ANSWER: Puritans wanted to purify the Church of England, while Separatists wanted to separate entirely from it. Mayflower passengers (at least those belonging to the Pilgrim's church in Leyden) are properly classified as Separatists. There was a Puritan church in Leyden, Holland as well, which the Pilgrims did not generally associate with (the Puritans thought the Separatists were too extreme!).
Separatist views were not as extreme as Puritanical beliefs regarding social customs, but were more extreme when it came to separating ties with the established English church. Puritans came to America starting about 1629,
and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony under Governor John Winthrop. After the English civil war, Puritans and Separatists movements slowly became indistinguishable, though they tended to keep to separate Colonies even into
the 1690s.
#2) MYTH: The Pilgrims stole the land from the Indians.
ANSWER: The Pilgrims arrived and found a place to settle, called Plimoth. The native Indians called the area Patuxet. The Patuxet tribe had been completely wiped out in a 1617 plague, and so there was at the time no tribe
inhabiting or claiming the land the Pilgrims settled. The only Patuxet survivor of the plague was Tisquantum, more commonly called "Squanto", who was accepted into the Plimoth Colony and acted as interpreter and negotiator
with Chief Massasoit and the Wampanoag confederation of tribes--the Pilgrims neighbors. (Many of the first settlers married Indians.) The Wampanoags never challenged the Pilgrims right to live on the land; further, the Pilgrims paid for and purchased land from the Indians--something many subsequent colonists would not do. The signatures, or "marks" of Native Americans can be found on many early Plymouth land deeds.
#3) MYTH: The Mayflower passengers always wore black and white clothes, without any color, and had big buckles.
ANSWER: Wearing only colorless clothing was occasionally a Puritan extreme, but never a Separatist extreme. When a Mayflower passenger died, an inventory of the person's estate was taken by the Court, for purposes of probate. Let's look at a few, and see some of the colors of clothing found. John Howland had two red waistcoats. William Bradford had a green gown, violet cloak, lead colored suit with silver buttons, and a red waistcoat. And William Brewster had green drawers, a red cap, and a violet coat. Black, white, grey, and brown were by far the most common colors worn by the Pilgrims, but were definitely not the only colors. Children wore a lot of blues and yellows; men and women wore lots of reds and earthy greens. The only color that was "taboo" was purple, which socially stood for royalty, or wealth. Click here for more information on Pilgrim clothing.
The Pilgrims did not have buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats. Buckles did not come into fashion until the late 1600s--more appropriate for the Salem Witchcraft trials time period than for the Pilgrims time period.
#4) MYTH: The Mayflower made a second voyage to America.
ANSWER: The Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to America was never used again as a passenger ship. From its return in April, 1621 until the death of its master Christopher Jones in March, 1622, it resumed its former occupation as a trading vessel. After Christopher Jones' death, the ship sat in harbor slowly decaying while it was in probate. Christopher Jones gave his part of the ship to his widow, Josian, and in 1624 an inventory of the Mayflower was taken. It is described as being "in ruinis". Ships in this condition were always broken up and sold for wood--an extremely valuable commodity in England.
There was a ship named the Mayflower II that came to Plimoth in 1629.
#5)MYTH: The Mayflower passengers were mostly old men.
ANSWER: This is one of the most prevailing stereotypes, and couldn't be further from the truth. The oldest Mayflower passenger was 57. Only five of the 104 Mayflower passengers were over 50--and
only fourteen Mayflower passengers were over 40. About 60 passengers were between 20 and 40 years old, with an average age of about 32. At least 30 passengers were under the age of 17. As for a gender breakdown,
there were about 51 men, 22 boys, 20 women, and 11 girls. The oldest Mayflower passenger still alive to partake in the First Thanksgiving was William Brewster, at the age of 54.
#6) MYTH: The Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving every year.
ANSWER: The Pilgrims had the First Thanksgiving, but it was never made into an annual event. When William Bradford's journal was discovered in 1854, it brought a lot of interest and attention to the Pilgrims history;
so with the lobbying of Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.
SOURCES:
The Pilgrim Way
The History of Cape Cod
