TILLEY TIMES ELIZABETH TILLEY COLONY NEWSLETTER May 2021 Elizabeth Tilley Colony Officers: Governor Katherine Adamo Vice Governor Valorie Sherman Secretary Deborah Lansing Historian Howard Berna Treasurer The Elizabeth Tilley Shallop Mary Lou Johnson Please see pages 4 and 5 for some info on Elder shallops. Walt Goulet, Sr. Captain/Scholarship Chairperson Linda Bazell Directors 2021 DUES are now payable. If you Isabelle Fraser have not yet paid your 2021 dues, please do so now, by making your Deborah Lansing check for $54.00 payable to the Susan Stewart Elizabeth Tilley Colony and mail to __________________________ our treasurer: Newsletter Editor Mary Lou Johnson Dorothy Wind 6651 Hauli Court North Port, FL 34287-2449 1 GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE April 19, 2021 Hooray!! Spring is in the air, and things are feeling fresh and new again. We are finally going to meet again in person; however, this will be our last meeting until the fall. I hope that you will plan to join us at the Venice Yacht Club Saturday May 8th at 11:00am. It has been a very long time since we have seen each other. I for one am so happy that things are changing and hope we can get back to a modified “normal”. I know that as of now, everyone is able to get the vaccine, and Lou and I are both vaccinated. The Bayfront Hospital in Port Charlotte has even closed their COVID unit due to lack of patients, and over 100,000 people have been fully vaccinated in the state of Florida. These are all positive signs that we too should move forward and hopefully the rest of the country will as well. Looking forward to seeing everyone again! God Bless, Katherine Adamo, Governor Elizabeth Tilley Colony, GSMD ___________________________________________________________________________________________ May 8th TILLEY COLONY Meeting 11 a.m. At the Venice Yacht Club 1330 Tarpon Drive, Venice, FL (941-488-7708) Entrée: Chicken Savannah From I-75 southbound exit #200, Nokomis. This will take you to US-41. Go south on US-41 to Business 41, bear a gentle right onto Business US-41. Cross over ICW bridge, turn right at second traffic light, heading west on Venice Ave. From I-75 northbound, exit at #193, Venice/ Englewood. Head west on Venice Ave From US-41 north or south, at Venice Avenue turn west and follow directions below. Once on Venice Ave, continue west to the beach. Turn right onto The Esplanade. After about 1/2 mile, turn left on to Tarpon Center Drive; continue on Tarpon Center Drive about a 1/4 mile. The club is on your right. PROGRAM: Our own Muriel Cushing will speak on (are you ready for this?) THOSE SAMPSON CROSS DRESSERS! Please make your reservations, including check for $25 per guest to our Tilley Colony treasurer: Mary Lou Johnson, 6651 Hauli Court, North Port, FL 34287. We will need to know your plans by Wednesday, May 5 to confirm our reservation at Venice Yacht Club. 2 SHALLOPS From Caleb Johnson’s Mayflower History we learn that “during the voyage, the 102 Mayflower passengers lived primarily on the gun deck. The length of the deck from stem to stern was about 80 feet, of which about 12 feet at the back belonged to the gun room and was off-limits to the passengers. The width at the widest part was about 24 feet. This means the living space for all 102 people was only about 58 feet by 24 feet! Various hatches provided access to the cargo hold below. The windlass and capstan, used to haul heavy items between the decks, also took up floorspace, as did the main mast in the middle, and the sprit sail mast in the front. On top of that, the Pilgrims stored on this deck a 30-foot shallop (a small single-sail boat) that they would reassemble upon arrival and use for exploration and future trade. Families would have built themselves small little "cabins", simple wood dividers nailed together, to provide a very small amount of privacy. They lived in this small space for the 66-day voyage, and then many of them lived there another four to six months as they explored for a place to live, and later worked to build houses on shore, in the middle of a snowy and wet New England winter.” Upon arrival, our Mayflower ancestors realized the shallop was severely damaged. Their initial trips ashore were made on the Mayflower’s own smaller boat, something that would no longer be available to them once the Mayflower set upon its return to England in the spring. The pressing need for a small boat of their own was an obvious concern, and those with carpentry skills were soon pressed into service re-building. As Philbrick relates in his Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, “The shallop was proving to be a problem. Instead of days, it was going to be weeks before the boat was completed.” Yet, by November 27, the work had been done, and the Mayflower folks had their own vessel to make expeditions from their Provincetown harbor landing site. Through their scouting on the rivers and byways, they concluded that the former Indian site of Patuxet on a protected harbor would be their new home. Scouting expeditons, hunting and trading were activities that ideally suited the smaller shallop. Over the years, there’ve been several reconstructions of those early 17th century boats using materials and construction methods that would have been available to our forefathers. One such was the Shallop Elizabeth Tilley which is moored in Plymouth Harbor. It was launched on July 8, 2003. Its specs are: “38' 4", weighs 7 tons, draws 2.5- 3 ft of water, and has a 10' 11" beam.” The boat is owned by the John Howland Society, and named for Howland’s fellow passenger and eventual wife, Elizabeth Tilley. 3 In August 2020, as the reconstructed Mayflower II made its triumphant return to Plymouth harbor, the Elizabeth Tilley and her crew were proud to be nearby. In the photo above, showing the stern of the Mayflower II, the Tilley can be seen immediately starboard (that’s right!). 4 CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER! Scholarship Chair Linda Bazell will be introducing the 2021 Elizabeth Tilley Colony scholarship winners at our May 8th meeting. They are Erin Dean and Matthew Adamo. Erin’s grandmother is Tilley Colony member Linda Bazell. Erin attends Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, FL and will be continuing her education at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She is inspired by her pilgrim ancestry and is descended from Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton. Matthew’s mother is Tilley Colony member Katherine Adamo. Matthew is a paramedic and is continuing his education at the University of Phoenix. He plans on getting his master’s degree in nursing. His Mayflower passenger is George Soule. We wish Erin and Matthew well in their academic careers. Tilley Colony Historian Howard Berna reports that three members have had supplemental applications approved: • Cynthia Fallin – MULLINS (Priscilla and William) • Waldemar Goulet, Sr. – BREWSTER • Waldemar Goulet, Jr. – BREWSTER FLORIDA SOCIETY MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS Fall Meeting will be held on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at The Waterfront Inn, The Villages, beginning at 8:00 AM for the Annual Meeting of the State Board, followed at 9:00 A.M. by the Annual Meeting of FSMD Members. This meeting is for ALL members, not just board members. Please contact Tilley Governor Katherine L Adamo if you are able to join her in attending. SOME FREE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY WEBINARS for your consideration May 20 – 6:30 p.m. ET 75 Years Later: Creating Wartime Family Reunions Using Genealogy & DNA with Bonnie Wade Mucia June 17 – 6:30 p.m. ET Made in America: The Pilgrim Story and How it Grew with James W. Baker July 15 – 6:30 p.m. ET Book Talk: The Life of Peregrine White with Stephen O'Neill Links to each lecture will be posted on TheMayflowerSociety.org as they become available. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tilley Colony members should find the word game on the following page a breeze. The puzzle was developed for 4th to 7th graders. Try it on other members of your household, whatever their grade level! 5 6 .