Resolve+White

Resolve White Interview
I was born about 1615 in the Netherlands. I came on the big boat at about the age of five, with my parents William and Susanna. My parents went to the Netherlands because of religious freedom. Two reasons why we left was because of me and other children becoming like the Dutch and we lived in small crowded houses.
 * Tell us about your life in England or the Netherlands.**

The reason why my parents and I went on the Big Boat was that we wanted to go to the New World. The reason why we went to the New World was because I was starting to talk and act like the Dutch. When we got on the Big Boat I was very excited for the journey to begin. At night, I would lie awake and listen to the wind blowing and the waves crashing. The food was terrible because there was bugs in the food, the bread was hard, the cheese became moldy, and the water was gone. When the water was gone, we had to drink beer, but after the beer became sour. The weather was nice for the first few months, but then we had a big storm. It blew us off course, and a beam cracked. Captin Jones and his men fixed it but then the ship started to leak.
 * Why did you decide to go to the New World on the Mayflower? What was that voyage like?**
 * How did the land and climate of Plymouth compare to what you were used to in England or the Netherlands?**

England and the New World are different because England had no trees and the New World had a lot of trees. When we got to the New World and got off the ship, I was scared because I thought there was an Indian behind every tree. In England we couldn’t hunt animals or cut down trees because the King owned them, but in the New World we could hunt animals and cut down trees all we want because there was no king. When we got to the New World we had religious freedom but in England we had no religious freedom. In England we had not a lot of land but in the New World we had a lot of land.


 * What was the first year like? What was hardest about adjusting to life in a new place?**

The first year was hard because we had no houses to live in and so we had to live on the big boat till the men built the houses. But the good thing was that we ha clean water to drink. I miss all of my friends and my family because I loved them so. A lot of people that were my friends and family died, it was so sad to see them like that. The Indians scared me because they had weapons and shot some of our people. It was very hard to get along with the people on the ship because a lot of them were very mean but most of them were nice.  When we got there in December in 1620, it was very cold. There was little food and it was not very good, but the men went out hunting for new food that was better than the food we had. We all had to clear the fields, plant, then harvest the crops for more food plus the men hunting for food too