John Carver
John Carver
John Carver (c .1576 – April 1621) was a
wealthy London merchant and early American
colonist.
Little is known about Carver's early life, but
he is assumed to have been born in England.[1]
He joined the Separatist movement and
travelled from England to Holland to avoid
religious persecution under James I. There he
and other Separatists decided to travel to
America and came on the ship Mayflower in
1620.[2] After the Mayflower arrival in
There are no images of the actual Mayflower. This is a painting entitled
America, John Carver was chosen the first
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)
[3]
governor. He was governor for about four
months until his untimely death which is believed to be in April 1621.[4]
Marriage
John Carver married Catherine (White) Leggatt sometime after 1599. There were no recorded surviving children.
They had two children but both died while in Leiden, Holland.[5][6]
Leiden
The Carvers had connections with the original Scrooby Separatist group in Nottinghamshire, but do not appear to
have been members of the original congregation.[7] He was a wealthy man and contributed much to the congregation
in Leiden (Leyden) Holland.[8] John Carver and Robert Cushman from Canterbury were both deacons of the Green
Gate congregation in Leiden, Holland.[7][9] In 1619, William Brewster and Edward Winslow published a religious
tract critical of the English king and his bishops. James ordered Brewster’s arrest, and when the king’s agents in
Holland came to seize the elder, Brewster was forced into hiding just as preparations to depart for America entered
the most critical phase.
John Carver was a very generous man and in addition to donating much of his money to the Church, he also
provided much money to the Mayflower voyage.[10][11]
In 1617, he became the agent for the Separatists in securing a charter and financial support for the establishment of a
colony in America.[12]
By June 1619, Carver and Robert Cushman, the Separatists Chief Agent, had succeeded in securing a patent from the
Virginia Company. In addition to securing the voyage, both Carver and Cushman were agiven the responsibility to
secure supplies and provisions, and this was done in both London and Canterbury.[13]
Organizing the voyage was a tremendous task due to all the disorganization and competing interests involved. He
was described by the other Separatists as a man of "a gentlemen of singular piety, rare humility and great
condescendency".[14]
1
John Carver
2
Mayflower voyage
Carver chartered the Mayflower and with 101 other colonists, he set
sail from Plymouth, England, in September 1620.[15] Carver traveled
on the Mayflower in a style in accordance with his wealth. In addition
to his wife Katherine, he was accompanied by five servants.[16] On the
Mayflower the Carvers had been guardians of Jasper More, one of the
four More children onboard, but who had died in early December
along with others who were starting to die in the early bitter winter
weather.[17] It is unknown whether these Pilgrims knew of the
children’s circumstances or not. Prior to that discovery, it may have
been thought the four More children were parentless London street
waifs or children of people on Church relief, who were unwillingly
sent to the New World by the Virginia Company as indentured
labor.[18] Of these children, only Richard More survived.[19]
The Mayflower Compact, a painting by Jean Leon
Gerome Ferris which was widely reproduced
through much of the 20th century
They departed Plymouth, England on the Mayflower on September 6/16, 1620 with 102 passengers and about 30
crew members in a small 100 foot ship. The first month in the Atlantic, the seas were not severe, but by the second
month the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales causing the ship to be badly shaken with water
leaks from structural damage. There were two deaths, but this was just a precursor of what happened after their Cape
Cod arrival, when almost half the company would die in the first winter.[20][21]
On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land,
which was Cape Cod. And after several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of
Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on
November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.[21][22][23]
Life in Plymouth
Ill-prepared and poorly supplied, the Mayflower lost over half of its passenger through starvation, scurvy, the terrible
epidemic and first winter. All of the people helped gather supplies for food and shelter as well as burying the dead.
In the spring of 1621, Carver and the others attended what would become known as the first Thanksgiving.[24]
Carver was also in the first group that explored Cape Cod in November, 1620.[25]
In March 1621, Carver established a peace treaty with Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe. This was one of
America's most successful Indian treaties, lasting for over half a century[26][27]
When the Mayflower returned empty of cargo for their investors, Thomas Weston complained that it was due to the
selfishness of the Pilgrims and their leader John Carver. The new governor William Bradford answered him by
blaming Weston for their ill-preparedness and for the unnecessary deaths and stated that Governor Carver has
worked himself to death that spring and the loss of him and other industrious men lives cannot be valued at any
price.[28] After Carver’s death, William Bradford, age 31, had been unanimously elected governor the following
month, an office he held with distinction for thirty-three years.[29]
Carver was a gentleman in every respect, nevertheless during the first winter in Plymouth, Carver he worked
alongside common laborers. He died of exhaustion in April 1621 and William Bradford was named his successor as
governor. At the time of his death the whole number of survivors in the colony was fifty-five.[30]
Carver was buried in 1621 at Cole's Hill Burial Ground, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Later his remains were interred in
The Pilgrim Memorial Tomb, on Cole's Hill in Plymouth.[31]
John Carver
References
[1] "John and Catherine Carver." (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ CarverJohn. htm). Pilgrim Hall Museum. . Retrieved 27 October 2010.
[2] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856 Not in copyright) p.
56
[3] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856 Not in copyright) p.
90
[4] Jacob Bailey Moore. Memoirs of American Governors (N.Y. Gates & Stedman 1846) vol. 1 p. 46
[5] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, (Viking, New York, NY, 2006) pp. 42-43
[6] John and Catherine Carver, Pilgrim Hall Museum Web site (http:/ / www. pilgrimhall. org/ CarverJohn. htm)/
[7] Robert E. Cushman and Franklin P. Cole. Robert Cushman of Kent (1577-1625) : Chief Agent of the Plymouth Pilgrims (1617-1625) (pub.
General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2005) 2nd Ed., edited by Judith Swan p.108
[8] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (Viking 2006) p. 42
[9] Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691 (Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT, 1986) p. 18
[10] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, (Viking, New York, NY, 2006) p. 42
[11] William Bradford. Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, ed. by Samuel Eliot Morison. The Modern Library, (Random House, New York,
NY, 1967)pp. 31-2, 38, 42-51, 59, 68, 76-8, 85-6, 92, 94, 100, 358, 362-8
[12] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, (Viking, New York, NY, 2006) p. 19
[13] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (Viking 2006) pp. 19, 22
[14] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (Viking 2006) pp. 42, 43
[15] "Mayflower: The Journey, the People, and the Ship" (http:/ / www. plimoth. org/ kids/ homeworkHelp/ mayflower. php). Plimoth Plantation.
. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
[16] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856 Not in copyright)
p. 447
[17] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856 Not in copyright)
p.447
[18] R.C. Johnson The Transportation of Vagrant Children from London to Virginia, 1618-1622 in H.S. Reinmuth (Ed.), Early Stuart Studies:
Essays in Honor of David Harris Willson, Minneapolis, 1970.
[19] Donald F. Harris, PhD. The Mayflower Descendant (July 1993) vol. 43 no. 2 pp. 123-128
[20] mayflowerhistory.com (http:/ / www. mayflowerhistory. com/ History/ voyage_secondary. php)/
[21] Allison Lassieur Peter McDonnall The voyage of the Mayflower (Pub. Capstone Press, ©2006 Mankato, Minnesota)
[22] Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT, 1986) p. 413
[23] George Ernest Bowman. The Mayflower Compact and its signers (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920).
Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document.
[24] Edward Winslow "Primary Sources for The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth Mourt's Relation. Pilgrim Hall Museum. Retrieved 2009-11-26
[25] Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (Viking 2006) pp. 40-42
[26] Dana T. Parker. Reasons to Celebrate the Pilgrims, (Orange County Register, Nov. 22, 2010) (http:/ / www. ocregister. com/ opinion/
first-277221-pilgrims-america. html), Retrieved 28 Jan. 2011.
[27] Heinsohn, Robert Jennings. "Pilgrims and Wampanoag: The Prudence of Bradford and Massasoit" (http:/ / www. sail1620. org/ history/
articles/ 119-pilgrims-wampanoag. html). Sail 1620. . Retrieved 27 October 2010..
[28] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856) Not in copyright.
pp. 107-109
[29] William Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston. 1856 Not in copyright)
p. 306
[30] Jacob Bailey Moore. Memoirs of American Governors (N.Y. Gates & Stedman, 136 Nassau St. 1846) Vol. 1 pp. 46
[31] John Carver (http:/ / www. findagrave. com/ cgi-bin/ fg. cgi?page=gr& GRid=15038628)
External links
• Plimoth Plantation Web site (http://www.plimoth.org/)
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