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| Landing of the Pilgrims by Cornè, circa 1805 |
There are many books
about the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth Colony, including Governor William
Bradford's own Of Plymouth Plantation and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants' silver books covering the first five
generations of each family. Here are other books worth a look for
genealogists.
Reference
If you’ve ever used
the Great Migration series, you know how valuable these books are
for researching the 20,000 immigrants who came to New England between 1620 and
1640. For The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633,
Robert Charles Anderson was not content to package up 200 profiles from the
series for this work; he reviewed and updated the profiles to include the most
current data available. Each family or individual sketch follows a certain
format, with as much detail as possible: last residence; migration date; first
residence in colony and any removes; occupation; church membership; freemen;
offices and military service; education; estate (land and probate) records;
birth, death, marriage; children; associations, either related by marriage or
blood or having connections to other immigrants; comments; and bibliographic
notes.
Susan E. Roser has compiled numerous books based on the work of the
foremost Pilgrim historian, George Ernest Bowman (1860-1941). She includes her
own comments and newer resources with data from Bowman’s vast manuscript
collections at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. Mayflower
Marriages and Deaths, for example, includes 50,000 relations, so in
order to fit so much information in the two-volume set, the type is small. The
series also includes: Mayflower Births & Deaths, Mayflower Marriages, Mayflower Increasings, and Mayflower Deeds & Probates.
Also available by Roser is Mayflower Passenger References (from contemporary records & scholarly
journals).
Non-fiction
In retelling the story
of the voyage and settlement of Plymouth Colony, author Nathaniel Philbrick
busts some myths but also adds much historical detail and turns well-known
names into people with personalities in The Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. He describes in detail
items that were packed on the ship, how historians discovered the name of
the Mayflower (since William Bradford forgot to mention it in
his journals), their difficult voyage, and early settlement. But much of the
book deals with relations with the Native American population, from the
Pilgrims "borrowing" buried corn to all-out battles, culminating in
King Philip's War.
Fiction
At the start of The Pilgrim by Hugh Nissenson, it is the year 1623 and
28-year-old Charles Wentworth is writing the story of his life in order to
become a full member of the Plymouth Colony congregation. To do so, he must
confess his sins and prove his spiritual enlightenment. Written in a
first-person narrative, Charles reveals his childhood and upbringing,
educational and career choices, courtship, Indian interactions, and religious
beliefs. Peppered with details of disease, death, crime and punishment, and
economic hardships, Charles’ story is one his Pilgrim audience is too familiar
with, but the novel’s readers may not be. By using this point of view, author
Hugh Nissenson effectively captures what life was like in old England and new.
