by Carol H. Morgan

Created on: October 22, 2009   Last Updated: November 04, 2009

The methods of preparation for leaving on a cross-Atlantic journey likely differed according to the group, who was in that group, and the purpose for their trip as well as the amount of resources they were either given or owned. But in any of these cases, the process of leaving to establish or join a colony in the new world was not a straight-forward or easy process for any pilgrim. Though of course there were many other ships besides those who carried its overcrowded passengers, the example of their story is typical of the things that can go right and wrong for those that found they needed to leave their home country in Europe.

GROUPS CONSISTING EARLY PILGRIMS IN AMERICA

People left England for many different reasons. Some of the earliest were those in the Virginia colonies and differed vastly in their level of perparation. Some of them, even though ironically being well backed and supplied, spent valuable time looking for gold rather than the simpler settlers of New England who knew their first order of business would be survival.

For groups such as the New England colonists, they were mainly beckoned acoss the sea for opportunities of religious freedom, and not making a mint to send back home. The two best known of these groups were the Puritans (seeking to purify the church and its doctrines from the impurities and immoralities they saw there) and the separatists, who more generally wanted to separate from the Anglicans though they had less formulated doctrine. They also partnered with others including those who would help them survive, and others who were disaffected and wanted to leave, or those who sought economic opportunity.

Separatists

Because the separatists were in the group that left in the Mayflower, their journey, in addition to what they needed to go through before they left, was the most documented. These Separatists were already a hardened group. Many of them had long endured life under a state church, with the torture and even death that came to all objectors or nonconformists, So when the option of colonizing a new land presented itself, it was a natural option for this ostracized group.

Called separatists for their desire to separate from the official doctrines of the State, future separatist pilgrims began to assemble in a northeastern county of London called Nottingham in a town called Scrooby. It was located near an important passageway between Scotland and London. First they tried finding more friendly territory in Holland and other

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