Tag: John Alden

Book Briefs: “The First Thanksgiving” by Robert Tracy McKenzie

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

The First Thanksgiving by Robert Tracy McKenzieEvery year around Thanksgiving, I enjoy reflecting on the Pilgrims, their Mayflower voyage and that first Thanksgiving back in 1621. Being a descendant of no less a figure than John Alden (the one who stole Miles Standish’s girl, Priscilla Mullins) only encourages my Thanksgiving reverie. This year, I enjoyed finishing a first-rate historical survey of that special Pilgrim holiday. The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History by Robert Tracy McKenzie (IVP, 2013), is a book I thoroughly enjoyed but one that challenged me to reexamine the historical record and the reasons why I love to reflect on my Puritanical roots.

McKenzie takes the occasion of writing a book on the first thanksgiving, to remind his Christian audience about the role history should play in our faith. He covers the nuts and bolts of historical research while he’s at it. Now, he does tip some sacred cows. He points out how we have scant records of the actual first thanksgiving, and demurs that it wasn’t the first thanksgiving in any true sense — at least four other public occasions of thanksgiving in America (the French Huguenots on Florida’s shores in 1565 being the earliest) have greater claim to that honor. Intriguingly “Plymouth Rock” was born from second-hand recollections of an original Pilgrim some 100 years or more after their landing. And more importantly, American history didn’t instill the Pilgrims’ autumnal feast with national importance for several hundred years. It was left for Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the first American President to directly connect the national observance of Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims of Plymouth and their historic feast.

The book is not a direct assault on Christian values, by any stretch, however. McKenzie, a head of the history department at Wheaton College, wants us to remember the real first thanksgiving and do the hard work of looking at the actual past and judging what we can learn from our experience of it. He cautions us against twisting the Pilgrim’s “buckle shoes” any which way — supporting our every opinion. Their story should not be a touchstone that we use to win battles of public opinion. Rather, we should learn from their example of heart-felt faith, fierce courage, and providential blessing as we continue to live out our faith in the public sphere.

This book will dispel some myths: the first thanksgiving was likely not thought of as a “day of Thanksgiving” by the Pilgrims themselves. Their first official day for Thanksgiving came two years later after an incredible answer to prayer where God brought colony-saving rain on the exact day set aside as a “day of fasting.” But McKenzie doesn’t set the record straight just to be a good historian. His book aims to inculcate a fuller appreciation for the real Pilgrims. We will not agree with all of the Pilgrim’s idiosyncrasies (most of us enjoy celebrating Christmas, for instance). And some of what the Pilgrims have come to stand for has less to do with their real beliefs than it does those of their heirs. Still, there is much to learn and appreciate in the real Pilgrims. Listening to their true story will challenge our affirmation of a consumerism-driven society and call us to live godly lives in this present world.

I know that Thanksgiving has passed already this year. But if you find some extra time in and around Christmas, perhaps you should pick up this title and reacquaint yourself with the story of those brave Pilgrims who followed God’s call and found themselves on the other side of the world. You will enjoy the book and profit from it, I’m sure.

Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Amazon, ChristianBook.com, or direct from IVP.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by InterVarsity Press. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.

The Mouse on the Mayflower

~ Bob Hayton

As a child, I remember watching “The Mouse on the Mayflower” on TV a few times. But I’ve looked in vain for it ever since. This year I searched for and found it on Youtube. It is a 45 minute TV special which traces the story of The Mayflower as told from the perspective of the Pilgrims’ church-mouse. After watching it with my kids, I can see that it may be too religious in some places for TV today.

The Mayflower is especially meaningful to me, since John Alden is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. I shared my Mayflower lineage once before, on my blog. And I also collected scans from a 1925 World Book Encyclopedia on the Plymouth story. This year, I thought I’d share “The Mouse on the Mayflower” with my viewers.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you can find some time to enjoy this old classic Thanksgiving themed movie with your family.

This movie is available still on some old VHS copies from Amazon. It is also available on DVD here and here. Learn more about this classic movie at MouseontheMayflower.com.

Remembering the Mayflower: Happy Thanksgiving

~ fundyreformed

I thought I’d wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today. And I want to remind us all to remember that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, 1621.

Last year I provided my family line which goes back to John Alden on the Mayflower. If you’re interested, I scanned some articles from a really old World Book Encyclopedia set I have (1925) which gives an interesting look at the Pilgrims. Alden is, you will remember, famous for his stealing of Captain Miles Standish’s would be bride, Priscilla Mullins (known as “The Mayflower of Plymouth”). “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” was her famous line.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, another descendant of John and Priscilla memorialized this event in a somewhat embellished poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish. You can read that poem in its entirety here compliments of Google Books.

For now, if you have some time, scan through the brief articles here (all pdfs) and remember the first Thanksgiving.

The Mayflower & Me

~ fundyreformed ~ 10 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

This Thanksgiving, I encourage us all to spend time thanking God for more than just the food on the table, or the football on TV. So often we sing generic songs of thankfulness for harvest come, and forget to be specifically thankful for God’s working in our lives and most of all for Jesus and his Death in our place on the Cross.

Keep in mind a harvest-thankful mindset means a lot more when harvests are chancy and food not as sure as the distance to the local corner store. It is important for us to remember that every good thing we have, including family comes to us from God. But let us not forget Him who gives such good blessings a sweet rather than a bitter taste. Without Christ, we would have no hope, and such familial joys and harvest blessings would be a bitter aftertaste as we contemplate a bleak outlook for eternity. Having been placed in Christ, who so completely and gloriously fulfilled God’s law and laid down his life to bear our sins, we have peace with God and abundant joy.

Now the point of my post is not to preach but to give an interesting tidbit about me and my connections to Thanksgiving history. Anyone remember the Mayflower and the Pilgrims? The majority of those on the ship weren’t strictly Pilgrims, but a good many of the outsiders chose to stay on with the religious community and join themselves to them, after weathering that terrible winter of 1620.

Anyways, one of those who stayed in Plymouth and became a Pilgrim was my ancestor John Alden. Now many people can say “I am descended from the Mayflower”, but how many can prove it? In my case I have dates and names, which I will showcase below. Note: I can take no credit for the research done to trace this lineage, I’m just a blessed recipient of it!

If you wonder who John Alden is, he is famously remembered in the Courtship of Miles Standish, a poem written by one of my distant cousins, a fellow-ancestor of Alden, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow himself. Other famous distant cousins include poet William Cullen Bryant, Presidents John & John Quincy Adams, and Vice President Dan Quayle.

Refresh yourself on the history of the Pilgrims here, check out this brief biographical sketch of John & Priscilla Alden, and check out this history of modern Thanksgiving celebrations. And again, Happy Thanksgiving!