Our Connection to the First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving

I know that Thanksgiving has already passed this year, but this is one of those ancestor links that I really, really enjoy.  :)  Despite my uneasiness and sadness about the fact that the Native Americans were treated so poorly, I do realize that without these historical events, many (if not most) of us would not be here today.  It's one of those things that bring pride and sadness mixed together for me.

In all of my research, not only do I do everything in my power to be accurate, but I also strive to get as far back on the lines as humanly possible.  Some lines are easier than others (see the Rickelmann line, holy cow are those folks elusive!), but the feeling of putting in that last jigsaw puzzle piece when I hit that goal is awesome!  And this is one of those lines!

The first link I found back to the Mayflower in my line is on my Dad's side, through the Harris line, to the Delano line and then to the Warren side.  Richard Warren was on the Mayflower and is my 10th Great Grandfather.  The Delano line is also a link to the Roosevelt line (two presidents!), but that's for another post. :)

So, let's start with the line, and then the stories.  History comes alive sometimes!  :)

The genealogy of this line is on the page titled "Richard Warren - Pilgrim" (on the right hand side bar, you can find that link)

The fun stuff first - what was on the menu for that first meal that happened in 1621?  Find the details here!
http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal

And here is some serious history: 

In early autumn of 1621, the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest, as was the English custom. During this time, "many of the Indians coming... amongst the rest their great king Massasoit, with some ninety men."

That 1621 celebration is remembered as the "First Thanksgiving in Plymouth." There are two (and only two) primary source descriptions of the events of the fall of 1621. In Mourt’s Relation, Edward Winslow writes:

              "our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a
               special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one
               day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at
               which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming
               amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom
               for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they
               brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And
               although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God,
               we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

In Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford writes:

               "They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings
                against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty.
                For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod
                and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion.
                All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter
                approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by
                degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took
                many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now
                since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of
                their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports."

Detail from Brownscombe's
First Thanksgiving at Plymouth

The Pilgrims did not call this harvest festival a "Thanksgiving," although they did give thanks to God. To them, a Day of Thanksgiving was purely religious. The first recorded religious Day of Thanksgiving was held in 1623 in response to a providential rainfall.

LATER SIGNIFICANCE OF THANKSGIVING

"The Pilgrim Fathers incorporated an early thanksgiving day among [their] moral influences... it blessed and beautified the homes it reached."

- Sarah Josepha Hale, 1865

"Thanksgiving is celebrated at the expense of Native Peoples who had to give up their lands and culture for America to become what it is today."

- Linda Coombs, Aquinnah Wampanoag, 1997

The religious day of thanksgiving and the harvest festival evolved into a single event: a yearly Thanksgiving, proclaimed by individual governors for a Thursday in November. The custom of an annual Thanksgiving celebrating abundance and family spread across America.

Some presidents proclaimed Thanksgivings, others did not. Abraham Lincoln began the tradition of an annual national Thanksgiving in 1863.

Thanksgiving is an enduring symbol from which millions of immigrants have learned "Americanism." While not all Native Peoples celebrate the day, the story of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag sharing a harvest celebration remains an inspiration to many.

For more about the evolution and significance of the modern Thanksgiving, visit the Thanksgiving section of this site.  Taken from Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Who was there?

I haven't been able to find an exact list of who was at that very first Thanksgiving, but historical documents report that we know that the Wampanoag Indians were there.  Find more about them here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampanoag_people

As for the Pilgrims - we know that there were 53 of them who had survived that first year at the New World.  They had mostly been living on the Mayflower, docked nearby, due to their fear of the Natives and the rapid rate at which they were dying from unfamiliar diseases and malnutrition and exposure.  The feast that took place that three days was in celebration of their survival and their first successful harvest (with help of the Natives of course).  And my 10 Great Grandfather, Richard Warren, was among them, having survived.  :)