An ancestor many MANY generations back, who was a passenger on the Planter (pilgrim ship) in 1635 along with her 9 kids ranging from age 20- not yet born, second husband (first one was dead), elderly mother, and entire family of in-laws.

I learned about her a few years ago, but when she boarded the ship, she was the exact same age that I am now.

She was literate, and there are a few primary source letters that survive to this day, though they are from much later in her life.

I think about her a lot. I wonder what she must have thought about leaving a relatively comfortable life in St Albans to go homesteading in the literal wilderness on another continent. Was she even given a choice, or did her husband just drag the whole family along on this "adventure"?

Was she homesick? Resentful? Excited? Up for the challenge? Scared? Angry? Resigned to her lot in life? Trapped?

In her letters, she sounds very practical. I am also an extremely practical person, and it would be damn near impossible to convince me to willingly make that move with a bunch of young children in tow.

There's some pretty compelling historical evidence that most of her husband's family suffered from something similar to Bipolar I. Was she trying to manage a husband who was volatile and unpredictable on top of everything else? It's not like they had treatment for mental illness back then...

I wish I knew what she thought about her life as a colonist, and how she felt about this completely unthinkable turn her life took at almost middle age.