THANKSGIVING

What comes to mind when you think of Thanksgiving Day? Is it a visit with friends or relatives while sharing a lavish meal? Watching your favorite sports team in action? Or simply enjoying a day of rest? For many Americans it's all of the above. President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of Thanksgiving in 1863, but this act was hardly new. Nearly 250 years earlier, in 1621, after the Plymouth colonists completed the first harvest, Governor Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving. What tribulations led to this proclamation? History provides the answer.

Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored attempts at colonization in 1585 and again in 1587, but these attempts failed. Twenty years passed before success was achieved, this on May 14, 1607, when Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America was founded. But what best describes the years between this founding and the first observance of Thanksgiving? The simple answer is that these years were harsh, and by autumn of the first year of settlement, the colonists were sick and starving. Fifty or more had died. The following year 110 new settlers arrived, but they found that disease and malnutrition had reduced the original contingent to a group of 40. During this same month Jamestown’s fort was destroyed by fire. Two years later, in 1610, the Jamestown colonists lost hope and prepared to abandon the colony, this after having buried some 500 of their men, women, and children. En route down the James River, however, they encountered the Virginia, commanded by Thomas De La Warr, with 150 new settlers and fresh supplies. The outward-bound vessels came about and returned to Jamestown to try again. Of the 900 colonists landed in Virginia in the previous 3 years, only 150 had survived, the others having succumbed to starvation and disease. Things looked up in 1611 as the new governor of the colony introduced private enterprise. Agriculture had been a socialized venture until now, but Sir Thomas Cole assigned 3 acres to each man and gave him the right to keep or sell most of what he raised. By 1619 Jamestown produced a large enough crop to end the threat of starvation. Some 90 young women arrived from England to marry settlers who paid 120 pounds of tobacco each for the cost of transporting their brides. Slaves landed at Jamestown during this year and introduced to North America such African diseases as yellow fever, virulent forms of malaria, and hookworm.

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In 1621, Jamestown colonists built the first American gristmill to produce flour from their wheat, and it was for this milestone, after 14 years of hardship, that the first Thanksgiving was proclaimed. Giving pause to think of the sacrifices leading to this event, it's easy to see an observance embracing the true meaning of "thanksgiving" as given in our modern dictionary: An act of giving thanks; an expression of gratitude, especially to God. Many things have changed since that first act of Thanksgiving. For one, America is now blessed with abundance, but it would be a mistake to take this for granted. This year, then, as we observe our national day of Thanksgiving, let's all take a moment to give thanks as an expression of our gratitude, especially to God.