In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a new church called the Church of England (sometimes referred to as the Anglican Church).
Everyone in England had to belong to the Anglican Church. There was a group of people called Separatists that wanted to separate from that church.
William Bradford found like-minded Christians in a separatist congregation in the village of Scrooby, close to his hometown of Austerfield, England.
In 1607, the Anglican Church became aware of the Scrooby congregation and arrested some, placing others under surveillance, and fining those they could.
The congregation, under the leadership of John Robinson sold their belongings and relocated to Leiden, the Netherlands, where the government practiced a policy of religious tolerance. Later, they looked to leave to America.
The Separatists signed a contract with the Virginia Company to establish a colony. By its terms, the stockholders who financed the journey (“Adventurers”) would share in the new colony’s profits.
The Separatists called themselves “Saints.” When the recruiting for the voyage was done, several of the Leiden Saints were unable or unwilling to go.
In order to fill the ship and protect their investments, the Adventurers started to recruit colonists in London, recruiting them at large without any regard to their religious beliefs. The Separatists called these the “Strangers.”
The Strangers were a group of skilled workers who were sent along by the investors to help build the colony. They were considered common folk and included merchants, craftsmen and indentured servants.
The Strangers had their own reasons for joining the journey, and didn’t share the goal of the Saints of separating from the Church of England.
The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, with approximately 130 people on board: 102 passengers, the rest crew. Most traveled with families; some left behind family members who were to sail on later voyages.
There were 74-males (50-men) and 28-females (19-women, 3 were pregnant); the 69-adult passengers were mainly in their 30s (the average age of the men is estimated to be 34). The 14-young adults ranged between the ages of 13 and 18, and the 19-children were 12 and under (Deetz). After arriving in harsh winter weather, one-half of the passengers died during the “general sickness” of colds, coughs and fevers.
The Mayflower Compact
The Pilgrims intended to land in Northern Virginia, which at the time included the region as far north as the Hudson River in the modern State of New York.
The Hudson River, in fact, was their originally intended destination. They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands. All things considered, the Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees.
The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6 (OS) (September 16 (NS)), until Cape Cod was sighted on November 9 (OS)(November 19 (NS)), 1620.
As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose. The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked.
The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod. They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation.
Back in England, the Pilgrims had signed a contract with the Virginia Company to establish a colony near the Hudson River, which at the time was part of Virginia. By its terms, the stockholders who financed the journey would share in the new colony’s profits.
After bad weather during the Atlantic crossing pushed the Mayflower hundreds of miles further north, to Cape Cod, the “Strangers” didn’t think they should be subject to the contract’s provisions anymore.
William Bradford wrote in his history of Plymouth Plantation: “In these hard and difficulte beginings they found some discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soone quelled and overcome by the wisdome, patience, and just and equall carriage of things by the Gov[emo]r and better part, which clave faithfully togeather in the maine.”
To quell the conflict and preserve unity, Pilgrim leaders drafted the Mayflower Compact before going ashore. The brief document (about 200 words) bound its signers into a body politic for the purpose of forming a government and pledged them to abide by any laws and regulations that would later be established “for the general good of the colony.” (Britannica)
The document, drafted and signed aboard the ship by nearly all of the adult male passengers, would become known as the Mayflower Compact. (Of those that did not sign, some had been hired as seamen only for one year and others may have been too ill to write. No women signed it.)
The Mayflower is “indissolubly linked with the fundamentals of American democratic institutions. She was the wave-rocked cradle of our liberties.” (Henry B. Culver, Naval Historian, 1924)
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
The first Society of Mayflower Descendants was established in New York City on December 22, 1894 as a society for lineal descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Three more states followed in 1896: Connecticut on March 7, Massachusetts on March 28, and Pennsylvania on July 1. Delegates from the existing Societies met in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to form the General Society of Mayflower Descendants on January 12, 1897.
To be a member of the Mayflower Society, you must be able to prove direct lineal descent from a passenger (Saint or Stranger) aboard the Mayflower who stayed on to establish the colony.
Though the crew of the Mayflower certainly made significant sacrifices in completing the journey, the Mayflower Society recognizes only those passengers who stayed to form Plymouth Colony. The crew returned to England in the spring of 1621 so no members are listed above and descent from a crew member does not qualify one for membership.
This is a summary, click the following link for more:
In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a new church called the Church of England (sometimes referred to as the Anglican Church).
Everyone in England had to belong to the Anglican Church. There was a group of people called Separatists that wanted to separate from that church.
William Bradford found like-minded Christians in a separatist congregation in the village of Scrooby, close to his hometown of Austerfield, England.
In 1607, the Anglican Church became aware of the Scrooby congregation and arrested some, placing others under surveillance, and fining those they could.
The congregation, under the leadership of John Robinson sold their belongings and relocated to Leiden, the Netherlands, where the government practiced a policy of religious tolerance. Later, they looked to leave to America.
The Separatists signed a contract with the Virginia Company to establish a colony. By its terms, the stockholders who financed the journey (“Adventurers”) would share in the new colony’s profits.
The Separatists called themselves “Saints.” When the recruiting for the voyage was done, several of the Leiden Saints were unable or unwilling to go.
In order to fill the ship and protect their investments, the Adventurers started to recruit colonists in London, recruiting them at large without any regard to their religious beliefs. The Separatists called these the “Strangers.”
The Strangers were a group of skilled workers who were sent along by the investors to help build the colony. They were considered common folk and included merchants, craftsmen and indentured servants.
The Strangers had their own reasons for joining the journey, and didn’t share the goal of the Saints of separating from the Church of England.
The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, with approximately 130 people on board: 102 passengers, the rest crew. Most traveled with families; some left behind family members who were to sail on later voyages.
There were 74-males (50-men) and 28-females (19-women, 3 were pregnant); the 69-adult passengers were mainly in their 30s (the average age of the men is estimated to be 34). The 14-young adults ranged between the ages of 13 and 18, and the 19-children were 12 and under (Deetz). After arriving in harsh winter weather, one-half of the passengers died during the “general sickness” of colds, coughs and fevers.
The Mayflower Compact
The Pilgrims intended to land in Northern Virginia, which at the time included the region as far north as the Hudson River in the modern State of New York.
The Hudson River, in fact, was their originally intended destination. They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands. All things considered, the Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees.
The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6 (OS) (September 16 (NS)), until Cape Cod was sighted on November 9 (OS)(November 19 (NS)), 1620.
As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose. The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked.
The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod. They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation.
Back in England, the Pilgrims had signed a contract with the Virginia Company to establish a colony near the Hudson River, which at the time was part of Virginia. By its terms, the stockholders who financed the journey would share in the new colony’s profits.
After bad weather during the Atlantic crossing pushed the Mayflower hundreds of miles further north, to Cape Cod, the “Strangers” didn’t think they should be subject to the contract’s provisions anymore.
William Bradford wrote in his history of Plymouth Plantation: “In these hard and difficulte beginings they found some discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soone quelled and overcome by the wisdome, patience, and just and equall carriage of things by the Gov[emo]r and better part, which clave faithfully togeather in the maine.”
To quell the conflict and preserve unity, Pilgrim leaders drafted the Mayflower Compact before going ashore. The brief document (about 200 words) bound its signers into a body politic for the purpose of forming a government and pledged them to abide by any laws and regulations that would later be established “for the general good of the colony.” (Britannica)
The document, drafted and signed aboard the ship by nearly all of the adult male passengers, would become known as the Mayflower Compact. (Of those that did not sign, some had been hired as seamen only for one year and others may have been too ill to write. No women signed it.)
The Mayflower is “indissolubly linked with the fundamentals of American democratic institutions. She was the wave-rocked cradle of our liberties.” (Henry B. Culver, Naval Historian, 1924)
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
The first Society of Mayflower Descendants was established in New York City on December 22, 1894 as a society for lineal descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Three more states followed in 1896: Connecticut on March 7, Massachusetts on March 28, and Pennsylvania on July 1. Delegates from the existing Societies met in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to form the General Society of Mayflower Descendants on January 12, 1897.
To be a member of the Mayflower Society, you must be able to prove direct lineal descent from a passenger (Saint or Stranger) aboard the Mayflower who stayed on to establish the colony.
Though the crew of the Mayflower certainly made significant sacrifices in completing the journey, the Mayflower Society recognizes only those passengers who stayed to form Plymouth Colony. The crew returned to England in the spring of 1621 so no members are listed above and descent from a crew member does not qualify one for membership.
This is a summary, click the following link for more:
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