December 11, 2015
Our Mayflower ancestors must have been a tough bunch, building the new Plymouth Colony during that first difficult winter of 1620-1621 when so many of them died due to illness and exposure.
It is recorded that 45 of the 102 original Mayflower passengers died during that first winter. The toll was especially hard on the women: of the 18 adult women who came over on the Mayflower, 13 died during that first winter (and another in May).
Despite the harsh winter conditions, they built seven homes – and four “common houses” – in Plymouth, left the shelter of the Mayflower, and settled into life in their new colony.
The extreme difficulty of that first winter was described in an article columnist John Chamberlain wrote for Thanksgiving in 1966.
It wasn’t easy – but they persevered.
Document your hearty ancestors of all generations by finding their records and stories in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.
Related Mayflower Genealogy Articles:
- Researching Your Pilgrim Ancestry from Mayflower Ship Passengers
- Researching Recent Obituaries for All My Mayflower Cousins
- Mayflower Heritage: Jack Howland Loved His!
- Mayflower Pilgrim Thomas Rogers: Are You a Descendant?
- New Discovery about Mayflower Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins
- Man Overboard! Mayflower Pilgrim John Howland’s Story
- Are You a Descendant of Mayflower Pilgrim John Alden?
- Full List of Mayflower Passengers in Gov. Bradford’s Newly-Restored Journal
