Mourt's Relation

Frontispiece, Mourt's Relation, published in London, 1622

The book Mourt's Relation (full title: A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England) was written primarily by Edward Winslow, although William Bradford appears to have written most of the first section. Written between November 1620 and November 1621, it describes in detail what happened from the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims inside the fishhook tip of Cape Cod (became Provincetown Harbor), through their exploring and eventual settling of Plymouth Colony; the book describes their relations with the surrounding native Indians, up to the First Thanksgiving and the arrival of the ship Fortune in November 1621. Mourt's Relation was first published in London in 1622, presumably by George Morton, sometimes called George Mourt^[1] (hence the title "Mourt's Relation"). The purpose of Mourt's Relation was clear: to paint the new settlement in the brightest possible hues.

An English Puritan Separatist who had moved to Leiden, Holland, Morton stayed behind when the first settlers left for Plymouth, Massachusetts,^[2] but he continued to orchestrate business affairs in Europe and London for their cause -- presumably arranging for the publication of and perhaps helping write Mourt's Relation.^[3] In 1623 Morton himself emigrated to the Plymouth Colony with his wife Juliana, the sister of Governor William Bradford's wife Alice. But George Morton didn't survive long in the New World: he died the following year, in 1624.

Plimoth Plantation

George Morton's son Nathaniel Morton became the clerk of Plymouth Colony, a close adviser to his uncle Governor William Bradford, who raised him after the death of his father, and the author of an influential early history of the Plymouth Colony, "New England's Memorial."^[4] (In a tradition at The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper has run for four decades a portion of Nathaniel Morton's book, its observation of the first Thanksgiving, on the Wednesday before the holiday.)

Full Title

The full title of the book, according to MLA capitalization standards is:
A Relation or Journall of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England, by Certaine English Adventurers Both Merchants and Others. With Their Difficult Passage, Their Safe Arivall, Their Joyfull Building of, and Comfortable Planting Themselves in the Now Well Defended Towne of New Plimoth. As Also a Relation of Foure Severall Discoveries Since Made by Some of the Same English Planters There Resident. I. In a Journey to Puckanokick the Habitation of the Indian Greatest King Massasoyt: As Also Their Suffrage, the Answer and Entertainment They Had of Him. II. In a Voyage Made by Ten of Them to the Kingdome of Nawset, to Seeke a Boy That Had Left Himselfe in the Woods: With Such Accidents as Befell Them in That Voyage. III. In Their Journey to the Kingdome of Namasinet, In Defense of Their Greatest King Massasoyt, Against the Narrohiggonsets, and to Revenge the Supposed Death of Their Interpreter Tisquantum. IIII. Their Voyage to the Massachusets, and Their Entertainment There. With an Answer to All Such Objections as Are Any Way Made Against the Lawfulnesse of English Plantations in Those Parts.

Notes

1. ^  "Morton, George". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
2. ^ The Carpenter Sisters of Leiden, Robert Jennings Heinsohn, Ph.D., sail1620.org
3. ^ Nathaniel Morton and His Book, Mrs. Morris P. Ferris, The New York Times, August 13, 1898
4. ^ New-England's Memorial, Nathaniel Morton, Secretary to the Court for the Jurisdiction of New-Plimouth, Congregational Board of Publications, Boston, 1855

References

• William Bradford, Edward Winslow (1865). Mourt’s Relation, or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth. Boston: J. K. Wiggin. http://books.google.com/books?id=xb3coQS13NYC. Retrieved 2008-12-23.  Reprint of the original version.

External links

• Mourt's Relation as transcribed by Caleb Johnson
• Mourt's Relation as transcribed by Caleb Johnson