Tag: FindingYourRoots
-
History is Told by the Victors
While wandering Europe for more than 2 months, one truth echoes over and over – history is told by the victors. The victors are usually those who had the best war machines and/or population to outlast the identified ‘enemy.’ That enemy often was of a different religion, tribe or simply, they occupied the land others…
-
The Pilgrim’s Badge
Pilgrim’s badge. During the Middle Ages, graves rarely contained real treasure. However sometimes a cockleshell from the tomb of St James or the Mount of St Michel was discovered. Proof of piety. I began carrying cockleshells in my pockets long ago. I find them in my suitcases and in old, forgotten handbags. Piety is not…
-
Memorial Day
If you are from New England, Memorial Day is for grave visiting. A time to remember those who have pasted, those who were lost, sharing lore and planting pansies or geraniums. In the oldest, colonial cemetery on Cape Cod, my 8th great-grandmother Mercy Worden is buried. She is surrounded by family, my other great-grandparents Kenelm,…
-
This is Us
I didn’t know I was a Pilgrim’s granddaughter. The story I had been raised on was ‘you better depend on yourself, because you can’t depend on anyone else. you are alone…’ That was my mother’s story. The one she repeated a 1000 times in every way. Her father arrived from Ireland two weeks before the…
-
The Native People: Who were the Wampanoag?
The Pilgrim stories were much friendlier when I was a child because I didn’t know they were only true in part. To the victors go the story telling and the Native People lost. Immediately as you go wandering the past, one bumps into facts that are raw and discombobulating. To conquer a New World means…
-
The Pilgrim’s Granddaughter: Scandal and ‘Own Perticuler Way’, Part 2
Around 1636, Peter Worden, his son Peter (Jr) and illegitimate grandson, John Lewis, arrived in Plymouth Colony in their own ‘Particular’ way. The elder Peter was a gentleman of means at 68 years old. He was born June 9, 1568 at Clayton Manor, Clayton-le-Woods, Lancashire, England. He belonged to the same Preston Merchant Guild in…
-
Plymouth Colony: Pilgrims, Strangers and Particulars
The building of a new colony was expensive. As the Puritans did not have the funds to finance this new venture – they had to borrow. The Pilgrims did not want to procure New World landing permits through the Dutch as they considered themselves English. Although religious liberty is was essential for the Puritans, they…
-
The Pilgrim’s Granddaughter: Part 1
In early 14th century England, the Winslow family emerged as a loosely knit clan living near the hamlet of Winslow, from which they adopted their name (located 50 miles northwest of London.) Kenelm was the third son and fourth child of Edward Winslow and Magdalene (Ollyver) of Droitwich, Worcestershire, Eng. Kenelm was born on Sunday,…
The Pilgrim's Granddaughter 