Two Men, Two Destinies

There are two men who traveled on the Mayflower who particularly appear in sharp contrast.  Their life experience up to that 1620 adventure had nothing to do with their destiny.  God was at the helm.

Of the 102 passengers aboard The Mayflower, there were those with and without "sea legs."  The Pilgrims suffered terribly from seasickness.  Those with "sea legs" often took great delight in mocking those who suffered from the continual and drastic movement of the ship.  One sailor on The Mayflower especially gloated over his superior ability to weather the seas and the weakness of the Pilgrims in their compromised conditions.  William Bradford later wrote that this sailor was "a proud and very profane man" daily causing grief for the Pilgrims.  He even went so far as to say "he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end."  

I can't help but think of the prophet Obadiah's words when I think of this strong and haughty sailor's destiny.  "For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen:  as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head"  (Obadiah 1:15).  Before they had reached the half-way point, this sailor took suddenly and violently ill and died, the first to be thrown overboard.  Only two people perished on the voyage, this sailor was one of them.

A passenger who should have perished but didn't, was John Howland.  At the time, he was young, in his twenties, and working for the man who would be the first governor in the new land, John Carver.  He had been his servant since the planning days of the voyage and had a front row seat to the entire undertaking.  One stormy day at sea, this young man, curious and adventurous as I imagine him, must have had enough rocking and rolling below deck.  Naïve to the danger of being on deck during such a storm, he ventured up for fresh air.  Before he knew it, the waves coming overboard took out his feet and he was flying over the railing into the mountain of dark water.  By all accounts, John was buried at sea.  One can only imagine what must have been going through young John's mind while being beaten by the foaming water and sinking into its depths.  There must have been a thread of hope because he reached out, and there, somehow, was what is called a topsail halyard--a rope.  A rope that should have never been there, and usually fastened securely to a cleat.  But, there it was dangling in the water and John held on for dear life.  He was fully aware that The Mayflower did not have the capability of stopping or retracing ground.  At first John was pulled farther under the water, but his youthful strength made the difference as several sailors hauled him back in, hooked him, and drug him back up on deck.  By all counts and measures, John Howland was the benefactor of a true miracle.  It took him a week to recover under the watchful care of his master's wife.

That is not nearly the end of John Howland's story.  During the first April in the new land, Plymouth's governor, John Carver fell suddenly ill and died.  Five week's later, his wife followed him to his grave.  This made John Howland a free man and he inherited part of Carver's estate.  He had never been committed to staying in the new land and even had plans to return to England on the first ship to Plymouth after The Mayflower's departure.  It may have been the young lady, Elizabeth Tilley, whose entire family had all perished the first year, who persuaded him otherwise.  She was determined that the deaths of her family be not in vain.  Having been very instrumental at Carver's side thusfar, the circumstances left John Howland in a position to become one of the new colony's prominent citizens.  He married Elizabeth Tilley and together they raised 10 children, some of the first children of European descent born and reared on American soil.  Those children in turn raised more than 80 grandchildren of John Howland.  It is estimated today that 2 million Americans are descendants of John and Elizabeth--including me.  His descendants are anything but nameless in the annals of history.  Perhaps you will get goosebumps, as I do, thinking of that Atlantic miracle when you study the names on John Howland's pedigree. 

On a personal note, of all the amazing parts of the story of the Pilgrims, John Howland's story has become foremost to me.  I have always had a strong sense of patriotism and love of country.  Long before I studied and came to know of the history, I felt something deep down about the Founding Fathers and our special freedoms.  My experiences abroad in impoverished countries, and former communists countries strengthened that deep feeling.  I thought it was because my grandfathers had served in WWII to defend liberty in the world.  I thought it was because my parents had been politically aware and actively promoted principles of freedom.  It wasn't until I came across the story of John Howland that I knew why my blood runs red, white, and blue.  It is because the vision of what America is, a promised land for those who seek to know and worship God, and the sacrifice that makes it so, belonged to John and Elizabeth Howland---and that blood runs in my veins today.  

You might like to see if you are a descendant of John and Elizabeth Howland or any other Pilgrim.  Thanks to Timothy Ballard, here's one step-by-step way you can do it.

Sources: 

Ballard, Timothy. The Pilgrim Hypothesis. Covenant Communications, Utah. 2020.

Lynch, P.J.  "The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower or John Howland's Good Fortune." Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts. 2015.

Philbrick, Nathaniel.  The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. Puffin Books, New York.                     2008.