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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.”[23] 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 each
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.”[24]

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.[25] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has
emphasized wisely[26] 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[27] belonging to Mistress Susanna White Winslow, narrow,
pointed, with lace trimmings, and an embroidered lace cap that has
been assigned to Rose Standish.[28] 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 home-spun clothes of prevailing
English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in inventories and
retained as 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”[29] 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.”[30] 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:[31] “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,[32] 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.”[33]
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 Descendant,”[34] 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.

12. Mourt’s Relation.

13. Mourt’s Relation.

14. Mourt’s Relation.

15. Winslow’s Narration.

16. Relation of the Manners, Customs, etc., of the Indians.

17. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. II.

18. The Pilgrim Republic, John A. Goodwin, p. 582.

19. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.

20. Mourt’s Relation.

21. Ibid.

22. A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas Prence.

23. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.

24. The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.

25. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 4.

26. Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.

27. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.

28. Two Centuries of Costume in America; Earle.

29. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.

30. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England,

edited by David Pulsifer, 1861.

31. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.

32. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England,

edited by David Pulsifer, 1861.

33. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.

34. Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston.

 Chapter III

MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN

THE MAYFLOWER

It has been said, with some justice, that the Pilgrims were not
remarkable men, that they lacked genius or distinctive personalities.
The same statement may be made about the women. They did
possess, as men and women, fine qualities for the work which they
were destined to accomplish;—remarkable energy, faith, purpose,
courage and patience. These traits were prominent in the leaders,
Carver and Bradford. Standish and Winslow, Brewster and Dr. Fuller.
As assistants to the men in the civic life of the colony, there were a
few women who influenced the domestic and social affairs of their
own and later generations. From chance records, wills, inventories
and traditions their individual traits must be discerned, for there is
scarcely any sequential, historic record.
Death claimed some of these brave-hearted women before the life at
Plymouth really began. Dorothy May Bradford, the daughter of
Deacon May of the Leyden church, came from Wisbeach,
Cambridge; she was married to William Bradford when she was
about sixteen years old and was only twenty when she was drowned
at Cape Cod. Her only child, a son, John, was left with her father
and mother in Holland and there was long a tradition that she
mourned grievously at the separation. This son came later to
Plymouth, about 1627, and lived in Marshfield and Norwich,
Connecticut.
The tiny pieces of a padded quilt with faded threads of silver and
gold, which belonged to Rose Standish,[35] are fitting relics of this
mystical, delicate wife of “the doughty Captain.” She died January
29, 1621. She is portrayed in fiction and poetry as proud of her
husband’s bravery and his record as a Lieutenant of Queen
Elizabeth’s forces in aid of the Dutch. She was also proud of his
reputed, and disputed, inheritance among the titled families of
Standish of Standish and Standish of Duxbury Hall.[36] There has
been a persistent tradition that Rose was born or lived on the Isle of
Man and was married there, but no records have been found as
proofs.
In the painting of “The Embarkation,” by Robert Weir, Elizabeth
Barker, the young wife of Edward Winslow, is attired in gay colors
and extreme fashion, while beside her stands a boy of about eight
years with a canteen strapped over his shoulders. It has been stated
that this is the silver canteen, marked “E. W.,” now in the cabinet of
the Massachusetts Historical Society. The only record there is[37]
“presentation, June, 1870, by James Warren, Senr., of a silver
canteen and pewter plate which once belonged to Gov. Edward
Winslow with his arms and initials.” As Elizabeth Barker, who came
from Chatsun or Chester, England, to Holland, was married April 3,
1618, to Winslow,[38] and as she was his first wife, the son must
have been a baby when The Mayflower sailed. Moreover, there is no
record by Bradford of any child that came with the Winslows, except
the orphan, Ellen More. It has been suggested that the latter was of
noble lineage.[39]
Mary Norris, of Newbury in England, wife of one of the wealthiest
and most prominent of the Pilgrims in early years, Isaac Allerton,
died in February of the first winter, leaving two young girls,
Remember and Mary, and a son, Bartholomew or “Bart.” The
daughters married well, Remember to Moses Maverick of Salem, and
Mary to Thomas Cushman. Mrs. Allerton gave birth to a child that
was still-born while on The Mayflower and thus she had less
strength to endure the hardships which followed.[40]
When Bradford, recording the death of Katherine Carver, called her a
“weak woman,” he referred to her health which was delicate while
she lived at Plymouth and could not withstand the grief and shock of
her husband’s death in April. She died the next month. She has been
called “a gracious woman” in another record of her death.[41] She
was the sister or sister-in-law of John Robinson, their pastor in
England and Holland. Recent investigation has claimed that she was
first married to George Legatt and later to Carver.[42] Two children
died and were buried in Holland in 1609 and 1617 and, apparently,
these were the only children born to the Carvers. The maid, Lois,
who came with them on The Mayflower, is supposed to have
married Francis Eaton, but she did not live long after 1622. Desire
Minter, who was also of the Carver household, has been the victim of
much speculation. Mrs. Jane G. Austin, in her novel, “Standish of
Standish,” makes her the female scapegrace of the colony, jealous,
discontented and quarrelsome. On the other hand, and still
speculatively, she is portrayed as the elder sister and housekeeper
for John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, after the death of Mistress
Carver; this is assumed because the first girl born to the Howlands
was named Desire.[43] The only known facts about Desire Minter are
those given by Bradford, “she returned to friends and proved not
well, and dyed in England.”[44] By research among the Leyden
records, collated by H. M. Dexter,[45] the name, Minter, occurs a few
times. William Minter, the husband of Sarah, was associated with the
Carvers and Chiltons in marriage betrothals. William Minter was
purchaser of a house from William Jeppson, in Leyden, in 1614.
Another record is of a student at the University of Leyden who lived
at the house of John Minter. Another reference to Thomas Minter of
Sandwich, Kent, may furnish a clue.[46] Evidently, to some of these
relatives, with property, near or distant of kin, Desire Minter returned
before 1626.
Another unmarried woman, who survived the hardships of the first
winter, but returned to England and died there, was Humility Cooper.
We know almost nothing about her except that she and Henry
Sampson were cousins of Edward Tilley and his wife. She is also
mentioned as a relative of Richard Clopton, one of the early religious
leaders in England.[47]
The “mother” of this group of matrons and maidens, who survived
the winters of 1621-2, was undoubtedly Mistress Mary Brewster.
Wife of the Elder, she shared his religious faith and zeal, and
exercised a strong moral influence upon the women and children.
Pastor John Robinson, in a letter to Governor Bradford, in 1623,
refers to “her weake and decayed state of body,” but she lived until
April 17, 1627, according to records in “the Brewster Book.” She was
only fifty-seven years at her death but, as Bradford said with tender
appreciation, “her great and continuall labours, with other crosses
and sorrows, hastened it before ye time.” As Elder Brewster “could
fight as well as he could pray,” could build his own house and till his
own land,[48] so, we may believe, his wife was efficient in all
domestic ways. When her strength failed, it is pleasant to think that
she accepted graciously the loving assistance of the younger women
to whom she must have seemed, in her presence, like a benediction.
Her married life was fruitful; five children lived to maturity and two
or more had died in Holland. The Elder was “wise and discreet and
well-spoken—of a cheerful spirit, sociable and pleasant among his
friends, undervaluing himself and his abilities and sometimes
overvaluing others.”[49] Such a person is sure to be a delightful
companion. To these attractive qualities the Elder added another
proof of tact and wisdom: “He always thought it were better for
ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and
tedious in the same.”
While Mistress Brewster did not excel the women of her day,
probably, in education,—for to read easily and to write were not
considered necessary graces for even the better-bred classes,—she
could appreciate the thirty-eight copies of the Scriptures which were
found among her husband’s four hundred volumes; these would be
familiar to her, but the sixty-four books in Latin would not be read by
the women of her day. Fortunately, she did not survive, as did her
husband, to endure grief from the deaths of the daughters, Fear and
Patience, both of whom died before 1635; nor yet did she realize the
bitterness of feeling between the sons, Jonathan and Love, and their
differences of opinion in the settlement of the Elder’s estate.[50]
A traditional picture has been given[51] of Captain Peregrine White of
Marshfield, “riding a black horse and wearing a coat with buttons the
size of a silver dollar, vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last,”[52]
paying daily visits to his mother, Mistress Susanna White Winslow.
We may imagine this elderly matron, sitting in the Winslow arm-
chair, with its mark, “Cheapside, 1614,”[53] perhaps wearing the white
silk shoulder-cape with its trimmings of embossed velvet which has
been preserved, proud that she was privileged to be the mother of
this son, the first child born of white parents in New England, proud
that she had been the wife of a Governor and Commissioner of
eminence, and also the mother of Josiah Winslow, the first native-
born Governor of any North American commonwealth. Hers was a
record of which any woman of any century might well be proud![54]
In social position and worldly comforts her life was pre-eminent
among the colonists. Although Edward Winslow had renounced some
of his English wealth, possibly, when he went to Holland and
adopted the trade of printer, he “came into his own” again and was
in high favor with English courts and statesmen. His services as
agent and commissioner, both for the Plymouth colony and later for
Cromwell, must have necessitated long absences from home, while
his wife remained at Careswell, the estate at Green Harbor,
Marshfield, caring for her younger children, Elizabeth and Josiah
Winslow. By family tradition, Mistress Susanna was a woman of
graceful, aristocratic bearing and of strong character. Sometimes
called Anna, as in her marriage record to William White at Leyden,
February 11, 1612,[55] she was the sister of Dr. Samuel Fuller. Two
children by her first marriage died in 1615 and 1616; with her boy,
Resolved, about five or six years old, she came with her husband on
The Mayflower and, at the end of the voyage, bore her son,
Peregrine White.
The tact, courtesy and practical sagacity of Edward Winslow fitted
him for the many demands that were made upon his diplomacy. One
of the most amusing stories of his experiences as agent for
Plymouth colony has been related by himself[56] when, at the request
of the Indians, he visited Massasoit, who was ill, and brought about
the recovery of this chief by common sense methods of treatment
and by a “savory broth” made from Indian corn, sassafras and
strawberry leaves, “strained through his handkerchief.” The skill with
which Winslow cooked the broth and the “relish” of ducks reflected
credit upon the household methods of Mistress Winslow.
After 1646, Edward Winslow did not return to Plymouth for any long
sojourn, for Cromwell and his advisers had recognized the worth of
such a man as commissioner.[57] In 1655 he was sent as one of three
commissioners against the Spaniards in the West Indies to attack St.
Domingo. Because of lack of supplies and harmony among the
troops, the attack was a failure. To atone for this the fleet started
towards Jamaica, but on the way, near Hispaniola, Winslow was
taken ill of fever and died, May 8, 1655; he was buried at sea with a
military salute from forty-two guns. The salary paid to Winslow
during these years was £1000, which was large for those times. On
April 18, 1656, a “representation” from his widow, Susanna, and son
was presented to the Lord Protector and council, asking that,
although Winslow’s death occurred the previous May, the remaining
£500 of his year’s salary might be paid to satisfy his creditors.
To his wife and family Winslow, doubtless, wrote letters as graceful
and interesting as are the few business epistles that are preserved in
the Winthrop Papers.[58] That he was anxious to return to his family
is evident from a letter by President Steele of the Society for
Propagating the Gospel in New England (in 1650), which Winslow
was also serving;[59] “Winslow was unwilling to be longer kept from
his family, but his great acquaintance and influence were of service
to the cause so great that it was hoped he would remain for a time
longer.” In his will, which is now in Somerset House, London, dated
1654, he left his estate at Marshfield to his son, Josiah, with the
stipulation that his wife, Susanna, should be allowed a full third part
thereof through her life.[60] She lived twenty-five years longer, dying
in October, 1680, at the estate, Careswell. It is supposed that she
was buried on the hillside cemetery of the Daniel Webster estate in
Marshfield, where, amid tangles and flowers, may be located the
grave-stones of her children and grandchildren.
Sharing with Mistress Susanna White Winslow the distinction of
being mother of a child born on The Mayflower was Mistress
Elizabeth Hopkins, whose son, Oceanus, was named for his
birthplace. She was the second wife of Stephen Hopkins, who was
one of the leaders with Winslow and Standish on early expeditions.
With her stepchildren, Constance and Giles, and her little daughter,
Damaris, she bore the rigors of those first years, bore other children,
—Caleb, Ruth, Deborah and Elizabeth,—and cared for a large estate,
including servants and many cattle. The inventory of the Hopkins
estate revealed an abundance of beds and bedding, yellow and
green rugs, curtains and spinning-wheels, and much wearing
apparel. The home-life surely had incidents of excitement, as is
shown by the accusations and fines against Stephen Hopkins for
“suffering excessive drinking at his house, 1637, when William
Reynolds was drunk and lay under the table,” and again for
“suffering men to drink in his house on the Lord’s Day, both before
and after the meeting—and allowing his servant and others to drink
more than for ordinary refreshing and to play shovell board and such
like misdemeanors.”[61] Such lapses in conduct at the Hopkins house
were atoned for by the services which Stephen Hopkins rendered to
the colony as explorer, assistant to the governor and other offices
which suited his reliable and fearless disposition.
These occasional “misdemeanors” in the Hopkins household were
slight compared with the records against “the black sheep” of the
colony, the family of Billingtons from London. The mother, Helen or
Ellen, did not seem to redeem the reputation of husband and sons;
traditionally she was called “the scold.” After her husband had been
executed in 1630, for the first murder in the colony, for he had
waylaid and killed John Newcomen, she married Gregory Armstrong.
She had various controversies in court with her son and others. In
1636, she was accused of slander by “Deacon” John Doane,—she
had charged him with unfairness in mowing her pasture lot,—and
she was sentenced to a fine of five pounds and “to sit in the stocks
and be publickly whipt.”[62] Her second husband died in 1650 and
she lived several years longer, occupying a “tenement” granted to
her in her son’s house at North Plymouth. Apparently her son, John,
after his fractious youth, died; Francis married Christian Penn, the
widow of Francis Eaton. Their children seem to have “been bound
out” for service while the parents were convicted of trying to entice
the children away from their work and, consequently, they were
punished by sitting in the stocks on “lecture days.”[63] In his later life,
Francis Billington became more stable in character and served on
committees. His last offense was the mild one “of drinking tobacco
on the highway.” Apparently, Helen Billington had many troubles and
little sympathy in the Plymouth colony.
As companions to these matrons of the pioneer days were four
maidens who must have been valuable as assistants in housework
and care of the children,—Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth
Tilley and Constance Hopkins. The first three had been orphaned
during that first winter; probably, they became members of the
households of Elder Brewster and Governor Carver. All have left
names that are most honorably cherished by their many
descendants. Priscilla Mullins has been celebrated in romance and
poetry. Very little real knowledge exists about her and many of the
surmises would be more interesting if they could be proved. She was
well-born, for her father, at his death, was mentioned with regret[64]
as “a man pious and well-deserving, endowed also with considerable
outward estate; and had it been the will of God that he had
survived, might have proved an useful instrument in his place.”
There was a family tradition of a castle, Molyneux or Molines, in
Normandy. The title of Mr. indicated that he was a man of standing
and he was a counsellor in state and church. Perhaps he died on
shipboard at Plymouth, because his will, dated April 2, 1621, was
witnessed by John Carver, Christopher Jones and Giles Heald,
probably the captain and surgeon of the ship, Mayflower.
This will, which has been recently found in Dorking, Surrey, England,
has had important influence upon research. We learn that an older
sister, Sarah Blunden, living in Surrey, was named as administratrix,
and that a son, William (who came to Plymouth before 1637) was to
have money, bonds and stocks in England. Goods in Virginia and
more money,—ten pounds each,—were bequeathed equally to his
wife Alice, his daughter Priscilla and the younger son, Joseph.
Interesting also is the item of “xxj dozen shoes and thirteene paire
of boots wch I give unto the Companie’s hands for forty pounds at
seaven yeares.” If the Company would not accept the rate, these
shoes and boots were to be for the equal benefit of his wife and son,
William. To his friend, John Carver, he commits his wife and children
and also asks for a “special eye to my man Robert wch hath not so
approved himself as I would he should have done.”[65] Before this will
was probated, July 23, 1621, John Carver, Mistress Alice Mullins, the
son, Joseph, and the man, Robert Carter (or Cartier) were all dead,
leaving Priscilla to carry on the work to which they had pledged their
lives. Perhaps the brother and sister in England were children of an
earlier marriage,[66] as Alice Mullins has been spoken of as a second
wife.
Priscilla was about twenty years old when she came to Plymouth. By
tradition she was handsome, witty, deft and skilful as spinner and
cook. Into her life came John Alden, a cooper of unknown family,
who joined the Pilgrims at Southampton, under promise to stay a
year. Probably he was not the first suitor for Priscilla’s hand, for
tradition affirmed that she had been sought in Leyden. The single
sentence by Bradford tells the story of their romance: “being a
hop[e]full yong man was much desired, but left to his owne liking to
go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here.”
With him he brought a Bible, printed 1620,[67] probably a farewell
gift or purchase as he left England. When the grant of land and
cattle was made in 1627, he was twenty-eight years old, and had in
his family, Priscilla, his wife, a daughter, Elizabeth, aged three, and a
son, John, aged one.[68]
The poet, Longfellow, was a descendant of Priscilla Alden, and he
had often heard the story of the courtship of Priscilla by Miles
Standish, through John Alden as his proxy. It was said to date back
to a poem, “Courtship,” by Moses Mullins, 1672. In detail it was
given by Timothy Alden in “American Epitaphs,” 1814,[69] but there
are here some deflections from facts as later research has revealed
them. The magic words of romance, “Why don’t you speak for
yourself, John?” are found in this early narrative.
There was more than romance in the lives of John and Priscilla Alden
as the “vital facts” indicate. Their first home was at Town Square,
Plymouth, on the site of the first school-house but, by 1633, they
lived upon a farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres in Duxbury.
Their first house here was about three hundred feet from the
present Alden house, which was built by the son, Jonathan, and is
now occupied by the eighth John Alden. It must have been a lonely
farmstead for Priscilla, although she made rare visits, doubtless on
an ox or a mare, or in an ox-cart with her children, to see Barbara
Standish at Captain’s Hill, or to the home of Jonathan Brewster, a
few miles distant. As farmer, John Alden was not so successful as he
would have been at his trade of cooper. Moreover, he gave much of
his time to the service of the colony throughout his manhood, acting
as assistant to the Governor, treasurer, surveyor, agent and military
recruit. Like many another public servant of his day and later, he
“became low in his estate” and was allowed a small gratuity of ten
pounds because “he hath been occationed to spend time at the
Courts on the Countryes occasion and soe hath done this many
yeares.”[70] He had also been one of the eight “undertakers” who, in
1627, assumed the debts and financial support of the Plymouth
colony.
Eleven children had been born to John and Priscilla Alden, five sons
and six daughters. Sarah married Alexander Standish and so
cemented the two families in blood as well as in friendship. Ruth,
who married John Bass, became the ancestress of John Adams and
John Quincy Adams. Elizabeth, who married William Pabodie, had
thirteen children, eleven of them girls, and lived to be ninety-three
years; at her death the Boston News Letter[71] extolled her as
“exemplary, virtuous and pious and her memory is blessed.” Possibly
with all her piety she had a good share of the independence of spirit