The story of the Pilgrims begins in England during the early years of the 17th century. These people became "Separatists" when they decided to separate themselves from the Church of England. They believed that the rituals and formalities of the Church of England and the Catholic Church took the emphasis of religious belief and prayer away from God and forced people to revere the King or the Pope more than they did God. Their beliefs went against everything that mainstream England believed at that time, and as long as they remained there, they would live in fear of being jailed or killed.
*Leaving England to go to Holland -
In 1607, they left England and headed to Holland where they had heard that there was far greater religious tolerance. For the next two years, they stayed in Amsterdam. In 1609, they applied to the city leaders Leiden, and asked that they be allowed to come there to live. Their application was granted, so the English Separatists moved to Leiden where they remained until 1620.
*Life in Holland -
During their time in Leiden, they worked mostly in the textile industry. They were able to worship there as they pleased. But as time passed, they began to experience more difficulties.
First there were financial difficulties because they weren't allowed to join any of the Dutch guilds that would have allowed them to earn a reasonable living. They also watched as their children began to lose sense of the religious values that their parents had been trying to teach them, falling into the Dutch way of life more and more.
*Religious intolerance foments in Holland -
Towards the end of the time they spent in Holland, they began to experience more and more religious intolerance. They would sometimes engage in debates, but there were times when the discussions became violent, and when one of the Separatists was nearly stoned to death, they realized that they could no longer remain in Holland.
*Making the arrangements to come to America -
The Pilgrims, as they came to be called, didn't have the money to make the trip to America. They had to come to some arrangement with a company of investors. These investors had already received a patent that would allow them to establish communities in Southern Virginia.
When difficulties forced them to go with the company's chief competitor, their destination was changed to Northern Virginia, the area we know of as New England. The ultimate arrangement would mean that the Pilgrims would be unable to keep any profits from any trade or other business they engaged in (most of which turned out to be fish and trade in furs,) for a period of seven years.
*Sailing to America-
The Speedwell was a smaller ship that was purchased and outfitted in Holland. The English Separatists who were going to America sailed from Delftshaven in Holland to Southampton in England on it. There, they were to meet waiting Mayflower and the two boats were going to sail to America.
After several failed attempts to set sail, the group determined that the Speedwell wasn't seaworthy enough to make the trip. They were forced to reduce the number of people who were to travel to America. In the end, a total of 102 English Separatists set sail with their crew aboard the Mayflower.
*Arriving in America -
After approximately 66 days aboard the Mayflower, they arrived at the northern most part of Cape Cod, at Provincetown. But they decided that they couldn't settle there, so it took some time to determine where they would settle. On December 21, 1620, they anchored the Mayflower at Plymouth, across Cape Cod Bay from Provincetown. Four days later, several members of the group disembarked and constructed the first building on what would be known as Plymouth Colony.
*Getting settled in America -
It took some time to get settled after their arrival. They weren't prepared for the harsh winter they were about to face, and by that following Spring, more than half of those who originally came across the ocean aboard the Mayflower with the group had died, leaving only 50 remaining settlers.
*Learning to adapt -
Sometime in March of 1621, a lone Indian walked into the village that the settlers had constructed. He spoke English, albeit not terribly well. He managed to get the Pilgrims to understand that he would return and when he did, he would bring another Indian with him.
When he returned, he came with another Indian, a young man by the name of Squanto. Squanto was the lone survivor of the Patuxet Indian tribe who had lived on the land where the Pilgrims had created their settlement, but he had been in England for more than a decade. He had endured a great deal during that time.
*Squanto's story -
He was kidnapped by an unscrupulous English ship captain, taken to Spain where he was sold into slavery. Luckily, some benevolent monks helped him, and taught him. They got him passage to England where he worked for some time as a servant and as part of a London stage show on Indians. Although he learned to speak flawless English and established some friendships in England, it still took over ten years for him to find his way back to America. When he did, he learned that a great plague had wiped out his entire tribe.
Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoag Indians invited Squanto to live among them, and he did for quite some time. When Massasoit brought him back to meet with the new settlers, Squanto proved to be an immense help to the people. He helped craft a treaty that maintained peace between the Indians and the settlers for the next 50 years.
Squanto also opted to remain with the Pilgrims, and he helped them learn to plant corn, beans and pumpkins. He taught them how to know when to plant, how to use herring and to put the herring in the ground before planting seeds. The fish would fertilize the seeds and make the plants grow faster and better. He stayed with the Pilgrims for a total of 18 months.
Late in the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered together with the Wampanoag and their new friend Squanto. They had a secular three day "harvest celebration." At that feast, they had wild turkeys, clams, venison, and much more, (none of which included the things we eat for our Thanksgiving dinner.) They celebrated that first harvest which yielded about 20 acres worth of Indian corn. It was that "harvest celebration" that served as a precedent for the holiday that we now observe as Thanksgiving.