The Women Who Came
in the Mayflower
BY
ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE
COPYRIGHT 1920
BY A. W. FELL
THE PILGRIM PRESS
BOSTON
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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 Russell 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._
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD v
I ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE: THE VOYAGE AND LANDING 3
II COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623 21
III MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN “THE MAYFLOWER” 53
IV COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN “THE FORTUNE” AND “THE ANN” 93
INDEX 109
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ERRATA
Page
49 (And foot-notes elsewhere) read _The Mayflower Descendant_
for Mayflower Descendants.
49 Foot-note, read _53 Mt. Vernon St._ for 9 Ashburton Pl.
78 Line 21, read _two hundred and seventy_ for seventy.
79 Line 12, read _inventory_ for will.
82 Line 12, omit Revolutionary.
84 Lines 4 and 5, read _Edward Winslow and Peregrine White_ for
William Mullins and Miles Standish.
84 Line 21, read _Petty coate with silke Lace_ for Pretty, etc.
86 Line 25, read _step-mother_ for mother.
88 Line 10, read _eighty_ for ninety years.
98 Line 14, read _Abraham_ for Alexander.
102 Line 9, read _Mercy_ for Mary.
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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._
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CHAPTER I
ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE: THE VOYAGE AND LANDING
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 all 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
dwelling,”[1] 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 challenged 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,” fell 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 pulled
up by a rope and rescued by a boat-hook.[2]
Recent research[3] 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,[4]—“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 all
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 impelled
to leave Holland 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 cruelly, even
deprived of their clothes and belongings by the ship’s master at Boston.
Later they were abandoned by the Dutchman at Hull, 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.”[5]
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 Mullins, 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:[6]
“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 equall carriage of things by
the better part”[7] was manifested among the women as well 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 well as from anxiety and illness. 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 Holland were buried on Plymouth hillside 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 Tilley, wives of John and Edward; Alice,
wife of John Mullins or Molines; Mrs. James Chilton; Mrs. Christopher
Martin; Mrs. Thomas Tinker; possibly Mrs. John Turner, and Ellen 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.[8]
Although the women’s strength of body and soul must have been sapped yet
their fidelity stood well 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 ill,” 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”[9] 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 fall upon their families.[10] 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 small 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
Allerton, 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:[11] “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.”
—–
Footnote 1:
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.
Footnote 2:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 9.
Footnote 3:
“The Mayflower,” by R. G. Marsden; Eng. Historical Review, Oct., 1904;
The Mayflower Descendant, Jan., 1916.
Footnote 4:
Relation or Journal, etc. (1622).
Footnote 5:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 2.
Footnote 6:
Introduction to Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers (Everyman’s
Library).
Footnote 7:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.
Footnote 8:
Mourt’s Relation.
Footnote 9:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 3.
Footnote 10:
The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, Henry M. Dexter and Morton
Dexter, Boston, 1905.
Footnote 11:
Eighteenth Annual Dinner of Mayflower Society, Nov. 20, 1913.
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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 excellent for pots and will wash like soap.”[12] 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.”[13] 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 at Plymouth three years before. He shared with
Hobomok the friendship of the settlers for many years and both Indians
gave excellent 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
called 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[14] 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 Holland or England, a mastiff and a spaniel[15] 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 Allerton, Constance and Damaris Hopkins,
Elizabeth Tilley and, possibly, Desire Minter and Humility Cooper. The
boys were Bartholomew Allerton, who “learned to sound the drum,” John
Crakston, William Latham, Giles Hopkins, John and Francis Billington,
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, all 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 still found on the banks of the fresh ponds near the
town and is called “the Plymouth rose.” Edward Winslow tells[16] 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 smaller 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:[17] “_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 till 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 will be and in the end
scarce any at all.” The _end_ has not yet come!
Good harvests and some thrilling 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
Holland. 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.[18] The fireplaces were of stones laid
in clay from the abundant sand. In 1628 thatched roofs were condemned
because of the danger of fire,[19] 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 hill 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. All had free access to the brook where flagons were filled 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.”[20] 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 all 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.”[21] 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,[22] “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 Mullins, Mary Chilton and Elizabeth Tilley 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 follow the ample harvests. To this feast, which lasted for
three days or more, came ninety-one Indians bringing five deer which
they had killed 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 marvellous 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 challenge 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 bullets, 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 Allerton. 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 Hall, Plymouth) was from the text, “Let no
man seek his own; but every man another’s wealth.” Some of the
admonitions against swelling 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
small communities, as it is today, with some relative changes.
Among the passengers brought by _The Fortune_ were some of great
helpfulness. William Wright, with his wife Priscilla (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 mill 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 killed 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 Fuller
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 Allerton 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.”[23] 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 well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the administration
of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the men and grown boys
were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt for the common use of
all 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 each householder an acre for each member of his
family. This arrangement, which was called “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 willingly into ye field, and tooke their little-ones with them
to set corne, which before would aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to
have compelled 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 Holland or England; in some families there were sheets and
“pillow-beeres” with “clothes of substance and comeliness,” but other
households were scantily supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting
ballad, called “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 hills and our valleys 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 fill 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.”[24]
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 Holland partly for fear that their young people
might be educated or enticed away from English standards of conduct.[25]
Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely[26] 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,—full,
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
all 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[27] belonging to Mistress Susanna White Winslow, narrow,
pointed, with lace trimmings, and an embroidered lace cap that has been
assigned to Rose Standish.[28] 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 wills among the garments of the women. We would not assume
that in 1621-2 _all_ the women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even
home-spun clothes of prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are
mentioned in inventories and retained as 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”[29] but,—far more important,—the
first bull and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old tradition of the
white bull 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 Bull for the Companie,
Also two shee goats.”[30] Elder Brewster was granted “one of the four
Heifers came in _The Jacob_ called the Blind Heifer.”
Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of
this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford:[31] “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,[32] 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.”[33] 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 wills,
several of which have been deciphered from the original records by
George Ernest Bowman, editor of the “Mayflower Descendant,”[34] 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.
—–
Footnote 12:
Mourt’s Relation.
Footnote 13:
Mourt’s Relation.
Footnote 14:
Mourt’s Relation.
Footnote 15:
Winslow’s Narration.
Footnote 16:
Relation of the Manners, Customs, etc., of the Indians.
Footnote 17:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. II.
Footnote 18:
The Pilgrim Republic, John A. Goodwin, p. 582.
Footnote 19:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 20:
Mourt’s Relation.
Footnote 21:
_Ibid._
Footnote 22:
A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas Prence.
Footnote 23:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.
Footnote 24:
The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.
Footnote 25:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 4.
Footnote 26:
Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.
Footnote 27:
In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.
Footnote 28:
Two Centuries of Costume in America; Earle.
Footnote 29:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.
Footnote 30:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, edited by David
Pulsifer, 1861.
Footnote 31:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.
Footnote 32:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, edited by David
Pulsifer, 1861.
Footnote 33:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.
Footnote 34:
Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston.
————————————————————————
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, wills, 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 really 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,[35] 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 Hall.[36] 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[37] “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,[38] 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, Ellen More. It has been suggested that the
latter was of noble lineage.[39]
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.
Allerton gave birth to a child that was still-born while on _The
Mayflower_ and thus she had less strength to endure the hardships which
followed.[40]
When Bradford, recording the death of Katherine Carver, called 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.[41] 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.[42] Two children died and were buried
in Holland 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 long 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 still speculatively, she is portrayed as the elder sister and
housekeeper for John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, after the death of
Mistress Carver; this is assumed because the first girl born to the
Howlands was named Desire.[43] The only known facts about Desire Minter
are those given by Bradford, “she returned to friends and proved not
well, and dyed in England.”[44] By research among the Leyden records,
collated by H. M. Dexter,[45] the name, Minter, occurs a few times.
William 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.[46] 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.[47]
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 well as he could pray,” could build
his own house and till his own land,[48] 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 Holland. The Elder was “wise and
discreet and well-spoken—of a cheerful spirit, sociable and pleasant
among his friends, undervaluing himself and his abilities and sometimes
overvaluing others.”[49] 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.[50]
A traditional picture has been given[51] of Captain Peregrine White of
Marshfield, “riding a black horse and wearing a coat with buttons the
size of a silver dollar, vigorous and of a comely aspect to the
last,”[52] 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,”[53] 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![54]
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 Holland 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 Careswell, 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 William White at Leyden, February 11,
1612,[55] 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[56] 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 skill 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 Cromwell and his advisers had recognized the worth of such
a man as commissioner.[57] 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 ill 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 £1000,
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 £500 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.[58] 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;[59]
“Winslow was unwilling 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 will, 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.[60] She lived
twenty-five years longer, dying in October, 1680, at the estate,
Careswell. It is supposed that she was buried on the hillside 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, yellow 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
William 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.”[61] 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 Ellen, did not
seem to redeem the reputation of husband and sons; traditionally she was
called “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.”[62] 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.”[63] In his later life, Francis Billington
became more stable in character and served on committees. His last
offense was the mild one “of drinking tobacco on the highway.”
Apparently, Helen Billington 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 Mullins, 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 Mullins 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[64] as “a man pious and well-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 will, 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, William (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 equally 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, William. 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.”[65] Before this will was probated, July 23, 1621, John Carver,
Mistress Alice Mullins, the son, Joseph, and the man, Robert Carter (or
Cartier) were all dead, leaving Priscilla 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,[66] 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]full 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,[67] probably a farewell 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.[68]
The poet, Longfellow, was a descendant of Priscilla Alden, and he had
often heard the story of the courtship of Priscilla 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,[69] 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 Priscilla 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 Priscilla, 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 Hill, 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 allowed a
small 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.”[70] 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 William Pabodie, had thirteen children, eleven of them
girls, and lived to be ninety-three years; at her death the _Boston News
Letter_[71] extolled her as “exemplary, virtuous and pious and her
memory is blessed.” Possibly with all her piety she had a good share of
the independence of spirit which was accredited to her mother; in her
husband’s will[72] she is given her “third at Little Compton” and an
abundance of household stuff, but with this reservation,—“If she will
not be contented with her thirds at Little Compton, but shall claim her
thirds in both Compton and Duxbury or marry again, I do hereby make
voyde all my bequest unto her and she shall 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 Priscilla’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.[73] He escaped and
hurried to Duxbury, where he must have astonished his mother by the
recital of his adventures. He left an estate of £2059, in his will, 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 £1259, “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.[74]
Probably Priscilla 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 still paid to the name of John Alden in Duxbury and
Plymouth:[75] “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 Chiltonville 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.[76] 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 Holland. By the records on
the Roll of Freemen of the City of Canterbury,[77] he is named as James
Chylton, tailor, “Freeman by Gift, 1583.” Earlier Chiltons,—William,
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.[78]
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,[79] 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 south-west 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 £490 and the entire estate for £2946-14-10. He
had a Katch _Speedwell_, with cargoes of pork, sugar and tobacco, and a
Barke _Mary_, whose produce was worth £209; these were to be divided
among his children. His money was also to be divided, including 133
“peeces of eight.”[80]
Interesting as are the items of this will, which afford proofs that Mary
Chilton as matron had luxuries undreamed of in the days of 1621, _her_
will is even more important for us. It is one of the three _original_
known wills of _Mayflower_ passengers, the others being those of Edward
Winslow and Peregrine White. Mary Chilton’s will is in the Suffolk
Registry of Probate,[81] Boston, in good condition, on paper 18 by 14
inches. The will 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 “my Petty coate with silke Lace.” In
the inventory one may find commentary upon the valuation of these
goods—“silk gowns and pettecoats” for £6-10, twenty-two napkins at seven
shillings, and three “great pewter dishes” and twenty small pieces of
pewter for two pounds, six shillings. She had gowns, mantles, head
bands, fourteen in number, seventeen linen caps, six white aprons,
pocket-handkerchiefs and all 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 rivalled, if she did not
surpass in wealth and social position, her sister-in-law, Susanna White
Winslow.
Elizabeth Tilley had a more quiet life, but she excelled her associates
among these girls of Plymouth in one way,—she could write her name very
well. 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 Tilley, Desire Minter,
and the boy, William Latham.
The step-mother of Elizabeth Tilley bore a Dutch name, Bridget Van De
Veldt.[82] 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 still in some doubt in spite of the
efforts to trace it to one John Howland, “gentleman and citizen and
salter” of London.[83] 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 Tilley’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 will 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.[84]
Constance or Constanta Hopkins was probably about the same age as
Elizabeth Tilley, 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.
—–
Footnote 35:
Now in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.
Footnote 36:
For discussion of the ancestry of Standish, see “Some Recent
Investigations of the Ancestry of Capt. Myles Standish,” by Thomas
Cruddas Porteus of Coppell, Lancashire; N. E. Gen. Hist. Register, 68;
339-370; also in edition, Boston, 1914.
Footnote 37:
Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, iv, 322.
Footnote 38:
England and Holland of the Pilgrims, Dexter.
Footnote 39:
The Mayflower Descendant, v. 256.
Footnote 40:
History of the Allerton Family; W. S. Allerton, N. Y., 1888.
Footnote 41:
New England Memorial; Morton.
Footnote 42:
The Colonial, I, 46; also Gen. Hist. Reg., 67; 382, note.
Footnote 43:
Life of Pilgrim Alden; Augustus E. Alden; Boston, 1902.
Footnote 44:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.
Footnote 45:
The England and Holland of the Pilgrims.
Footnote 46:
N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 45, 56.
Footnote 47:
N. E. Gen. Hist.; iv, 108.
Footnote 48:
The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin.
Footnote 49:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation.
Footnote 50:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 51:
The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin; foot-note, p. 181.
Footnote 52:
Account of his death in _Boston News Letter_, July 31, 1704.
Footnote 53:
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.
Footnote 54:
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.
Footnote 55:
The Mayflower Descendant, vii, 193.
Footnote 56:
Winslow’s Relation.
Footnote 57:
State Papers, Colonial Service, 1574-1660. Winthrop Papers, ii, 283.
Footnote 58:
Hutchinson Collections, 110, 153, etc.
Footnote 59:
The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin, 444.
Footnote 60:
The Mayflower Descendant, iv, 1.
Footnote 61:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 62:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 63:
The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin.
Footnote 64:
New England Memorial; Morton.
Footnote 65:
Pilgrim Alden, by Augustus E. Alden, Boston, 1902.
Footnote 66:
Gen. Hist. Register, 40; 62-3.
Footnote 67:
Now in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.
Footnote 68:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 69:
American Epitaphs, 1814; 111, 139.
Footnote 70:
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.
Footnote 71:
June 17, 1717.
Footnote 72:
The Mayflower Descendant, vi, 129.
Footnote 73:
History of Witchcraft; Upham.
Footnote 74:
The Mayflower Descendant, iii, 10. The Story of a Pilgrim Family; Rev.
John Alden; Boston, 1890.
Footnote 75:
History of Duxbury; Winsor.
Footnote 76:
History of Plymouth; James Thatcher.
Footnote 77:
Probably this freedom was given by the city or some board therein, as
mark of respect. N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 63, 201.
Footnote 78:
Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.
Footnote 79:
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Also dimensions in Bowditch
Title Books: 26: 315.
Footnote 80:
The Mayflower Descendant, iii, 129 (1901).
Footnote 81:
This will is reprinted in The Mayflower Descendant, 1: 65.
Footnote 82:
N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., i, 34.
Footnote 83:
Recollections of John Howland, etc. E. H. Stone, Providence, 1857.
Footnote 84:
The Mayflower Descendant, ii, 70.
————————————————————————
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
well 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 full 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;[85] 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 Fuller followed 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
fell victim to the epidemic of infectious fever in 1633. She was his
third wife, but only two children are known to have used the Fuller
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.[86] 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 Fuller was very ill 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 “shall please God to recover my wife out of her weake estate
of sickness.” It is interesting also that, in this will, provision was
made for the education of his daughter, Mercy, as well as his son,
Samuel, by Mrs. Heeks or Hicks, the wife of Robert Hicks who came in
_The Ann_.[87] 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 Fuller
Ministerial Fund of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Its source was
“the first cow calfe that his Brown Cow should have.”[88]
Mrs. Alice Morse Earle says that gloves were gifts of sentiment;[89]
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 shillings. 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,[90] 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_.[91] The embroidered cap[92] and
bib, supposed to have been made by Mistress Barbara for her daughter,
would prove that she had
“hands with such convenient skill
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 mill, swords (as one would expect),
sixteen pewter pieces and several books of classic literature,—Homer,
Cæsar’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 illness 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.[93]
The Colonial Governor and his Lady ever held priority of rank. Such came
to Mrs. Alice Southworth when she married Governor William 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.”[94]
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 well 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. Fuller 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.”[95]
She was the sole executrix of her husband’s estate of £1005,—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:[96]
“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 illness 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 mankind,—of all 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
well as the _men_ of the old Plymouth Colony,—the women who faithfully
performed, without any serious discontent,
“that whole sweet round
Of littles that large life compound.”
—–
Footnote 85:
I, 35, July 5, 1635.
Footnote 86:
Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth; W. T. Davis.
Footnote 87:
Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories; also in Mayflower Descendants,
1, 245.
Footnote 88:
Genealogy of Some Descendants of Dr. Samuel Fuller of _The Mayflower_,
compiled by William Hyslop Fuller, Palmer.
Footnote 89:
Two Centuries of Costume in America; Alice Morse Earle; N. Y., 1903.
Footnote 90:
In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.
Footnote 91:
Notes to Bradford’s History, edition 1912.
Footnote 92:
In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.
Footnote 93:
Interesting facts on this subject may be found in “The Grave of Miles
Standish and other Pilgrims,” by E. V. J. Huiginn; Beverly, 1914.
Footnote 94:
Hunter’s Collections, 1854.
Footnote 95:
The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin, p. 460.
Footnote 96:
New England Memorial; Morton.
————————————————————————
INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT
ALDEN, Augustus E., 58
Elizabeth, 74, 77
John, 28, 35, 47, 74-80
Captain John, 78, 79
Priscilla, 46
Ruth, 77
Sarah, 77
Timothy, 75
ALLERTON, Bartholomew, 24
Isaac, 12, 14, 37
Mary Norton, 12, 56
Mary, 17, 34, 56
Remember, 23, 56
ARMSTRONG, Gregory, 70
AUSTIN, Jane G., 58
BARTLETT, W. H., 42
BASS, Ruth Alden, 77
BECKET, Mary, 33
BILLINGTON, Francis, 24, 25, 70
Helen, 31, 69-70
John, 70
John, Jr., 24, 29, 70
BOWMAN, George Ernest, VI, 49
BRADFORD, Alice, 101-5
Dorothy May, 7, 54
John, 54
Mary, 102
Joseph, 102
Gov. William, 13, 25, 48, 53, 101-4
William, Jr., 102
BREWSTER, Fear, 11, 37, 62
Jonathan, 47, 48, 62
Love, 24, 62
Mary, 16, 60-61, 62
Patience, 11, 37, 62
William, Elder, 14, 15, 31, 46, 53, 60-2
Wrestling, 24
BROWN, Lydia Howland, 88
Peter, 28, 33, 48
CARPENTER, Juliana, 101
Mary, 101
Priscilla, 101
CARTER, Robert, 73
CARVER, Catherine, 12, 57
Gov. John, 12, 13, 53, 72, 86
CHANDLER, Isabella Chilton, 81
Roger, 81
CHILTON, Ingle, 81
Isabella, 81
Isaac, 81
CHILTON, James, 12, 80, 81
Jane, 81
Mary, 9, 11, 16, 31, 34, 71, 80-85
Mrs. James, 12, 80
Nicolas, 81
CONVERSE, Sarah, 96
COOKE, Francis, 16, 89
Hester, 16, 36
Jacob, 89
John, 24
Sarah
COOPER, Humility, 24, 59
CRAKSTON, John, 24
CROMWELL, 65
CUSHMAN, Robert, 10, 34
Thomas, 16, 34
DAVIS, W. T., 95
DE LA NOYE, Philip, 35
DE RASSIERES, 27
DEAN, Stephen, 35
DEXTER, Henry M., 15
Morton, 15
DOANE, Deacon John, 70
DOTEY, Edward, 30
EARLE, Alice Morse, 42, 97
EATON, Francis, 12, 48, 58
Sarah, 12, 16
ELIOT, Charles W., 17
FORD, Widow Martha, 33
FULLER, Ann, 12
Bridget, 16, 37, 94-96
Edward, 12
Mercy, 95
Samuel, Dr., 14, 16, 37, 53, 95, 96
Samuel, 24
William Hyslop, 96
GOODMAN, John, 28
GOODWIN, John A., 27, 60, 62, 70, 103
HEALD, Giles, 72
HICKS, Robert, 35, 96
Mrs. Robert, 96
HOBOMOK, 22, 48
HOPKINS, Caleb, 68
Constance, or Constanta, 9, 16, 23, 30, 31, 68, 71, 88-9
Damaris, 23, 68, 89
HOPKINS, Elizabeth, 9, 68-9
Giles, 24, 68
Oceanus, 24, 68
Ruth, 68
Stephen, 22, 30, 69
HOWLAND, Elizabeth Tilley, 85-88
Lydia (Brown), 88
John, 5, 35, 58, 85-88
HUIGINN, E. V. J., 100
JENNY, John, 97
JEPPSON, William, 59
William, 59
JONES, Christopher, Capt., 5, 72
Thomas, Capt., 5
LATHAM, William, 24, 86
LISTER, Edward, 30
LONGFELLOW, Henry W., 74-5
LORD, Arthur, VI
MARTIN, Mrs. Christopher, 12
MASEFIELD, John, 9
MASSASOIT, 22
MINTER, Desire, 24, 58, 59, 86
John, 59
Thomas, 59
William, 59
MORE, Ellen, 12, 56
Richard, 24
MORTON, George, 101
Juliana Carpenter, 101
MULLINS, Alice, Mrs., 12, 73
Joseph, 73
Moses, 74
Priscilla, 9, 11, 31, 71-7
Sarah (Blunden), 72
William, 72, 73, 84
William, Jr., 72
NEWCOMEN, John, 69
OLDHAM, John, 47
PABODIE, Elizabeth Alden, 77, 78
William, 77, 78
PARKER, Richard, 83
PENN, Christian, 70
PRENCE, Thomas, 30, 37, 47
PRIEST, Degory, 16
REYNOLDS, William, 68
RIGDALE, Alice, 12
ROBINSON, Pastor John, 10, 14, 57, 100
SAMPSON, Alexander, 98
Henry, 24, 59, 98
SAMOSET, 21, 22, 24, 59
SNOW, Nicholas, 16, 88
SOULE, George, 34, 48
SOUTHWORTH, Alice, 34, 36, 101
Constant, 101
Thomas, 101
SQUANTO, 22
STANDISH, Alexander, 98
Barbara, 37, 98-100
Charles, 99
John, 99
Josiah, 99
Lora or Lorea, 98, 99
Mary Dingley, 100
Miles, 12, 28, 29, 37, 45, 46, 48, 55, 98-100
Miles, Jr., 99
Rose, 8, 12, 44, 54
TAYLOR, Ann, 80
THOMPSON, Edward, 7
THWING, Annie M., 82
TILLEY, Ann, 12
Bridget, 12
Edward, 12, 59
Elizabeth, 9, 24, 31, 58, 71, 85-88
John, 12
TINKER, Mrs. Thomas, 12
TURNER, John, 12
WARREN, Elizabeth, 16, 37, 93-94
Richard, 16, 36, 93
WHITE, Peregrine, 7, 24, 62
Resolved, 24, 64
Susanna, 9, 29
William, 64
WILLIAMS, Roger, 94
Thomas, 96
WINSLOW, Edward, 11, 12, 14, 24, 29, 43, 45, 46, 47, 53, 55, 63-67
Elizabeth Barker, 12, 29, 55
Elizabeth, 64
John, 16, 34, 35, 82-5
John, Brig. Gen., 82
Josiah, 63, 67, 79
Kenelm, 35
Mary Chilton, 82-85
Susanna, 44, 62, 63-67
WINTHROP, John, 66, 83
WRIGHT, Priscilla Carpenter, 35, 101
William, 35, 95, 101