This little book is intended as amemorial to the women who came inThe Mayflower, and their comrades whocame later in The Ann and The Fortune,who maintained the high standards ofhome life in early Plymouth Colony.There is no attempt to make a genealogicalstudy of any family. The effort isto reveal glimpses of the communal lifeduring 1621-1623. This is supplementedby a few silhouettes of individual matronsand maidens to whose influence wemay trace increased resources in domesticlife and education.

One must regret the lack of proof regardingmany facts, about which areconflicting statements, both of the generalconditions and the individual menand women. In some instances, bothpoints of view have been given here; atother times, the more probable surmiseshave been mentioned.

The author feels deep gratitude, andwould here express it, to the librariansof the Massachusetts Historical Society,the New England Genealogic-HistoricalRegister, the American Antiquarian Society,the Register of Deeds, PilgrimHall, and the Russell Library of Plymouth,private and public libraries ofDuxbury and Marshfield, and to Mr.Arthur Lord and all other individualswho have assisted in this research. Thepublications of the Society of MayflowerDescendants, and the remarkable researchesof its editor, Mr. George E.Bowman, call for special appreciation.

Worcester, Massachusetts.