The first permanent European settlement in New England begins to take shape. My ancestors William and Susanna White, with their two sons, Resolved and Peregrine, were among those desperately in need of shelter. Peregrine, my next generation ancestor, had been the first European born in the New World—born aboard the Mayflower while it held off-shore and advance scouts searched for a safe harbor for the ship to land. Now these "pilgrims" (though the term was not yet in use then) of the Mayflower were hastily building dwellings to shelter them from the advance of their first North American winter.
Sadly, that first year, half of the original 102 settlers would die—among them my ancestor William White. Susanna would remarry—to fellow Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow. My ancestor Peregrine White lived a full and prosperous life to the age of 83. He and his wife, Sarah, daughter of William and Elizabeth Bassett, had seven children. Jonathan White, born in 1658, was my next ancestor in the line.
