The Pilgrims. They first arrived in the New World in Provincetown Harbor today ,11/11/1620. Clueless, unprovisioned and woefully unprepared, they began a true saga.http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/ This site is great reading. Look for "Mourt's Relation" a great account of their first days in the New World.

remembering the incans -- or whoever it was the so-called "native americans" pushed out before we pushed them out, but after some other group pushed them out ... and so on.

does anyone know about the migration projects where they track your DNS to see where your family lineage came from? I bet it would be interesting to see the fluctuations of populations over the last 4 thousand years.

historybooks are written by the most recent winners.

Another great read; "Mayflower"by Nathanial Philbrick. Describes the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Natives.....and how it changed. Ask for it for Christmas.

My 83 year old father told me my great,great,great,great,great,great grandfather and grandmother knew the pilgrims (Wampanoag)
and my, great, great, great, great grandfather helped George Washington build the entrenchments for the cannons that were brought from Fort Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights during the Revolutionary War.
My dad is past chairman of the Foxborough Historical Society.

My great, great, great, great grandfathers name was James Easton
http://old.hartfordadvocate.com/articles/1blood.html
The man that wrote this was my great, great, great uncle.
http://www.gifts.com/products/Walmart/To-Heal-the-Scourge-of-Prejudice-The-Life-and-Writings-of-Hosea-Easton?p=2143:631824:10&sid=vsmopd:to+heal+the+scourge+of+prejudice+the+li fe+and+writings+of+hosea+easton+book:P&rid=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dh osea%2Beaston%26sp%3D1%26fr2%3Dsp-top%26fr%3Dytff1-%26ei%3DUTF-8%26ei%3DUTF-8%26SpellState%3Dn-1563280589_q-dlzrahQaIWxeIp32GtvFCgABAA%2540%2540

My grandmums maiden name was Easton.

Ya know something Fred, I had a relative on the Mayflower who fell off the ship while in PTown harbor and drowned. Dorothy(May) Bradford, wife of Gov. Bradford.

They say Plymouth is where it all began , Americas' hometown and all. But they first set foot on Cape Cod. Besides, wasn't Jamestown settled first:huh:

I love history, I don't like to read but I never minded reading history.

I fixed the url BBJ, thanks for putting it up :btu:

I thought they 1st landed on 1st Encounter beach in Eastham..There is a marker there on top of the hill listing the names..Thanks BBJ for the links..Looks like interesting reading

You'all should visit the Monument Museum in Provincetowm. Lotsa history there. And you get t climb it

I love this stuff, mostly because I am fortunate to be able to trace back to Stephen Hopkins, who with second wife Elizabeth Fisher had Oceanus the first child born in the New World (actually, I think he was born on the ship in passage and another kid had the distinction of being born while the ship was anchored in Provincetown. There's a short read in the most recent Yankee Magazine that goes into some depth on the compelling reason for leaving England and what befell them when they arrived in Provincetown. Roughly half the 100 crew and passengers died in the first year after their arrival. The article is called something like, "Why The Pilgrims Stilll Matter."
Actually, First Encounter Beach is where the Indians caught up with Miles Standish and his men after they had taken the Indians' corn at what is now Corn Hill Beach.

Read "the Enduring Shore" by Paul Schnieder. The Pilgrims story is well told and factual. (I especially liked the part about the first public execution in the Plymouth Colony, it was an 18 year old kid who got hung for "buggery" seems he did up sheep, pigs, goats horses and cows plus, and I have no Idea how you would do this, a turkey.)

When the hung him they made him watch as they killed all the animals he buggered which they then buried in a pit as they were thought to be unfit for human consumption then they hung him on
the same day.

Saddest part was what the contact with the English, French and Spanish did to the native american indians, thousands died from influenza. It was documented by Miles Standish as he went to Massaoits camp near Bristol RI and he passed villages where the houses still stood but the skeletons were the only ones in them.

The Nausets got it right, they didn't like the Plgrims, trust them or want anything to do with them.

he said BUGGERY :humpty:

My wife has Pilgrim descendants. My family doesn't show up until one was hung as a witch in Salem. A guy yet. :hang: :skulz: :wall:

I worked for several years with a gentleman named Carl Freeman Ryder from Harwich MA. He was a direct decendant of one of the Mayflower Compact signers who is buried in the old church graveyard in Harwich. Carl has now moved to Texas, he said even though his family and he were born and brought up here on the Cape it wasn't the same anymore and Texas was a new start.

Nathaniel Philbreck
"Mayflower"

Pretty good account of the early years--> King Phillips War..

Funny. Back in the "old days" on the Back we called any new comer a "Pilgrim"

I thought they 1st landed on 1st Encounter beach in Eastham..There is a marker there on top of the hill listing the names..Thanks BBJ for the links..Looks like interesting reading

I think that is where the Pilgrims had their first face to face encounter with Native Americans. They had set out from Ptown looking for fresh water, food......

Read this: :rtfm: http://etext.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/mourt1.html

I've been studying this for over 10 years, ever since I discovered what else they found at Corn Hill, other than corn.:eek5: Man, the things they didn't teach in school!

Thanks for the Mourt1 link.!

My wife has Pilgrim descendants. My family doesn't show up until one was hung as a witch in Salem. A guy yet. :hang: :skulz: :wall:

Allerton and Howland are my strong links....lots of witches to.... my favorite linked name is Shearjashub Bourne.... lots of cool names back then.... Thankful was a womans first name.

[quote=Flaptail;433238] an 18 year old kid who got hung for "buggery" seems he did up sheep, pigs, goats horses and cows plus, and I have no Idea how you would do this, a turkey.)

So..... you have`nt had Turkey :laughs: ?

Mourt's Relation is addictive. I remember my grandfather reading it to me many Thanksgivings ago. You get a real feel for their experiences and where they were at any given time in their adventure. I can't even concentrate on my work I so glued to this thing, now.

The book Flaptail recommended, The Eduring Shore, is a very good read. You'll learn that the Pilgrims were about 150 years behind the first white men to have hit the shores of the Cape and Islands(some say the Vikings had been here almost 1,000 years earlier). When a small group of Pilgrims first encountered the Natives (after rowing a dory from P-town to Eastham) one of the Natives was wearing leather shoes with brass buckles, and an overcoat. The arrival of the Pilgrims was the beginning of the end for the Indians, but hardly the beginning of the white man's arrival on the Cape and Islands.

there's another good book, Cape Cod by a guy named William Martin.
Good book, reads like a Mitchener novel. Mixes history with modern day fiction.
Gets into the Murder on the Mayflower and the cover up that was involved. Along with some items that were found at the Corn Hill site and who was best to keep these items. One item taken from corn hill was an axe that was in the grave of the man with golden hair. Obviously a decendent of Norsemen.
It weaves the history in and out from past to present scandals on the Cape. Real estate scandels etc.,the with of Billingsgate is mentioned anlong with goody Hallet.

Martin's "Cape Cod" is a great read. My favorite part is where some Truro boys, who are enjoying a couple of nights in the "big city" Boston are Shanghiaed by the Brits during the War of 1812. By the Somerset. ( Paul Revere rowed stealithly past it prior to his ride). As the Somerset sailed past the back beach of Truro the lads said that they could be dropped off right here. When they were informed that they were in His Magestry's Navy, they grounded the Somerset. It sits at Peaked Hill Bar to this day. Oh yeah the British were marched all the way back to Boston by the good citizens of Truro at the tines of pitchforks.

All these books are gonna make good winter reading..thanks

When the Pilgrims were "finding" corn at Corn Hill they also found a blonde body dressed in European sailor's clothes and an iron pot. There was also the remains of a fort at the mouth of the Pamet River. I have a Smithsonian Magazine around here that tells of a French crew that was washed ashore at Long Point and probably built that fort. They were picked off one at a time and paraded as prizes up and down the Cape. And tortured at various villages. Mostly as an act of revenge for the havoc that Cpt. John Smith's previous visit had caused. Rampant disease that nearly wiped out the Natives, and slaving, Natives were taken and sold by Smith's Captain. One of the natives being Squanto, who not only helped the Pilgrims survive their first year, but had been to Europe and back. Twice. And who also was vieing for power against Massasoit. The Plymouth Pilgrims were not the first attempt at colonizing New England btw, there was a failed attempt in Maine almost 20 years prior. This story is not all tall hats, big buckles, and turkeys. It is worthy of serious study.

im related to the guy that scraped the barnacles off the bottom of the mayflower . his name was Bill Bailey , he had a nickname
"barnacle bill the sailor"

I lent my Martin book out a few years ago. I'ld like to read it again.