946-14-10. He had a Katch _Speedwel _, with cargoes of pork,

sugar and tobacco, and a Barke _Mary_, whose produce was worth

L209; these were to be divided among his children. His money was also

to be divided, including 133 "peeces of eight." [Footnote: The

Mayflower Descendant, 111, 129 (1901).]

Interesting as are the items of this wil , which afford proofs that

Mary Chilton as matron had luxuries undreamed of in the days of 1621,

_her_ wil is even more important for us. It is one of the three

_original_ known wil s of _Mayflower_ passengers, the others

being those of Edward Winslow and Peregrine White. Mary Chilton's wil

is in the Suffolk Registry of Probate, [Footnote: This wil Is

reprinted In The Mayflower Descendant, I: 85.] Boston, in good

condition, on paper 18 by 14 inches. The wil was made July 31,

1676. Among other interesting bequests are: to my daughter Sarah

(Middlecot) "my Best gowne and Pettecoat and my silver beare bowl" and to each of her children "a silver cup with a handle." To her

grandchild, William Payne, was left her "great silver Tankard" and to her granddaughter, Ann Gray, "a trunk of Linning" (linen) with bed, bolsters and ten pounds in money. Many silver spoons and "ruggs" were to be divided. To her grandchild, Susanna Latham, was definite

allotment of "Petty coate with silke Lace." In the inventory one may find commentary upon the valuation of these goods--"silk gowns and

pettecoats" for L6-10, twenty-two napkins at seven shil ings, and

three "great pewter dishes" and twenty smal pieces of pewter for two pounds, six shil ings. She had gowns, mantles, head bands, fourteen in

number, seventeen linen caps, six white aprons, pocket-handkerchiefs

and al other articles of dress. Mary Chilton Winslow could not write

her name, but she made a very neat mark, M. She was buried beneath the

Winslow coat of arms at the front of King's Chapel Burial-ground in

Boston. She closely rival ed, if she did not surpass in wealth and

social position, her sister-in-law, Susanna White Winslow.

Elizabeth Til ey had a more quiet life, but she excel ed her

associates among these girls of Plymouth in one way,--she could write

her name very wel . Possibly she was taught by her husband, John

Howland who left, in his inventory, an ink-horn, and who wrote records

and letters often for the colonists. For many years, until the

discovery and printing of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation in

1856, it was assumed that Elizabeth Tilley was either the daughter or

granddaughter of Governor Carver; such misstatement even appears upon

the Howland tombstone in the old burying-ground at Plymouth. Efforts

to explain by assuming a second marriage of Carver or a first marriage

of Howland fail to convince, for, surely, such relationships would

have been mentioned by Bradford, Winslow, Morton or Prence. After the

death of her parents, during the first winter, Elizabeth remained with

the Carver household until that was broken by death; afterwards she

was included in the family over which John Howland was considered

"head"; according to the grant of 1624 he was given an acre each for himself, Elizabeth Til ey, Desire Minter, and the boy, Wil iam Latham.

The step-mother of Elizabeth Til ey bore a Dutch name, Bridget Van De

Veldt. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., i, 34.] Elizabeth was ten or

twelve years younger than her husband, at least, for he was

twenty-eight years old in 1620. They were married, probably, by

1623-4, for the second child, John, was born in 1626. It is not known

how long Howland had been with the Pilgrims at Leyden; he may have

come there with Cushman in 1620 or, possibly, he joined the company at

Southampton. His ancestry is stil in some doubt in spite of the

efforts to trace it to one John Howland, "gentleman and citizen and

salter" of London. [Footnote: Recollections of John Howland,

etc. E. H. Stone, Providence, 1857.] Probably the outfit necessary for

the voyage was furnished to him by Carver, and the debt was to be paid

in some service, clerical or other; in no other sense was he a

"servant." He signed the compact of _The Mayflower_ and was one of the "ten principal men" chosen to select a site for the colony. For many years he was prominent in civic affairs of the state and

church. He was among the liberals towards Quakers as were his brothers

who came later to Marshfield,--Arthur and Henry. At Rocky Neck, near

the Jones River in Kingston, as it is now called, the Howland

household was prosperous, with nine children to keep Elizabeth

Til ey's hands occupied. She lived until past eighty years, and died

at the home of her daughter, Lydia Howland Brown, in Swanzey, in 1687.

Among the articles mentioned in her wil are many books of religious

type. Her husband's estate as inventoried was not large, but

mentioned such useful articles as silk neckcloths, four dozen buttons

and many skeins of silk. [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, i , 70.]

Constance or Constanta Hopkins was probably about the same age as

Elizabeth Til ey, for she was married before 1627 to Nicholas Snow,

who came in _The Ann_. They had twelve children, and among the

names one recognizes such familiar patronymics of the two families as

Mark, Stephen, Ruth and Elizabeth. Family tradition has ascribed

beauty and patience to this maiden who, doubtless, served well both in

her father's large family and in the community. Her step-sister,

Damaris, married Jacob Cooke, son of the Pilgrim, Francis Cooke.

CHAPTER IV

COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN THE FORTUNE AND THE ANN

After the arrival of _The Ann_, in the summer of 1623, the women

who came in _The Mayflower_ had more companions of good breeding

and efficiency. Elizabeth Warren, wife of Richard, came with her five

daughters; it is safe to assume the latter were attractive for, in a

few years, all were well married. Two sons were born after Elizabeth

arrived at Plymouth, Nathaniel and Joseph. For forty-five years she

survived her husband, who had been a man of strength of character and

usefulness as wel as some wealth. When she died at the age of

ninety-three leaving seventy-five great grandchildren, the old

Plymouth Colony Records paid her tribute,--"Mistress Elizabeth Warren, haveing lived a Godly life came to her Grave as a Shock of corn ful

Ripe. She was honourably buried on the 24th of October (1673)."

Evidently, Mistress Warren was a woman of independent means and

efficiency,--else she would have remarried, as was the custom of the

times. She became one of the "purchasers" of the colony and conveyed land, at different times, near Eel River and what is now Warren's

Cove, in Plymouth, to her sons-in-law. An interesting sidelight upon

her character and home is found in the Court Records; [Footnote: I,

35, July 5, 1635.] her servant, Thomas Williams, was prosecuted for

"speaking profane and blasphemous speeches against ye majestie of God.

There being some dissension between him and his dame she, after other

things, exhorted him to fear God and doe his duty."

Bridget Ful er fol owed her husband, Dr. Samuel, and came in _The

Ann_. She also long survived her husband and did not remarry. She

carried on his household and probably also his teaching for many years

after he fel victim to the epidemic of infectious fever in 1633. She

was his third wife, but only two children are known to have used the

Ful er cradle, now preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. It has been

stated that, in addition to these two, Samuel and Mercy, another young

child came with its mother in _The Ann_, but did not live

long. [Footnote: Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth; W. T. Davis] The son,

Samuel, born about 1625, was minister for many years at Middleboro; he

married Elizabeth Brewster, thus preserving two friendly families in

kinship.

Evidently, Bridget Ful er was very il and not expected to recover

when her husband was dying, for in his will, made at that time, he

arranged for the education of his children by his brother-in-law,

William Wright, unless it "shal please God to recover my wife out of her weake estate of sickness." It is interesting also that, in this

wil , provision was made for the education of his daughter, Mercy, as

wel as his son, Samuel, by Mrs. Heeks or Hicks, the wife of Robert

Hicks who came in _The Ann_. [Footnote: Plymouth Colony Wills and

Inventories; also in The Mayflower Descendant, 1, 245.] Not alone for

his own children did this good physician provide education, but also

for others "put to him for schooling,"--with special mention of Sarah Converse "left to me by her sick father." This kind, generous doctor left a considerable estate, in spite of the many "debts for physicke,"

including that of "Mr. Roger Williams which was freely given." One specific gift was for the good of the church and this forms the

nucleus of a fund which is still known as the Ful er Ministerial Fund

of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Its source was "the first cow calfe that his Brown Cow should have." [Footnote: Genealogy of Some

Descendants of Dr. Samuel Fuller of _The Mayflower_, compiled by

William Hyslop Fuller, Palmer.]

Mrs. Alice Morse Earle says that gloves were gifts of sentiment;

[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; Alice Morse Earle;

N. Y., 1903.] they were generously bestowed by this physician of old

Plymouth. Money to buy gloves, or gloves, were bequeathed to Mistress

Alice Bradford and Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony;

also to John Winslow, John Jenny and Rebecca Prence. The price allowed

for a pair of gloves was from two to five shil ings. Probably these

may have been the fringed leather gloves or the knit gloves described

by Mrs. Earle. Another bequest was his "best hat and band never worn to old Mr. William Brewster." To his wife was left not alone two

houses, "one at Smeltriver and another in town," but also a fine supply of furnishings and clothes, including stuffe gown, red

pettecoate, stomachers, aprons, shoes and kerchiefs. Mistress Fuller

lived until after 1667, and exerted a strong influence upon the

educational life of Plymouth.

Is it heresy to question whether the sampler, [Footnote: In Pilgrim

Hal , Plymouth.] accredited to Lora or Lorea Standish, the daughter

of Captain Miles and Barbara Standish, was not more probably the work

of the granddaughter, Lorea, the child of Alexander Standish and Sarah

Alden? The style and motto are more in accord with the work of the

later generation and, surely, the necessary time and materials for

such work would be more probable after the pioneer days. This later

Lora married Abraham Sampson, son of the Henry who came as a boy in

_The Mayflower_. [Footnote: Notes to Bradford's History, edition

1912.] The embroidered cap [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hal , Plymouth.] and

bib, supposed to have been made by Mistress Barbara for her daughter,

would prove that she had

"hands with such convenient skil

As to conduce to vertu void of shame"

which were the aspiration of the girl who embroidered, or "wrought,"

the sampler. It is a pleasant commentary upon the tastes and industry

of Mistress Barbara Standish that, amid the cares of a large family

and farm, she found time for such dainty embroideries as we find in

the cap and bib.

Probably two young sons of Captain and Barbara Standish, Charles and

John, died in the infectious fever epidemic of 1633. A second Charles

with his brothers, Alexander, Miles and Josiah, and his sister, Lorea,

gladdened the hearth of the Standish home on Captain's Hill,

Duxbury. A goodly estate was left at the death of Captain Miles,

including a well-equipped house, cattle, mault mil , swords (as one

would expect), sixteen pewter pieces and several books of classic

literature,--Homer, Caesar's Commentaries, histories of Queen

Elizabeth's reign, military histories, and three Bibles with

commentaries upon religious matters. There were also medical books,

for Standish was reputed to have been a student and practitioner in

times of emergency in Duxbury. He suffered a painful il ness at the

close of his vigorous, adventuresome life. Perhaps Barbara needed, at

times, grace to endure that "warm temper" which Pastor Robinson deplored in Miles Standish, a comment which the intrepid Captain

forgave and answered by a bequest to the granddaughter of this loved

pastor. We may be sure Barbara was proud of the mighty share which her

husband had in saving Plymouth Colony from severe disaster, if not

from extinction. It is surmised that Barbara Standish was buried in

Connecticut where she lived during the last of her life with her son,

Josiah. Possibly, however, she may have been buried beside her

husband, sons, daughter and daughter-in-law, Mary Dingley, in

Duxbury. [Footnote: Interesting facts on this subject may be found in

"The Grave of Miles Standish and other Pilgrims," by E. V. J.

Huiginn; Beverly, 1914.]

The Colonial Governor and his Lady ever held priority of rank. Such

came to Mrs. Alice Southworth when she married Governor Wil iam

Bradford a few days after her arrival on _The Ann_. Tradition

has said persistently that this was the consummation of an earlier

romance which was broken off by the marriage of Alice Carpenter to

Edward Southworth in Leyden. The death of her first husband left her

with two sons, Thomas and Constant Southworth, who came to Plymouth

before 1628. She had sisters in the Colony: Priscilla, the wife of

William Wright, came in _The Fortune_; Dr. Fuller's first wife

had been another sister; Juliana, wife of George Morton, was a third

who came also in _The Ann_. Still another sister, Mary Carpenter,

came later and lived in the Governor's family for many years. At her

death in her ninety-first year, she was mourned as "a Godly old maid, never married." [Footnote: Hunter's Col ections, 1854.]

The first home of the Bradfords in Plymouth was at Town Square where

now stands the Bradford block. About 1627-8 they moved, for a part of

the year, to the banks of the Jones River, now Kingston, a place which

had strongly appealed to Bradford as a good site for the original

settlement when the men were making their explorations in December,

1620. William, Joseph and Mercy were born to inherit from their

parents the fine characters of both Governor and Alice Bradford, and

also to pass on to their children the carved chests, wrought and

carved chairs, case and knives, desk, silver spoons, fifty-one pewter

dishes, five dozen napkins, three striped carpets, four Venice

glasses, besides cattle and cooking utensils and many books. That the

Governor had a proper "dress suit" was proved by the inventory of

"stuffe suit with silver buttons and cloaks of violet, light colour

and faced with taffety and linen throw."

As Mistress Bradford could only "make her mark," she probably did not appreciate the remarkable collection, for the times, of Latin, Greek,

Hebrew, Dutch and French books as wel as the studies in philosophy

and theology which were in her husband's library. There is no doubt

that the first and second generations of girls and boys in Plymouth

Colony had elementary instruction, at least, under Dr. Ful er and

Mrs. Hicks as well as by other teachers. Bradford, probably, would

also attend to the education of his own family. The Governor's wife

has been accredited with "labouring diligently for the improvement of the young women of Plymouth and to have been eminently worthy of her

high position." [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin,

p. 460.] She was the sole executrix of her husband's estate of

L1005,--a proof of her ability.

Sometimes her cheerfulness must have been taxed to comfort her

husband, as old age came upon him and he fell into the gloomy mood

reflected in such lines as these: [Footnote: New England Memorial;

Morton.]

"In fears and wants, through weal and woe,

A pilgrim passed I to and fro;

Oft left of them whom I did trust,

How vain it is to rest in dust!

A man of sorrows I have been,

And many changes I have seen,

Wars, wants, peace, plenty I have known,

And some advanc'd, others thrown down."

When Mistress Alice Bradford died she was "mourned, though aged" by many. To her memory, Nathaniel Morton, her nephew, wrote some lines

which were more biographic than poetical, recalling her early life as

an exile with her father from England for the truth's sake, her first

marriage:

"To one whose grace and virtue did surpasse,

I mean good Edward Southworth whoe not long

Continued in this world the saints amonge."

With extravagant words he extols the name of Bradford,--"fresh in

memory Which smeles with odoriferous fragrancye." This elegist records also that, after her second widowhood, she lived a

"life of holynes and faith,

In reading of God's word and contemplation

Which healped her to assurance of salvation."

This is not a very lively, graphic description of the woman most

honored, perhaps, of all the pioneer women of Plymouth, but we may

add, by imagination, a few sure traits of human kindliness and

grace. She was typical of those women who came in _The Mayflower_

and her sister ships. Although she escaped the tragic struggles and

il ness of that first winter, yet she revealed the same qualities of

courage, good sense, fidelity and vision which were the watchwords of

that group of women in Plymouth colony. Yes,--they had vision to see

their part in the sincere purpose to establish a new standard of

liberty in state and church, to serve God and mankind with all their

integrity and resources.

As the leaders among the men were self-sacrificing and honorable in

their dealings with their financiers, with the Indians and with each

other, so the women were faithful and true in their homes and communal

life. They took scarcely any part in the civic administration, for

such responsibility did not come into the lives of seventeenth century

women. They were actively interested in the educational and religious

life of the colony. Their moral standards were high and inflexible;

they extolled, and practised, the virtues of thrift and industry. It

may be well for women in America today, who were querulous at the

restrictions upon sugar and electric lights, to consider the good

sense, and good cheer, with which these women of Plymouth Colony

directed their thrifty households.

We would not assume that they were free from the whims and foibles of

womankind,--and sometimes of man-kind,--of al ages. They were,

doubtless, contradictory and impulsive at times; they could scold and

they could gossip. We believe that they laughed sometimes, in the

midst of dire want and anxiety, and we know that they prayed with

sincerity and trust. They bore children gladly and they trained them

"in the fear and admonition of the Lord." They were the progenitors of thousands of fine men and women in all parts of America today who

honor the _women_ as wel as the _men_ of the old Plymouth

Colony,--the women who faithful y performed, without any serious

discontent,

"that whole sweet round

Of littles that large life compound."

INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT

Alden, Augustus E.

Elizabeth

John

Captain John

Priscilla

Ruth

Sarah

Timothy

Al erton, Bartholomew

Isaac

Mary Norton

Mary

Remember

Armstrong, Gregory

Austin, Jane G.

Bartlett, W. H.

Bass, Ruth Alden

Beckeet, Mary

Bil ington, Francis

Helen

John

John, Jr.

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Mary

Joseph

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Wil iam, Jr.

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Jonathan

Love

Mary

Patience

Wil iam, Elder

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Peter

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Mary

Priscilla

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Gov. John

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Roger

Chilton, Ingle

Isabel a

Isaac

Chilton, James

Jane

Mary

Mrs. James

Nicolas

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Cooke, Francis

Hester

Jacob

John

Sarah

Cooper, Humility

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Thomas

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Giles

Oceanus

Ruth

Stephen

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Lydia (Brown)

John

Huiginn, E. V. J.

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Jeppson, William

Wil iam

Jones, Christopher, Capt.

Thomas, Capt.

Latham, Wil iam

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Massasoit

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John

Thomas

Wil iam

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Richard

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Moses

Priscilla

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Wil iam

Wil iam, Jr.

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Wil iam

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Prence, Thomas

Priest, Degory

Reynolds, William

Rigdale, Alice

Robinson, Pastor John

Sampson, Alexander

Henry

Samoset

Snow, Nicholas

Soule, George

Southworth, Alice

Constant

Thomas

Squanto

Standish, Alexander

Barbara

Charles

John

Josiah

Lora or Lorea

Mary Dingley

Miles

Miles, Jr.

Rose

Taylor, Ann

Thompson, Edward

Thwing, Annie M.

Til ey, Ann

Bridget

Edward

Elizabeth

John

Tinker, Mrs. Thomas

Turner, John

Warren, Elizabeth

Richard

White, Peregrine

Resolved

Susanna

Wil iam

Williams, Roger

Thomas

Winslow, Edward

Elizabeth Barker

Elizabeth

John

John, Brig. Gen.

Josiah

Kenelm

Mary Chilton

Susanna

Winthrop, John

Wright, Priscil a Carpenter

Wil iam

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3 AUDIOBOOK COLLECTIONS

6 BOOK COLLECTIONS

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV