Leiden

Leiden in The Netherlands is a delightful city of about 125,000. If you overlook the bicycles, cars, and modern buses, the center city is much as it might have been in the 1600s when the future Pilgrims settled there in 1609. After a year in Amsterdam, Separatists religious refugees from northern England relocated to Leiden to get away from church conflicts among other English religious refugee groups. At that time, Leiden was a significant industrial […]

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Leaving England

The people we’ve come to know as Pilgrims always considered themselves English subjects. They did not want to leave their heritage and country, but as the tumultuous events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries unfolded, leaving became increasingly necessary to protect their lives. The Mayflower story begins in the tiny village of Scrooby, in northern England. It was a small community then and remains a little village today. According to a Legacies of […]

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Mother Mary Brewster

Historians believe Mother Mary Brewster was probably born in 1569, most likely in Northern England. We do not know her last name prior to becoming Mrs. William Brewster. Genealogists are fairly certain she married William in 1591 in a small country church in Scrooby. She became Mother Mary Brewster with the birth of Jonathan, born on August 12, 1593. Confirming the value placed on the firstborn male child, his birthdate is the only Brewster child […]

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Banned Books Week

September 18 – 24, 2022, is Banned Books Week. I’ve only recently learned there is a Banned Books Week, but I’m glad there is. I grew up in libraries. My mother was a librarian. I was the only girl in the family and on our block, so books were my companions when I couldn’t be with other girls near my age. I’ve read my way through every crisis and transition I’ve ever encountered. I cannot […]

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Queen Elizabeth II

Long Lived the Queen Due to no effort on my part, I was in the right place at the right time many years ago to watch Queen Elizabeth II opened a new session of Parliament. We were visiting London and noticed large crowds gathering in front of the hotel where we stayed. A police officer was kind enough to tell us we were at the right time and place to see the pomp and circumstance […]

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