Storytime Tapestry E-zine

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Eductional Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

November 23, 2007

The Thanksgiving Story

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.

Mary Chilton Winslow has the distinction of being the first woman to step foot on Plymouth Rock as the Pilgrims descended from the Mayflower after crossing the Atlantic in 1620.

Mary was born sometime around 1608, probably in England. She was the daughter of James Chilton and Susanna Furner, who were married before the year 1587 in England. Not much is known about Mary’s heritage, but it appears that her father was the son of Lionel Chilton and her mother was likely the daughter of Francis and Isabelle Furner. Both parents were Separatists or Pilgrims which was a religious group that were dissenters from the Church of England.

In the early 1600’s many of the English began to question the teachings of the Church of England or Anglican Church. The Church of England had been founded by Henry VIII when he separated from the Catholic Church in order to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Bolyen. Some of these individuals chose to remain members of the Church of England and purify it from within and were called Puritans. A more radical group believed that the Church of England was too corrupt to salvaged and these individuals separated from the church and were nicknamed Separatists. These Separatists were persecuted by the English monarchy and even by the Puritans within the Church of England. Many fled to Holland where their religious views were tolerated. This same group also soon became known as Pilgrims, because they were forced to wander from their native land looking for religious freedom.

Though it has been widely disputed, it is now believed by most that the Chilton family was a part of the group of Separatists that fled to Leyden, Holland. While years ago many believed the Chilton’s were not part of this group, it is recorded that in 1619, Mary and her father, James Chilton were attacked by a group of rock throwing boys in Leyden, Holland. Therefore it appears that her parents were indeed Separatists.

While life in Holland was easier for the Pilgrims than a life of persecution in England, it was still difficult for the Separatists to make a living. Most of the group had been farmers in England and upon moving to Holland they had to learn new skills to survive in an urban land that afforded them only a meager income. Besides being hard to eke out a living, the adults of this group felt that their children were becoming too immersed in the Dutch culture and were slipping away from their faith.

 Because of this, the Pilgrims decided to leave Holland. The leaders of the group entered an agreement with a group of Adventurers or business men in England who wanted to profit off those interested in beginning a new life in the New World. The agreement was made that in exchange for their passage, the Pilgrims would give the Adventurers a percentage of their first harvest. Along with the Pilgrims, the Adventurers also paid the passage of a number of people who were going to America for financial gain. These people were called Strangers by the Pilgrims. The first group Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower in 1620. Mary Chilton and her family were on this ship. The total number of Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower were 102.

The ship was headed to the Jamestown Colony, Virginia, but missed it’s mark, whether by mistake or planning. The Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod in November of 1620. James Chilton, who was one of the oldest of the Mayflower passengers, died on December 18, 1620 while the Mayflower was docked in Provincetown Harbor. There is no record as to whether he was buried at land or sea.

The leaders aboard the Mayflower decided not to stay at Cape Cod and continued down the coast to Plymouth where the passengers founded a new colony. According to tradition Mary Chilton raced John Alden to the front of the launch that was bringing the Mayflower passengers ashore. She stepped off the boat and was the first woman to set foot on Plymouth Rock. The painting ,The Landing of the Pilgrims, by Henry Bacon, reflects this tradition. It pictures Mary being the first woman to step out of the launch onto Plymouth Rock.

The first winter that the Pilgrims spent in Plymouth was an extremely hard one with grave consequences. Nearly half of the passengers that made it across the Atlantic died in and epidemic referred to as The First Sickness, including Mary’s mother. This left the thirteen-year-old Mary an orphan. After the death of her mother, it is believed that Mary lived for the next few years with the family of Miles Standish or John Alden.

In 1621, John Winslow, brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow, came to America on the Fortune. Mary and John met and were married sometime before 1627, probably in July of 1623. They had ten children together:

John, Susanna, Mary Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed child who died young, and Benjamin. The youngest child, Benjamin, is the only child listed in the Plymouth records.

Sometime after the birth of their last child, the Winslow family moved to Boston where John became a successful merchant and shipowner. It was here that they both died, John in 1674 and Mary in 1679. Mary was the only female passenger from the Mayflower who left a will.

(c)2000 Patricia Chadwick

The First Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.

Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There was no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

Thanksgiving is almost here. While we're all gathered around the table remembering the pilgrims and their dangerous travails across the country and managing foreign territory, we should celebrate their pets as well. Ever wonder if the pilgrims brought pets with them on their journey? The pilgrims did after all bring dogs and cats with them. When the Mayflower reached America on December 21, 1620, the passengers numbered 102: 52 men, 18 women, 32 children - and probably several cats and dogs.

The earliest mention of dogs appeared in a 17th century journal called "Mourt's Relation" about the first years of life in the new world. According to this account, two dogs, an English springer spaniel and a mastiff were brought along by John Goodman, a young man of about 25 years of age. The dogs were involved in the first explorations of discovery on Cape Cod and the activities of homebuilding during the first winter ashore.

The mastiff is a combination of grandeur and good nature, courage and docility and had been bred in England for over two thousand years as a watchdog. He would have been used for protecting the home and from wolves and other wild beasts, and would have been an excellent companion dog.

The English springer spaniel suggests power, endurance and agility. He is a sporting dog that can go, and keep going, under difficult hunting conditions. The springer spaniel gets its name from his method of flushing game: he springs forward to drive birds out of hiding. He also is a fine retriever. The English springer spaniel's merry, gentle personality makes him an ideal family dog. His talents would have been hunting, tracking, retrieving and acting as a watchdog. What better characteristics for two dogs to brave the new world?

So, this Thanksgiving Day, and everyday, give thanks for the fact that cats and dogs came to America to help the settlers survive. Today, they help us thrive by significantly adding to the quality of our lives.

The Second Thanksgiving

This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. But in 1623, during a severe drought, the pilgrims gathered in a prayer service, praying for rain. When a long, steady rain followed the very next day, Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, again inviting their Indian friends.

Thanksgiving in June?

It wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed.On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving.

All Colonies Celebrate

October of 1777 marked the first time that all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it was a one-time affair.

Thanksgiving Controversy

George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving.

Who is Sarah Joseph Hale?

It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

Longer Christmas Shopping

Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

Why Turkey?

"I wish the eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character... the turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America."
Benjamin Franklin, who also was reportedly an advocate of putting the turkey on the American flag.

The wild turkey is native to northern Mexico and the eastern United States. Later it was domesticated in Mexico, and was brought into Europe early in the 16th century.

Since that time, turkeys have been extensively raised because of the excellent quality of their meat and eggs.

Some of the common breeds of turkey in the United States are the Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, and Bourbon Red.
Though there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the Pilgrim's first thanksgiving, but through ages it became an indispensable part of the Thanksgiving tradition. The tradition of turkey is rooted in the 'History Of Plymouth Plantation', written by William Bradford some 22 years after the actual celebration.

In his letter sent to England Edward Winslow, another Pilgrim, describes how the governor sent "four men out fowling" and they returned with turkeys, ducks and geese.

Unfortunately the Bradford document was lost after being taken away by the British during the War of Independence. Later it was rediscovered in 1854. And since then turkey turned out to be a popular symbol of the Thanksgiving Day. And today of all the the Thanksgiving symbols it has become the most well known.

The turkey has brown features with buff-colored feathers on the tips of the wing and on the tail. The male turkey is called a 'tom'. It is bigger and brighter with more colorful plumage. Also it has a long wattle (a fleshy, wrinkled, brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat) at the base of its bill and additional wattles on the neck, as well as a prominent tuft of bristles resembling a beard projecting downward from its chest. The female is called a 'hen' and is generally smaller and drab in color.

Mayflower Cats

Cats were welcome aboard sailing ships in the 16th century because they helped control the rodent population and protected finite food supplies. They were so well known as sea-going voyagers that National Geographic once reported that "cats, like people, found freedom from persecution in America. It is believed that they first came over on the Mayflower, although it may have been earlier – with the Spaniards in the 16th century. In any event, once here, they thrived."

Carolyn Travers, research manager at www.plimoth.org in Plymouth, Mass., a non-profit, educational institution that bills itself as the living history museum of 17th century Plymouth, confirmed that cats were common on ships, so common in fact that they didn't warrant mentioning.

"What they talked about was what interested people. Cat were too common to talk about," Travers said. "Dogs were mentioned on the Mayflower because they tackled wolves, but cats weren't mentioned."

The first written mention that Travers said she found of cats dates back to 1634, some 14 years after the Mayflower anchored in what today is Provincetown harbor. William Wood wrote in "New England's Prospect" how cats saved the colony's crops from squirrels and probably what we know today as chipmunks.

The First Thanksgiving

We don't know if Goodman's dogs or any cats were present at the first Thanksgiving feast, although they probably were. The cats had worked hard to keep the colony vermin-free, and the dogs had been involved in planting the corn. In fact, they had been too involved – they kept trying to dig up the fish planted with the corn, and the settlers had to tie their forepaws together to keep them from doing so.

So, this Thanksgiving Day, and everyday, give thanks for the fact that cats and dogs came to America to help the settlers survive. Today, they help us thrive by significantly adding to the quality of our lives.

Hartson S. Dowd                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        hsdowd@telus.net