John
Carver was born in England in about
1575. He joined the Separatists, a Puritan
religious group who were highly critical of the Church of England.
They were followers of Robert Browne, a preacher who thought the Church
of England should abolish bishops, ecclesiastical courts and other
relics of Roman Catholicism such as kneeling
and the use of priestly vestment and altars. The Separatists also
believed that the government was too tolerant towards those who were
guilty of adultery, drunkeness and breaching the Sabbath.
The Separatists, who held their church services in secret, were persecuted
and several members were imprisoned for their activities. The Dutch
government had a reputation for tolerance towards dissenters and in
1608 Carver and a group of Separatists decided to emigrate to Holland.
Carver and his friends soon became disillusioned with life in their
new home. They could only find low-paid work and they feared that
their children were losing their English identity.
In 1620 Carver, William Bradford, Edward
Winslow, William Brewster and other
Separatists based in Holland decided to emigrate to America. One hundred
and two people boarded the Mayflower in Delft Harbour and after
crossing the Atlantic they decided to settle at a place they called
Plymouth in Massachusetts Bay.
The Separatists established their own government and Carver was elected
governor of the colony. The plan was for the pilgrims to live on fish
caught from the sea. However, they were not very successful at this,
and by the spring of 1621 half of them had died of starvation or disease.
This included John Carver who died five months after arriving in America
in April, 1621. He was replaced as governor of the colony by William
Bradford.
Adam van
Breen, Mayflower in Delft Harbour (1620)
(1)
William
Bradford, History of the Plymouth
Plantation (1651)
They (the Plymouth Colony) chose Mr. John Carver (a man godly and
well approved them) their governor for that year. And after they had
provided a place for their goods, or common store (which were long
in unlading for want of boats, foulness of the winter weather, and
sickness of diverse kinds) and begun some small cottages for their
habitation, as time would admit, they met and consulted of laws and
orders, both for their civil and military government. In these hard
and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings
arise among some, and mutinous speeches; but they were soon quelled
and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just and equal carriage
of things by the governor.
(2)
William
Bradford, History of the Plymouth
Plantation (1651)
In the month of April, while they were busy about their seed, their
governor (John Carver) came out of the field very sick., it being
a very hot day. He complained greatly of his head and lay down, and
within a few hours his senses failed, so as he never spoke till he
died, which was within a few days. He was buried in the best manner
they could, with some volleys of shot by all that bore arms. And his
wife, being a weak woman, died within five or six weeks after him.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
