December 21, 2021
Introduction: In this article – to celebrate today being Forefather’s Day in honor of the Pilgrims – Melissa Davenport Berry concludes her story about the dedication ceremony for the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
As I described in yesterday’s article, Forefather’s Day commemorates the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on 21 December 1620, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean and then spending a month exploring Cape Cod. The Mayflower had anchored in what became Provincetown Harbor on November 21.
Nearly 300 years later, townspeople in Provincetown, Massachusetts, erected an impressive, 252.5-foot-tall granite tower, the Pilgrim Monument, to honor the Pilgrims’ arrival in the New World.
The Pilgrim Monument was dedicated on 5 August 1910.
Dr. Rev. Daniel Requa Foster (1838-1915), a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants through his direct line to William Brewster, wrote an account of the monument’s dedication. His description of the event was published in the Trenton Evening Times. Yesterday I presented the first half of his account; today we get the rest of what he had to say.
At the conclusion of the dedication ceremonies at the monument the hundreds of invited guests passed through a wall of armed marines to the town hall, beautifully decorated with flags and flowers. Music was furnished by the band of the flagship. Some of its members are Filipinos.
The banquet measured up to the high level of the day. As the guest of honor, our Chief Magistrate beamed upon the joyous throng with his most radiant smile. On his right sat the Secretary of the Navy, on his left the toastmaster, the Hon. A. P. Hannum of Provincetown; Governor Draper; Rear Admiral Schroeder and his staff, all resplendent in full uniform, were in close proximity, and the other speakers were in line. Mrs. Taft and Mrs. Schroeder were the only women at that table. Scattered among the other tables were admirals, commanders, generals, and colonels, their gold braid and epaulettes adding brilliancy to the scene. There was much after-dinner speaking, and Mr. Taft’s address was the hit of the occasion.
He begged to deny the report that the Mayflower [the presidential yacht] had been selected to convey the guests from Beverly because it contained a bath tub specially suited to the size of any chief magistrate, but he stated that that ship had been chosen because, all things considered, it was the most suitable means of transportation, leaving out the question of the bath tub entirely. At the close of his speech he simply said “goodbye,” and motored away to his boat without holding a reception, feeling that two addresses in one day were enough to require of a President without subjecting him to the ordeal of a farewell hand-shaking.
Thus closed the historic dedication of the Provincetown Monument, which commemorates the principle, faith, fortitude, and heroic deeds of the Pilgrim Fathers, but through all the coming ages that majestic tower will stand sentinel over their work, bearing testimony to their high ideals, which have called forth those vivifying forces that have made our Unites States what they are, and are destined, we trust, to aid in unifying all the nations of the world in the bond of peace.
This next article quoted extensively from the address delivered by President William Taft during the monument dedication ceremony.
The President told the crowd:
“The spirit which prompted them [the Pilgrims] to brave the sea, to land on this forbidding coast in winter, and to live here, has made the history of this country what it is. It prompted and fought the Revolutionary War. It welcomed and fought the Civil War, and has furnished the United States the highest ideals of moral life and political citizenship. We need not defend the lack of liberality which, in their early history, the Pilgrims may have shown to those differing with them in religious belief and creed. Out of the logic of their processes, intellectually there came religious freedom, while in the energy of their religious faith they uncomplainingly met the hardships that were inevitable in the search for liberty.”
The President concluded his address by saying:
“It is meet, therefore, that the United States, as well as the state of Massachusetts, should unite in placing here a memorial to the Pilgrims. The warships that are here with their cannon, to testify to its national character, typify the strength of that government whose people have derived much from the spirit and example of the heroic band. Governor Bradford, Elder Brewster and Captain Miles Standish are the types of men in whom as ancestors, either by blood or by education, and examples as citizens, the American people may well take pride. This magnificent monument will fittingly remind the traveler by sea of the beginning of New England, and note the fact that these whose spirit of liberty was to persist for centuries, even to the foundation and preservation of our great Republic, here first saw the land and here first put foot upon the shore.”
Note: An organization called the Old Colony Club celebrates Forefather’s Day on December 22 because, according to Wikipedia: “In adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21.”
Happy Forefather’s Day Pilgrim descendants!
Additional Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers.
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