By Wilbur Fisk Gordy, 1917

In the early days of American settlement, many immigrants came to the New World to worship as they saw fit without punishment. Some people loved the Church of England but wished to simplify their worship. They were called Puritans.

Some of them disliked the forms of worship so much that they wished to separate from the Church of England and form a church of their own. These people later came to be called Pilgrims because they traveled extensively in pursuit of their religion. Before they left England, these people met for Sunday service in the home of William Brewster, one of their chief men. He lived in the small village of Scrooby.

For a year, they tried to worship on their own. But the law did not permit secret meetings. So when they were found out, they were punished, and some were imprisoned. This was difficult, and after a while, they decided to leave England and seek homes in Holland, where they knew they could worship God as they pleased.

But as the king wanted his own way, he was unwilling to let them go, so it was not easy for them to carry out their plan. Yet in 1608, a year after the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, they managed to escape and sailed to Amsterdam, later moving to Leyden. They were well treated in Holland and found work as weavers, tailors, carpenters, and in other roles. However, they felt like strangers in a strange land and were unhappy. It was more difficult for them to make a living there than in England, where most were farmers. Even after they had been in Holland for many years, they still loved England and did not get over longing for the English ways of doing things. It made them sad to see their children growing up as Dutch children and speaking Dutch instead of English. Finally, they said, We will go to America, where we can worship God and raise our children in our own way.

But the English king was unwilling to let them settle in America, and they were poor, making it difficult to raise money for the voyage. At last, the king promised he would not trouble them in America if they did nothing to displease him there. So the money needed for the voyage was borrowed, and after some time, the company was prepared to leave Holland. They sailed in a small vessel called the Speedwell. But not all of them could leave; some were too old and weak, and the parting was sad. The pastor, who stayed in Holland, knelt on the shore and asked God to bless those of his flock who were heading to the far-off land.

Additionally, winter was already upon them, and they needed to get settled. On December 16, ten men set out again in the shallop. The day was bitterly cold. The ocean spray, blown by the wind, froze to ice on the men’s clothes.” The ocean spray, blown by the wind, froze to ice upon the men’s clothing. Yet they bravely went forward. When it grew dark, they headed ashore for the night. To protect themselves against the Indians and to keep from freezing, they built a barricade of logs, sticks, and boughs, five or six feet high, and kept a huge fire burning inside. With their cloaks wrapped around them and their feet turned toward the fire, all but the watchful sentinel lay down to sleep. The great forest trees were their only shelter that cold winter night. On the second morning, before daybreak, all were astir, some preparing breakfast and others putting supplies into the boat. Suddenly, a strange cry made everyone stop to listen. It was the war whoop of the Indians. Then a shower of arrows fell upon the small Pilgrim band. For a time, the fighting carried on briskly. But when Captain Standish wounded the leader of the Indians, they quickly fled, and the Pilgrims took to their shallop. This was but the beginning of a day full of danger. A furious storm of snow and rain caught them late in the afternoon. They were in great peril and struggled to stay afloat. Just before dark, a big wave almost swallowed them up. Soon their rudder was swept away, and then an angry gust of wind struck the mast and snapped it into three pieces.

While the men and boys were getting into the work with a big appetite, the women and girls were busy kindling fires, washing clothes, cooking, and doing the many things needed for the family’s comfort. How good it would be to have a home once more. The first building they built was a 20-foot square log house. This was to serve as the common storehouse and shelter until they could build separate houses.

The logs were laid upon one another to form the walls of the buildings. Then the cracks were filled with straw and mud, and the roof was covered with reeds. The windows were made of oiled paper. When they later built their houses, they placed them in two rows for safety, one on each side of the street that led from the harbor up the hill. At the top stood the fort, where they could defend themselves if the Indians attacked them. During that first winter, their food was plain, and there was not enough of it. Bread made of wheat, rye, or barley was about all they had. Only once in a while, when someone killed a deer or a wild fowl, did they have any meat to eat; for, like the planters of Jamestown, the Pilgrims had no chickens or cows. All they had to drink was cold water.

Besides having too little food, the Pilgrims suffered much from the cold. Until their dwellings were finished, some had slept on board the Mayflower. With many other hardships, including scant food and a lack of warm clothing, the people suffered greatly. At one time, only Elder Brewster, Captain Standish, and five others were well enough to take care of the sick. Standish was very gentle and kind in sickness and made an excellent nurse. He also cheerfully helped with the cooking, washing, and other household duties.

At times, there was a death every day, and at the end of the first winter, one-half of the settlers had gone. Yet despite all this suffering, no one would leave Plymouth when the Mayflower sailed back to England in the spring. They felt they must complete the work they had set out to do, and that it was not right to give up.

The lower part was used as a meeting house, where all kinds of meetings were held. On Sunday, it was a place of worship. But when they met on weekdays, they wished to discuss some plan for the public good, such as building a road or bridge. These weekday meetings were very much like our town meetings today. But the Pilgrims had other worries besides the Indians. They had borrowed a great deal of money when they came to the New World, and men and women alike had to work hard to pay it back. Yet by trading with the Indians, mainly for furs, by sending furs, fish, and timber to England, and by earning and saving in every way, they had freed themselves from debt at the end of six years. Such people were bound to succeed. They built a palisade of posts around Plymouth. far more, and that was the desire and the will to do what was right. But life in the colony was hard, and their numbers grew slowly. After four years, there were only 180 people and 32 houses.

The Puritans Come to New England

From time to time, news of the free life of the Pilgrims reached England, where the King, Charles I, was making it harder than ever for the Puritans. He believed that whatever he did as king was right and that all should obey him without question. The Puritans became so unhappy that many left their old homes and sailed for New England to build new ones in a free country.

They were not simple folk like the Pilgrims. Many were rich men, some belonged to families of high rank, and some had great learning.

A small company arrived in 1628 and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. But in 1630, the great body of Puritans began to come over in throngs. Over 900 people, led by John Winthrop, a rich lawyer and country gentleman, settled first at Charlestown before spreading to Boston and other nearby cities.

When he returned to Salem, he got into trouble with the Puritans, for he said many things they did not like. You do not own the land you live on, he boldly declared. You got your claim to it from the King of England. But as he never owned the land, he had no right to give it to you.

You have no right, he went on, to tax people to support a church to which they do not belong. Nor have you the right to make people go to church. His bold talk startled the Puritans. Of course, they did not like it. Such ideas might make them no end of trouble if Roger Williams kept on preaching them. So they made him leave the colony. Bidding goodbye to his wife and children, he set out alone with only a compass for a guide. To keep from freezing, he carried an axe to chop wood, flint, and steel to kindle fires. His only shelter at night was a hollow tree or perhaps a covering of brush. After many days, he reached Mount Hope, and there the Indians sheltered him. He spent most of the winter in the wigwam of his good friend, Massasoit. In the spring, he started out in a frail canoe to a place where the Indians said there was good spring water. He found it and, with five or six friends who had joined him, made a settlement, which he called Providence. Such was the beginning of the Rhode Island Colony. At first, every man was welcome, and he could worship as he thought best or not at all if he chose.

Thomas Hooker and the Hartford Colony

Thomas Hooker’s Company reaches the Connecticut River. During the same year (1636) in which Roger Williams began the settlement of Rhode Island, Thomas Hooker”>Thomas Hooker led a company of settlers to the Connecticut Valley. Like Roger Williams, he believed that the Puritans were wrong in keeping all men except church members from voting and from taking part in making the laws. So, because of this belief and for other reasons, he and the members of his congregation at Watertown left Massachusetts to make new homes for themselves on the banks of the Connecticut River.

About 100 men, women, and children set out in June, driving 160 cattle before them. The children must have been very tired sometimes, but they must have had their frolics too. We may imagine them gathering wildflowers, listening to the birds, and eating their meals as if at a picnic under the leafy branches of spreading trees. The men carried packs on their backs and guns in their hands. There were no roads, nor even trails of Indians or wild beasts to follow through this wild region. A compass was their only guide on their journey of more than 100 miles through the woods. At last, they reached the place where Hartford now stands. They were much pleased with its beauty. The rolling hills, the broad river, the rich green meadows with Indian wigwams dotted here and there, and a few log cabins of early settlers made a welcome sight for the tired travelers.