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Show Did the Pilgrim Fathers Land on Plymouth Rock? I 1M Actual Records of Famous Landmark Give 1 Scant Support to a Wealth of Traditions Concerning the Mayflower Debarkation M R. Will 1AM WEBSTER ELLSWORTH j K V TOT that It really mtter. whether the ! Pilgrims stepped first upon the ir M Rock which now Ilea under the canopy at Plymouth, or drew thrlr shallop rjjB "f on the sandy beach they mlo their great adventure, they railed over seas to them unknown, mysterious terrifying and gjfl they found a harbor In the New World. HH Moreover, they brouRht with them the peed e-,. ot a form of Government, for In the compact signcti off Cape Cod. was no word of kins or duke or baron or squire to rule over them, but all were free and equal And from that seed has crown the world's mightiest republic. B ll Plymouth Rock has been famou? for 200 vcdrs li is. 0f course. 300 since the landing but we may feel sure that for the first hundred years not much consideration B M cUcn to the Ro--k. And It Is rightly Wfk famous for. whether the Pilgrims 9 ret stepped upon It or not. It stand" for the landing, and If embrdles In Its solid crny mas thv hardships and the Idealism of rhe Pilgrim Fathers. Modern historians are apt to fight "-ather shy of the ll-rk L'-her In his The I'll- r grlms and Their History." says that they landed from the shallop somesvhere on Plymouth shore? a snf anf) ,a stnte-1 stnte-1 , ment Avcrv ln his history goes Prof. X L'sher a little better by saying that "per- SjjC'2 r hftps tn' st?PP1 on Plymouth Re: " In these tercentenary doys people are Interested Inter-ested In everything abovit the Pilgrim an I It may be worth while io consider whit are the facts and what Ult traditions of the Innd-;,' Innd-;,' '-In nifi And first the facts. There are two books and only two. that contain the statements of those who took part In the pilgrim exodus William Bradford's Interesting and lnpird "History of Plymouth Plantation" ani "Mourt's Relation " supposed to have written by Bradford and Edward Wlnslow '.ot the Information of their friends ;n Knz-land Knz-land and printed under the name and editorship edi-torship of George Mourt In London In If,?.' Bradford' history wa left by him In manu-: manu-: script and did not Ret into type for 2U V years. Firtt Washday in America. According to these records we know thit. the Pilgrims left Plymouth. England, on fh'- 6th of September. 1620 by our present reckoning The lr.ih They sighted Cupe Co'., and on November ll to 21 they anchored an-chored within the safety of what Cap' John Smith described as "the slckle-shn ped cape." And. by the way. Cape Cod was tlv-first tlv-first American place to be given nn English name In Prolncetown harbor the ship re I . nialned for nearly live weeks. The men landed at once to explore, the women for the first American Monday washing, which wis performed In one of the fresh water pon Is tack of the beach. The first exploration wan by land to the north and then roun aong the astern shore of the cape to )' what Is now Truro and back bv the western chore; the second was by the shallop 'o tb. lame point and the third was hv shallop around the inside of the bay to PtytnoUt!1 It was on this expedition that the famo'is landing was made and It Is Interesting to nrte the names of the men who made it Capt Miles Standlsh, Master John Carver (Governor William Bradford. dwarl ',' Wlnslow. John Tille Edward Tllley. John i Howland. Richard Warren. Stephen Hop kins and Edward Dotey fthe last three cam '4M 1 frcm London ind not from Leyden . 'I: the rest of the party), and two of the Pilgrims' I pallors, John Allerton and Thomas English, with six men from the Mayflower John Clark, the mate. Master Coppin. the pilot, ihf master gunner and threo sailors. They skirted the coast and landed for the first night at what Is now Eastham There 1hev had a skirmish with some Indians, and ater It picked up eighteen arrows nnd later sent them to England Sailing on the sea was rough, snow and sleet fell, and their coats were llko coats of iron. The hir.ges of the rudder broke and they were In gcat danger, for the wind split the mast '.n three places. But the tide 6erved and they struck Into a harbor. It was a place Bradford Brad-ford says, "where not nnv of us hai been before, but the Lord kept us and we bore up for an Island rCiark's Island, ln Plymouth Plym-outh Harbor, and being compassed cbout With m."in rocks, and dark night crowing upon us it pleased the divine Providence that we fell upon a piece of Bandy s-ound where our shallop did ride safo and secure all that night." They camped on Clark'-Xs'snd Clark'-Xs'snd (It was named for tho mate of the t Mayflower), and In the morning marched about and found no Inhabitants There they -pi nt the next day. the Sabbath and thero WHIM a service on "Pulpit Rock." It bears the Inscription "On the Sabbath Day We hetfed ' Ton Pilgrims Made the Landing. And now for the landing. All we Know of It Is In the following account from Bra- -fords history, and as It is contained n ' Mi urt's Relation" ln practically the same words, we may conclude that both stories of the landing nre Bradford's. It happened In December 11-21 we call It "Forefather's Day": "On Monday we sounded the harbor; and foi.nd It a very good place for our shipping We marched also Into the land: and found dl er corn fields and little running brooks A place very good for situation So we returned re-turned to our ship again with pood news to Ihi rest of the people, which did much com fort their hearts." This tlien is the day we celobrite, De remher 21st nnd not any later day wher more of the ship's company may have bsffl In Ihe party. And the landing was made b tun of the Pilgrims two of their sailors and six men from the Mayflower The landing place has been thought by some writers to have been at Duxbury or Klnc ston, but It Is now considered that no other i lace than Plymouth answers the description descrip-tion of harbor and running brooks besides Plymouth Is the place where they built tLvlr houses. Whether the Pilgrims stepped olT or i rock or waded ashore we have no means Of knowing except from tradition Certainly there were no women In the Party BS in mofct of the pictures, nor any Indian A -d the exact spot where they happened to teach their boat was not thought of at tho time. Who would note such a minor matter as that when n much depended on what (TBI found on shore? Was It fit for their I abitatlons. did the ground socm to promlsi-crops promlsi-crops and waa there good water? And could they protect themselves from unfriendly un-friendly natives'' In Plymouth Harbor. After the return of the exploring ;ar:v the Mayflower passed over 'o Plymouth, casting anchor in the harbor December 16 The next day was the Saobath and there was servlco aboard the ship On Monday the colonists went ashore to jr-t jr-t rmlne upon the best place to build Th-paSBOngOTi Th-paSBOngOTi from Laydcn had lived on shly board, first on the Speedwell and then oo IK Mayflower for twenty -one weeks It Is not llkelv that any women were Inch. In-ch. ded In the early landing parties and In () storms which soon came, when sometimes some-times lhosf working on shore could not get lack to the ship for the night, nor those on the ship could send food to the workers. U It at all llkelv that women would have gore t.'hore'' Probably the washing done at Ptorlncetown was sufficient for a time Per-har Per-har the first trip of mothers and daush-I daush-I rs crime when the men had the first hnM t-.t'on well under way or done They could h.ie hTd some sort of a ceremonv perhar.s the Rock, for It was a landmark nnd the OH' rOl k to ho Ban on the shore for mil Mr? Hrmnns in poetical Innpuage tnev-ir h.ivlng been there) describes the coast ap 'stem and rockbound " No coast could he li.ts rockbound. but It was stern enough First Documentary Mention of the Rock Ap-pears Ap-pears Many Years After Bradford's Chronicles Were Written outh register of deeds and keeper of the colon records who has written of these traditions, suggests that Mary Chilton's landing mlfih: have occurred at Province-town Province-town before the exiles reached Plymouth. There the women certainly went ashore to wash clothes, and Mary Chilton, a young ord probably lively tlrl, very likely Jumped out of the boit and waded ashore ahe.id of the rest, and so was perhaps the first to land In the Ne.v World But It wis atur-c'ay, atur-c'ay, November 11-21. that they anel.ored In Provlncctowr and while some of the men went ashore at once It was Monday, the 13th. before ihe women landed to do tho washing so it seems as If Mary Chilfo' nnlrt hardly hove been first at Trovlnce- rrORE HOUSE PBRDWN - J. GOODMAN - W BREWSTER- J E.I LUNG TON - I ALLERTON - P COOKE - E WINS LOW. I PL V MOUTH tn 1622 gov BRADFORD LD FORT for In that uncharted hartor tho Mayflower must anchor a nolle or more from shore. Tho first mention of the Rock In any I':vmouth record occurs In 1715 In 5ocu-rnont 5ocu-rnont which describes the bounds cf First s'rrct (now Leyden street) and New stroet now North street) menMonlnc a point 'thlrtr-slx foots from the northerly part Oi great rock that Hot li below the w.iy " Tn? distance Indicates that Plymouth Rock w meant, but It Is evident that in 1715 the Pock wns not known by any name or particularly par-ticularly identified. And now for the traditions. One tradition tradi-tion Is that John Aldi n was the first per-str. per-str. to step on tho Rock. He was not in tho landinq party at nil. Another trndltlcn gives Mary Chilton tho honor of belnj; tho liist to land Of course she was not ln th landing party either, but let us see where tills tradition could have originated The f.ory Is that the Mayflower, having arrived t Plymouth harbor, this young wonrnn 'entered tho first landing boat and looking forward, exclaimed. 'I will be the first to step on that rock.'" All of which suggestc a prescience cn the part of Miss Chilton which is wlthcut parallel except In tho re-r re-r tiled remark of the Indians when they saw Cob mbus approaching, 'It's no use. boy, we're discovered at last." Mr. William S Russell, at one time Plm- town. A fatal landing that was for many. Prndford writes "It blowed and did snow all that day and nigh, and froze withal Some ot our peoplo that are dead took the otlglnal of their death hore " Tho tradition which bears directly on the Rock Is as .'ollows: Ephralm Spooner. a selectman of Plymouth In 176" stated that In the year 1 7 4 1 Elder Thomas F.iunce. born In 1647 und then 94 ears of age hearing that a wharf wns to be built over the Rock and that It would be burled from sk-ht was carried In a chair from his home at F.el River, three miles away, and on the spot bade the Rock farewell, and to the peoplo gathered nround he told them that this was the Roek on whlc-i the Pilgrims landed. He bsbbH raid that his father, who came over In the bbbbbwI Ann In 1623. hid repeatedly told him the sbbbbbb! story. And William T. Davis In his valua- hie history of Plymouth adds that Elder H PaUnCfl "wns olri enough to havo heard the iisaE tory from the Mnydo-er's passengers themselves He was in years old when Gov. ssbbbbG Bradford died 2 4 vlvn John Howland died. bsbbU 0 years old when Miles Rtandlsh died and 39 Iibbbbbbb! when John Alden died, nnd he would havo Sbbbbbb! been nt least likely to have learned from sbbbW them whether the story of his father was sbbbK or illBBBBsl Mr DSTla coes on to Bay that the Rock IsbbbbbsI - is not burled as Elder Faunce feared It iiH Mould be. but was raised so that Its top sssasn m'ght show nhove the roadway of the wharf. iBe In 1773 nn attempt was mnde to remove the bbbbbP fioctl to the fcot of a liberty pole In Town sbsWj Square. Tho upper half was split off and iH aken nwny the lower half remaining in the ssssR rand. loiter tho upper part w is removed to hbsbbh ihe front Inw.i of Pilgrim Hall, and ln 18S0 IHS It was returned to Its original site and sHso o;ned to the part from which It had been bbsskS froparatcd for over a hundred yecrs. IbsbsSI Old Settl eri Confirm Landing Place. BBSBBl In the year 1774 Chnrles Blaskowltz for H Blaskowltch), "one of the deputy surveyors issbe! for North America" made a map of Plym- ssbskt oiiMi Harbor on which he designated the sssBBFa Rick as "No i" and mnde this memoran- sbsbsbI d.im: 'No. 1. Tho place- where the settlers LsBsr? i-Viac mentioned first landed upon the main sbsbbTP Dec 22d fwc call It 21st). 1620. upon a large issS? rock, which In tho course of time being liBMI bulled In sand, was, by their grateful pos- LasY& ttrlty, dug up and transplanted to a more bbbK1' public situation Anno Domini 1775 " (As iBk thi, map was issued In 1774. this statement hbB!b of a happening in 1775 must have been In- ilKi scribed on an edition later than the first). niKlfi Of course this memorandum of the surveyor bbbE W merely from tradition hut It Is Interest- sbsbsbI ins to know that the tradition was eat&b- IbK? Uahd in M1K IVi It Is t-ald that the Rock could only be used ibbbbbV' as a landing place at high tide, and astro- Lbbss? nctnlcal calculations havo shown that tho tide was high at the time of the landing. ssntn but one wondem how the hour of the landing iasS could bo known: sometimes a good deal of cruising along shoro ma be done before a sassfe 'andlng place Is found. Better evidence is ibF that produced by the Rev Henry M. Dexter, iBSSBti D. D.. ln an article In the Coatreatlonal! IHsT Ncvcmbcr 9 1SS1 Dr. Dexter writes 'that vbsbTC 'lit- soundings must have led the explcrers, liBtt unless the deep water channels have unac- flHpP! countablv chnnged since .then, directly to fliVV' he neighborhood of the Rock, which a BKt ehn.n of trustworthy testimony on the spot uE Identifies as the first landing place of tho iiflt? Mayflower company within Plymouth liar- flpw I-sbbbbbbI Ir. the picture entitled "The Plymouth Colony In About Elve Tears" the Rock mat be noted near the lower right hand corner. Hrc& It would seem as If a seafaring man would not bo apt to land there tf the channel would BT1 permit him to lake his boat around tho KS sheltered comer of the mouth of Town Hf : Brook, at the left, where the Pilgrims built H '; a wharf. Bu' the Plymouth hom hns a HR I dr.ublo protection first the long outer strip RL nf land with Gurnet Point at the end and ?-' econd an Inner strip known as Plymouth ff'T-i I sch Probably tho Rock would be a fair- iKk . ) safe landing plnce at almost any time. Bci" With the ship lying In Plymouth harbor BE the real troubles of the colonists were only Bur- Ji s begun On the 21th of December four Kfc' January 31 came the sixth death In Decern- Btf her By the last day of th month manv Wm- ' were ill January 1 Degory Priest e"ded on Bap-" the ?hlp and the next dav a partv was sent ' ' nshore to bury him. Master Martin, tho I treasurer of the company, died on the Sth BsEi and was taken nshore for burial. Probably Br-'"'" manv of the women never went off the ship alive Bradford describes the contagious dis- Be' ense which Struck them ns "the common In- HHt faction " It mnv have been ship fever, or BBf tT ph'i; or n quick consumption brought on Kfcf. bv exposure and tad food In four months WZ ' forty-six persons out of one hundred nnd I three hnd died and on'v fmir wives were HrE.-' left of tho eighteen who sailed from tho P ' other side. W But In spite of all the horrors of the sick- whr ncss. not cne Pilgrim went back when tho HE,' Mayflower returned April .". They hnd como wi' for a purpose to create a colonv where they K should be free to worship God In their own Rrf nnv and to form n covernment of the pen- R&' pie And these pilgrim Fathers were the re- Bj llglous pioneers of America, blnzlng tho l iv iB': for Puritans and Catholics and Quakers, for WwSf a' who were oppressed In the Old Worla. E |