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THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PILGRIMS
Francis R. Stoddard
Gc 974.4 St6t 1439163
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
11
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 7454
THE TRUTH ABOUT .
THE PILGRIMS
ÑO DON : 10 ATIS : SVE
PTRIGHT .A. S. BURBANK, PLYMOUTH, MASS
Photographs courtesy Pilgrim Society
GOV. EDWARD WINSLOW
FRANCIS R. STODDARD
1
1.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
(1)
THE PILGRIMS
1,
Published by the SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK New York, New York
COPYRIGHT 1952 SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK
1439163
CONTENTS
Preface IX
Introduction
XI
The Truth About the Pilgrims
1
The Puritans
4
The Separatists
4 6
Bradford's History
The Compact
7
Other Institutions
8
Thanksgiving Day
10
The Plymouth Settlement
14
The Mayflower
The Crew
The Date of Landing
Plymouth Rock
20 24 26
The Name "Pilgrim"
The Passengers
Misrepresentations About the Pilgrims.
The Parish Church
Education of Children
34 35
Pilgrim Houses
36 37
Communism
38
The Name of the "Mayflower"
40
Gravestones
40
Principal Events
42
Anniversary Celebrations
43
The Pilgrim Record Society
49
Society of Mayflower Descendants
51
Mayflower Society House
55
Social Status of Pilgrims
70
Appendix A 105
Appendix B-The Compact 164
Appendix C 166
References 188
Notes on Illustrations 197
Index 199
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$ 3 50 3-25-68 R.O. 5247
Sva. mayflower desc. n. y.
"Pilgrims' Progress"
27 28 32
Pilgrim Spelling
17 18 20
Who Landed First
PREFACE
The author of THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PIL- GRIMS, Colonel Francis R. Stoddard, is a graduate of Harvard University and a member of the New York bar. He served in the Spanish-American War, on the Mexican border, and in World War I. During World War II, he was for over three years military aide to Mayor La Guardia of New York City. He has written several books on genealogy and history, and many articles on insurance in which he has specialized as a lawyer.
He has served both as Governor General of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and as Governor General of the General Society of Colonial Wars.
His father was descended from ten passengers on the "Mayflower," and was born in Plymouth. All of his life Colonel Stoddard has been interested in Pilgrim history. He is considered an outstanding authority on Pilgrim and Colonial history.
Many books have been written concerning the Pilgrims, but few, if any, about their social background and cir- cumstances.
Colonel Stoddard has spent several years in research on this book. It answers questions about all the passengers and the known members of the crew who came to America on the "Mayflower" in 1620. It also contains what is probably the best bibliography on the subject ever published.
Writing this book has been a labor of love. The author has made a sacrifice of time and energy in order to give students of our early history and the libraries of this coun- try an authoritative book that otherwise would never have been published.
WALTER M. PRATT Governor General of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants
INTRODUCTION
. Until recent times, the histories written concerning the Pilgrims have been published with the idea of adding to the general knowledge of them. The writers may have been led into some inaccuracies, but these were few and unin- tentional. These writers tried conscientiously to give an honest and true picture of the Pilgrims.
Recently there has arrived the debunking accounts of our Country's heroes, written generally by people with leftist leanings and without any regard for undistorted truth. These books have been written to sell, and unfortunately several have become "best sellers." No outstanding person- age in our Country's history has been safe. The founders of this Country have been especially attacked. There seems to have been a deliberate attempt to falsify history and to misrepresent early ideals and deeds.
It seems easy to write a "best seller" if one does not "let the truth spoil a good story." If one shows the Pilgrims as they were, he runs the danger of being accused of "gilding the lily" and not making them human. If one deliberately misrepresents by intimating that the Pilgrims never saw Plymouth Rock, that they came from the scum of England, that they were bigots who persecuted all who disagreed with them, that they oppressed the Indians, that they were Com- munists, that they brought no institutions to these shores of any value, that the Compact signed in the cabin of the "Mayflower" was of no importance, and then dresses up these palpable untruths in clever and fine language, one may have a "best seller." Incidentally all of the foregoing mis-statements have appeared in print.
It is interesting to know where many of the misrepresen- tations originated. Unfortunately many were originated and perpetuated by the descendants of the Pilgrims and by their sincere friends. The libel that Mrs. Dorothy (May) Bradford committed suicide was invented by a fiction writer, who was a Mayflower descendant. The statement
that the More children came from a London poorhouse was invented by one of the best friends the Pilgrims ever had. He stated as fact a theory, to explain their presence on the "Mayflower." This theory was later found to be quite erroneous, yet once invented, the error persists. The state- ment that Richard More changed his name to Mann and went to live in Scituate was invented by a very well inten- tioned town historian. The discredited fallacy that John Tilley married Bridget van der Velde was originated when a sincere friend mistakenly believed the Dutch record referred to Pilgrim John. The statement that all of the Pilgrims came of yeoman stock, when really some of them held the status of gentlemen, has been repeated by sincere historians who failed to realize the danger of stating gen- eralities. The worst libel concerning the so-called "servants". or employees on the "Mayflower" is to call them "inden- tured servants," which was the lowest form of service. There is no proof that any of them were indentured. How can one condemn the author of a Pilgrim best seller for giving a lurid picture of the "indentured" slaves who came on the "Mayflower" when their descendants continue to make the mis-statement?
I have read so many untruths concerning the Pilgrims that I have tried to set forth in this volume the truth about them. I have also tried to furnish authorities for all statements made. The book represents an honest attempt to depict truthfully one of the most remarkable groups of persons in our Country's history. They lived in stern times, and yet in the face of what seemed to be unsurmountable obstacles, they devoted themselves to their ideals and were willing to give their property and lives for conscience sake. They placed their trust in God and "accomplished the impossible."
The Pilgrims are not here to answer the untruths. spread concerning them. It is the duty of those who revere this country and its founders to protect their memories. I hope that this book will aid in showing what are the real facts
concerning them and that it will be a source of enjoyment to all who are interested in knowing the truth about the Pilgrims.
In closing I desire to thank those who have gone over my manuscript and have made possible the publication of this book. Among those many persons, I should especially mention Meredith B. Colket, Jr., and John C. Pearson who made valuable suggestions. Leon C. Hills favored me with his advice. Colonel Walter Merriam Pratt, the distinguished Governor-General of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, has always been an inspiration. Secretary- General Walter Lester Glenney has helped much.
I appreciate especially the able efforts of the New York Committee led by William J. Meeneghan, Governor Shelby Collom Davis, former Governor Warren Prosser Smith, and Mrs. Rolf T. Michelsen. Mr. Meeneghan has taken com- plete charge of the physical effort necessary to publish this work. He deserves the thanks of all who have desired to have this book published. Harry B. Sherman has been of great help.
Last but not least, I am grateful to Mrs. A. P. Kelly for giving her valuable time in typing the manuscript. Others too numerous to mention have helped me, and I thank them all.
June 1951 New York City
Francis R. Stoddard
: .
The Truth about the Pilgrims
A N OUTSTANDING event in the history of the United States was the coming from England to America of the "Mayflower" with its small band of Pilgrims. Their fame has extended to every land. Their descendants may justly be proud of being descended from this most remarkable group. All Americans have cause to be proud of the Pilgrims; every American owes them a debt of gratitude.
Why are the Pilgrims outstanding? Why have they left a heritage to America that will never be forgotten? What deeds were performed by this harassed group of men and women which leave Americans forever in their debt? In this account I shall give details of the lives of these people "whose unselfish loyalty to great principles of religion and liberty were destined to make them famous to coming generations." (BR V). I shall try to describe herein what has brought to the Pilgrims the admiration of succeeding generations of Americans.
The giving of the Bible to the mass of the English people convinced them that the Medieval Christian Church had strayed from the practices and doctrines of Christ. They found that religious forms and beliefs adopted from pagan religions or instituted by clerics to strengthen the political structure of the church had taken the place of the simple teachings of Christ. England was largely controlled by an oppressive clergy. Its lands were largely owned by the Church which did everything to increase its holdings. Persons daring to oppose the clergy were often burned alive or tortured with barbarous punishments.
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Notwithstanding threatened death, mutilation, imprison- ment and loss of all property by confiscation, fearless men and women led by John Wickliffe and later reformers laid the foundations of the Reformation which extended gradu- ally all over England. They maintained the authority of scripture as the supreme arbiter of all things in the Church. They sought after that which was eternal as opposed to that which was merely of human ordinance. They made nought of pilgrimages, penances and oblations in compari- son with holiness and charity. Their inspiration came from returning to the original faith. (BR 18-19). Because they protested against the abuses of the existing Church, they were known as Protestants. The Act of 1401 for the burning of heretics was powerless to shake the convictions of earnest persons (BR 20). The history of England during the Middle Ages is largely an account of a chronic conflict between the English State, composed of King and Parliament, and the Church which was governed from. Rome. Henry VIII did not lead in the break with Rome which resulted in the Act of Supremacy passed in 1534. A great mass of the English people had long clamored for freedom from foreign clerical oppression, and the King followed the desires of a large number of his subjects when he declared in that year the English Church independent. Thereafter, the Bible, translated into English by William Tyndale a few years previously, was read openly by the people instead of being read by stealth as a prohibited book. The service book used in the Churches was in English instead of Latin as formerly.
Henry VIII was succeeded by the boy King Edward VI in 1547. When Mary became queen in 1553, she attempted to make England Roman Catholic by force. She only suc- ceeded in making it more Protestant. Hooper, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer, men of the highest character and leaders of the Protestant movement, were burned alive at the stake. Dexter in "The England and Holland of the
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Pilgrims" says, "The high water mark of this frenzied hatred toward all who were not Papists is indicated by a proclamation five months before Mary's death by which comforting, speaking to, touching or even approaching heretics on their way to execution was made punishable by death." Before Mary died in 1558, three hundred persons from all walks of life are said to have been burned alive because of their refusal to change their religion. For exam- ple, Bradford in his "Dialogues" tells of the church of which John Rough was pastor and Cuthbert Symson was deacon. An informer testified that they met to read the Bible and to listen to preaching, and that they also col- lected money to help those of them who were in prison as well as their poor. John Rough was sent to Newgate and ten days later was burned at Smithfield. Symson, after being repeatedly tortured on the rack to make him betray the names of the other members of the congregation but with- out success, was also burned at Smithfield. Until Mary's death those of the congregation who survived continued to worship secretly (BR 24).
Under Queen Elizabeth there took place the establish- ment of the Anglican Church, which claimed its descent through the early English missionaries from the original Christian Church, but which denied that the Papacy, allegedly created centuries after Christ, had any right to control their church. The Pope declared Elizabeth excom- municated and deposed and absolved her subjects from all allegiance to her. Dexter says that the intention of Philip II "to send a great fleet to conquer England had been pro- claimed openly, while seminary priests and Jesuits were known to be plotting perpetually to kill Elizabeth. The recent assassination of William the Silent had emphasized the dangers of the situation to the English people." In Fulop-Miller's "The Power and Secret of the Jesuits" is described the efforts of Jesuit priests who entered the country by stealth to incite the English people against their
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government. They forbade Catholics to take an oath of allegiance to their sovereign and did all they could to stir up a rebellion. The answer of the English people was to hunt down and hang the plotters when they could be caught. In 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed to conquer England and to force it to return to Catholicism. It was said that arrangements had been made by those on the fleet to institute the Inquisition as soon as England should be conquered, and that implements of torture had been brought to make the heretics repent. English sailors de- feated the Armada, and English Protestantism was saved.
THE PURITANS
Under Elizabeth there began the split in the English Church which gave rise to the Puritan movement. The Puritans demanded a more thorough reformation which should carry the English Church back to the original purity portrayed by the Scriptures. They did not intend to secede or separate from the English Church. They wished to work out their reforms from within the Church. Puritanism first appeared in the form of a protest against certain ceremonies and vestments which were required by law in the celebra- tion of public worship and which the Puritans regarded as symbols of superstition. Soon many of the educated and best people in England joined the movement. The Puritans retained the bishops and archbishops and the structure of the English Church but tried to conform it to what they believed Christ would have desired.
THE SEPARATISTS
The Puritans did not go far enough to satisfy others of the English people who claimed that Christ's Church under the Apostles had been composed of many gatherings of Christians who had no bishops or archbishops and whose leaders obtained their authority from the members of the
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congregation and not from higher authority. This has given the name Congregationalism to this form of belief. These people determined to abandon the English Church and to form groups, which would worship Christ simply and with- out form as did the early Christians. Their Church was to be a society of Christian disciples, voluntarily agreeing to govern themselves by the law of Christ as given in the Scriptures. They determined to form groups of worshippers throughout England by the same right by which Churches were first instituted at Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Alex- andria, Rome and other places by the early Christians. These persons were called Separatists and were quite differ- ent from the Puritans who never seceded from the Church of England (G 11-13) (Y 414).
Persons who joined the Separatist Congregations soon knew that imprisonment, confiscation of property, mutila- tion and even death might be their fate. Leonard Bacon in "The Genesis of the New England Churches" tells how their leaders, John Copping, Elias Thacker, Henry Bar- rowe, John Greenwood and John Penry, men of the highest learning and character, were executed. Officers of the law broke into the houses of the Separatists at all hours of the day and night, searching for unlawful books and dragging the Separatists away to prison where they often remained for years without trials. Old people, men and women of all ages with their children, guilty only of worshipping God according to their own consciences, were placed in loath- some dungeons where many died of the jail fever common at that time in the English prisons. Some had their tongues pierced or were burned with hot irons. Persecution might break their bodies but not their spirits.
I shall not take the time to tell about the Separatist Congregation which met at Scrooby. The arrest and im- prisonment of most of its members, their release and gradual flight to Holland, their residence in Amsterdam
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and Leyden, and their coming to America in the "May- flower" as Pilgrims are a part of our Country's history.
Fortunately there have been left several accounts written by them which tell of them and their experiences. Brad- ford's "History" is an absorbing account which sets forth their ideals and describes at length their efforts to overcome all obstacles. The correspondence of the Pilgrims and of their friends gives us much information. Mourt's "Relation" gives a very interesting account of their early adventures. Winslow's writings are most helpful. The Records of the First Church in Plymouth tell the Pilgrim's story, much of it based on Bradford's account. Nathaniel Morton's "New England Memorial" was written by one who lived. among them and was in a position to learn the facts at first hand. Anyone can get accurate information concerning the lives of the Pilgrims from their own recorded accounts.
BRADFORD'S HISTORY
Governor William Bradford's "History" is one of the most absorbing and outstanding books in American litera- ture. It furnishes full information concerning the Pilgrims and their movements. Its accuracy has been supported by other information which has become available concerning the events described therein.
Its career is interesting. Samuel Bradford made an attesta- tion, attached to it, dated March 20, 1705, which shows that the Governor gave it to his son Deputy Governor William Bradford, who in turn gave it to his son Major John Bradford, the father of Samuel. There is also a memoran- dum dated June 4, 1728, in which the Rev. Thomas Prince states that he borowed it from Major John Bradford and thereafter deposited it in the New England Library in the tower of the Old South Church in Boston. It was used by several historians including Governor Hutchinson, who may have taken it with him when he precipitately departed for England during the events leading to the Revolution,
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or it might have been taken by British troops who later. occupied the church. It eventually reached the library of the Bishop of London where it remained unnoticed for. a long time. In 1844, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of Oxford published a history of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and he referred therein to a manuscript. history of Plymouth Colony. American readers guessed at its iden- tity, and in 1855 a copy was received in America through their efforts and was published in the Collections of 1856 of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
The original manuscript remained in the Fulham Library of the Bishop until 1897 when it was presented to the State of Massachusetts and has since reposed in the Massachusetts State Library (B 15-16). These events are ably described by Justin Winsor in "Proceedings of the Massachusetts His- torical Society," Volume XIX, pages 106-122.
THE COMPACT
Learning the lesson of toleration from the Dutch in Holland, the Pilgrims brought to these shores many of the institutions which have been the foundation of our govern- ment .. In the cabin of the "Mayflower" was signed the Compact which is the first document in history to give man- hood suffrage to all persons. (See Appendix B). It is one of the most outstanding documents in American history (M.D. I, 77) (M.D. XXIII, 1, 32) (M.D. XXIV, 49). President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard stated his opinion of the Compact at the dedication of the Pilgrim Monument at Provincetown on August 5,. 1910, as follows: "From the Compact was to spring not only a stable government for the little colony, but a great series of Constitutions for free states. They started on this continent the practice of elect- ing, by manhood suffrage, the head of a state, for a limited period. It was a small beginning, but who can comprehend or describe the immensity of the outcome?" President Cal- vin Coolidge has said: "The Pilgrims, the humble of the.
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earth, sailed up out of the infinite, destined to free man- kind. On their abiding faith has been reared a Nation, magnificent, beyond their dreams of Paradise. No.like body has ever cast so great an influence on human history.":
The Compact was signed on board the "Mayflower" on November 21, 1620 (November 11, old style). Bradford's "History" does not give the names of those who signed the original document. The earliest known list of the signers is that contained in Nathaniel Morton's "New England Memorial" published in 1669 (M.D. I, 77) (M 26) (M.D. XXIII, 1, 32) (M.D. XXIV, 49). What happened to the original document is unknown.
OTHER INSTITUTIONS
The Pilgrims began many other of our institutions. They taught and practiced the separation of Church and State as practiced by the Dutch (M.D. IV, 4). They claimed that not merely the clergy but the laity were an integral part of the Church (M.D. IV, 8). They laid stress upon character as the supreme requisite in true religion (M.D. IV, 9). Freedom of religious worship, as practiced by the Dutch, was not the least of the gifts of the Pilgrims who never persecuted anyone on the grounds of his religion. According to Winslow, "Church of England people and Baptist dwelt continuously in Plymouth in peace, except such as openly sought to overturn the Independent Churches. Visitors of all beliefs and no belief were enter- tained." The French Jesuit Druillette, who came to Boston in 1650, spent a day or two at Plymouth. He especially mentions Bradford's kindness, and the fact that one day being Friday, the Governor gave him an excellent dinner of fish (R 196-197). At the Lord's table the Pilgrims com- muned with pious Episcopalians, with Calvinists of the French and Dutch Churches and with Presbyterians, and recognized the spiritual fraternity of all who held the faith (M.D. IV 12-13).
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As Senator Hoar has said, "Their good senses kept them free from witchcraft delusions. No witch was ever hung there. ... They treated the Indians with justice and good faith. They held no foot of land not fairly obtained by honest purchase. Their tolerance was an example to Roger Williams himself. And when at last in 1692, Plymouth was blended with Massachusetts, the days of bigotry and intoler- ance and superstition as a controlling force in Massachusetts were over." (M.D. IV, 13).
In the words of the Rev. Frederick B. Allen, "We are all Separatists now. There is not one of us here who is not thankful that throughout the length and breadth of the land there is no established church. It is largely because Protestants and Roman Catholics and Jews are all on pre- cisely the same political level, in the sight of the law, that so kindly and charitable a spirit prevails between those of different faiths." (M.D. IV, 8).
The administration of the law by the Pilgrims was re- markably mild for the standards of their day. (M.D. IV, 3). The Pilgrims introduced much of our criminal code. When they lived, England had 149 capital crimes. The Pilgrims adopted only five which were practically the same as our laws today. They extended trial by jury so as to apply to all people. The Pilgrims established the public recording of deeds and mortgages and introduced our method of conveying land. They established the probating of wills and recording of births, marriages and deaths by towns. These were made applicable to all the people, a practice which had not previously existed. They introduced our system of administering estates. Instead of the oldest son inheriting all of his father's estate, the Pilgrims provided that the estate was to be divided equally among all children. This was a recognition of the rights of women. The Pil- grims introduced almost all of our system of equity. They introduced our system of free public education. Much of what they introduced was taken from the Dutch because
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