THE MAYFLOWER
Alice Toth
Class: English: Mr. Sampson
FAMILY TREE JOURNAL
I am descended from the Pilgrims, the people who landed on Plymouth Rock.* Plymouth Rock is in Massachusetts, and there’s not much left of it from people taking pieces of it.
The Pilgrims came from a village called Scrooby* in England.
(Don’t get them confused with the Puritans,* which is the name of the bigger group of Protestants the Pilgrims split off from.) The Pilgrims were part of a sect called “Separatists” because they separated from the Church of England and created their own religion. This was against the law so they had to escape to Holland.
Then in 1620, they got on a boat called the Mayflower* and came to America.
Then they were happy, except for the people who died because of the cold and disease the first winter after they landed. And this one woman, Dorothy May, was so unhappy she jumped off the Mayflower and drowned when the Pilgrims got to America, but before they stepped on Plymouth Rock.
I think the reasons Dorothy May might have jumped off the Mayflower were: 1. There were bugs in the meat she was eating. 2. She was very cold from the snow and the icy rain. (It was December in Cape Cod. You can imagine how cold that would be.) 3. The cabin she was staying in was packed with smelly people because no one could take a bath. 4. Her husband was in love with someone else.
As an assignment for Mr.
Sampson’s English class,
Allie created a family tree
journal, writing about her
Pilgrim ancestors.
*Plymouth Rock today. The bars keep people from taking any more pieces of it.
*Ye olde building in Scrooby
advertising that the Pilgrims had begun their journey there.
*A boy being poked with a staff during a Puritan church service because he was talking to a friend. Boys were expected to sit quietly during a sermon that could last up to four hours.
*The voyage of the Mayflower was incredibly cold and wet. There was very little food and long days with nothing to do but get seasick.
Painting: Voyage at Sea by Gilbert T. Margeson
At Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, you can visit a full-size reproduction of the original Mayflower.
This isn’t it. This is a paper model.
(“Cut and Assemble Mayflower” www.doverpublications.com)
