COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623
Spring and summer came to bless them for their endurance and
unconscious heroism. Then they could appreciate the verdict of their
leaders, who chose the site of Plymouth as a "hopeful place," with
running brooks, vines of sassafras and strawberry, fruit trees, fish
and wild fowl and "clay excellent for pots and will wash like soap."
[Footnote: Mourt's Relation] So early was the spring in 1621 that on
March the third there was a thunder storm and "the birds sang in the
woods most pleasantly." On March the sixteenth, Samoset came with
Indian greeting. This visit must have been one of mixed sentiments for
the women and we can read more than the mere words in the sentence,
"We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkins' house and watched him."
[Footnote: Mourt's Relation.] Perhaps it was in deference to the women
that the men gave Samoset a hat, a pair of stockings, shoes, a shirt
and a piece of cloth to tie about his waist. Samoset returned soon
with Squanto or Tisquantum, the only survivor of the Patuxet tribe of
Indians which had perished of a pestilence Plymouth three years
before. He shared with Hobomok the friendship of the settlers for many
years and both Indians gave excellent service. Through the influence
of Squanto the treaty was made in the spring of 1621 with Massasoit,
the first League of Nations to preserve peace in the new world.
Squanto showed the men how to plant alewives or herring as fertilizer
for the Indian corn. He taught the boys and girls how to gather clams
and mussels on the shore and to "tread eels" in the water that is
still called Eel River. He gathered wild strawberries and sassafras
for the women and they prepared a "brew" which almost equalled their
ale of old England. The friendly Indians assisted the men, as the
seasons opened, in hunting wild turkeys, ducks and an occasional deer,
welcome additions to the store of fish, sea-biscuits and cheese. We
are told [Footnote: Mourt's Relation] that Squanto brought also a dog
from his Indian friends as a gift to the settlement. Already there
were, at least, two dogs, probably brought from Holland or England, a
mastiff and a spaniel [Footnote: Winslow's Narration] to give comfort
and companionship to the women and children, and to go with the men
into the woods for timber and game.
It seems paradoxical to speak of child-life in this hard-pressed,
serious-minded colony, but it was there and, doubtless, it was normal
in its joyous and adventuresome impulses. Under eighteen years of age
were the girls, Remember and Mary Allerton, Constance and Damaris
Hopkins, Elizabeth Tilley and, possibly, Desire Minter and Humility
Cooper. The boys were Bartholomew Allerton, who "learned to sound the
drum," John Crakston, William Latham, Giles Hopkins, John and Francis
Billington, Richard More, Henry Sampson, John Cooke, Resolved White,
Samuel Fuller, Love and Wrestling Brewster and the babies, Oceanus
Hopkins and Peregrine White. With the exception of Wrestling Brewster
and Oceanus Hopkins, all these children lived to ripe old age,--a
credit not alone to their hardy constitutions, but also to the care
which the Plymouth women bestowed upon their households.
The flowers that grew in abundance about the settlement must have
given them joy,--_arbutus_ or "mayflowers," wild roses, blue
chicory, Queen Anne's lace, purple asters, golden-rod and the
beautiful sabbatia or "sentry" which is still found on the banks of
the fresh ponds near the town and is called "the Plymouth rose."
Edward Winslow tells [Footnote: Relation of the Manners, Customs,
etc., of the Indians.] of the drastic use of this bitter plant in
developing hardihood among Indian boys. Early in the first year one of
these fresh-water ponds, known as Billington Sea, was discovered by
Francis Billington when he had climbed a high hill and had reported
from it "a smaller sea." Blackberries, blueberries, plums and cherries
must have been delights to the women and children. Medicinal herbs
were found and used by advice of the Indian friends; the bayberry's
virtues as salve, if not as candle-light, were early applied to the
comforts of the households. Robins, bluebirds, "Bob Whites" and other
birds sang for the pioneers as they sing for the tourist and resident
in Plymouth today. The mosquito had a sting,--for Bradford gave a
droll and pungent answer to the discontented colonists who had
reported, in 1624, that "the people are much annoyed with musquetoes."
He wrote: [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,
Bk. II.] _"They_ are too delicate and unfitte to begin new
plantations and colonies that cannot enduer the biting of a
muskeet. We would wish such to keep at home till at least they be
muskeeto proof. Yet this place is as free as any and experience
teacheth that ye land is tild and ye woods cut downe, the fewer there
will be and in the end scarce any at all." The _end_ has not yet
come!
Good harvests and some thrilling incidents varied the hard conditions
of life for the women during 1621-2. Indian corn and barley furnished
a new foundation for many "a savory dish" prepared by the housewives
in the mortar and pestles, kettles and skillets which they had brought
from Holland. Nuts were used for food, giving piquant flavor both to
"cakes" baked in the fire and to the stuffing of wild turkeys. The
fare was simple, but it must have seemed a feast to the Pilgrims after
the months of self-denials and extremity.
Before the winter of 1621-2 was ended, seven log houses had been built
and four "common buildings" for storage, meetings and workshops.
Already clapboards and furs were stored to be sent back to England to
the merchant adventurers in the first ship. The seven huts, with
thatched roofs and chimneys on the outside, probably in cob-house
style, were of hewn planks, not of round logs. [Footnote: The Pilgrim
Republic, John A. Goodwin, p. 582.] The fireplaces were of stones laid
in clay from the abundant sand. In 1628 thatched roofs were condemned
because of the danger of fire, [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New
Plymouth.] and boards or palings were substituted. During the first
two years or longer, light came into the houses through oiled paper in
the windows. From the plans left by Governor Bradford and the record
of the visit of De Rassieres to Plymouth, in 1627, one can visualize
this first street in New England, leading from Plymouth harbor up the
hill to the cannon and stockade where, later, was the fort. At the
intersection of the first street and a cross-highway stood the
Governor's house. It was fitting that the lot nearest to the fort hill
should be assigned to Miles Standish and John Alden. All had free
access to the brook where flagons were filled for drink and where the
clothes were washed.
A few events that have been recorded by Winslow, Bradford and Morton
were significant and must have relieved the monotony of life. On
January fourth an eagle was shot, cooked and proved "to be excellent
meat; it was hardly to be discerned from mutton." [Footnote: Mourt's
Relation.] Four days later three seals and a cod were caught; we may
assume that they furnished oil, meat and skins for the household.
About the same time, John Goodman and Peter Brown lost their way in
the woods, remained out all night, thinking they heard lions roar
(mistaking wolves for lions), and on their return the next day John
Goodman's feet were so badly frozen "that it was a long time before he
was able to go." [Footnote: _Ibid._] Wild geese were shot and
used for broth on the ninth of February; the same day the Common House
was set ablaze, but was saved from destruction. It is easy to imagine
the exciting effects of such incidents upon the band of thirteen boys
and seven girls, already enumerated. In July, the cry of "a lost
child" aroused the settlement to a search for that "unwhipt rascal,"
John Billington, who had run away to the Nauset Indians at Eastham,
but he was found unharmed by a posse of men led by Captain Standish.
To the women one of the most exciting events must have been the
marriage on May 22, 1621, of Edward Winslow and Mistress Susanna
White. Her husband and two men-servants had died since _The
Mayflower_ left England and she was alone to care for two young
boys, one a baby a few weeks old. Elizabeth Barker Winslow had died
seven weeks before the wedding day. Perhaps the Plymouth women
gossiped a little over the brief interval of mourning, but the
exigencies of the times easily explained the marriage, which was
performed by a magistrate, presumably the Governor.
Even more disturbing to the peaceful life was the first duel on June
18, between Edward Lister and Edward Dotey, both servants of Stephen
Hopkins. Tradition ascribed the cause to a quarrel over the attractive
elder daughter of their master, Constance Hopkins. The duel was fought
with swords and daggers; both youths were slightly wounded in hand and
thigh and both were sentenced, as punishment, to have their hands and
feet tied together and to fast for twenty-four hours but, says a
record, [Footnote: A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas
Prence.] "within an hour, because of their great pains, at their own
and their master's humble request, upon promise of better carriage,
they were released by the Governor." It is easy to imagine this scene:
Stephen Hopkins and his wife appealing to the Governor and Captain
Standish for leniency, although the settlement was seriously troubled
over the occurrence; Elder Brewster and his wife deploring the lack of
Christian affection which caused the duel; Edward Winslow and his
wife, dignified yet tolerant; Goodwife Helen Billington scolding as
usual; Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton and Elizabeth Tilley condoling
with the tearful and frightened Constance Hopkins, while the children
stand about, excited and somewhat awed by the punishment and the
distress of the offenders.
Another day of unusual interest and industry for the householders was
the Thanksgiving Day when peace with the Indians and assured
prosperity seemed to follow the ample harvests. To this feast, which
lasted for three days or more, came ninety-one Indians bringing five
deer which they had killed and dressed. These were a great boon to the
women who must prepare meals for one hundred and forty people. Wild
turkeys, ducks, fish and clams were procured by the colonists and
cooked, perhaps with some marchpanes also, by the more expert
cooks. The serious prayers and psalms of the Pilgrims were as amazing
to the Indians as were the strange whoops, dances, beads and feathers
of the savages marvellous to the women and children of Plymouth
Colony.
In spite of these peaceable incidents there were occasional threats of
Indian treachery, like the theft of tools from two woodsmen and the
later bold challenge in the form of a headless arrow wrapped in a
snake's skin; the latter was returned promptly and decisively with the
skin filled with bullets, and the danger was over for a time. The
stockade was strengthened and, soon after, a palisade was built about
the houses with gates that were locked at night. After the fort of
heavy timber was completed, this was used also as a meeting-house and
"was fitted accordingly for that use." It is to be hoped that
warming-pans and foot-stoves were a part of the "fittings" so that the
women might not be benumbed as, with dread of possible Indian attacks,
they limned from the old Ainsworth's Psalm Book:
"In the Lord do I trust, how then to my soule doe ye say,
As doth a little bird unto your mountaine fly away?
For loe, the wicked bend their bow, their arrows they prepare
On string; to shoot at dark at them
In heart that upright are."
(Psalm xi.)
Even more exciting than the days already mentioned was the great event
of surprise and rejoicing, November 19, 1621, when _The Fortune_
arrived with thirty-five more Pilgrims. Some of these were soon to wed
_Mayflower_ passengers. Widow Martha Ford, recently bereft,
giving birth on the night of her arrival to a fourth child, was wed to
Peter Brown; Mary Becket (sometimes written Bucket) became the wife of
George Soule; John Winslow; later married Mary Chilton, and Thomas
Cushman, then a lad of fourteen, became the husband, in manhood, of
Mary Allerton. His father, Robert Cushman, remained in the settlement
while _The Fortune_ was at anchor and left his son as ward for
Governor Bradford. The notable sermon which was preached at Plymouth
by Robert Cushman at this time (preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth)
was from the text, "Let no man seek his own; but every man another's
wealth." Some of the admonitions against swelling pride and
fleshly-minded hypocrites seem to us rather paradoxical when we
consider the poverty and self-sacrificing spirit of these pioneers;
perhaps, there were selfish and slothful malcontents even in that
company of devoted, industrious men and women, for human nature was
the same three hundred years ago, in large and small communities, as
it is today, with some relative changes.
Among the passengers brought by _The Fortune_ were some of great
helpfulness. William Wright, with his wife Priscilla (the sister of
Governor Bradford's second wife), was an expert carpenter, and Stephen
Dean, who came with his wife, was able to erect a small mill and grind
corn. Robert Hicks (or Heeks) was another addition to the colony,
whose wife was later the teacher of some of the children. Philip De La
Noye, progenitor of the Delano family in America, John and Kenelm
Winslow and Jonathan Brewster were eligible men to join the group of
younger men,--John Alden, John Howland and others.
The great joy in the arrival of these friends was succeeded by an
agitating fear regarding the food supply, for _The Fortune_ had
suffered from bad weather and its colonists had scarcely any extra
food or clothing. By careful allotments the winter was endured and
when spring came there were hopes of a large harvest from more
abundant sowing, but the hopes were killed by the fearful drought
which lasted from May to the middle of July. Some lawless and selfish
youths frequently stole corn before it was ripe and, although public
whipping was the punishment, the evil persisted. These conditions were
met with the same courage and determination which ever characterized
the leaders; a rationing of the colony was made which would have done
credit to a "Hoover." They escaped famine, but the worn, thin faces
and "the low condition, both in respect of food and clothing" was a
shock to the sixty more colonists who arrived in _The Ann_ and
_The James_ in 1623.
The friends who came in these later ships included some women from
Leyden, "dear gossips" of _Mayflower_ colonists, women whose
resources and characters gave them prominence in the later history of
Plymouth. Notable among them was Mrs. Alice Southworth soon to wed
Governor Bradford. With her came Barbara, whose surname is surmised to
have been Standish, soon to become the wife of Captain Standish.
Bridget Fuller joined her husband, the noble doctor of Plymouth;
Elizabeth Warren, with her five daughters, came to make a home for her
husband, Richard; Mistress Hester Cooke came with three children, and
Fear and Patience Brewster, despite their names, brought joy and cheer
to their mother and girlhood friends; they were later wed to Isaac
Allerton and Thomas Prence, the Governor.
Fortunately, _The Ann_ and _The James_ brought supplies in
liberal measure and also carpenters, weavers and cobblers, for their
need was great. _The James_ was to remain for the use of the
colony. Rations had been as low as one-quarter pound of bread a day
and sometimes their fare was only "a bit of fish or lobster without
any bread or relish but a cup of fair spring water." [Footnote:
Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.] It is not strange
that Bradford added: "ye long continuance of this diete and their
labors abroad had somewhat abated ye freshness of their former
complexion."
An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the
women as well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the
administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the
men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt
for the common use of all the households. The women also did their
tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a
new division of land was made, allotting to member householder an acre
for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was called
"every man for his owne particuler," was told by Bradford with a
comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints nor
martyrs. He wrote: "The women now went willingly into ye field, and
tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would
aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene
thought great tiranie and oppression." After further comment upon the
failure of communism as "breeding confusion and discontent" he added
this significant comment: "For ye yong-men that were most able and
fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their
time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without
any recompense.... And for men's wives to be commanded to doe servise
for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc.,
they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well
brooke it."
If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in
the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and
looms to the women who came in _The Mayflower_, but we can
scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There
could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful
weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial
history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for
their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity
on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to
the supplies which each brought from Holland or England; in some
families there were sheets and "pillow-beeres" with "clothes of
substance and comeliness," but other households were scantily
supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting ballad, called "Our
Forefathers' Song," is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady
aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that
she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would
approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was
written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of
poverty and brave spirit:
"The place where we live is a wilderness wood,
Where grass is much wanted that's fruitful and good;
Our mountains and hills and our valleys below,
Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.
"Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn,
They need to be clouted soon after they are worn,
But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing,
Clouts _double_ are warmer than _single_ whole clothing.
"If fresh meate be wanted to fill up our dish,
We have carrots and turnips whenever we wish,
And if we've a mind for a delicate dish,
We go to the clam-bank and there we catch fish.
"For pottage and puddings and custards and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies!
We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon,
If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon."
[Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.]
What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is,--what they
had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the picture
of these Pilgrims "in uniform," gray gowns with dainty white collars
and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical
garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no
evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were
proud of their English birth; they left Holland partly for fear that
their young people might be educated or enticed away from English
standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that the
"sad-colored" gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not "dismal";
the list of colors so described in England included (1638) "russet,
purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and scarlet."
The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns and greens, and cloaks
with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say,
paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers,--often
with bright tone,--full, sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace
collars or "whisks" resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns
were plaited or silk-laced; they often opened in front showing
petticoats that were quilted or embroidered in brighter
colours. Broadcloth gowns of russet tones were worn by those who could
not afford silks and satins; sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins
of black and browns. For dress occasions the men wore black velvet
jerkins with white ruffs, like those in the authentic portrait of
Edward Winslow. Velvet and quilted hoods of all colors and sometimes
caps, flat on the head and meeting below the chin with fullness, are
shown in existent portraits of English women and early colonists.
Among relics that are dated back to this early period are the slipper
[Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] belonging to Mistress Susanna
White Winslow, narrow, pointed, with lace trimmings, and an
embroidered lace cap that has been assigned to Rose Standish.
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume In America; Earle.] Sometimes the
high ruffs were worn above the shoulders instead of "whisks." The
children were dressed like miniature men and women; often the girls
wore aprons, as did the women on occasions; these were narrow and
edged with lace. "Petty coats" are mentioned in wills among the
garments of the women. We would not assume that in 1621-2 _all_
the women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even homespun clothes of
prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in
inventories and retained heirlooms, with rich laces and embroideries,
were brought later from England; probably Winslow, Allerton and even
Standish brought back such gifts to the women when they made their
trips to England in 1624 and later. If the pioneer women had laces and
embroideries of gold they probably hoarded them as precious heirlooms
during those early years of want, for they were too sensible to wear
and to waste them. As prosperity came, however, and new elements
entered the colony they were, doubtless, affected by the law of the
General Court, in 1634, which forbade further acquisition of laces,
threads of silver and gold, needle-work caps, bands and rails, and
silver girdles and belts. This law was enacted _not_ by the
Pilgrims of Plymouth, but by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
When Edward Winslow returned in _The Charity_, in 1624, he
brought not alone a "goodly supply of clothing" [Footnote: Bradford's
History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] but,--far more
important,--the first bull and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old
tradition of the white bull on which Priscilla Alden rode home from
her marriage, in 1622 or early 1623, must be rejected. This valuable
addition of "neat cattle" to the resources of the colony caused a
redistribution of land and shares in the "stock." By 1627 a
partnership or "purchas" had been, arranged, for assuming the debts
and maintenance of the Plymouth colony, freed from further
responsibility to "the adventurers" in London. The new division of
lots included also some of the cattle. It was specified, for instance,
that Captain Standish and Edward Winslow were to share jointly "the
Red Cow which belongeth to the poor of the colony to which they must
keep her Calfe of this yeare being a Bull for the Companie, Also two
shee goats." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New
England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] Elder Brewster was granted
"one of the four Heifers came in _The Jacob_ called the Blind
Heifer."
Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of
this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford:
[Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] "Some
looked for building great houses, and such pleasant situations for
them as themselves had fancied, as if they would be great men and rich
all of a suddaine; but they proved castles in air." Within a short
time, however, with the rapid increase of children and the need of
more pasturage for the cattle, many of the leading men and women
drifted away from the original confines of Plymouth towards Duxbury,
Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater and Eastham. Agriculture became
their primal concern, with the allied pursuits of fishing, hunting and
trading with the Indians and white settlements that were made on Cape
Cod and along the Kennebec.
Soon after 1630 the families of Captain Standish, John Alden, and
Jonathan Brewster (who had married the sister of John Oldham), Thomas
Prence and Edward Winslow were settled on large farms in Duxbury and
Marshfield. This loss to the Plymouth settlement was deplored by
Bradford both for its social and religious results. April 2, 1632,
[Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England,
edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] a pledge was taken by Alden,
Standish, Prence, and Jonathan Brewster that they would "remove their
families to live in the towne in the winter-time that they may the
better repair to the service of God." Such arrangement did not long
continue, however, for in 1633 a church was established at Duxbury and
the Plymouth members who lived there "were dismiste though very
unwillingly." [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,
Bk. 2.] Later the families of Francis Eaton, Peter Brown and George
Soule joined the Duxbury colony. Hobomok, ever faithful to Captain
Standish had a wigwam near his master's home until, in his old age, he
was removed to the Standish house, where he died in 1642.
The women who had come in the earlier ships and had lived close to
neighbors at Plymouth must have had lonely hours on their farms in
spite of large families and many tasks. Wolves and other wild animals
were sometimes near, for traps for them were decreed and
allotted. Chance Indians prowled about and the stoutest hearts must
have quailed when some of the recorded hurricanes and storms of 1635
and 1638 uncovered houses, felled trees and corn. In the main,
however, there was peace and many of the families became prosperous;
we find evidence in their wills, several of which have been deciphered
from the original records by George Ernest Bowman, editor of the
"Mayflower Descendants," [Footnote: Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon
St., Boston.] issued quarterly. By the aid of such records and a few
family heirlooms of unquestioned genuineness, it is possible to
suggest some individual silhouettes of the women of early Plymouth, in
addition to the glimpses of their communal life.