As a result, many families were divided when some passengers had to be turned back for lack of space. After twice turning back to England because Speedwell leaked, they were forced to leave the ship. Speedwell and Mayflower – a ship rented by the investors – departed for America together. At Southampton, a port in England, they were joined by a group of English colonists who had been gathered by the investors. The congregation purchased a small ship, Speedwell, to transport them across the sea and to use for fishing and trading in America. Those who could settle their affairs in Leiden went first while the greater number, including their pastor John Robinson, remained behind. The entire congregation could not come to America together. The colonists and investors had many disagreements, but eventually the Pilgrims were able to leave Europe for America. All assets, including the land and the Pilgrims’ houses, would belong to the company until the end of seven years when all of it would be divided among each of the investors and colonists. The colonists in turn would work for the company, sending natural resources such as fish, timber and furs back to England. The company of investors would provide passage for the colonists and supply them with tools, clothing and other supplies. Because their own money wasn’t enough to establish their village, they entered into an agreement with financial investors. There they hoped to live under the English government, but they would worship in their own, separate church. At that time, Virginia extended from Jamestown in the south to the mouth of the Hudson River in the north, so the Pilgrims planned to settle near present-day New York City. The Move to AmericaĪfter careful thought, the congregation decided to leave Holland to establish a farming village in the northern part of the Virginia Colony. To make matters worse, the congregation worried that another war might break out between the Dutch and Spanish. Their parents feared that they would lose their identity as English people. Some older children were tempted by the Dutch culture and left their families to become soldiers and sailors. Most found work in the cloth trades, while others were carpenters, tailors and printers. There they remained for the next 11 or 12 years. The congregation stayed briefly in Amsterdam and then moved to the city of Leiden. The Separatists had to leave their homeland and friends to live in a foreign country without a clear idea of how they would support themselves. The Pilgrims in Holland (the Netherlands)Īlthough they had religious freedom, life in the Netherlands was not easy. There, they could practice their own religion without fear of persecution from the English government or its church. When they felt they could no longer suffer these difficulties in England, they chose to flee to the Dutch Netherlands. Like others who refused to follow the Church of England’s teachings, some of them were harassed, fined or even sent to jail. Members included the young William Bradford and William Brewster. The Separatist church congregation that established Plymouth Colony in New England was originally centered around the town of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, England. This opinion was very dangerous in England in the 1600s, it was illegal to be part of any church other than the Church of England. Called “Separatists,” they demanded the formation of new, separate church congregations. They thought the new Church of England was beyond reform. Because these people wanted to purify the church, they came to be known as “Puritans.” Another group, considered very radical, went even further. In short, they wanted to return to worshipping in the way the early Christians had. They called for a return to a simpler faith and less structured forms of worship. Although he and his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603), changed some things that made the Church of England different from the Roman Catholic Church, a few people felt that the new Church retained too many practices of the Roman Church. This story will help you get to know these people, now known as the Pilgrims, through their first years in New England.Įngland was a Roman Catholic nation until 1534, when King Henry VIII (reigned 1509-1547) declared himself head of a new national church called the Church of England. To understand them, it is important that we look beyond the legend. Against great odds, they made the famous 1620 voyage aboard the ship Mayflower and founded Plymouth Colony, but they were also ordinary English men and women. The people we know as Pilgrims have become so surrounded by legend that we are tempted to forget that they were real people.
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