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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday - Some Pilgrims in Plymouth

While in Plymouth, Massachusetts for the Triennial Mayflower Congress I was able to find a little bit of free time to find a few memorial stones at Burial Hill for passengers on the Mayflower.  These were erected by descendants, since no one knows exactly where their bodies lie in Plymouth.  The only known burial spot of a Mayflower passenger, with a grave marker contemporary to the time of death is that of Richard More in Salem, Massachusetts.



IN MEMORIAM
ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER
PATRIARCH OF THE PILGRIMS
AND THEIR RULING ELDER 1609 - 1644
OUTSTANDING LEADER OF PILGRIM MOVEMENT
THE FOUNDING OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION
AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL AND
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE NEW WORLD
B. AT SCROOBY, ENGLAND, CA 1566-7
D. AT PLYMOUTH, N.E. CA APRIL 10, 1644
A RESIDENT OF PLYMOUTH AND DUXBURY
M. CA 1589 MARY WENTWORTH OF SCROOBY
B. CA 1568-9 D. AT PLYMOUTH CA APRIL 17, 1627
BOTH MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS REST
IN UNKNOWN GRAVES IN PLYMOUTH
POSSIBLY IN OR NEAR BURIAL HILL
ERECTED 1967
BY THE ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER SOCIETY


SITE OF THE HOUSE WHERE
JOHN ALDEN
LIVED WHILE IN PLYMOUTH
THIS STONE ERECTED BY
HIS DESCENDANTS
THE ALDEN KINDRED
OF AMERICA
1930

We didn't find John Howland's memorial stone at Burial Hill, but whilst visiting the Jabez Howland House in Plymouth we photographed this rubbing of that same stone! 

Here ended the Pilgrimage of
JOHN HOWLAND
who died February 25, 1672/3
aged above 80 years
married Elizabeth daughter of
JOHN TILLEY
who came with him on the 
Mayflower dec. 1620
from them are descended 
numerous posterity.

"He was a godly man and an ardent
professor of the wayes of Christ. Hee was
one of the first comers into this land and 
was the last man that was left of those
that came over in the Shipp called the
Mayflower that lived in Plymouth"
--Plymouth Records

After leaving Burial Hill we went to Cole's Hill, which is on the waterfront near Plymouth Rock.  This is where the Mayflower passengers had their first cemetery, burying the victims who died that first winter in Massachusetts 1620-1621.   There is a large monument here, containing the unidentified remains found during excavations.  It is inscribed with the names of those who succumbed the first winter.  There is also a statue to Massasoit and a plaque identifying this area as a National Historic Monument.   The Wampanoag Nation also laid a plaque to the National Day of Mourning next to Massasoit. 


"OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOUR PASSENGERS
 THESE DIED IN PLYMOUTH IN THE FIRST YEAR
THIS TABLET
MARKS THE SPOT WHERE
LIES THE BODY OF ONE FOUND
OCT. 8TH 1883.  THE BODY OF ANOTHER
FOUND ON THE 27TH
ON THE FOLLOWING MONTH
LIES 8 FEET NORTHWEST OF
THE WESTERLY CORNER
OF THIS STONE.
ERECTED 1884."

[on the other side]

"Here under cover of darkness the fast dwindling company laid their dead, leveling the earth above them lest the Indians should learn how many were their graves. Reader, history records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than that of this pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man through countless ages should have liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our Republic throughout the world."


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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

7 comments:

  1. Burial Hill is one of my favorite places in Plymouth to visit. What great photos!

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  2. Very nice photos and write-up! Thanks Heather!

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  3. Thanks for sharing these pictures and information! (I'm a Brewster and Howland descendant)

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  4. Howlan's grave is probably on his land in Duxbury. There's a memorial stone on Burial Hill and his wife is buried in RI . I have photos if you want them.

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  5. It's amazing how things connect. One of my Blackburn cousins (who happens to live in Plymouth) married a descendent of Edward Doty's and one of my husband's ancestors (Stephen Hopkins, a Mayflower passenger) sponsored Edward Doty, who came along with him.
    Small world.
    Lynda True

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  6. Lynda, I was standing there photographing this with a friend who is from Stephen Hopkins, and Doty is one of my ancestors, too. I turned to her and said "Hey, my ancestor was your ancestor's servant!" We had a good laugh! Thanks everyone for your comments...

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