W. Howard Coop, 32°
111 Dogwood Drive, Lancaster, KY 40444–1034
hkcoop@aol.com

The history of the Pilgrims' coming to America accents how much we have to be thankful for today.

Pilgrim is defined as a person who travels from place to place, usually for religious reasons. Since they moved a number of times because of their religious beliefs, a small group of settlers who came to the New World and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, were called Pilgrims.

Their odyssey began in England during the latter part of the 16th Century when a small group known as Separatists developed within a larger group known as Puritans. For the most part, the Separatists were from the less influential classes of English society; however, there were influential persons among them who assumed leadership roles and gave direction to the group.

The Separatists were characterized by their concept of the church. They rejected the idea of a state church and espoused the idea that the church was an association of true Christian believers who were divinely elected to be saved. In a particular community, the believers were organized in a congregational form of government in which the minister and other church officers were chosen by the members.

When James I came to the throne of England in 1603, he determined to make groups, such as the Separatists, conform or "harrie them out of the Land, or else do worse." The difficulties of the Separatists did become "worse," and by comparison, their "former afflictions were but as flea-biting."

A small group of Separatists at Scrooby Manor near Nottinghamshire, England, led by William Brewster, John Robinson, and William Bradford, decided to migrate to Holland where religious freedom was permitted. Between 1607 and 1609, about 100 members of the group managed to escape secretly and to establish a Separatist congregation in the Dutch city of Leyden.

It soon became apparent that life in Holland was not what the Separatists had expected. It became obvious that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for them to maintain a separate community life, their English heritage, and their distinctive religious ideals. Pilgrim William Bradford wrote: "Some preferred and chose the prisons in England rather than this liberty in Holland with its afflictions." Amid those conditions, thoughts of the Separatists turned to the New World and the hope of beginning a new life there.

After 12 years in Holland, the leaders of the group decided to move. Representatives were sent to England to make arrangements for the journey to the New World. Sir Edwin Sandys, head of the Virginia Company, granted the Separatists a patent to settle on property the company owned in the New World.

To secure financial backing for the move, the leadership of the group approached a group of London businessmen who agreed to assist them. A joint-stock company was formed with two groups of stockholders. One group, known as adventurers, purchased shares at ten pounds per share; and a second group, known as planters, received a share by migrating to the New World. Anyone over 16 years of age could receive a share by migrating. During the first seven years, the colonists were to be supplied with necessities, while all profits would go to the common stock. After seven years, a proportional division would be made among the shareholders.

In May of 1620, under the leadership of William Brewster, the Separatists who were willing to leave Holland sailed for England aboard the Speedwell, a 60-ton sailing vessel. At Southampton, England, the Speedwell joined the Mayflower, a 100-ton sailing vessel, for the voyage to the New World. The two ships sailed from Southampton on August 5, 1620, but they had to return to port. After two attempts, the Speedwell was declared unseaworthy, and the Mayflower sailed alone from Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620. According to historian Fred W. Wellborn, the Mayflower sailed with "101 passengers and a cargo of furniture, household utensils, food, hogs, dogs, [possibly goats but no cattle], and beer." Due to the delays, the Mayflower crossed the Atlantic at the worst possible time of the year. The voyage was stormy. One passenger died at sea, and one baby was born.

After nine weeks at sea, land was sighted. The Mayflower had not reached Virginia, its original destination, but on November 11, 1620, it reached what is Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. A small group, led by William Bradford, was chosen to go ashore and select a site for the settlement. After they decided on a location, the Mayflower sailed to it and dropped anchor at Plymouth Bay. The shallop, an open boat, of the Mayflower was lowered into the water, and on December 21, 1620, the colonists stepped from the shallop onto a granite boulder, now known as Plymouth Rock, to begin a new life in the New World.

The Pilgrims faced an unusually hard winter in the New World. The weather, not unusual by New England standards but vastly different from that which they had known in the old world, took its toll. Many died of pneumonia, and history records that "at times not more than six or seven were in proper condition to attend the sick and bury the dead." Supply ships did not arrive from England as scheduled, and food was scarce. Hezekiah Butterworth, a New England poet, preserved the tradition that the daily ration was five grains of parched corn. By the time spring arrived, nearly half of the Pilgrims had died, and their bodies had been buried on Cole's Hill overlooking Plymouth Bay. Only four of the 18 married women remained alive. Of the 54 survivors, 21 were under the age of 16.

When the spring sunshine warmed the New England air, the first act of the Pilgrims was to level the graves on Cole's Hill and sow the area in grain to keep the Indians from knowing how severe their losses had been. Then, with the help of friendly Indians, other crops were planted. Ships arrived with supplies, and, in due time, the crops produced an abundant harvest.

After the harvest was in, a day of thanksgiving was declared by Governor William Bradford. Most of the details of that thanksgiving come from a letter written by Edward Winslow, a 25-year-old Pilgrim who was the colony's ambassador to the Indians. From that letter, we know that Governor Bradford "sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together." Chief Massassoit came "with some 90 men." For three days, the Pilgrims and Indians "entertained and feasted."

The menu of the three-day thanksgiving feast was long. Winslow's letter indicates that it included venison, roast duck and goose, clams, other shellfish, eels, white and corn bread, leeks, watercress, salad herbs, wild plums, dried berries, red and white wine. Turkey is not mentioned by Winslow, though Governor Bradford sent "four men fowling," and the Governor recorded that, in the area around Plymouth, there was a "great store of wild turkies, of which [the Pilgrims] took many." One tradition says the Indians brought four wild turkeys to the feast. These details became the basis for the tradition of serving turkey at Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims' path to Plymouth was long and circuitous, leading them from England to the New World by way of Holland. It took them from the familiar to the unknown, from a land of religious persecution and political oppression to a land where, as a new nation emerged, everyone could enjoy the blessings of liberty, freedom of speech, and the right to worship according to the dictates of one's conscience.

As our nation today celebrates the festival of Thanksgiving begun by the Pilgrims and passed down from generation to generation, let us be thankful for the bounty and liberty bequeathed to us by these adventurous and brave people, the Pilgrims.

W. Howard Coop is a retired United Methodist Minister and has been a Mason since 1952. He is a Past Master of Lancaster Lodge No. 104, currently serving as Chaplain and member of W. R. Selby, Sr., Chapter 4, Danville, Kentucky, and the Scottish Rite Bodies of Louisville, Kentucky.