The First Decade After the First Thanksgiving

posted in: Mayflower Voyage, Pilgrims | 0

We’ve been discussing the Mayflower journey and events leading up to it, as well as the journey, first year and first Thanksgiving. We’re going to wrap it up with a brief overview of events which happened in the century following the Mayflower. Hopefully over time we’ll be able to explore some of these events in more detail.

Over the last few years we’ve journey from what inspired the early colonist to the trip over on the Mayflower, establishing a new village and the first harvest festival. So what happened after that first festival?

The first Thanksgiving or harvest celebration is believed to have been held sometime around later September to early October.

A little over a month later the ship, Fortune, arrived unexpectantly on November 9, 1621. The ship brought thirty-five new colonists, mostly men, but few supplies. The passengers included several members of the original Leiden congregation.

Two years later, in 1623, two more ships, the Anne and Little James, arrived with around a hundred more colonists. The passengers from the Mayflower, and these three ships, would become known as the “Old Comers” and receive preferential treatment in later transactions within the colony. This is also the year colonists began to receive their own land in order to plant crops. However, in November 1623, fire destroyed several buildings in the Plymouth Colony. With homes and possessions lost, some of the colonists returned to England,  however it is unknown how many.

On November 29, 1623 Governor Bradford proclaims a “Day of Thanksgiving”

In 1624, controversy rose over Rev. John Lyford which resulted in more colonists leaving the Colony for either England or other parts of New England.

In 1626, Plymouth built it’s first trading house at Aptucxet and were able to trade with Natives from Cape Cod and Narragansett Bay.

On May 22, 1627 the colony began to divide its major assets, beginning with the livestock.

In 1628, the Plymouth court distributed 20 acres to the colonist and built a second trading post in what is today Augusta, Maine.

The following year a third trading post was built and 35 more passengers arrived.

The colony was growing and would continue to welcome more colonist in the years to come.

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