Summary
The story of America's first Thanksgiving isn't complete without the women who made it possible. Susanna White gave birth to the first English child in New England while anchored in freezing waters, lost her husband that brutal winter, yet continued with faith and gratitude. Mary Brewster, at 52 years old, was the eldest woman in the colony and helped prepare that first Thanksgiving feast after watching most of her fellow passengers perish. Their stories of endurance, gratitude to God, and faithful service reveal the heart of what made Plymouth Colony and eventually America possible.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Journey That Changed Everything
Susanna White: Faith Through Loss
Mary Brewster: The Eldest Among Them
That First Thanksgiving
Lessons for Our Own Tables
Conclusion
Bibliography
A Story Larger Than Legend
The stories of the pilgrim women rarely make it into the artwork or the textbooks. Among the fifty colonists present for the 1621 celebration, only four were married women, each one a survivor of staggering hardship, and each one essential to that moment in history.
This Thanksgiving week, we pause to remember two of those women: Susanna White and Mary Brewster. Their stories aren't just historical footnotes. They're testimonies of faith, gratitude in suffering, and the providence of God working through ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary purposes.
The Journey That Changed Everything
In September 1620, around 100 English men and women, many of them members of the English Separatist Church, set sail aboard the Mayflower from Plymouth, England. The crossing was brutal. The shortage of food and the rigors of a crossing so rough that one storm caused the ship's pitching to crack a main beam tested everyone aboard. But the women faced unique challenges.
As the Mayflower left England for America, there were eighteen adult women on board, and three of them, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White, and Mary Allerton, were in their last trimester of pregnancy. Imagine: no privacy, no comfort, no certainty of survival, and carrying new life in the midst of it all.
Susanna White: Faithfulness Through Unspeakable Loss
Born Susanna Jackson around 1592 in Scrooby, England, Susanna came from a family committed to their faith despite the cost. Her father Richard Jackson had an arrest warrant issued for "Brownism" on December 7, 1607, along with William Brewster, a reminder that religious conviction in 17th-century England could mean persecution, imprisonment, or worse.
Susanna fled with her family to Amsterdam, where she married William White. By 1620, she was the mother of five-year-old Resolved and seven months pregnant when she boarded the Mayflower. She was one of the passengers on the Mayflower when it sailed out of Plymouth Harbor on September 16, 1620, crossing in the cargo area because the passengers were the cargo.
A Birth Amid the Storm
While the ship lay at anchor off Cape Cod at what is now Provincetown, Susanna produced her contribution to history: the first English-born child in New England, a son named Peregrine, sometime in late November 1620. Picture this young mother, in a cramped ship rocking at anchor, bringing new life into a world of profound uncertainty. The name "Peregrine" means pilgrim, traveler, wanderer, a fitting name for a child born between worlds.
The passengers were forced to spend several months aboard the Mayflower as the Pilgrims were able to build only one structure on shore before winter settled over the land. For weeks, Susanna cared for her newborn and young son in conditions we can scarcely imagine.
When Sorrow Met Faith
Then came the devastating winter. Of the eighteen women that came with their husbands, all but five died, a 72% death rate which was well above the 58% for men. William White died on February 21, 1621, and was most likely buried in an unmarked grave on Cole's Hill in Plymouth.
Susanna was now a widow with two small sons, one an infant, in a wilderness settlement where survival itself was uncertain. Yet something remarkable happened. Susanna was widowed February 21, 1621, and months later remarried to Pilgrim Edward Winslow (who we learned about last week) on May 12, 1621, in Plymouth Colony. This wasn't just any marriage, it was the first wedding in Plymouth Colony, a sign of hope and new beginnings.
Edward Winslow had also lost his wife, Elizabeth, that same brutal winter. In their union, two grieving families found wholeness again. Susanna would go on to bear five more children with Edward, though only four would survive to adulthood. Susanna had 22 grandchildren when she passed away, her legacy spreading across the new land.
Mary Brewster: The Eldest Among Them
Born around 1569, Mary Brewster was the oldest lady in the colony at 52 years old, loved and respected by all. While most of her backstory remains shrouded in history, (even her maiden name is unknown) what we do know reveals a woman of remarkable character and faith.
She married William Brewster around 1592, and together they opened their home in Scrooby Manor for secret worship gatherings of Separatists when meeting publicly was illegal. The Brewsters invited John Robinson and Richard Clifton to hold weekly services in their home, knowing full well the risks. Their home became a sanctuary for those seeking to worship God according to conscience rather than the dictates of the state church.
Leaving Everything Behind
Mary Brewster was forced to leave behind the comfortable life that she had known and follow her husband into a new life in the Low Countries. She endured a painful separation when William was arrested with other leaders. Eventually reunited, the Brewsters spent years in Leiden, Holland, before deciding to journey to the New World.
At an age when most would be settling into their final years, Mary boarded the Mayflower with her husband and their two youngest children. Her older children would join them later if they survived.
The Ministry of Presence
As an experienced mother, Mary would have assisted Elizabeth Hopkins when she gave birth to her son at sea, and aided Susannah White after the arrival of the ship at Cape Cod as she gave birth to Peregrine. Even in her advanced age and in the midst of harrowing circumstances, Mary served others.
During that first awful winter, Mary Brewster was one of only five surviving adult women, and in spite of her relatively advanced age, she endured the sickness, the cold, the hunger, and the hardships with fortitude. She watched friend after friend succumb to illness and exposure. She buried people she loved. Yet she persevered.
That First Thanksgiving: Four Women Feeding Ninety Souls
After another adult woman died during that summer, Mary Brewster was one of only four adult women who were left alive to prepare the food for the "First Thanksgiving" of 1621. Think about that: four women, Susanna White Winslow, Mary Brewster, Elizabeth Hopkins, and Eleanor Billington, preparing a three-day feast for approximately fifty colonists and ninety Native American guests.
That fall, "Our harvest being gotten in," as Edward Winslow put it, "our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together." The ninety Indians who came contributed five deer. The work of roasting meat, preparing seafood, baking breads, and cooking vegetables would have fallen primarily on these four women, likely assisted by teenage girls and servants.
Gratitude Born of Remembrance
This is the heart of biblical thanksgiving: remembering what God has brought you through. The Pilgrims didn't gather because life was easy; they gathered because they had survived. They gave thanks not because they had abundance; they gave thanks because God had preserved a remnant. Their gratitude was forged in the furnace of loss, refined by sorrow, and made genuine by deliverance.
As the Psalmist writes, "I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11). Susanna and Mary had deeds to remember: births in bitter cold, deaths too numerous to count, provisions when starvation loomed, peace when conflict threatened, and a harvest that meant life would continue.
What Their Stories Teach Our Tables Today
These women didn't have the luxury of forgetting hardship. They lived with loss daily. Yet they chose gratitude. They chose to "rejoice together after a special manner," as Winslow wrote. Their example teaches us several profound truths:
Gratitude is a choice, not a feeling. Susanna and Mary had every human reason to despair, yet they participated in thanksgiving. They cooked, served, and celebrated even while grieving.
Providence sustains amidst hardship. William Bradford (who we also learned about last week) wrote of the Pilgrims' departure from Leiden: "They knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits". Like Abraham, they looked for "a better country, that is, a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:16).
Community requires sacrifice. Those four women didn't just feed themselves; they served ninety hungry guests. They embodied what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
Legacy is built through faithfulness in small things. Susanna didn't know her son Peregrine would father seven children and become a prominent figure in the colony. Mary didn't know her descendants would number in the millions. They were simply faithful in the moment God gave them.
Remembering Well This Thanksgiving
As you gather with family this week, consider the women who made America's story possible, women whose names we barely know, whose suffering we can hardly imagine, and whose gratitude instructs us still.
Ask around your table: What has God brought us through this year? Where have we seen His providence? What losses have we endured that make this meal together more precious? What would it look like to "quiet our spirits" by lifting our eyes to heaven, our dearest country?
The American Principles Series explores these foundational stories and the convictions that shaped our nation, principles of God-given rights, liberty of conscience, covenant community, and gratitude that anchors hope. These aren't just historical facts; they're living truths meant to form character, strengthen families, and build communities of virtue.
Susanna White and Mary Brewster wouldn't want statues or monuments. They'd want their great-great-grandchildren, that's us, to remember the God who sustained them, to practice the gratitude that defined them, and to pass on the faith that cost them everything.
Discover the Foundations That Shaped America
The stories of Susanna White and Mary Brewster are part of a larger narrative, one of ordinary people entrusted with extraordinary principles. The American Principles Series is a 25-episode video series (9.5 hours total) that walks families through the foundational truths that made American liberty possible: God-given rights, ordered liberty, self-government, and the virtue required to sustain freedom.
Perfect for family viewing, homeschool enrichment, or personal study. Lifetime access for just $99 as a video-only series at apseries.com.
Related Reads
Pilgrims of Providence: Faith, Gratitude, and the Community They Forged
Courage and Sacrifice: Honoring Veterans Who Defend Us
Self-Government: The Forgotten Key to Lasting Freedom
About the Author
This article was developed using historical records from the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, peer-reviewed genealogical research published in The American Genealogist, and primary source documents including William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Edward Winslow's letters. All content aligns with current historical scholarship and is designed to provide families with accurate, engaging narratives that connect past and present.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647. Edited by Samuel Eliot Morison. New York: Modern Library, 1981.
Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation." Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1912. Accessed November 2025. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/bradfords-manuscript-of-plimoth-plantation.
Winslow, Edward. A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England [Mourt's Relation]. London: John Bellamy, 1622. Reprinted in Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, edited by Alexander Young, 231-233. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841.
Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Articles
Allan, Sue, Caleb Johnson, and Simon Neal. "The Origin of Mayflower Passenger Susanna (Jackson)(White) Winslow." The American Genealogist 89, no. 4 (October 2017): 241-264.
Johnson, Caleb, Sue Allan, and Simon Neal. "The English Origin and Kinship of Mayflower Passengers William White and Dorothy (May) Bradford of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire." The American Genealogist 89, no. 2 (April 2017): 81-94; and 89, no. 3 (July 2017): 168-188.
Books and Monographs
Allan, Sue. In Search of Mayflower Pilgrim Susanna White-Winslow. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword History, 2017.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
Watson, Marston. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Edward Winslow. Vol. 25. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014.
Museum and Institutional Sources
General Society of Mayflower Descendants. "The White Family." Accessed November 2025. https://themayflowersociety.org/passenger-profile/passenger-profiles/the-white-family/.
"Thanksgiving History." Last modified August 29, 2023. https://themayflowersociety.org/learn/thanksgiving-history/.
Mayflower 400 UK. "Women of the Mayflower." Accessed November 2025. https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/women-of-the-mayflower/.
MayflowerHistory.com. "Brewster-Mary." Accessed November 2025. http://mayflowerhistory.com/brewster-mary.
"White-Susanna." Accessed November 2025. http://mayflowerhistory.com/white-susanna.
"Thanksgiving." Accessed November 2025. http://mayflowerhistory.com/thanksgiving.
Plimoth Patuxet Museums. "Eye-Witness Account of the 1621 Harvest Celebration." Last modified September 29, 2023. https://plimoth.org/yath/unit-4/eye-witness-account-of-the-1621-harvest-celebration.
"Primary Sources for 'The First Thanksgiving' at Plymouth." Pilgrim Hall Museum. Accessed November 2025. https://www.pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_What_Happened_in_1621.pdf.
Online Resources and Encyclopedias
"Mary Brewster." Wikipedia. Last modified May 16, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Brewster.
"Susanna White (Mayflower passenger)." Wikipedia. Last modified September 3, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_White_(Mayflower_passenger).
Society of Mayflower Descendants in Pennsylvania (SMDPA). "Pilgrim Mothers." Accessed November 2025. https://sail1620.org/Pilgrim_Mothers.
The Pilgrim William White Society. "The White Family." Accessed November 2025. http://thepilgrimwilliamwhitesociety.org/WhiteFamily.html.