This year one of my relatives shared an extensive history tracing the paternal family line back to our first ancestor arriving in North America. That ancestor arrived in Boston in 1635 and settled in Plymouth Colony. As Thanksgiving approaches, I was curious about the role my ancestor may have played in those early Thanksgivings. Here’s what I learned.
What has traditionally been described as the “first” Thanksgiving was in 1621. That was 14 years before the story of my family genealogy. There was, though, another ancestor who arrived on the Mayflower. He is a relation on the maternal side of the family tree and thus was not the subject of this particular family history. I did learn a few things about the group that arrived on the Mayflower.
They established Plymouth Colony at what had been a thriving Wampanoag community of the Patuxet tribe for thousands of years. But when the Puritans of the Mayflower arrived, the community had been wiped out by plague brought by European traders several years earlier.
The legendary Squanto had been a member of that community. He was kidnapped by traders and taken to Spain to be sold as a slave. Ultimately, he made his way to London where he learned to speak English and eventually earned passage home. When he made his way back to his Patuxet village, he found everyone dead from the plague and went to live with a nearby Wampanoag tribe.
Squanto and members of the Wampanoag did help the Mayflower Puritans through that first hard winter. This was consistent with their tradition of hospitality. They did attend a feast with the Puritans, though it appears, rather than an invitation, they were drawn to the settlement by the sound of gunfire and feared the English were under attack. In any case, it’s important to note that this was not actually the “first” Thanksgiving as both native tribes and the newly arrived Puritans had their own thanksgiving traditions going back generations. It’s also important to know that the peace they negotiated didn’t last. The remaining Wampanoag are still fighting for their land today.
A little more than a decade after that Thanksgiving celebration, the family story picks up with my ancestor as an active member of the Plymouth community. In 1636-37, he volunteered to fight in the Pequot war, a fight for control of territory and trade. Many Native American tribes recount that local governors and clergy proclaimed days of “Thanksgiving” to celebrate English victories following battles against the Pequot and ascribe these “victory” celebrations as the true origin of our Thanksgiving holiday. At the end of the Pequot war, most members of the Pequot tribe had either been killed or driven away from their lands.
Over subsequent generations, my family built a foundation of prosperity by acquiring this native land. Early generations owned many acres of land in Massachusetts and built substantial wealth. Records show that a many times great grandfather also owned at least one Black woman. This, hundreds of years before a Black man was allowed to own property. As available land in Massachusetts became scarcer, my ancestors decided to move west. They ultimately acquired land in what would become Ohio and Indiana following treaties that removed native tribes from the Northwest Territory.
Growing up, I heard a hint of pride at the occasional mention of our family’s long history in America. It seemed having an ancestor on the Mayflower and soldiers in the Revolutionary War somehow conveyed legitimacy and importance. And it did feel a little special as a young child to have a personal connection to the history lessons I heard in school, where these early Americans were portrayed as brave heroes.
And certainly my ancestors were industrious and respected members of their communities. They were Army officers, church deacons, and mayors. Over the past 400 years, my ancestors have been farmers, carpenters, musicians, physicians, bankers, lawyers, and salesmen. Land was passed through generations, building generational wealth in ways not available to Black Americans and at the direct expense of Indigenous Communities whose land it had been. Along with property came expectations of respect, education, and success. My ancestors built in America a solid foundation upon which I have been able to establish a successful career and comfortable lifestyle.
I also have to acknowledge that my ancestors participated in building and expanding the structural racism that continues to disenfranchise communities today. However “well-meaning” in their time – they fought with the Union army during the Civil War and were considered religiously liberal – they were misguided in their assumptions of white supremacy and caused great harm. That is also the legacy that I carry. I cannot pretend that I have not and do not continue to benefit from racist structures my ancestors helped to establish in this country. That conveys to me a direct responsibility to tear down those systems and make reparations.
Thanksgiving for me is no longer only about giving thanks. It’s also about acknowledging my privilege and my responsibility to work toward equity and justice. This year, as I reflect on the opportunity I have to work comfortably from home, my continued financial security, and the relative wellness of my family, I also remember the native people whose land my family has occupied for generations, the enslaved and Black Americans whose families have not had the same opportunity to build prosperity, and the disproportionate suffering our modern-day plague is having on their communities as a result of centuries of oppression. As a gesture of acknowledgement, I am making donations to First Nations Development Institute and the Advancement Project in their honor.
On Balance 