Muriel's comment about the Pilgrims and Indians living in harmony for so long reminds me of something about which I've always wondered. Does anyone know if this harmony and friendliness ever extended to the Pilgrims and Indians intermarrying? I would think they might have, especially considering the fact that the Pilgrims seemed to be somewhat short of women in their early years. Just wondering... Kathy Fenton In a message dated 11/30/02 9:29:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, flash1620@comcast.net writes: > Good morning, > > I thought others on this list would be interested in the article which > appeared in the Plymouth, MA "Old colony" newspaper this morning. > > Many of us on this list search for the truth and facts in our history. We > provide documentation to suppport our findings. How can we let articles > like this go unchallenged? It is a well known fact that the Pilgrims > and Indians lived in harmony for over 50 years, that the Massachusetts > Society of Mayflower Descendants gives a scholarship each year to a > descendant of the Wampanoag tribe in gratitude for their ancestors help and > friendliness. As descendants we know what we owe the Wampanoag tribe for > without them it is doubtful our ancestors would have survived.. > > Diseases were brought by mariners from many foreign countries long before > the Pilgrims arrived so why are the Pilgrims blamed? It was because of > the sickness that reduced the tribes population many years prior to the > Pilgrims arrival that the Indians were cautious and feared the white man. > Trouble with the Indians did not begin until years later- after immigrants > arrived from many countries - so why are the Pilgrims blamed? > Why not study history and put the blame where it belongs and do we really > need to blame anyone nearly 400 years later? > > I wonder how many of the spokesmen are members of the Wampanoag tribe and > have really studied the history of the Pilgrims. The rock is a symbol of > civil and religous liberty and not to be confused with the problems which > arose later with the great migration. I believe we have enough problems > in this world without creating more. > > Relatively yours, > Muriel Curtis Cushing > > > PLYMOUTH (Nov. 30) - Car traffic stopped Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, as > marchers followed a group of native dancers, who stomped to drum beats > along Water Street, in front of Plymouth Rock. > The march was part of the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) > annual Day of Mourning. Since 1970, the group has gathered on Cole's Hill > to hear native speakers and singers. The crowd then marches from Leyden > Street to Water Street. > > Raul Ruiz, a member of the Mexica nation, spoke to the crowd of about 200. > > "Year after year we come here to celebrate and to mourn," he said. Ruiz > spoke of celebrating American Indian culture and heritage, and mourning the > arrival of the Pilgrims. With them the Pilgrims brought racism and > violence. The rock is a monument to genocide and injustice, he said. > > "Who wants to break that rock," he shouted to the crowd. > > "Break it," he said, and the crowd cheered loudly, but did not move. > > "With our history," Ruiz said, "we will break it. With our love for > justice, we will break it. With our dance, we will break it," he said. > > In 1970, UAINE declared Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning, > co-leader Moonanum James said. James' father, Wamsutta Frank James, an > Aquinnah Wampanoag man, had been invited to speak at a state dinner, > celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims arrival. When banquet > organizers read James' speech about the Pilgrims' treatment of the the > Indians, he was told he would not be allowed to speak. > > "If my father had been allowed to speak, he would have said, 'Today is a > time of celebration for you, but it is not a time of celebrating for me.' " > > James said he wanted people to know the truth about the settlers' treatment > of the Indians. "We are not passive victims. We are like the dirt, like the > sand and like the tide. We shall endure. We will stand and walk on > liberated ground," he said. "We will speak truth to power." > > UAINE co-leader Mahtowin Munro said she believes the native struggle is > about teaching her children native culture. "They are proud of who they are > and skeptical about what they learn in school" she said. "The Pilgrims did > not find an empty land any more than Columbus discovered anything. Every > inch of this land is native land." > > This year's Day of Mourning, as in past years, was dedicated to Leonard > Peltier, a political prisoner in the eyes of UAINE. A citizen of the > Anishinabe and Lakota Nations, Peltier has been in prison for 26 years for > the murder of two FBI agents. Peltier remains a Native American rights > advocate from behind bars. > > Andres Araica and his family sang several songs for the cold crowd. Araica > said he wanted people to understand the Day of Mourning, and why it > existed. As a teacher, he said he hoped people would re-investigate history > on their own, rather than believing what they learned from history books. > He also said he hoped people did not mistake the speakers' passion for > anger. > > Many in the crowd said learning more about history and the native struggle > is what brought them to Cole's Hill that day. > > Terry O'Brien came from Boston to join the Day of Mourning. "I think that > the U.S. needs to admit that the country was built on genocide and > slavery," he said. > > Carver's Kristal Weir said this was her fourth year attending the Day of > Mourning. Standing up to protect native heritage is important, she said. > > While UAINE's protest went on, the Federation of Old Plimoth Indian Tribes > occupied a tent on the waterfront down below. Rodney "Randy" Joseph said > the Federation has been having its Thanksgiving Day cultural exposition and > feast for several years. Joseph and other tribal representatives displayed > native artwork, genealogies and histories of native burial sites. > > Most tourists and locals responded well to the speakers and the march. Tina > Schumacher, who was visiting from Plymouth, N.H., said the speeches were > "humbling." Schumacher, visiting Plymouth resident Dave Calvin, said it was > interesting to see Thanksgiving from a different perspective. > > There were some, however, who did not receive UAINE's message well. As the > crowd assembled at the First Parish Church for a social gathering following > the march, one man drove by, honking his horn and holding up his middle > finger. > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I think I have a right to object to libelous statements about my dog." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt Check out my genealogy web pages! http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/e/n/K-Fenton/index.html ~AND~ http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=twigsandbranches Recycle yourself! Tell someone you want to be an organ and tissue donor!

***-----Original Message----- ***From: STFKPBF@aol.com [mailto:STFKPBF@aol.com] ***Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 9:43 AM ***To: MAYFLOWER-L@rootsweb.com ***Subject: Re: [MFLR] Fw: *** *** ***Muriel's comment about the Pilgrims and Indians living in ***harmony for so long ***reminds me of something about which I've always wondered. Does ***anyone know ***if this harmony and friendliness ever extended to the Pilgrims ***and Indians ***intermarrying? Interesting question Kathy--especially the "ever." I'm not aware of any intermarriages between the English and native population in the first decades of the colony, although there were instances of fornication recorded in the court records, but other people on the list know a lot more about this than I do. Going by what one finds on the web, any marriages to Indian women were marriages to "princesses." I would think they might have, especially ***considering the ***fact that the Pilgrims seemed to be somewhat short of women in ***their early ***years. This is something else I wonder about. Were they "short of women"? A recent US President, much interested in semantics, might have said it depends on what the definition of "short of women" is. In my household the consensus is that the appropriate ratio is one to one, but this may not be everyone's ideal. I looked in the sources I have on hand for some sort of population breakdown and couldn't find anything specific. I looked at the 1627 cattle division and there seem to be very nearly equal numbers of males and females there. In Stratton's _Plymouth Colony_ there's a list of "1627-1634 Arrivals" compiled by Stratton and Robert Wakefield. In this list there are about twice as many males as females. In the early years, when the financial backers of the colony would have wanted to send over a labor supply, one might have expected a surplus of males such as there was in such more wholly commercial colonies as Virginia. But just leafing through some of the Mayflower Society family publications it looks as though virtually all of the males who survived to early adulthood found wives. But is this a special population? Would these have been the "establishment" and thus the men most likely to be in a position to marry? None of the histories of the colony that I have address this question. Does anyone know where to find some statistics on this? I know that unmarried men were discouraged from living together--that is they were supposed to live in the households of married couples until they married. Cases came before the court now and then, so there were a few around. But were there many? I have no idea.