tragedienne, Charlotte Cushman; also Mr. Cushman K. Davis, Governor
of Minnesota, who made the speech of dedication at the ceremonies
connected with the Cushman Monument on Burial Hill.
From Constance Hopkins and her husband Nicholas Snow, Robert Treat
Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Robert Treat
Paine, poet were descended.
In the convention which framed the Constitution John Tilly and the
Howlands were represented by their descendant--through Desire Howland
and Captain John Gorham--Nathaniel Gorham, who, as a member, was
several times requested by General Washington to occupy the chair.
From this same group came Bishop Philips Brooks. As it is said, John
Howland came to this country in the capacity of secretary to Governor
John Carver, one, at least, of his and Elizabeth’s descendants
filled that position toward another celebrity. Edward Herbert Noyes,
journalist and traveller, first returned to the land of his ancestors
as private secretary to Hon. John Lothrop Motley, historian and
diplomatist, United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Rev.
Thomas Clap, fourth President of Yale College, was also of the line
of Howland, while his wife, Mary Whiting, was descended from Governor
Bradford and his wife.
From Mary Chilton and her husband John Winslow, comes Mrs. Robert
Hall Wiles, of Chicago, past President of the National Society
of United States Daughters of the War of 1812 and now serving as
President-General of the National Society Daughters of Founders and
Patriots of America. From Mary and John Winslow, also, came Lieutenant
Sturdevant, another young aviator of the World War, killed over-seas in
the service of his country.
For another repetition of the exact name of his ancestor there is
Doctor Myles Standish, a noted occulist of Boston. In the medical
profession also Doctor Stuart Clark Johnson of Washington and Doctor
Ira Hart Noyes of Providence, the first from John and Priscilla Alden,
the second from John and Elizabeth Howland, both answering the call of
duty to country in the World War, to serve over-seas.
Two residents of Washington are Hon. William S. Washburne--United
States Civil Service Commissioner and Mr. Frank Herbert Briggs of the
Court of Claims--descended respectively from Francis and Hester Cooke,
and the Brewster, Bradford and Alden families.
The late Henry Billings Brown, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States was another descendant of John and Elizabeth
Howland while the late Seth Shepherd, Chief Justice of the Court of
Appeals of the District of Columbia, was another representative of
the line of William and Mary Brewster. Mr. A. Howard Clark, who was
editor of the magazine of the Smithsonian Institution, was a descendant
from the Brewsters, Hopkins and Howlands. The name of Howland Davis
tells plainly why he has done so much for present day Plymouth and the
Society of Mayflower Descendants.
In the United States Senate are three prominent descendants of the
Pilgrims. The ancestors of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts,
chairman of Committee on Foreign Relations, are John and Elizabeth
Tilly Howland. The Senators from New York and Vermont, Hon. James
Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., and Hon. Carroll Smally Page, are descendants
respectively from Giles and Catharine Hopkins and William and Mary
Brewster.
A descendant in the person of William Wallace Case, has visited Scrooby
and brought from there a piece of oak once a part of the old Manor
house, home of his ancestors, William and Mary Brewster--this priceless
relic has been made into the gavel used by the Governor of the District
of Columbia Society of Mayflower Descendants.
In hundreds of cities and towns and villages of the nation there are
other and equally consistent representatives of the glorious names
of their Plymouth ancestors. As we have seen the men in all the
branches of service to their country, the women may be compared no
less favorably in what they have rendered. In their nation’s wars,
they have ever been faithful, and their efforts as beneficial to the
men and cause as were those of their ancestors of their own sex, whose
work was as the mortar in the solid foundation wall of the nation they
helped to build. Someone has said that always in the history of mankind
the woman has been at her best when she has felt herself most needed.
Every reason then for her to attract as she appears in pioneer days,
in those of the Revolution or War for the Union and in the World War,
unfailingly illustrating, unconsciously or not, the age old motto of
_Noblesse Oblige_.
In hamlet or city, women descendants of Plymouth women upheld the honor
of their men and country in Red Cross, Government Loans or “Y.” work
during the World War. In the Sanitary Commission and Nursing Units of
the Civil War the women’s spirit was the same, and in 1776 when their
days were nearest to the pioneer women, the women of the Revolutionary
War inheriting the courage and self-forgetfulness, matched the heroism
of the men. Thus each generation of women has met the crisis actuated
by the same unanimity of purpose and devotion--from each in turn their
successors have caught the falling torch, assuring that they shall not
have lived and worked in vain. And they may sleep in peace.
The American women of today must meet the challenge of the women of
1861, 1776 and 1620. She must bear comparison with them in fundamental
things. Patriotism, firmness, thrift, decision and resourcefulness,
characteristics which are their heritage. As someone has said, “We are
living in the tomorrow for which they wrought. We are to do today with
all fidelity each bit of work which lies at our hands. This will make
our next day brighter and by so much, set the world forward.”
The mission of the _Mayflower_ company was to open the way for a
successful colonization of the New World. Its mission was faithfully
performed. In studying the details and circumstances relating to the
immortal voyage and settlement of Plymouth--particularly in relation
to the women, vested today with supreme interest and in a glamour
peculiarly their own, we must feel that that nobility of life may be
ours as well as theirs and that it may illuminate the difficult life of
today and make it worthy to be the fruit of the tree of Liberty they
helped to plant, in tears and smiles.
Realizing the heavy debt that we owe to the men who were led to
undertake the settlement of Plymouth we owe an equal if not greater
debt to the women who had the courage and spirit to enter with them
into the great and epoch making adventure. These make the shrines which
we would visit. It is with reverence that we view not only the soil
which first they trod but every spot associated with them.
If history as some one has said is in its unchangeable essence a tale,
then this particular history is a tale that cannot be too often told
or heard, not merely to hold our attention to the past but by its
light to look forward with a thrill to the future, to the tasks and
service for civilization, under the Providence by which the women of
the _Mayflower_ and the women of Plymouth were upheld. This will be
the best memorial we can give these women all through the years; the
remembrance that cannot fade.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation errors have been corrected.
Page 129: “whom she had recenly” changed to “whom she had recently”
Page 138: “our earlist acquaintances” changed to “our earliest
acquaintances”
Page 156: “ceremonious assent” changed to “ceremonious ascent”
Page 192: “Declaration of Independance” changed to “Declaration of
Independence”
Page 193: “another repetion of the exact name” changed to “another
repetition of the exact name”