Right now, more than 30 million people on Earth trace their ancestry to the 102 crew and passengers of the Mayflower, a little boat that sailed from Plymouth, England, to Cape Cod, in November of 1620. Yesterday afternoon, I gave a talk about George Washington to 64 of them and their guests at the Albany Country Club. The 17th Century vessel was tiny - just under 110 ft long - smaller than many modern pleasure craft. That it made the crossing in one piece was miraculous. This was fitting, of course, since the passengers believed they were on a mission from no less than God Himself. They were called Separatists because they wanted to separate from the Church of England, which the almighty told them to do. In the decade prior to the voyage, they’d lived in Holland (things in England had got too dicey and they were safer in the Netherlands). When I met their descendants, a remarkable happened.
© 2024 John Oliver
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