"Here's a Turkey Day treat for you, and it's all true. As we've all been taught, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Their leader, in spiritual and temporal matters, was William Brewster, who guided them through those first two decades in the New World, including that terrible first winter when half of them perished from cold and starvation."
"There were two boats that left England that day, and the ordained minister, Reverend Robinson, was on the other one, the Fortune, which sprang a leak and had to turn back, and the Mayflower had to go on by itself. Elder William got away just in time. There was a price on his head for heresy, and the king's men were conducting an international manhunt for him. If they had caught him, he would have been burned at the stake."
"It was awful. They were running out of water. They were supposed to land in Virginia and start farming to pay back the investors who had put up the money for the two boats and wanted a return on their investment. Very little is known about whether it was paid back. When they landed at Plymouth Rock, Elder William got many of the passengers to sign the Mayflower Compact, which he is believed to have co-written, before they left the ship."
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 with William Brewster serving as spiritual and temporal leader, guiding them through two decades including a first winter when half died of cold and starvation. Brewster was not ordained but assumed leadership after Reverend Robinson sailed on the Fortune, which turned back. Brewster faced a death sentence for heresy and narrowly escaped capture. The Mayflower voyage lasted about a hundred days under dire conditions and was intended to reach Virginia to satisfy investors. Brewster helped secure signatures on the Mayflower Compact to pool labor and resources, a pact that dissolved within a year amid unequal effort and expanding westward opportunity. Descendants later visited his Scrooby ancestral home.
Read at www.eastbaytimes.com
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