Thursday Thirteen #14

Thirteen Pilgrim Facts

1. The Pilgrims arrived and found a place to settle, called Plymouth on Captain John Smith's map of 1614. The native Indians called the area Patuxet. The Patuxet tribe had been completely wiped out in a 1618 plague (probably smallpox), and so there was at the time no tribe inhabiting or claiming the land the Pilgrims settled. The only Patuxet survivor of the plague was Tisquantum, more commonly called "Squanto" (who had been in England at the time of the plague). Squanto was accepted into the Plymouth Colony and acted as interpreter and negotiator with Massasoit and the Wampanoag confederation of tribes--the Pilgrims nearest neighbors.

2. Children in 1600s New England had to work hard. Their chores included: fetching water from the brook or springs, gathering firewood, herding animals, gathering berries and other wild plants, and helping their parents cook, clean, preserve food, plant and harvest crops, and care for younger children.

3. Even though Pilgrim children worked very hard, they still had time to play. They probably played marbles, ball games, board games and running games.

4. Children were expected to show courtesy to adults, including their parents, by bowing and curtsying to them.

5. Both boys and girls in 1600s England and New England wore gowns (dresses) until they were about seven years old.

6. The Pilgrims did not have buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats. Buckles did not come into fashion until the late 1600s--more appropriate for the Salem Witchcraft trials time period than for the Pilgrims time period.

7. There was no school in the early years of New Plymouth. Parents who wanted their children to learn to read and write taught them themselves or had their children taught by neighbors.

8. Children often slept on mattresses that were laid on the floor at night. The mattresses were usually stuffed with straw. Some children slept in their parents' bed.

9. Children and adults probably only took baths a few times a year. They thought bathing was unhealthy.

10. The First Thanksgiving lasted for three days. According to Edward Winslow, a participant in the First Thanksgiving, the feast consisted of: Corn, Barley, Fowl including Wild Turkeys and Waterfowl & Venison.

11. 52 Pilgrims attended the 'First Thanksgiving' in 1621 and approximately 50 Native Americans attended the 'First Thanksgiving'.

12. Even before Mayflower anchored off the tip of Cape Cod, there was a near mutiny. The passengers had hired themselves out as indentured servants, promising to work for seven years to pay for their passage. Some of these passengers thought they could do as they pleased since they were outside the bounds of English law. So they threatened to take their freedom as soon as they got on land.

13. In their first ten months at Plymouth, just passed, they had erected seven dwellings, a Common Meeting house and three small store houses for food, clothing and other supplies. In spite of their numbers having been cut in half by sickness and death, they found reasons for thankfulness. They had gained their foot-hold on the edge of an inhospitable continent. They were well recovered in health and strength. They were making the best of a hard life in the wilderness. They had proved that they could sustain themselves in the new, free land. They were assured of the success of their purpose of establishing freedom. They had made firm friends with the Indians, who had been so kind to them.

Happy Thanksgiving!