Plymouth: Its History and People
Plymouth is a town in southeastern Massachusetts, on Plymouth Bay, about 55
km (34 mi) southeast of Boston. The seat of Plymouth County, it was the site of
the first permanent European settlement in New England; it is now a fishing and
tourist center with ship-related industries and cranberry-packing houses.
Plymouth Rock, a tourist attraction, is on the shore under a granite canopy;
recreations of Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower are also there. The pilgrims
founded Plymouth on Dec. 21, 1620, establishing a settlement that became the
seat of Plymouth Colony in 1633 and a part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The Pilgrims were English Separatists who founded (1620) Plymouth Colony in
New England. In the first years of the 17th century, small numbers of English
Puritans broke away from the Church of England because they felt that it had not
completed the work of the Reformation. They committed themselves to a life based
on the Bible. Most of these Separatists were farmers, poorly educated and
without social or political standing. One of the Separatist congregations was
led by William Brewster and the Rev. Richard Clifton in the village of Scrooby
in Nottinghamshire. The Scrooby group emigrated to Amsterdam in 1608 to escape
harassment and religious persecution. The next year they moved to Leiden, where,
enjoying full religious freedom, they remained for almost 12 years. In 1617,
discouraged by economic difficulties, the pervasive Dutch influence on their
children, and their inability to secure civil autonomy, the congregation voted
to emigrate to America. Through the Brewster family's friendship with Sir Edwin
Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, the congregation secured two patents
authorizing them to settle in the northern part of the company's jurisdiction.
Unable to finance the costs of the emigration with their own meager resources,
they negotiated a financial agreement with Thomas Weston, a prominent London
iron merchant. Fewer than half of the group's members elected to leave Leiden. A
small ship, the Speedwell, carried them to Southampton, England, where they were
to join another group of Separatists and pick up a second ship. After some
delays and disputes, the voyagers regrouped at Plymouth aboard the 180-ton
Mayflower. It began its historic voyage on Sept. 16, 1620, with about 102
passengers--fewer than half of them from Leiden. After a 65-day journey, the
Pilgrims sighted Cape Cod on November 19. Unable to reach the land they had
contracted for, they anchored (November 21) at the site of Provincetown. Because
they had no legal right to settle in the region, they drew up the Mayflower
Compact, creating their own government. The settlers soon discovered Plymouth
Harbor, on the western side of Cape Cod Bay and made their historic landing on
December 21; the main body of settlers followed on December 26. The term Pilgrim
was first used by William Bradford to describe the Leiden Separatists who were
leaving Holland. The Mayflower's passengers were first described as the Pilgrim
Fathers in 1799.
John Alden, b. 1599?, d. Sept. 12, 1687, was one of the Pilgrim Fathers who
came to America in the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact, and founded
Plymouth Colony in 1620. Thereafter he held various public offices, including
that of deputy governor of Massachusetts (1664-65, 1667). The unfounded details
of his wooing of fellow Pilgrim Priscilla Mullens (or Molines)--whom he did
marry--were the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem "The Courtship of
Miles Standish."
William Bradford was one of the leaders of the pilgrims who established
Plymouth Colony. He was its governor for more than 30 years. His History of
Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, first printed in full in 1856, is a minor
classic, reflecting the unusual qualities of the man and the values of the small
group of English separatists who became known as Pilgrims. Bradford was born in
March 1590 in Austerfield, Yorkshire, the son of a yeoman farmer. He was
self-taught. As a young man, he joined Puritan groups that met illegally in
nearby Scrooby and was a member of that congregation when it separated from the
Church of England in 1606. Bradford was among the 125 Scrooby separatists who
sought (1608) religious sanctuary in Holland. When the congregation decided
(1617) to seek refuge in America, Bradford took major responsibility for
arranging the details of the emigration. The term Pilgrim is derived from his
description of himself and his coreligionists as they left Holland (July 22,
1620) for Southampton, where they joined another group of English separatists on
the Mayflower. Bradford was one of about a dozen original Scrooby church members
who sailed for America on the Mayflower. When John Carver, Plymouth Colony's
first governor, died suddenly in April 1621, Bradford was unanimously elected to
replace him. He was reelected 30 times. In 1640, Bradford and the group of
original settlers known as the "old comers" turned over to the colony the
proprietary rights to its lands, which had been granted (1630) to him by the
Warwick Patent and then shared by him with the old comers. During the period of
his governorship, and especially during the first few years, Bradford provided
the strong, steady leadership that kept the tiny community alive. He strove to
sustain the religious ideals of the founders and to keep the colony's
settlements compact and separate from the larger neighboring colonies. Bradford
died on May 9 or 19, 1657.
William Brewster, b. 1567, d. Apr. 10, 1644, was a leader of the PILGRIMS,
who established Plymouth Colony. In England he studied briefly at Cambridge, the
only Pilgrim Father to have some university training. A member of the local
gentry in Scrooby, Yorkshire, he helped organize a separatist religious
congregation in 1606 and financed its move to Holland in 1608. His influence was
instrumental in winning the approval of the Virginia Company for the proposal to
resettle the congregation in America, and he was one of the few original Scrooby
separatists who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. As the church's ruling elder in
Leyden and then in Plymouth, Brewster shared with William Bradford and Edward
Winslow in the leadership of the Pilgrim enterprise.
John Carver, b. c. 1576, d. Apr. 5, 1621, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, was the
first governor of Plymouth Colony. A wealthy merchant, he helped arrange the
Pilgrims' emigration to America in 1620, chartering the Mayflower. He was
governor for less than a year before his death.
Myles Standish, b. c.1584, d. Oct. 3, 1656, an English-born professional
soldier, was hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for their Plymouth colony
in America; eventually he became a full member as well as a valued leader of the
community. Arriving on the Mayflower with the first settlers, he initially
concentrated on colonial defense and Indian relations. Later, Standish
represented (1625-26) Plymouth in England; he also served for many years as one
of the governor's assistants and as the colony's treasurer (1644-49). Standish
was one of the founders (1632) of the town of Duxbury, Mass. Although one of the
most influential figures in colonial New England, he is best remembered through
US poet Henry Longfellow's 'The Courtship of Miles Standish' 1863.
Five Winslow Brothers came from England to Plymouth Colony between 1620 and 1633. Edward, the oldest of the five, had left England for Holland in order to freely practice his religion. He was one of the 102 Pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower in 1620. He was soon joined by his brothers: John (1621), Kenelm (1633) and Josiah (1631). Gilbert, who had arrived with Edward on the Mayflower, returned to England.
In the 1630s, the brothers and their wives settled in Marshfield and started
families. All of the Brothers were active in their communities. Edward was one
of Plymouth Colony's most trusted representatives. He was sent to negotiate with
the local Native People, the Wamponag. He also sailed to England several times
times on colony business, bringing back the first cattle in 1624.
The Mayflower Compact
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal
Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of
England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.Having undertaken
for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of
our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts
of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God
and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body
Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends
aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and
equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as
shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony;
unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.In Witness whereof we
have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the
Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the
eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
There followed the signatures of 41 of the 102 passengers, 37 of whom were
members of the "Separatists" who were fleeing religious persecution in Europe.
This compact established the first basis in the new world for written laws. Half
the colony failed to survive the first winter, but the remainder lived on and
prospered.