Thursday, November 14, 2019

Books Written by Mayflower Passengers

Books Written by Mayflower Passengers
A Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plymouth, by Edward Winslow and others (London, 1622).  These are the Pilgrims' journals for the first year at Plymouth.
Good News from New England, by Edward Winslow (London, 1624).  See also a full scan of an original.  These are the Pilgrims' journals for the second and third year at Plymouth.
Of Plymouth Plantation (Volume 1 and Volume 2) by William Bradford (written 1630-1651, first published 1854).  This is the most complete first-hand history of Plymouth, written by its long-time governor.
First Conference Between Some Young Men Born in New England and some Ancient Men who Came out of Holland, by William Bradford (manuscript, 1648).
Third Conference Between Some Young Men Born in New England and some Ancient Men who Came out of Holland Concerning the Church and the Government Thereof, by William Bradford (manuscript, 1651).
The poetry of William Bradford (various poems, 1640s, and 1650s).
Hypocrisy Unmasked, by Edward Winslow (London, 1646).
New England's Salamander Discovered, by Edward Winslow (London, 1647).
Glorious Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians, by Edward Winslow (London, 1649).



A lot of these books were written by Edward Winslow. Edward Winslow was a Separatist who traveled on the Mayflower in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony.
This portrait of Edward Winslow was done in London in 1651. It is the only well-authenticated portrait of a  Mayflower  passenger. It is on display at the  Pilgrim Hall Museum  in Plymouth.
Edward Winslow was born in Droitwich, co. Worcester in 1595.  He was traveling in the Low Countries, and subsequently became acquainted with the Pilgrims' church in Leiden.  He was married in Leiden in 1618 to Elizabeth Barker, and was called a printer of London at the time.  It is quite possible he was assisting William Brewster and Thomas Brewer in their publishing of religious books that were illegal in England.

Edward Winslow and wife Elizabeth came on the Mayflower to Plymouth in 1620.  Elizabeth died the first winter, and Edward remarried to the widowed Susanna (Jackson) White, on 12 May 1621--the first marriage in the Plymouth Colony.

Winslow quickly became one of the more prominent men in the colony.  He was on many of the early explorations of Cape Cod, and led a number of expeditions to meet and trade with the Indians.  He wrote several first-hand accounts of these early years, including portions of A Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the Plantation Settled at Plymouth (London, 1622) and the entirety of Good News from New England (London, 1624).


Edward Winslow became involved in defending the Plymouth and later Massachusetts Bay Colonies from their opponents and adversaries in England, and made several trips back and forth between England and Massachusetts, including trips in 1623/4, 1630, and 1634; on one occasion he was arrested and thrown into the Fleet Prison in London by his adversaries, on grounds that he had performed marriage ceremonies without being ordained (the Pilgrims viewed marriage as an event to be handled by the civil magistrates, not by the Church).  Winslow returned to England shortly after the English Civil War, and published a couple of pamphlets in defense of the New England colonies, including Hypocrisy Unmasked (1646) andNew England's Salamander Discovered (1647).  He also wrote the introduction to the Glorious Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England (1649).

In Plymouth, he held a number of political offices, as was routinely elected an assistant to Governor William Bradford; Winslow himself was elected governor of Plymouth on three occasions: 1632/3, 1635/6, and 1644.  After Winslow returned to England, he was on several Parliamentary committees.  He died in 1655 at sea between Hispaniola and Jamaica, while serving as a commissioner for Oliver Cromwell on a military expedition to retake the island of Hispaniola.

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