So I have been researching the holiday Thanksgiving (since I've always considered myself a tad American after living in NYC), and came across an interesting find that the real Thanksgiving wasn't in 1620, but 1621!!! Is this common knowledge? Or am I into something?
All this time I thought I'd miss the 400th Thanksgiving only to have a bit of hope.
I want to head to Plymouth--and eventually to Plymouth, Massachusetts -- and learn more about this holiday. In any case, I'm interested to hear if any of you had the same idea.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4573 posts
Posted by
Camano Island, WA, usa
1446 posts
Because quite a few of the Mayflower Covenant Signers died in 1620 and early 1621, the 1st Thanksgiving may have been at Fall Harvest and Hunting Season in 1621 to celebrate the survivors. My Ancestor Edward Fuller and his wife died by the 1st Winter. Their cruise had taken longer than planned; they were supposed to have landed nearer to Manhattan. Their Son Samuel Fuller survived and inherited his Parents promised parcels of land. He lived with his Uncle Samuel until he reached maturity, His Elder Brother Capt. Matthew Fuller joined the Plymouth Colony in 1640 and is my direct ancestor. Other Ancestors were fishermen at Hingham nearby. Thanksgiving was not a regular event; the next major Thanks-giving was after the end of King Philp's War between the English Colonists and the Native Tribes 1675-1678 and was on 12 October after that, celebrated only by the surviving English.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6489 posts
I always understood that they had no harvest in 1620, having landed in Massachusetts on November 11. So their first harvest, for which Thanksgiving was a thanks-giving, would have been in 1621.