The women who came in the Mayflower by Annie Russell Marble - HTML preview

CHAPTER IV

COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN THE FORTUNE AND THE ANN

After the arrival of _The Ann_, in the summer of 1623, the women who came in _The Mayflower_ had more companions of good breeding and efficiency. Elizabeth Warren, wife of Richard, came with her five daughters; it is safe to assume the latter were attractive for, in a few years, all were well married. Two sons were born after Elizabeth arrived at Plymouth, Nathaniel and Joseph. For forty-five years she survived her husband, who had been a man of strength of character and usefulness as wel as some wealth. When she died at the age of ninety-three leaving seventy-five great grandchildren, the old Plymouth Colony Records paid her tribute,--"Mistress Elizabeth Warren, haveing lived a Godly life came to her Grave as a Shock of corn ful Ripe. She was honourably buried on the 24th of October (1673)."

Evidently, Mistress Warren was a woman of independent means and efficiency,--else she would have remarried, as was the custom of the times. She became one of the "purchasers" of the colony and conveyed land, at different times, near Eel River and what is now Warren's Cove, in Plymouth, to her sons-in-law. An interesting sidelight upon her character and home is found in the Court Records; [Footnote: I, 35, July 5, 1635.] her servant, Thomas Williams, was prosecuted for

"speaking profane and blasphemous speeches against ye majestie of God.

There being some dissension between him and his dame she, after other things, exhorted him to fear God and doe his duty."

Bridget Ful er fol owed her husband, Dr. Samuel, and came in _The Ann_. She also long survived her husband and did not remarry. She carried on his household and probably also his teaching for many years after he fel victim to the epidemic of infectious fever in 1633. She was his third wife, but only two children are known to have used the Ful er cradle, now preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. It has been stated that, in addition to these two, Samuel and Mercy, another young child came with its mother in _The Ann_, but did not live long. [Footnote: Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth; W. T. Davis] The son, Samuel, born about 1625, was minister for many years at Middleboro; he married Elizabeth Brewster, thus preserving two friendly families in kinship.

Evidently, Bridget Ful er was very il and not expected to recover when her husband was dying, for in his will, made at that time, he arranged for the education of his children by his brother-in-law, William Wright, unless it "shal please God to recover my wife out of her weake estate of sickness." It is interesting also that, in this wil , provision was made for the education of his daughter, Mercy, as wel as his son, Samuel, by Mrs. Heeks or Hicks, the wife of Robert Hicks who came in _The Ann_. [Footnote: Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories; also in The Mayflower Descendant, 1, 245.] Not alone for his own children did this good physician provide education, but also for others "put to him for schooling,"--with special mention of Sarah Converse "left to me by her sick father." This kind, generous doctor left a considerable estate, in spite of the many "debts for physicke,"

including that of "Mr. Roger Williams which was freely given." One specific gift was for the good of the church and this forms the nucleus of a fund which is still known as the Ful er Ministerial Fund of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Its source was "the first cow calfe that his Brown Cow should have." [Footnote: Genealogy of Some Descendants of Dr. Samuel Fuller of _The Mayflower_, compiled by William Hyslop Fuller, Palmer.]

Mrs. Alice Morse Earle says that gloves were gifts of sentiment;

[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; Alice Morse Earle; N. Y., 1903.] they were generously bestowed by this physician of old Plymouth. Money to buy gloves, or gloves, were bequeathed to Mistress Alice Bradford and Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; also to John Winslow, John Jenny and Rebecca Prence. The price allowed for a pair of gloves was from two to five shil ings. Probably these may have been the fringed leather gloves or the knit gloves described by Mrs. Earle. Another bequest was his "best hat and band never worn to old Mr. William Brewster." To his wife was left not alone two houses, "one at Smeltriver and another in town," but also a fine supply of furnishings and clothes, including stuffe gown, red pettecoate, stomachers, aprons, shoes and kerchiefs. Mistress Fuller lived until after 1667, and exerted a strong influence upon the educational life of Plymouth.

Is it heresy to question whether the sampler, [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hal , Plymouth.] accredited to Lora or Lorea Standish, the daughter of Captain Miles and Barbara Standish, was not more probably the work of the granddaughter, Lorea, the child of Alexander Standish and Sarah Alden? The style and motto are more in accord with the work of the later generation and, surely, the necessary time and materials for such work would be more probable after the pioneer days. This later Lora married Abraham Sampson, son of the Henry who came as a boy in _The Mayflower_. [Footnote: Notes to Bradford's History, edition 1912.] The embroidered cap [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hal , Plymouth.] and bib, supposed to have been made by Mistress Barbara for her daughter, would prove that she had

"hands with such convenient skil

As to conduce to vertu void of shame"

which were the aspiration of the girl who embroidered, or "wrought,"

the sampler. It is a pleasant commentary upon the tastes and industry of Mistress Barbara Standish that, amid the cares of a large family and farm, she found time for such dainty embroideries as we find in the cap and bib.

Probably two young sons of Captain and Barbara Standish, Charles and John, died in the infectious fever epidemic of 1633. A second Charles with his brothers, Alexander, Miles and Josiah, and his sister, Lorea, gladdened the hearth of the Standish home on Captain's Hill, Duxbury. A goodly estate was left at the death of Captain Miles, including a well-equipped house, cattle, mault mil , swords (as one would expect), sixteen pewter pieces and several books of classic literature,--Homer, Caesar's Commentaries, histories of Queen Elizabeth's reign, military histories, and three Bibles with commentaries upon religious matters. There were also medical books, for Standish was reputed to have been a student and practitioner in times of emergency in Duxbury. He suffered a painful il ness at the close of his vigorous, adventuresome life. Perhaps Barbara needed, at times, grace to endure that "warm temper" which Pastor Robinson deplored in Miles Standish, a comment which the intrepid Captain forgave and answered by a bequest to the granddaughter of this loved pastor. We may be sure Barbara was proud of the mighty share which her husband had in saving Plymouth Colony from severe disaster, if not from extinction. It is surmised that Barbara Standish was buried in Connecticut where she lived during the last of her life with her son, Josiah. Possibly, however, she may have been buried beside her husband, sons, daughter and daughter-in-law, Mary Dingley, in Duxbury. [Footnote: Interesting facts on this subject may be found in

"The Grave of Miles Standish and other Pilgrims," by E. V. J.

Huiginn; Beverly, 1914.]

The Colonial Governor and his Lady ever held priority of rank. Such came to Mrs. Alice Southworth when she married Governor Wil iam Bradford a few days after her arrival on _The Ann_. Tradition has said persistently that this was the consummation of an earlier romance which was broken off by the marriage of Alice Carpenter to Edward Southworth in Leyden. The death of her first husband left her with two sons, Thomas and Constant Southworth, who came to Plymouth before 1628. She had sisters in the Colony: Priscilla, the wife of William Wright, came in _The Fortune_; Dr. Fuller's first wife had been another sister; Juliana, wife of George Morton, was a third who came also in _The Ann_. Still another sister, Mary Carpenter, came later and lived in the Governor's family for many years. At her death in her ninety-first year, she was mourned as "a Godly old maid, never married." [Footnote: Hunter's Col ections, 1854.]

The first home of the Bradfords in Plymouth was at Town Square where now stands the Bradford block. About 1627-8 they moved, for a part of the year, to the banks of the Jones River, now Kingston, a place which had strongly appealed to Bradford as a good site for the original settlement when the men were making their explorations in December, 1620. William, Joseph and Mercy were born to inherit from their parents the fine characters of both Governor and Alice Bradford, and also to pass on to their children the carved chests, wrought and carved chairs, case and knives, desk, silver spoons, fifty-one pewter dishes, five dozen napkins, three striped carpets, four Venice glasses, besides cattle and cooking utensils and many books. That the Governor had a proper "dress suit" was proved by the inventory of

"stuffe suit with silver buttons and cloaks of violet, light colour and faced with taffety and linen throw."

As Mistress Bradford could only "make her mark," she probably did not appreciate the remarkable collection, for the times, of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch and French books as wel as the studies in philosophy and theology which were in her husband's library. There is no doubt that the first and second generations of girls and boys in Plymouth Colony had elementary instruction, at least, under Dr. Ful er and Mrs. Hicks as well as by other teachers. Bradford, probably, would also attend to the education of his own family. The Governor's wife has been accredited with "labouring diligently for the improvement of the young women of Plymouth and to have been eminently worthy of her high position." [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin, p. 460.] She was the sole executrix of her husband's estate of L1005,--a proof of her ability.

Sometimes her cheerfulness must have been taxed to comfort her husband, as old age came upon him and he fell into the gloomy mood reflected in such lines as these: [Footnote: New England Memorial; Morton.]

"In fears and wants, through weal and woe, A pilgrim passed I to and fro;

Oft left of them whom I did trust,

How vain it is to rest in dust!

A man of sorrows I have been,

And many changes I have seen,

Wars, wants, peace, plenty I have known, And some advanc'd, others thrown down."

When Mistress Alice Bradford died she was "mourned, though aged" by many. To her memory, Nathaniel Morton, her nephew, wrote some lines which were more biographic than poetical, recalling her early life as an exile with her father from England for the truth's sake, her first marriage:

"To one whose grace and virtue did surpasse, I mean good Edward Southworth whoe not long Continued in this world the saints amonge."

With extravagant words he extols the name of Bradford,--"fresh in memory Which smeles with odoriferous fragrancye." This elegist records also that, after her second widowhood, she lived a

"life of holynes and faith,

In reading of God's word and contemplation Which healped her to assurance of salvation."

This is not a very lively, graphic description of the woman most honored, perhaps, of all the pioneer women of Plymouth, but we may add, by imagination, a few sure traits of human kindliness and grace. She was typical of those women who came in _The Mayflower_

and her sister ships. Although she escaped the tragic struggles and il ness of that first winter, yet she revealed the same qualities of courage, good sense, fidelity and vision which were the watchwords of that group of women in Plymouth colony. Yes,--they had vision to see their part in the sincere purpose to establish a new standard of liberty in state and church, to serve God and mankind with all their integrity and resources.

As the leaders among the men were self-sacrificing and honorable in their dealings with their financiers, with the Indians and with each other, so the women were faithful and true in their homes and communal life. They took scarcely any part in the civic administration, for such responsibility did not come into the lives of seventeenth century women. They were actively interested in the educational and religious life of the colony. Their moral standards were high and inflexible; they extolled, and practised, the virtues of thrift and industry. It may be well for women in America today, who were querulous at the restrictions upon sugar and electric lights, to consider the good sense, and good cheer, with which these women of Plymouth Colony directed their thrifty households.

We would not assume that they were free from the whims and foibles of womankind,--and sometimes of man-kind,--of al ages. They were, doubtless, contradictory and impulsive at times; they could scold and they could gossip. We believe that they laughed sometimes, in the midst of dire want and anxiety, and we know that they prayed with sincerity and trust. They bore children gladly and they trained them

"in the fear and admonition of the Lord." They were the progenitors of thousands of fine men and women in all parts of America today who honor the _women_ as wel as the _men_ of the old Plymouth Colony,--the women who faithful y performed, without any serious discontent,

"that whole sweet round

Of littles that large life compound."

INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT

Alden, Augustus E.

Elizabeth

John

Captain John

Priscilla

Ruth

Sarah

Timothy

Al erton, Bartholomew

Isaac

Mary Norton

Mary

Remember

Armstrong, Gregory

Austin, Jane G.

Bartlett, W. H.

Bass, Ruth Alden

Beckeet, Mary

Bil ington, Francis

Helen

John

John, Jr.

Bowman, George Ernest

Bradford, Alice

Dorothy May

John

Mary

Joseph

Gov. William

Wil iam, Jr.

Brewster, Fear

Jonathan

Love

Mary

Patience

Wil iam, Elder

Wrestling

Brown, Lydia Howland

Peter

Carpenter, Juliana

Mary

Priscilla

Carter, Robert

Carver, Catherine

Gov. John

Chandler, Isabel a Chilton

Roger

Chilton, Ingle

Isabel a

Isaac

Chilton, James

Jane

Mary

Mrs. James

Nicolas

Converse, Sarah

Cooke, Francis

Hester

Jacob

John

Sarah

Cooper, Humility

Crakston, John

Cromwel

Cushman, Robert

Thomas

Davis, W. T.

De La Noye, Philip

De Rassieres

Dean, Stephen

Dexter, Henry M.

Morton

Doane, Deacon John

Dotey, Edward

Earle, Alice Morse

Eaton, Francis

Sarah

Eliot, Charles W.

Ford, Widow Martha

Ful er, Ann

Bridget

Edward

Mercy

Samuel, Dr.

Samuel

Wil iam Hyslop

Goodman, John

Goodwin, John A.

Heald, Giles

Hicks, Robert

Mrs. Robert

Hobomok

Hopkins, Caleb

Constance, or Constanta

Damaris

Hopkins, Elizabeth

Giles

Oceanus

Ruth

Stephen

Howland, Elizabeth Til ey

Lydia (Brown)

John

Huiginn, E. V. J.

Jenny, John

Jeppson, William

Wil iam

Jones, Christopher, Capt.

Thomas, Capt.

Latham, Wil iam

Lister, Edward

Longfel ow, Henry W.

Lord, Arthur, VI

Martin, Mrs. Christopher

Masefield, John

Massasoit

Minter, Desire

John

Thomas

Wil iam

More, Ellen

Richard

Morton, George

Juliana Carpenter

Mul ins, Alice, Mrs.

Joseph

Moses

Priscilla

Sarah (Blunden)

Wil iam

Wil iam, Jr.

Newcomen, John

Oldham, John

Pabodie, Elizabeth Alden

Wil iam

Parker, Richard

Penn, Christian

Prence, Thomas

Priest, Degory

Reynolds, William

Rigdale, Alice

Robinson, Pastor John

Sampson, Alexander

Henry

Samoset

Snow, Nicholas

Soule, George

Southworth, Alice

Constant

Thomas

Squanto

Standish, Alexander

Barbara

Charles

John

Josiah

Lora or Lorea

Mary Dingley

Miles

Miles, Jr.

Rose

Taylor, Ann

Thompson, Edward

Thwing, Annie M.

Til ey, Ann

Bridget

Edward

Elizabeth

John

Tinker, Mrs. Thomas

Turner, John

Warren, Elizabeth

Richard

White, Peregrine

Resolved

Susanna

Wil iam

Williams, Roger

Thomas

Winslow, Edward

Elizabeth Barker

Elizabeth

John

John, Brig. Gen.

Josiah

Kenelm

Mary Chilton

Susanna

Winthrop, John

Wright, Priscil a Carpenter

Wil iam

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