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Well, in two days us US folk celebrate our annual Thanksgiving, and the story of the Pilgrims and the Mayflower leads us to the fact that our continent was first populated in majority by a contingent called "Strangers." The Puritans (the Pilgrims) fled Europe, as we all know, to escape religious persecution, and they took with them a number of other folks. To differentiate the two groups the Puritans dubbed themselves as "Saints" and the non-Puritans as "Strangers." There were 44 "Saints" and 66 "Strangers" who embarked from the Mayflower at olde Plimouth. So, indeed, our continent, in the European sense, was first founded and settled by "Strangers." So you see, our entry-level nomenclature harbors much dignity after all! (emergency edit: excluding the Spanish, of course!) Happy Thanksgiving to all our USn's!...and to all elsewhere who likewise observe, albeit at other times!Here's the url for the full "Stranger" story and other early Plimouth tidbits: http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/pilgrims.htm
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Dear WO'N: please forgive a small quibble, but it is not entirely accurate to say the Pilgrims left Europe to escape religious persecution. If I remember correctly they has been settled in Holland for about twelve years with no persecution.The thing they were most upset about is that they felt in danger of losing their identity and being completely assimilated by the Dutch. I was surprised on a visit to Plimoth Plantation a few years ago to see a map of how widely distributed over the map of England the homes of the Mayflower passengers were. Could it be that the Saints were the group from Holland, and the Strangers were the ones who had not gone to Holland?
PS: I found a site which says the above is correct.
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We've had several discussions on this board about calendars and when certain changes were made.
Was the 1620 calendar identical to ours?
Curious, WordmouthRock
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The calendar change came over a hundred years later. Why do you ask?
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wwh, you do know that I rarely know what time it is...and days are usually way beyond my ken.
However, I did the math for the 65 days of the voyage based on the site Whitman posted, and it came out perfectly correct (from Sept. 6th to Nov. 10th).
I was just curious about the fact that that calculation works out perfectly with our current calendar, and wondered whether an adjustment had been made.
The long explanations here on this board usually make me yawn long before I've finished them--being chronologically challenged myself--but this, even I can understand.
Just curious, Wordwatch
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Dear WW: Since both of WO'N's dates were recorded on the same calendar, the later change would be irrelevant. The people who got hurt were the people in the year of the change, and the discrepancy(about fifteen days?) is a nuisance for genealogists.
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Your "quibble" is correct, Dr. Bill. And, also, I was wondering...if our newcomers are "Strangers," does that make all the other boardmembers "Saints?"
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I have heard it said that it was not so much that the Pilgrim Fathers were being persecuted as that they were not being allowed to persecute others. Could one of our historians comment on what persecution they were suffering?
Bingley
Bingley
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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http://www.egwestate.andrews.edu/gc/gc16.htmlTry this, Bingley, - it is a pretty succinct run down of what happened, I believe. (I've had to crib from elsewhere, using the historians hallowed excuse that "it is not my period" !!! )
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journeyman
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journeyman
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As a 'newbie-stranger' (in the lexicon of this little world, I guess I'm comfortable enough with that label for now), I am thankful today to whitman o'neill for helping me figure out just quite what is happening in here. Though I doubt the pilgrims were the first true strangers on planet earth (surely that started with the wanderings of far more ancient hominids). And I don't type fast enough to get out of this category anytime soon, but I don't feel strange in here with this crowd at all. I'm open to any advice you veterans have for 'stangers' who are trying to navigate this site.
I'm enjoying reading all of you....(intelligent talk) So then, I am also thankful to Anu
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