400 Years In North America

My last blog post mentioned that I had found ancestors who were Puritans/Pilgrams - my 10x Great Grandparents, Hugh and Anne Calkins.

Since then I discovered I had another set of 10x Great Grandparents who were also Puritans who arrived even earlier in 1633. These Great Grandparents were Reverend William Hosford and Florence Sarah Hayward along with their 4 children. They took the long and dangerous journey from England to the New World on the sailing ship the Mary & John, pictured here.

From my research I have found that the average time to sail from England to Massachusetts was 10.5 weeks. It's a staggering amount of time to be stuck on a tiny, cramped and uncomfortable vessel traversing the Atlantic. The belief in God, and that they were escaping an England in turmoil, one that did not have the religious freedoms they sought, had to have been strong to take such a great leap of faith.

As I prepare to take yet another trip to Shanghai, China next week, dreading the 15 hours I will be stuck in a plane, I will try and remember what my ancestors tolerated in order to give their descendants a better life. I don't think 15 hours in a plane, in business class, is anything to complain about when compared to what they endured.