Mary+Chilton

Mary Chilton Interview
I was born right before my parents got to the Netherlands. I was born on May 31st 1607 in England. My mother and father, Susan and James Chilton had told me they left England to go to the Netherlands because of religious reasons. But my parents said the jobs were bad there and we didn’t like how the Dutch partied on Sundays when we went to church. My mother and father were disappointed that I started speaking Dutch. We were getting ready to leave when I turned 13. 4 months later in September of 1620 we were ready to leave. I went on the Mayflower because of my family’s religious beliefs. I thought it would be fun at first but then I saw the inside. There was very little space for movement and sleep. All us children slept together on the floor. The food was horrid. It quickly got spoiled. The bread was hard as rocks and filled with bugs, the cheese was moldy, the water bad, and the beer flat. Everyone was sick and and there were a few people still healthy. We had a trunk full of blankets, food and clothing and those were the only things we had out of all our possessions. How was the weather? Horrible. I was very scared when a storm started rocking the boat and water started filling it. I thought we were going to sink but it was a miracle we survived. The new land is much better than England. In the new world there is no civilization, no bridges no roads but, there’s also no laws and we have a lot of religious freedom. We don’t have to buy our own land. In England we didn’t drink water we only drank beer. The water was dirty and we couldn’t hunt deer or any kind of animal. Here we have clean drinking water and bathing water. We can hunt all we want. Life is a lot better. We were disappointed because it took a great amount of time to build new houses and the weather was so cold it was hard to keep working day by day. It was hard to find animals to hunt because they were wild and we were not used to hunting for animals afraid of the humans. I don’t miss much of any thing in the new world except that we have to watch out for the Indians. We have a lot of freedom. I was scared because at night when we went to bed I was scared that there was going to be an Indian attack. Life was much different there but in a good way. You had to find your own food and get your own water. We soon learned that life was difficult. The new land is very different from England. The problem is now we live in less secure homes that get very cold in the winter. The homes are also smaller and have to fit more people. The beds are comfortable after the ship and England’s bed were about as comfy. I miss my mother and Father whom died not long after we hit land. They were buried in secret at night. We did this so the Indians wouldn’t know how many of us died. Now I live with John Alden whom is very kind. However now we can worship God freely. Witch everyone loves. When we rarely get to have that time we pray and pray. Another problem is at first we didn’t have dairy. The other foods were different and weird like pumpkins, corn, and many others. The foods tasted gross at first but we eventually got used to them. There were many wild animals like birds, dear, moose, and bears. We rarely killed them though because our muskets are not very accurate.
 * Tell us about your life in England or the Netherlands.**
 * Why did you decide to go to the New World on the Mayflower? What was that voyage like?**
 * How did the land and climate of Plimoth compare to what you were used to in England or the Netherlands?**
 * What was the first year like? What was hardest about adjusting to life in a new place?**