The Women Who Came in the MayflowerMarble, Annie Russell
History
The Women Who Came in the Mayflower
Marble, Annie Russell
Massachusetts -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Mayflower (Ship); Women -- Massachusetts
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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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