— William Stafford

It is Holy Week 2023. What I write today – Tuesday – will be delivered to your inbox on Good Friday. The verse above I found in a Tuesday Holy Week reflection by Diana Butler Bass in her newsletter “The Cottage.” I commend it for your own Good Friday Reflection. The term “Good Friday” is intentionally confusing as it refers to the specific day in history when Jesus was crucified. From our vantage point, we know that was the turning point, not the endpoint. But that day, those who had put their trust in him to turn a very bad situation around did not know that it was not the end. It was not a good Friday for them.

That day, they had no way of knowing he would not only return but would launch a movement that has shaped the world ever since. That day, they only knew the one they had trusted, followed, loved, and depended on to make their lives worth living had been taken from them through acts of violence.

Endings and Beginnings

That not-Good Friday, they were overcome with despair, frustration, fear, anxiety, discouragement, bewilderment, and a host of other jarring emotions. Much as I am this week – and perhaps you are as well. We’ve witnessed yet another slaughter of innocent grade school children. Meanwhile, nearly all media eyes are focused on a man who has had far more than his share of the public limelight. I’m not mentioning his name, and I’m writing this before we know the outcome of today’s court appearance. Nor am I rendering a personal opinion on the subject. When will it end? How will it end? Who knows? Surely, I do not. We are on the not-knowing side of a historical event, just as those dejected folks were two millennia ago.

Good Friday was not the end of the story. Much good has come from that day. The movement that began with a few frightened and discouraged people grew. At first, slowly, as the mighty sequoia starts from a small seedling, pushing its way up through obstacles of dirt and debris. Then more joined in, and more and more. Those who claim affiliation with that one man and what happened that one weekend centuries ago continue to have shaped society.

Love is the Trunk

A mature sequoia can rise 350 feet above the ground, with a trunk 20 to 40 feet in diameter. But that growth takes time. It may be 30 feet tall in ten years and only 100 to 150 feet tall in 50 years.

St. Catherine of Siena compared our lives to a tree. She wrote that the trunk is love, the core is patience, the roots are self-knowledge, and the branches are discernment. Love remains the most powerful force on earth, but it does not stand alone. It is sustained by patience and fed by self-awareness of both our individual worth and our capacity to influence others. It fulfills its purpose through awareness of where and how we can most effectively spread love.

Where to Focus

For the past few weeks, I’ve been in a weekly email exchange discernment process with another author about where to focus my writing efforts. I’m more than old enough to officially retire and savor the many wonderful opportunities before me now. But writing is as much an addiction as a craft or calling. I cannot not write. So the issue is not whether to write; the issue is what to write about and what to do with what I’ve written.

On this annual procession through Good Friday to Easter, I wonder if anything I write will make even an iota of difference in influencing the current context of conflicts, hostility, cruelty, arrogance, and senseless slaughter of innocents all around us. I do not know. But like the sequoia seed pushing through the dark dirt toward the bright sun, I feel compelled to try.

Each One Reach One

Here is my idea. In light of all that is troublesome right now, think of one person you know who could use a word of encouragement. Call, write, or visit that person simply to stay connected. No agenda. No advice. No request. Just “I was thinking about you and wanted to connect.” That’s it. Just connect with one person and do what is within your power to make this Friday a good one for one other person.

Will that stop the school shootings? Probably not. Will that put an end to the contentious political environment? Not likely. Will that end cancer or resolve world hunger? No and no, but it will increase the level of love in the world through that one connection, and that matters.

“Quiet in the earth a drop of water came, and the little seed spoke: “Sequoia is my name.” by William Stafford.

Thank you for spending a few moments of your precious time reading along today. If you like what you’ve read, please share this with a friend. Or, if you’d like to join this growing online community, head over to HowWiseThen to sign up for your FREE subscription. I won’t sell your information. You decide if you prefer a monthly newsletter or weekly articles about whatever is swirling around in my mind that week. I’m often as surprised as you are by what I decide to write about.

Mary Brewster’s Love Life and Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures: available wherever books are sold. Bookshop.org/Mayflower; Mary Brewster
Amazon.com/Mary Brewster’s Love Life
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles
BarnesandNoble/MaryBrewster Autographed copies available at my website.

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Angela Burgess is on a mission to help families escape the poverty trap and find hope for their futures. I met this exuberant carrier of hope through the Houston non-profit RaiseUp Families organization. After being a long-time donor, she became the executive director in 2020. In that role, she combines her Christian values with over twenty years of experience in the field of wealth management, insurance, and nonprofit development.

She is passionate about guiding families out of the poverty maze, which has been the agency’s focus since 1994. RaiseUp Families has successfully stabilized hundreds of families struggling with the tough times that can overwhelm anyone. The COVID-19 pandemic, medical bills, car repairs, and other problems stretch a tight budget to the breaking point. That starts a chain reaction that compounds problems until the family is desperate and destitute, often resulting in evictions. That leads to children changing schools or missing school altogether, which impairs the child’s education and social development as relationships with teachers and peers are disrupted.

Lack of Cash Leads to Frequent Moves

Cash-deficient families often move, sometimes to take advantage of an apartment move-in promotion that gives them a break on utilities; other times, they are evicted for failure to pay the rent. RaiseUp Families works with clients to catch up on overdue rent and utility payments, to avert eviction, so that the children continue attending their current schools. Maintaining a consistent school routine maximizes the child’s chances of thriving, which is a key component in overcoming generational poverty.

Angela’s enthusiasm is contagious and inspiring. “I’m convinced that money comes from unexpected sources when you focus on the work,” she said while discussing the funding required to help client families. The results of the agency’s virtual April 2020 spring fundraiser illustrate her point. By the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading, and the agency decided to cancel its annual in-person spring fund-raising luncheon.

Over the next four days, Angela pulled together a virtual replacement event. “We raised the same amount of money as the previous year, without having to spend money for a venue and food, so really, we came out ahead in the budget game.”

Forced to Rethink the Program

The COVID pandemic also put a crimp in how the agency interacts with clients who could no longer come to the office, where staff helped them increase their income while decreasing their expenses. Angela explained, “Because of privacy policies, schools and apartment complex owners were unable to make referrals. I called the Houston Apartment Association and asked, ‘How can we help each other?’ Soon, we were able to expand our mission to all of the Houston area and began working with clients face-to-face via Zoom.

Their creative workaround for the COVID challenge got picked up by reporter Amy Davis at KHOU, which generated 800 calls for information. All this attracted the attention of an anonymous donor who liked what the agency does. His first check for $75 was followed by another for $3,000 and then by a note inquiring about what RaiseUp Families needed most. “He gravitates towards places that help children and animals. I believe that if you do the right thing, God will provide.”

The anonymous donor then gave another $250,000, enabling the agency to expand its services to around seventy families by the summer of 2021. By 2022, that number grew to eighty-five families. Nearly a hundred percent of those families managed to keep their children in the same school system. Equally significant, families that completed the program experienced an average income increase of sixty-one percent and stay in stable housing after completing the program.

Family and Career Training

Angela grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, and attended college in Pella, IA (home to Pella Windows), with thirty-four churches and four bars. In college, she majored in Spanish and Communications. She spent a semester in Washington, D.C., working as a lobbyist for farm workers and cranberry farmers. There she honed her persuasion skills. She puts past experiences to good use in Houston, where being bilingual is definitely an asset. Her training in financial management and generosity started at home, where banking runs in the family. Her father and grandfather were bankers, and her mother worked in a savings and loan firm.

Eventually, she went to work for Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley) in Chicago, where she said, “I kept encouraging people to restructure their portfolios to include donations to charity. I wanted to help people connect their money with their mission, to know what’s best for the donor, the family, and the charity. I love talking finance.”

Spreading Hope

She said she learned her first financial management skills from her parents. “I came to realize that my parents were disciplined in exactly one thing: deciding whether something was a need or a want, and not giving in to the temptation of wants. Growing up in a middle-class family, my parents repeated these words to me time and time again: ‘It’s not how much you make, but how much you spend.’

Many of the families we serve were never taught that principle. Combine a lack of basic money management tools with one large unanticipated expense or loss of a job, and suddenly a family drops from barely getting along to extreme hardship.”

After Angela moved to Houston in 2014 with her husband, Gary Burgess, for his position with the Houston Morgan Stanley office, she launched Broad Oaks Consulting. At that time, in 2018,  she was a donor for RaiseUp Families and worked with victims of assault and rape, which she found gratifying. She says, “I’m good in a crisis.”

Angela has applied her boundless energy to mentor girls through Big Brothers-Big Sisters, serves as a guardian ad litem with Child Advocates, and maintains a prison ministry through Order Malta, a Catholic lay religious order. She says, “My motto is everyone has time to save a life or change a life.”

Inspired by Faith

Although Catholic now, she was raised in the Presbyterian church by her parents, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother who were all people of strong faith, and they did a wonderful job enriching her life with Jesus’ teachings and love.

“When I left home, I began seeking a church home that provided the same grounding my childhood church had and, after many years of searching, found the Catholic Church. At age twenty-four, I became a Catholic, finally finding a community in which I felt I belonged.”

A significant part of her work with RaiseUp Families consists of nurturing current donors and expanding the organization’s impact on the community. Houston earned the dubious honor of being the city with the most evictions once the onset of the pandemic set in. Apartment managers were eager to partner with people who could help them keep their tenants and still collect the rent.

She knows what it’s like not to have the funds for rent. “I’ve sat at my kitchen table at two o’clock in the morning, calling my credit card company to ask for a cash advance so I could pay my rent that month. I know how tough things can get.”

Expanding Hope and Help

Today, Angela and her staff continue to dispense hope by ending poverty one family at a time. Thanks to support from donors, community partners, and a wonderful, forward-thinking Board of Directors, RaiseUp Families has doubled the size of staff under Angela’s leadership. The agency has restructured its HandUp program to help clients achieve even better outcomes. The agency anticipates that by June 2023, they will have served TWICE the number of families as in  2021 and 2022, with client incomes also increasing.

Angela’s new goal?  “I want to see 60% of our families reach the income “happiness index” of $70,000 in household income within three years of entering our HandUp program.  To date, about 10% of our clients are achieving or exceeding that mark within 12-18 months, so we have our work cut out for us, but we’re on the right track!”

Thank you for being part of this growing online community. If you appreciated this post, share it with one or more of your friends. Or, sign up for your own FREE subscription. You might also enjoy an earlier article about RaiseUp Families.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
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I think of Dr. Roger Leslie as a sort of Mr. Rogers for adults, especially those with dreams of becoming authors. His unflappable good cheer, encouragement, and helpful insights have kept numerous authors from giving up their dreams of being successfully published. Discouragement is often more prevalent in the publishing world than bylines and checks. An editor may insist the author’s favorite phrase or scene won’t sell and has to go. The rare agent who actually responds to a query is more likely to say, “Not my genre,” than “Sure, I’ll work with you.” Writing for publication can be hard, discouraging work.

Life is a prism

Dr. Leslie instills hope and helps authors turn the situation around. “My philosophy is that life is a prism. Everyone is looking at the prism from a different facet. If you don’t like what you’re seeing, you might try seeing the world from a different facet and see how it changes your perspective.”

He’s had plenty of his own experience seeing things from a different perspective. He’s fond of talking about what he calls ‘fateful detours.’ For example, he knew from his early teens that he wanted to write novels. He grew up in Dearborn Heights, MI, until his family moved to Houston when he was fourteen. After high school, he was on track to become a published author, choosing his courses at the University of Houston accordingly. “But then one day a friend told me, ‘You can’t make a living as a writer.’ So, I changed my major to English Education and set out to teach, just long enough to launch my writing career.”

Change of Plans

Often our temporary plans prove more permanent than our long-range ones. He accepted a teaching position at a Houston area high school where, much to his surprise, he “fell in love with teaching. That really taught me so much about myself and people. Those kids were the biggest blessing in my life.”

He was apparently quite a blessing to them as well. In 1989, his fourth year teaching, he was named teacher of the year for the entire Galena school system. By then, he’d settled into a manageable routine of teaching by day and writing evenings and weekends, still hoping to become a successful enough writer to make that his career. He completed a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and did have some success publishing his work in various periodicals.

“But I always wanted to write books. I’ve always believed the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Nothing stands in the way.”

The Life-Changing Phone Call

He was in his classroom one day when he got the phone call that led him on a fateful detour away from that straight line. “The Department Chair told me the principle needed a librarian. He offered me the job, though I had no degree in library science and lacked the appropriate certification. “I went home that evening and had a conversation with God. ‘You’re not listening to me! I want to be a writer!’”

The principle countered Roger’s objections by pointing out he’d have more time to write since he’d no longer be reading student essays, the position would mean a pay increase, and he could arrange for emergency certification.

“I took the job.”

New Opportunities

That job led to opportunities he could never have imagined. Dr. Maureen White and Dr. Patricia Wilson ran the Library Science program at the University of Houston’s Clear Lake Campus, where Roger enrolled. One of Dr. White’s assignments was to write reviews of children’s books. She loved his reviews and told him to pick out three which they submitted to Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association. “That led to assignments, pay, and a by-line every two weeks in the most prestigious magazine in the field.

It got even better. Dr. Wilson invited me to co-author a book for librarians. The first day we began working, we realized we had a series, not just one book to write. We pitched our idea to Libraries Unlimited and ended up with a three-book contract from one of the most prestigious publishers in the country. By going back to school and doing something I didn’t want to do, I also met publishers at the annual library conferences. These are what I call ‘fateful detours.’ Detours that seemed like delays actually catapulted me to where I needed to be.”

And More Opportunities

Roger is quick to share his experience, connections, and knowledge with others, partly because, as a teen and young adult, he learned how hard it is to go it alone. “I grew up gay in a Catholic midwestern environment. During that time, I had an epiphany. Because I’m an old soul, aware of spiritual and emotional things others don’t seem to notice, accepting being gay was my light come out of the closet. Accepting being gay meant going against everything I learned from the parochial school I attended and my family. I knew something didn’t fit, and I concluded I would just have to live my life alone, without love. But as I explored my own soul, I realized I needed to determine for myself what was right for me.”

In undergraduate school he met Jerry. Their friendship gradually evolved into their life-long commitment to each other. However, they didn’t find much support from anyone, even within the gay community. Back in the 1980s, many in the gay community thought their vision of having a lifelong marriage was cute but naïve. They had to venture out on their own. “That experience emphasized for me how important it is to support other people; because it’s so hard to go it alone.”

Look for the Light

Today Roger is living the life he wanted for himself and helping others do the same. He says on his website, “I feel grateful every day to live the life I dream. I am an author. All dreams flourish with outreach. As an author, speaker, coach, editor, and publisher, I love guiding people along their path to make their dreams come true, too.”

“I always look for the light.”

Having worked with him on one of my books and observed him in a variety of situations, I’ve observed that often he is the light that sheds hope and help to countless others.

Thank you for being part of this growing online community. If you appreciated this post, share it with one or more of your friends. Or, sign up for your own FREE subscription. You may also enjoy an earlier article about Dr. Roger Leslie.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post People of Hope – Dr. Leslie appeared first on How Wise Then.

The first friend I can remember was Karl. He was my age. His sister was the age of my younger brother. Though we only lived in that community for a year or so, I vividly remember some of the many adventures the four of us shared as pre-school-age children. We lived in a rural area and were relatively free to roam the wide open spaces between our adjoining yards.

Friends Forever

There are those special people who come into our lives and become a permanent part of them. Distance may separate us, but the bond survives. It may be years between times when we can be together in person, but when we do meet up again, it often seems like it’s been a few days rather than a few years.

Mary Brewster, Matriarch of the Mayflower, had such a friend in Bridget Robinson. Bridget’s husband, the Reverend John Robinson was the designated pastor of the English Separatist community when they relocated from Amsterdam to Leyden. Another pastor had been their official pastor, but after they fled from England to the Lowlands, that pastor stayed in Amsterdam. Robinson, along with future Governor William Bradford, and Mary’s husband, Elder William Brewster, decided to move their community to Leyden. The community lived there from 1608 until some of the group sailed for the New (to them) World in 1620. During those years, Mary and Bridget became as close as sisters.

Finding a Way

When the faith community decided to establish a place of their own across the Atlantic, they also decided that the Brewsters would sail with their two younger sons, Love and Wrestling. The Robinsons would stay behind, along with Jonathan, Patience, and Fear, the Brewster older children. Bridget and Mary had to bid one another farewell; hoping they would eventually meet again when more of the Separatists joined them in the new Plimoth Plantation.

Here’s an excerpt from the last afternoon Mary Brewster and Bridget Robinson spent together before the Mayflower sailed.

I wanted my last afternoon with Bridget to be a happy one. I took Love and Wrestling with me, along with more things for Patience and Fear, and went to the Robinsons. I was overcome with gratefulness that Bridget would watch over Patience and Fear, but equally distraught that they needed a new home.

Love and Wrestling entered the Robinsons ahead of me and bounded up the stairs. I had to stop midway to catch my breath, and also to collect my thoughts and prepare myself for this final afternoon together. I dreaded saying farewell to her.

 “Please, do not talk of the trip,” I begged. “Let us pretend this is like any other afternoon when we pass the time in one another’s company.”

“I agree that is the best plan, but I do have something for you, so you will not forget me.”

“I will never, ever forget you.”

Bridget left and quickly returned with a locket on a delicate chain. “My father gave this to my mother many years ago. I have treasured it, and now I want you to have it.”

My throat grew thick, my tongue seemed stuck and incapable of moving. I reached out to touch it. “I don’t think I should accept a treasure that belongs to your family,” I finally managed to say.

“That is precisely why I want you to have it. You have been as family to me. And now your daughters live with me as though they were my own kin. Please accept this.”

 She took my hand and pressed the locket into my palm, curling my fingers around it. I put my clenched fist against my breast and murmured, “Thank you. I will treasure it always.”

To Be Continued

More of the story about the friendship between Bridget Robinson and Mary Brewster is told in the book coming out this spring: Mary Brewster’s Love Life. It should be out in March. I’m filling my days doing final edits and tending to other publishing details.

Other times, I’m likely out making new friends or phone calls to keep up with old friends. I learned this song in Girl Scouts a very long time ago.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other, gold.
A circle’s round
It has no end
That’s how long
I’m gonna be your friend.

In preparing this article, I learned a bit about the history of “Make new friends.” There are several verses to it, with various lyrics, but the concept is the same. Some friendships are life long; some for a season of life; and some brand new. All add incredible value to our lives. I’m glad I can count you as a friend. I trust you have many other people in your life that you consider a friend.

Thank you for being part of this growing online community. If you appreciated this post, share it with one or more of your friends. Or, sign up for your own FREE subscription.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Friendships appeared first on How Wise Then.

From Dr. Martin Luther King

First up, thoughts from 1967, the last Christmas sermon Martin Luther King preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta a few months before he was assassinated.

“We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and goodwill toward all can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian. If we don’t have goodwill toward men (and women), we will destroy ourselves. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. (L)et us this morning think anew on the meaning of that Christmas hope: “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men (and women).”

(A)ll life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”

From Malala Yousafzai

In 2014 Malala Yousafzai became the second Pakistani, the first Pashtun, and the youngest person to receive the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. She was 17 at the time. Her acceptance speech reflects both her depth and youth.

“I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional love . . . my father for not clipping my wings and for letting me fly. (M)y mother for inspiring me to be patient and to always speak the truth. (M)y wonderful teachers, who inspired me to believe in myself and be brave.

I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers. I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that.

We are living in the modern age and we believe that nothing is impossible. We have reached the moon 45 years ago and maybe will soon land on Mars. Then, in this 21st century, we must be able to give every child quality education.

Dear sisters and brothers, dear fellow children, we must work… not wait. Not just the politicians and the world leaders, we all need to contribute. Me. You. We. It is our duty. . .Let us become the first generation to decide to be the last, let us become the first generation that decides to be the last that sees empty classrooms, lost childhoods, and wasted potentials. Let’s begin this ending together, today, right here, right now. Let’s begin this ending now. Thank you so much.”

From Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. She knew a thing or two about things that make for peace.

“Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at; do it for peace. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light His light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men (and women) all hatred and love for power.

Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need tanks and generals?”

From John F. Kennedy

Former  President John F. Kennedy delivered his peace speech at American University in June 1963, a few months before he was assassinated.

“I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived–yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.

What kind of peace do I mean? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.”

May you have peace within and goodwill all around you.

If you enjoyed this, pass it along to a friend. Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures tells how the Pokanoket people and the newly arrived English “Planters,” or as we know them, Pilgrims, established terms of peace back in 1621. I’d love to speak to your book club, library, or organization about this fascinating history. Contact me at HowWiseThen to make arrangements. Sign up to receive free weekly blogs and/or my monthly newsletter there as well.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
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Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Peace and Goodwill appeared first on How Wise Then.

As I do this, I’m also thinking about the Pilgrims who were doing this back in November and December of 1620. However, they were searching for a home from the confines of the Mayflower, not the comfort of a guest room. After 66 grueling days cramped together in a small, stinky ship, they finally anchored off the coast of modern Provincetown. Their search for a home was far from finished.

Land, land Everywhere

Several challenges confronted them. Many were sick from the absence of adequate, decent food and the presence of cold, wet, weather and inadequate shelter. Then there was shipmaster Christopher Jones and his surly crew. They wanted these pesky passengers off the Mayflower asap so they could return to merry old England, their home. Searching for the best location to build their new settlement was limited to what they could explore on foot until they reassembled their shallop. They’d taken it apart to fit in the storage space available on the Mayflower. It took two weeks to reassemble.

Captain Myles Standish led the first team of sixteen men on a chilly march along the northern “arm” of Cape Cod. Wearing armor and carrying weapons, they explored along the coastline but found no place they deemed suitable to establish the new settlement. They did find a grave, a European-style cast iron kettle, a stash of corn, and other evidence that the area was or had been occupied. They also spotted a few Natives in the distance, who quickly disappeared. After a ten-mile hike in search of them, they gave up seeing them again.

If at First You Don’t Succeed

Exhausted, cold, and hungry, they returned to the ship to regroup. Next, twenty-four of the men set out in their reassembled shallop. This time Master Jones, and nine of his crew accompanied them with the ship’s longboat. They planned to spend two days exploring along the interior coastline.  Still, they found no place deemed suitable. However, they did experience a shower of arrows shot by Natives they could hear, but not see. For a few terrifying minutes, Natives shot arrows at them fast and furious to send a clear “go away” message. They went as far as back to the ship to organize another exploration voyage.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Sea Master Jones’ impatience increased as the supplies of eatable food decreased. He wrote in his ship log: “Sunday, 26 November: At anchor, Cape Cod harbor. Third Sunday here. Master notified planters that they must find a permanent location and that he would keep sufficient supplies for the ship’s company and their return.”

The voyage had taken much longer than anticipated. The weather hampered finding a place to establish a settlement. The ship was their only protection from the harsh winter setting in. While Master Jones and the others were exploring, those left back on the ship were clearing six inches of snow off the deck.

Third Times the Charm

A third exploration party headed out in the shallop, determined to find a place to build a settlement. Led again by Captain Standish, the team included ten passengers and six Mayflower crew. Among them was the ship’s second mate Robert Coppin who’d been to the area on a previous voyage, and the future Governor William Bradford. 

Before they left, they went to shore to bury young Jasper More, one of four children foisted on the passengers because his mother’s husband refused to accept responsibility for the children he was certain were not actually his biological offspring.

On their third search-for-home trip, they found a lovely place across Cape Cod Bay. It was teeming with fish and other seafood, had a clear freshwater brook, and a level area between the beach and a hill. The good news of their discovery was overshadowed by the news that awaited them. Dorothy Bradford fell overboard and drowned while William Bradford was away exploring.

Making Themselves at Home

Later they learned the reason such an ideal place was available was that a couple of years earlier, a plague had wiped out everyone who lived there. The few who survived the pandemic left, leaving it deserted. Today we know this place as Plymouth. They called it Plimoth Plantation. The Natives knew it as Patuxet.

Finally, at the end of December, having started their journey from Southampton, England, in July, they were ready to build their new homes. I’m looking for my new home via the internet, studying photos and videos of available places. These brave souls established their new homes by first felling the lumber to make the planks to build the Common House and a few cottages.

Every family took in someone who traveled alone or was now orphaned or widowed due to the high death count between anchoring and the first spring. Half of them didn’t live through that first frigid winter. However, the surviving ones, through hard work, grit, and determination, carved out a community for themselves and a permanent place in history.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures tells more of the harrowing story of how a small group of Separatists braved the unknown to migrate twice to unfamiliar places in search of a better life. It also tells the largely overlooked story of how two cultures were forced to decide how to deal with each other.  There’s much more to the story than you learned in school. I’d love to speak to your book club or organization about this fascinating history. Contact me at HowWiseThen to make arrangements. Sign up to receive free weekly blogs and/or a monthly newsletter. Please consider sharing this article with a friend.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Searching for Home appeared first on How Wise Then.

The Natives who gathered with the English settlers in the fall of 1622 thought they were coming to their aid. Only a few months earlier, in March 1622, the two communities had worked out the terms of a treaty. It stipulated that if either party were in trouble, the other would come to help. When the Natives heard the English shooting off their guns as part of their celebration, they thought they were being attacked. When they learned the English were having their own thanksgiving ceremony, they left to get more food and returned to help them celebrate.

Fall 1620

In November of 1620, the Mayflower was still at sea, where it had been sailing since September. Some of the passengers had been on the ship since July. The start of the cross-Atlantic journey was delayed three times to repair leaks in the companion ship, the Speedwell. The third time turned out not to be the charm, but rather the conclusion of attempts to make the Speedwell seaworthy.

Finally, on September 6 – or 16 – depending on which calendar you prefer – the Mayflower was at sea at last. There was no thanksgiving celebration that fall as there was no harvest, or crops, or a place identified where crops might be planted. Their first fall in the New (to them) World, the Pilgrims reached into the bottom of their food barrels in search of anything to eat.

Other Thanksgiving Traditions

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures, my historical novel about the events leading up to our traditional Thanksgiving, is now two years old. I’d be happy to speak to your book club or organization about this fascinating history. Contact me at HowWiseThen to make arrangements. You can sign up to receive weekly blogs and/or a monthly newsletter there as well. If you enjoyed this article, share it with a friend.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Thanksgiving History appeared first on How Wise Then.

At that time, Leiden was a significant industrial community of around 15,000 and growing. Within 30 years after the Pilgrims left for North America, in 1650, Leiden was a city of 55,000. Leiden, also spelled Leyden, is about 10 miles northeast of the Hague, 30 miles southwest of Amsterdam, and 200 miles across the North Sea from London, England. The city is laced with nearly 17 miles of canals, second in number only to Amsterdam. Eighty-eight bridges cross the canals, many of them suitable only for pedestrians.

Immigrant Refugees

Leiden, in the 1600s, was a major industrial center for the textile industry. Many of the English Separatist refugees worked in textile mills or at home weaving for one of the mills. Children sorted and combed wool and did other textile-related menial jobs.

The Separatist immigrants came to Leiden a few decades after England had befriended the area against Spanish efforts to assimilate the region. England aided the Dutch, soundly defeating the Spanish Armada in the naval showdown of 1588. A decade earlier, the Spaniards laid siege to Leiden. For a terrifying period of several months (October 31, 1573 through March 21, 1574) the Dutch made heroic efforts to keep the Spaniards at bay. When the siege finally ended, William, the Prince of Orange, allegedly offered the people a choice. He would either exempt them from taxes for several years or establish a university. They chose the university, and the University of Leiden was established in 1574.

University of Leiden

The University provided William Brewster with a means of income. He taught English to university students through their mutual familiarity with Latin. Separatist Pastor John Robinson took classes there, making friends among the university faculty. Brewster was familiar with Leiden from his earlier trip there in 1584 as a staff assistant to William Davison, the former Secretary of State and Ambassador for Queen Elizabeth I.

The Dutch, grateful for England’s support, hosted Davison and Brewster at a variety of special events.  England befriended the Dutch in a typical European monarch game of chess, with each monarch trying to gain and maintain power and stability by absorbing neighboring nations. England wanted to secure the loyalty of the Dutch to keep Spain away from England.

Thanks to the University, Leiden became one of Europe’s most prominent scientific centers, a position is has held for over four centuries. Students from all over the world come to study there. One of them,  Dr. Jeremy Bangs, has devoted his life to researching the influence of Leiden on the American Pilgrims.  He founded the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in a small 14th-century house near the city center. There he collects and displays manuscripts and other memorabilia germane to the Pilgrim story.

Life in Leiden

As is the case for many modern immigrants, the plight of the Scrooby area Separatist immigrants was desperate. They arrived with few resources, most unable to communicate in Dutch, and were unfamiliar with city life. They banned together, doubling up families, taking whatever menial work they could find, and banning together to worship and encourage one another.

Eventually, they were able to purchase a home with sufficient land to build a series of small homes for their members. The community was so congenial that when Brewster had another child, they named their son Love. Though life was safer in Leiden than in England, it was also hard. Children were picking up ideas and practices from their Dutch peers that bothered their parents.

William Brewster’s decision to start publishing and distributing documents critical of King James stirred the anger of the king. Though the Dutch were tolerant, they were in no position to go against the wishes of the King of England. So when King James sent his men to find and arrest Brewster, William went into hiding, and their Separatist community more seriously considered setting up their own colony in the New World.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Leiden made extensive plans to participate in the 2020 400th anniversary, plans which were scuttled because of the pandemic. However, forward-thinking planners put together a virtual four-hour Leiden tour with stops at places significant to the Pilgrim story.

This month is the second anniversary of the release of my historical novel about the story behind the Mayflower voyage. I’d be happy to speak to your book club or organization about this fascinating history. Contact me at HowWiseThen to make arrangements. You can sign up to receive weekly blogs and/or a monthly newsletter there as well. If you’ve enjoyed this article, share it with a friend.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Leiden appeared first on How Wise Then.

According to a Legacies of History article, the village’s population when the Pilgrims were leaving England was between 150 to 200 people. Today it has a population of less than 500. It is located on the River Ryton, near the confluence with the River Idle, in north Nottinghamshire. Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame is not far away. The nearest town with guest accommodations is Doncaster, about twelve miles further north along the Great North Road (today England A1).

Scrooby: Small but Significant

St. James (St. Wilfrid) – Scrooby, England

St. James (later renamed St. Wilfrid) was a congregation of the Established Church of England, formed by King Henry VIII, when the Pope denied him a divorce from his first wife. The church was in the diocese of the Archbishop of York, located a mere 50 miles or so to the north of Scrooby.

Today Scrooby Manor is a private home.

Scrooby Manor was a huge estate during Pilgrim days and also the property of the Archbishop of York. The Old North Road connected London to the south with Edinburgh to the north. Official church and royal messengers frequently traveled the route with important news and documents. Scrooby is about halfway between the two cities, making the Manor a popular rest stop.

Pilgrim Elder William Brewster and his family lived in and managed Scrooby Manor. William spent part of his childhood there when his father became the bailiff and manager of the Manor. Pilgrim Brewster assumed those duties when he returned to Scrooby from his studies at Cambridge University and his father died.

Brewster and All Saints in Babworth

Young Brewster was enthralled with the Separatist ideas discussed at Cambridge University during his brief studies there. Some of his classmates became significant leaders in the English non-conformist movement at the turn of the 17th century. Two groups of non-conformists evolved. Puritans fought to further purify the church from Roman Catholic theology and traditions. Separatists wanted to leave the Established Church to practice their faith more in line with the earliest Christian communities.

Non-conformist clergy served several Scrooby area congregations. Brewster preferred to worship at All Saints, where Separatist sympathizer Pastor Richard Clyfton preached sermons that appealed to him. Starting around 1600, Brewster walked across the lane in Scrooby from the Manor to St. James and kept walking to hear Pastor Clyfton preach seven miles away in Babworth.

All Saints is still a worshipping congregation today. In the early 1900s, their Rector, Frank Wilberforce, encouraged them to claim and celebrate the congregation’s role in the Pilgrim story. Frank Wilberforce’s great grandfather was William Wilberforce, who led the English movement to abolish slavery.

Conform or Leave

Life for non-conformists was relatively calm until Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, and King James became monarch of England in addition to being King of Scotland. The new position included serving as head of the Established Church. He and his bishops took a dim view of both the Puritans and Separatists. The king had absolutely no interest in further reforming the Established Church. In 1604 over a thousand clergy appealed to his majesty to permit a few changes. He refused and instead ordered that any clergy who defied him should be removed from their pulpits. Richard Clyfton was one of those pastors.

All Saints is where Brewster met William Bradford, the future Governor of the Plymouth settlement. At the time, Bradford was a young man, only a few years older than William’s son Jonathan. Tensions mounted year by year as the 16th century wound down. Messengers regularly brought news to Scrooby Manor about non-conformists arrested, tortured, and executed. Some of them were friends William knew from his days at Cambridge. Separatist pastors began to lead their people to emigrate to the more tolerant Lowlands (The Netherlands).

The Separatists at Scrooby

Archbishop of York – Edwin Sandy’s

Elder William Brewster befriended Pastors Richard Clyfton and John Robinson. When Pastor Clyfton lost his position in Babworth for defying the king’s edicts, William invited the All Saints congregation to worship at the Manor. Soon a new, underground congregation formed with Clyfton as pastor, Robinson as teacher, and Brewster as the ruling Elder.

St. James, a few yards away from the Manor, remained part of the Established Church. The underground congregation met in the property owned by the Archbishop of York, one of the most influential men in England. They held secret services only a few yards from a congregation in his diocese. What could possibly go wrong with that plan? It turns out, quite a bit.

Their decision to form an underground congregation at the Manor was as dangerous as it was daring. Scrooby Manor occasionally provided rest to monarchs, bishops, and other high-ranking authorities who would readily arrest, and likely execute, anyone caught at the Scrooby underground worship services.

Leaving England

By 1607 their situation was life-threatening. Reports of heretics caught and executed became more frequent. It was time to prepare to leave England. Brewster resigned his post as bailiff at the manor, making him and his family homeless. About fifty  Separatists, led by Pastors Clyfton and Robinson, and Elder Brewster, made the arrangements to leave. Betrayed in their first attempt to leave, they returned to Scrooby, where they were dependent on the charity of sympathetic friends and neighbors.  They successfully left their beloved homeland in 1608 to live in exile in the Lowlands.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Leaving England appeared first on How Wise Then.

Eventually, Mary had at least five more children. One was either stillborn or died in early childhood. Her next two babies were daughters, born when the family still lived in England. Her two younger sons were born when the family lived in exile in Leiden. They lived there from 1609 until William, Mary, and the two younger sons joined the others on the perilous Mayflower voyage as English colonists.

My Launch into Motherhood

Daughters Carol & Karen

On October 7 – a few decades ago – I joined the ranks of motherhood when daughter Carol joined the family. A couple of years later, Karen joined us. Today both daughters are grown, each with their own three children. Though I grew up knowing we are related to William Brewster, I knew very little about Mary until I started digging into the story behind the story of the Mayflower to write Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures. As the mother of two daughters, I was stunned at what I discovered about our ancestor.

My mother was a reference librarian. She spent many hours in her early retirement years documenting our family’s connection to William and Mary Brewster. The Brewster surname in our branch of the family ends in Duncan Falls, Ohio. Several generations of Brewsters lived and died in this community a few miles southeast of Columbus. The last one to bear the Brewster last name was my great-grandmother, Emma J. Brewster, who married a Ross. Their son, George Ross, is my mother’s father and our link to the Mayflower story.

Tracing Family History

In March 2017, my brother and I, accompanied by one of my granddaughters, made a pilgrimage to England to fill out the Brewster story a bit more. The pilgrimage took us to Scrooby, England, where the Brewster family played a role in the oversight of Scrooby Manor, an important communication link between London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland. 

I already knew that William and Mary Brewster, and the other Mayflower passengers, owed their lives to the Native Americans who first greeted the new settlers. In my research, I learned it went well for about fifty years, thanks primarily to the treaty between the two cultures initiated by Massasoit Ousa Mequin.  

Sacrificial Love

What I did not know prior to doing the research was that Mother Mary Brewster left both her daughters behind with friends in Leiden when the Mayflower sailed. My heart ached when I learned that. I cannot imagine leaving Carol and Karen behind, not knowing if I’d ever see them again. We currently live in Texas, Nebraska, and Ohio and only see one another occasionally. However, between e-mails, texts, phone calls, and zoom capabilities, we easily stay current on one another’s daily lives.

It was not so for Mother Mary Brewster. She did not know if she would ever see her daughters again. Letters were the only means of communication, and the delivery time for a letter back then was measured in months, if not years. Her daughters, Patience and Fear, did eventually come to Plimoth Plantation, so that chapter of Mary’s life had a happy ending.

From Generation to Generation

This new-to-me family history is what prompted me to write a follow-up story to Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures. This one, Mary Brewster’s Love Life: Matriarch of the Mayflower, is also historical fiction. Since history recorded so little about Mary Brewster, I’ve had to imagine how I might have reacted if faced with the choices and circumstances she encountered. The book has a tentative publication date of March 2023.

As I reflect on what I was doing that October 7 when our family welcomed Carol into the world, I am thankful for the efforts my mother made to document these connections. Historians, librarians, and genealogists use their skills to enrich our lives by helping us find our roots. Happy Birthday, Carol. Thanks, Mom, for all those hours you spent in libraries and for being the keeper of our family’s history.

Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit about Mary Brewster. If you aren’t already receiving my monthly HowWiseThen newsletter, sign up, so you’ll be informed about the progress of Mary’s fictional biography, which is due out next spring. Register at HowWiseThen.

Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures covers the Pilgrim’s escape from England and their interactions with the Pokanoket people. Available wherever books are sold in paperback, eBook, and audio.
Bookshop.org (Supporting local Indie Bookshops)
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles-Tale-Two-Cultures/
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles-kathryn-haueisen/
Autographed copies are available from my website or BlueWillowBookShop.com/book/

The post Mother Mary Brewster appeared first on How Wise Then.