Wally, my family came over here ... one side of my family ... on the Mayflower ...the first winter was rough, but they didn't have their hands out for somebody to support them ....
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...
See new grave robbing footnote below on American history.
There are a number of accounts of the first winter of the Mayflwoer -- I like this one:
The Pilgrims first settled the Plymouth Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts in November of 1620 after a 66 day long overseas journey aboard their 100 foot long cargo ship known as the "Mayflower". They landed at a very precarious time of the year ... both the fall and winter of 1620 were especially cold. Of the Pilgrims that survived the journey to America 42 of them would eventually perish during their first winter in Plymouth. That first winter they had inadequate shelter and very little food. They had no fruits or vegetables to eat and relied on hunting, fishing and nut gathering for their survival. Then in the late winter of 1621, just when the question of the Pilgrims' survival was at its bleakest, an English speaking Native American arrived at Plymouth camp. His name was Squanto and the Pilgrims were in awe of him.
... Squanto befriended the Pilgrims and taught the Pilgrims how to farm the sandy, coastal land. He taught them how to plant and harvest different types of plants, specifically corn, which would become a staple of the Pilgrim diet. The Pilgrims harvested over 20 acres of corn their first year at Plymouth. Squanto taught male settlers how to build adequate shelter that would keep the Pilgrims warm and dry during harsh winters. Most importantly, Squanto acted as a mediator and a translator for the Pilgrims when they needed to barter and trade with Native Americans who also inhabited the area. Because of Squanto the Pilgrims and Native Americans were able to carry out a peace treaty that lasted for over 50 years. This furthered guaranteed the success of the Pilgrim settlement.
http://www.helium.com/...
I think that's how it really happened and I'm sticking to my version.
And, Mr. they didn't have their hands out for somebody to support them, you lie.
And it was pretty doggone Christian of Mr. Squanto (in truth his name was Tisquantum, but the foreigners couldn't wrap their stiff tongues around his real name) to lend your esteemed ancestors a hand, especially after he'd been kidnapped and sold into slavery and had no great reason to love the illegal aliens who had invaded his land.
So, I'd like to include this other little footnote to American history regarding Tisquantum:
Tisquantum was a native of Patuxet, living at present-day Plymouth; the Patuxet belonged to the Wampanoag confederation of tribes. Nothing is really known about Squanto's early life. His history picks up in 1614, when Captain John Smith and some of other ships under his command arrive to map Cape Cod and vicinity. John Smith is perhaps better known for having been rescued by Pocahontas at the Jamestown Colony several years earlier. After Smith completed his exploration and mapping of the harbors, he departed, leaving behind an associate, Captain Thomas Hunt, to trade with the Indians....
Thomas Hunt, however, had other plans. Offering to trade beaver, Hunt lured 24 Nauset and Patuxet Indians onboard his ship and took them captive. John Smith would later write that Master Hunt "most dishonestly, and inhumanely, for their kind usage of me and all our men, carried them with him to Malaga, and there for a little private gain sold those silly salvages for rials of eight". Sir Ferdinando Gorges, head of the Council for New England, remembered it similarly: "one Hunt (a worthless fellow of our nation) set out by certain merchants for love of gain; who (not content with the commodity he had by the fish, and peaceable trade he found among the savages) after he had made his dispatch, and was ready to set sail, (more savage-like than they) seized upon the poor innocent creatures, that in confidence of his honesty had put themselves into his hands."
Hunt stored the Indians below the hatches, and sailed them to the Straits of Gibraltar, and on to the city of Malaga, Spain, where he sold as many of them as he could. But when some local Friars in Malaga discovered that they had been brought from America, they took custody of the remaining Indians, and instructed them in the Christian faith. As Sir Ferdinando Gorges states, the Friars "so disappointed this unworthy fellow of the hopes of gain he conceived to make by this new and devilish project."
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/...
Geesh! I guess those early explorers didn't understand basic, raw capitalism and the concept of the "free market." Maybe this Mr. Thomas Hunt was one of the progenitors of our present-day Mr. they didn't have their hands out for somebody to support them.
Something new I just learned:
Winter is coming on fast. No one in their right mind would try to start a colony in Massachusetts in winter.
Luckily there were provisions waiting for the Separatists. The provisions were stored in jars and stashed right next to the cleared fields they found in small structures that had been constructed to house this North American equivalent of Ye Olde Quicky Marte. There was dried venison and fish, corn, beans—a veritable feast! The Pilgrims had to be feeling pretty good about now. A new home with fresh running water, cleared fields, a place to stay, and food.
Oh, there was one more thing. Next to the provisions they found were bones. The bones of the indigenous population. Indian bones. The dried foods were part of the burial rites for the former occupants of their new home. The Pilgrims were desecrating the graves of the recently deceased. The Pilgrims were grave robbers...
http://www.whatdoyaknow.com/...
Grave robbers! Glad I am that I cannot claim an ancestor on the Mayflower.