The Landing of the Pilgrims, 1877. Pilgrim Hall Museum (Source: Wikipedia)
Many people contact us each year to ask if we celebrate Thanksgiving — and when we say yes, they ask why!
Besides the point that one of my husband’s direct ancestral grandmothers (Mary Chilton) was on the Mayflower, I have read many, many primary sources over the years to get the TRUE story of the arrival of the Pilgrims in America.
Here are some of my favorite sources, and I encourage you to study these things out with your children:
Video by Prager U –
https://www.prageru.com/video/whats-the-truth-about-the-first-thanksgiving
Of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford –
https://archive.org/details/historyplymouth00bradgoog/page/n10/mode/2up
The Pilgrim Chronicles: An Eyewitness History of the Pilgrims and the Founding of Plymouth Colony, by Rod Gragg –
https://amzn.to/411uRCw
Huge site with lots of primary sources, mentioned in one of the links above (author Caleb Johnson) –
http://mayflowerhistory.com/introduction/
From Christine Miller – lots of primary sources here –
https://alittleperspective.com/the-first-thanksgiving/
From Christine Miller – primary sources from Benjamin Franklin –
https://alittleperspective.com/more-untold-thanksgiving-history/
Were the Pilgrims Sabbath keepers or Torah keepers?
No, I personally do not believe so, although the primary sources I have read indicate their group split in the Netherlands before the Pilgrims left for the New World. I believe that the group that stayed in the Old World, under the leadership of Pastor John Robinson, were Sabbath keepers. All of them were highly familiar with Judaism, the Hebrew Scriptures, and with the Torah of Moses. Author John Bunyan was acquainted with the group left behind in England and writes against keeping the Law of Moses toward the beginning of his famous book, Pilgrim’s Progress.
Evidence for Pilgrims being Sabbath keepers (search “pilgrim” on page) –
https://web.archive.org/web/20170313002934/http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/kiesz-sabbath-history.html (archived site)
Evidence for Pilgrims keeping “the Lord’s Supper” (Passover) on the 14th day of Abib –
https://web.archive.org/web/20161225034904/http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/DuggerDodd/Dugger21.html (archived site)
Nothing specific here, but it’s interesting –
http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/0011/1119/001119_e.html
Jewish perspective (LDS authors) –
http://www.millennialstar.org/part-vii-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-the-first-thanksgiving-or-sukkoth-in-america/
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