ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY
November 20, 1620
The First Child is Born to the Pilgrims
in the New World
On this day in 1620, Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower which was anchored near what is now Cape Cod
in Massachusetts. His parents where William and Susanna White. William White died soon after but Susanna remarried
in the first wedding to take place in the New World. The family moved to the new settlement of Marshfield, north of
Plymouth where Peregrine held minor civil and military offices. He died in 1704.
Although, Peregrine was the first child born to the Pilgrims, he was not the first child born in the New World to
English parents. That honor falls to Virginia Dare. Virginia was born in Roanoke Colony in August 18, 1587. Her
existence would not even be known if it weren't for the fact that her granfather, John White returned to England in
1587 for supplies and shared the news. By the time John White returned to the New World three years later, Virginia
and the other colonists had vanished.
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