THE EARLY PILGRIM Stephen Hopkins Colony Newsletter Florida Society of Descendants October & November 2015

Colony Officers Governor: Alvene Watson Vice Governor: Aline Scott Treasurer: John Hillhouse Historian: Cora Sjogren-Welch Elder: Mary Rianhard Captain: Charles Moore Education Director: Janice Sly Nancy Fodi: Webmaster

About our Colony

Stephen Hopkins Colony was chartered November 13, 2001. We are based in Vero Beach, Florida and service the Indian River, Brevard, and St. Lucie Counties. We are named for Stephen Hopkins, original settler of the Jamestown Colony who returned on the Mayflower to settle in Colony, hence “The Early Pilgrim”.

Meeting Schedules & Location:  Stephen Hopkins Colony meets four times a year on the 2nd Thursday of the months of February, April, October, and November. Meeting schedules are posted on the Florida State website: http://flmayflower.com/colonies/hopkins/hopkins.pdf  Meetings are held at C.J. Cannon’s Restaurant at the Vero Beach Executive Airport  General meeting and luncheon begins at 12:00 noon.

Membership

Please welcome new members to our Colony:  Kurt Bressner, new member whose passenger is Stephen Hopkins  Janice Sly, transfer from Georgia, whose passengers are and George Soule  Nancy Fodi, charter member of Stephen Hopkins Colony, whose passengers at too long to list. Welcome home Nancy!  Nancy Lee Dunham Murphy, whose passenger is Degory Priest  Nancy Baker, transfer from Pennsylvania, whose passenger is William Brewster  Kasie Hope, whose passenger is Peter Brown

1

Stephen Hopkins Colony Sponsors Table At Vero Beach Family History Expo

Stephen Hopkins Colony sponsored a table at the Vero Beach Family History Expo which included a number of genealogical societies and family history groups.

Hopkins Colony members Kurt Bressner and Carol Robinson were organizers of the Expo. Many thanks to Kurt and Carol for a great job!

Displays included: the with a list of the signers, the Monument to the Pilgrims at Plymouth, photographs of Plimouth Plantation and the Wampanoag Village, and the Mayflower II under sail.

Reynolds Cushing, Captain General of the General Society, and Muriel Cushing, Florida State Historian, joined Alvene Watson, Colony Governor and State Education Chairman, representing Hopkins Colony at the Expo.

Hopkins Colony held drawings for “One Hundred & Eleven Questions and Answers Concerning the Pilgrims” which was a big hit with the attendees. The colony also donated a copy to the Vero Beach Library.

Left: Muriel Cushing, Florida State Historian Center: Reynolds Cushing, Captain General, General Society of Mayflower Descendants Right: Alvene Watson, Colony Governor, Stephen Hopkins Colony

2

October Meeting

We had a very well attended October meeting. Our speaker was Julianna Moring, Professor of Humanities at Valencia College, whose topic was Halloween in the Colonies.

Highlights of the October Presentation

Halloween mingles ancient rites and rituals with history and the modern entrepreneurial spirit. Since civilization began, understanding the changes of seasons required people to developed rituals and myths about the seasons for sowing, for harvesting, and the season when the earth is silent. Many ancient societies believed that at that moment when the seasons changed, a door was opened between the worlds of the living and the dead. Most of our Halloween rituals go back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when tables were set for those who had died in the past year. The dead were invited to return and dine with their corporal family. Although magic and communing with spirits is forbidden to both Protestants and Catholics, most of these rituals were familiar to the colonists and part of their folklore.

Some fun information on Halloween:

The record for the most apples bobbed by an individual in one minute is 33 and was achieved by Ashrita Furman in New York on 19 February 2008. In Britain, and in the Colonies, using apples as a means of divining your future mate had many forms. When bobbing for apples the first person to bite the apple would be the first to marry. When roasting chestnuts, the last chestnut to open would be your true love. In Colonial America a mirror or crystal ball could be used to divine the future. The young woman would look to see the features of her future husband in the reflection. However a mirror could be quite scary – you might meet the Grim Reaper in your reflection. In the 1800’s mayhem ruled. Tea kettles, boots and stones were piled on a neighbor’s vestibule and streetcar rails were greased. Today in America 600 MILLION pounds of candy are purchased and 90 million pounds of chocolate are purchased.

3 Florida State Meeting

The Florida State meeting was held November 20th through 22nd at The Villages, home of State Governor Ken Clark. Many thanks to Chilton Colony for an outstanding job.

The keynote speaker was George Garmandy, past Surgeon General of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Dr. Garmandy talked about slavery in the Massachusetts Bay colonies – both in the role of Europeans as slave owners and as slaves who were captured by the indigenous people. Many of us have a perception that slavery in America was limited to the south. However in early America, Dr. Garmandy emphasized that, slavery was endemic to all cultures – both European and indigenous.

Of particular interest was Dr. Garmandy’s discussion of Pocahontas – both the myth and the facts of this outstanding woman. This including her travels to Europe and the reactions of the Europeans to her.

Many thanks to Dr. Garmandy for an outstanding presentation.

Richard Wheeler, Counselor of the Florida Society of Mayflower Descendants, presented a plaque of recognition to Dr. Garmandy for his outstanding work as a historian and his service to the general society.

4

The Shallop

As most of us know, the Mayflower II was declared non-seaworthy by port authority at Plymouth and was forbidden from sailing. After many months in dry dock at Mattapoisett, Mayflower II has been returned from dry dock and is now considered seaworthy.

Please remember that there was another ship in the hold of the Mayflower – the Shallop Elizabeth Tilley. This was a full size coastal fishing vessel which was assembled after arriving in Plymouth. However for all of those Howland and Tilley members who have an interest in the Shallop Elizabeth Tilley, we are now facing many of the same issues that the general society faced. She also needs a great deal of work to remain seaworthy.

Steven Carter of Middletown, Connecticut, son of state governor Ken Carter is a sailor and supporter of the Elizabeth Tilley, gave an excellent report on the preservation and repair of this wonderful vessel. For all of those who visit Plymouth, please take advantage of opportunities to visit both the Mayflower II and the Shallop Elizabeth Tilley.

Steven Carter, son of State Governor Kenneth Carter, discusses the ongoing work on the Shallop Elizabeth Tilley.

5 November Meeting

Focus on Colony Member Janice Sly

Please welcome new Stephen Hopkins Colony Education Chairman, Janice Sly.

The primary focus of the Education Chair is our student recognition program. Each year our colony recognizes student representative visits local high schools and interviews students to be recognized by our colony for academic excellence with a focus on the critical role history plays in forming our nation. Janice has graciously accepted this position, and we look forward to meeting the wonderful young talents she has selected for recognition.

Janice is a talented researcher. At our November meeting she presented her paper on Duxbury: ’s first “daughter” township.

Duxbury: Plymouth Colony’s First “Daughter” Township

Seventeen years after the arrival of the Mayflower the Pilgrims established the first township beyond the original borders of Plymouth Colony. In 1637 a township to the north and west of their original settlement was named Duxbury. Most historians believe it was named in honor of Captain Miles Standish whose family had a large estate by that name in Lancashire, England. Captain Standish was one of the first settlers in the new area.

6 Why did it take so long, 17 years, for this expansion? Plymouth Colony, after those first trying years of survival, was stable by 1627, and the population was expanding. The Pilgrim Fathers realized if they were to grow and prosper that they had to break the contract with the Merchant Adventurers who had financed their trip and to whom they owed a large debt with high interest.

The Adventurers controlled not only the economy. The Virginia Patent also defined the geographic borders of the colony. Pilgrims were required to work the land collectively and the profits sent to the Adventurers. Pilgrim families initially had only about one acre allotted to farm for themselves for their sustenance.

The Pilgrim leaders had to take action. Historian Justin Winsor stated: “In 1625, Plymouth Colony leaders appointed Standish to travel to London to negotiate new terms with the Merchant Adventurers. If a settlement could be reached and the Pilgrims could pay off their debt to the Adventurers, then the colonists would have new rights to allot land and settle where they pleased. Standish was not successful in his negotiations and returned to Plymouth in April 1626. Another effort in 1627, this time negotiated by , was successful, and several leading men of Plymouth, including Standish, paid off the colony's debt to the Adventurers.” In return they received trade benefits and the other settlers agreed to eventually pay them back.

Once free of the directives of the Merchant Adventurers, the leaders of Plymouth Colony exerted their new-found autonomy by organizing a land division in 1627. Large farm lots were parceled out to each family in the colony in the land to become known as Duxbury. Ten years later, by 1637, there were enough people living in the area to formally create an official township with its ability to govern itself.

All land was assigned by lottery. Each Pilgrim father received 20 acres for each member of his family; therefore lot sizes varied greatly. Because of the necessity of travel by water, all lots had access to the bay. Private ownership had at last become a reality! A meeting house and a place of worship were soon established.

Duxbury is referenced in many applications for membership in the Society of Mayflower Descendants. In addition to Captain Miles Standish, Pilgrims Alden, Brewster, Eaton, Howland, Brown and Soule were among the first to settle there. As the new township prospered it became the place of residence for many of our Mayflower families, especially in the second and third generations. Later with more population growth new townships would be created from this original daughter settlement.

Fortunately government records, vital statistics (births, marriages, deaths) and maps of this first township are available for research in genealogy libraries and online (many searchable). Exemplary histories have been written. There is much we can learn about our early families who lived in Duxbury in the seventeenth century.

7