Obscure Facts about the Pilgrims & Thanksgiving by Bill Federer, Guest blogger

American Minute with Bill Federer Pilgrims' Thanksgiving to Almighty God On NOVEMBER 21, 1620 (NS), the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact and began their Plymouth Colony. Of the 102 Pilgrims, only 47 survived till Spring. At one point, only a half dozen were healthy enough to care for the rest. In the Spring of 1621, the Indian Squanto came among them, and showed them how to catch fish, plant corn, trap beaver, and was their interpreter with the other Indian tribes. Governor William Bradford described Squanto as "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation." Bradford added: "The settlers ... began to plant their corn, in which service Squanto stood them in good stead, showing them how to plant it and cultivate it. He also told them that unless they got fish to manure this exhausted old soil, it would come to nothing ... In the middle of April plenty of fish would come up the brook ... and (he) taught them how to catch it." Pilgrim Edward Winslow recorded in Mourt's Relation that in the Fall of 1621: "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. ... At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time, with us, yet by goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." Bradford described the same event: "And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion." The idea of a Fall day of thanksgiving may have come to the Pilgrims after they moved to Leiden, Holland, in 1609. Dutch citizens there annually gave thanks to God for William of Orange, in 1574, ending the bloody Spanish Furies, where Spain's "Iron Duke" of Alba had butchered tens of thousands. Dutch historian Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs (Ph.D. Leiden, 1976), in his article "1621: A Historian Looks Anew at Thanksgiving," documented that Jan Orlers, a friend of Pilgrim elder William Brewster, wrote of Leiden's Thanksgiving: "Every year throughout the city a General Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving ... held and celebrated on the Third of October, to thank and praise God Almighty that he so mercifully had saved the city from her enemies." Also in Leiden was a community of Jews who had been driven out of Spain. At the University of Leiden, a rabbi taught students Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac, just as the Pilgrim elder William Brewster taught students English. Pilgrims would have seen Jews celebrating the annual Thanksgiving Feast of Tabernacles or "Sukkot" in September–October. Pilgrims identified with Jews, who fled from Pharaoh across the Red Sea in search of their Promised Land, as the Pilgrims fled from the King of England across the sea in search of their Promised Land. The Israelites had self-government, called the Hebrew Republic, for four hundred years before the asked for a king. This was an example to the Puritan Reformers and to the Pilgrim separatists. When Harvard and Yale were founded in New England, Hebrew was taught. Historian Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs explained how Pilgrims thank God: "Our knowledge of the 1621 Thanksgiving comes from Winslow and Bradford. Winslow's choice of words, understood by his contemporaries, implies to us that the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for their preservation and for the plenty that gave hope for the future. Winslow specifically tells us that the colonists sat down with their Native neighbors and enjoyed several days of peaceful rejoicing together. It is a history with potent symbolism, and it needs neither apology nor distortion ..." Bangs added: "When Winslow described the Pilgrims' intention, 'after a more special manner to rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors,' he was alluding to John 4: 36 and to Psalm 33. The first is, 'And he that reapeth, receiveth wages, & gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth, & he that reapeth, might rejoice together.'" On November 9, 1621, 37 more Pilgrims arrived on the ship Fortune. The joy of greeting this second group of Pilgrims was quickly dampened when it was discovered they brought with them no food or supplies. This resulted in the second winter having a "starving time," where at one point, each person was rationed just five kernels of corn a day. Attempting to repay the "merchant adventurers" who financed their trip, the Pilgrims filled the Fortune with £500 worth of furs, but tragically the ship was captured by French pirates, leaving the Pilgrims in greater debt. In 1622, the friendly Indian Chief Massasoit became ill. Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow visited and doctored him. He thankfully regained health, which contributed to a peace which lasted over 50 years. Edward Winslow was especially grateful, because the Indian tradition was, if a person doctored a chief and the chief died, that person died too. Two years after the Pilgrim landing, there was a drought in 1623. Edward Winslow recorded in Alexander Young’s Chronicles of the Pilgrims (Boston, 1841): "Drought and the like considerations moved not only every good man privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before Him, but also to humble ourselves together before the Lord by Fasting and Prayer."                                           *** Hope you enjoyed this Thanksgiving article with little known facts as much as I have. I give full credit and thanks to Bill Federer and his American Minute blog! Please share on your social media by clicking the small icons below. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, Elva Elva Cobb Martin,  a mother and grandmother, lives in South Carolina with her husband and a senior mini-dachshund named Lucy, and a sea green bird named Atticus. She is the upcoming 2020 president of her state chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, a retired teacher, minister, and now calls herself a full-time writer. Better make that rewriter. A life-long student of history, her favorite city, Charleston, inspires her stories of romance and adventure. She desires to share exciting love stories of courageous characters and communicate truths of the Christian faith to bring hope and encouragement. Link to her three novels and one Bible Study on Amazon.  http://amzn.to/2pOgVHI

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Celebrate Lit Blog Tour Guest - Review of Marisol Mary Ann Bell

By Mary Ann Bell  https://proverb31titus2godlybookreviews.blogspot.com/


https://amzn.to/33Npc2L on sale now for $.99

My Thoughts:  This is such a powerful and interesting book to read.  A novel about forgiveness, learning to trust in God and to let go of the past.   A wonderful look at how we can turn back to the Lord, no matter what our circumstances may be.   The author has done an incredible job with the characters, she spins a story that not only keeps the readers interested but brings them into the story and feel what the characters are going through.  A beautiful story of how God's purpose will be done no matter what it takes.   A story of love that no one could stop.


The author gives us a good look at history and how life was, with the piracy on the seas, and customs of the day.  This is a story with many twists and turns in the plot; once you think you have the story figured out, the author takes the story line on a different trail. 

I  enjoyed the scene in the story with the  Andalusian horses and how they dance the flamenco dance.  I too have a l love for horses and I thought of the beautiful Lipizzaners when reading about these Andalusians.  

 I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Elva Cobb Martin.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you, Mary Ann Bell! 

Does this review make you want to read Marisol?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving,

Elva Cobb Martin

Review of Marisol by Rebecca Tews

Review by Rebecca Tews on Celebrate Lit's Blog tour for Marisol
https://rebeccatews.blogspot.com/?m=1

 https://amzn.to/33Npc2L

Book Review 

WOW. Just WOW. This book was absolutely amazing. From the first sentence, I was hooked. And the more I got into it, the less I wanted to put it down. Needless to say, I loved this book.

Marisol is definitely an interesting lead character. Her story itself is intriguing and her strength and confidence throughout is admirable. Ethan, the main lead male character, isn’t my favorite but he clearly cares for Marisol and would do anything to help her.

Following these characters is exciting. There is never a dull moment in this book. Just when you think that everything is settling down and is figured out, BAM! All of a sudden, the author throws in another plot twist that will throw you completely off guard and everything is unraveled again.

I would definitely recommend this book. It’s interesting and exciting. And it deals with some heavy stuff. Don’t be surprised if you find me re-reading this book sometime in the near future.

I had received a copy of this book as part of the Celebrate Lit Blogging Team and was required to give an honest review.

Rebecca Tews

Guest blog Interview by Lena Nelson Dooley

I so appreciate Lena Nelson Dooley interviewing me for the launch of Marisol. Here it is--and you can enter for the free book by clicking on her ending link and leaving a comment

Hugs, Elva

MARISOL ~ SPANISH ROSE - Elva Cobb Martin - One Free Book

Author Bio: Elva Cobb Martin is a wife, mother, and grandmother who lives in South Carolina with her husband and a mini-dachshund. A life-long student of history, her favorite city, Charleston, inspires her stories of romance and adventure. Her love of writing grew out of a desire to share exciting stories of courageous characters and communicate truths of the Christian faith to bring hope and encouragement. Connect with her on her web site at http://www.elvamartin.com.

Welcome, Elva. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

 Not a whole lot. But I do tend to write in my moral sense, strong belief in God and the power of prayer, and love of adventure.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I guess it would have to be returning to college as an adult married mommy and going to night school for ten years, taking one course, one night per week. But we finally got that degree.

Good for you. There was a local news story this morning about a man who quit school to join the army in WWII. He just graduated from high school, and he’s in his 90s. When did you first discover you were a writer?

I started writing stories in seventh grade and loved to compete with my good friend for best stories. My horse hero won the race, even with a broken leg! LOL! My writing grew naturally out of my great love of reading. As a child I read constantly. First, fairy tales, then other fiction, like Black Beauty, Flicka, and Nancy Drew Mysteries. Later, I delved into Charles Dickens, Nathanial Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, and Poe. In high school, I worked on the school newspaper and began writing poetry (to my first love).

When I started college, I had numerous poems printed in the student anthologies. I married after my first year in college.

About ten years later I returned as an adult student to finish my degree. I joined a new writers’ guild some of the English professors formed at that time, and really began to become a better writer. During these years, I also began writing and selling magazine articles, as well as studying novel writing. Magazines that published my articles include Charisma, Decision, Home Life, Living with Children, Mature Living, Pentecostal Evangel, The Christian Writer, and several newspapers.

My first published piece was in the college anthology my freshman year. Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

Historical romances, Historicals, Mysteries (Robert Whitlow, John Grisham, Agatha Christie)

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I keep a strong daily prayer and Bible study time and stay in church weekly. Also, I have a prayer team, and we share requests and pray for one another. Otherwise, I’d probably be bananas.

How do you choose your character’s names?

In my first novel I inadvertently named my hero and heroine the same names as a twin niece and nephew in another city and didn’t notice until I was in the final draft. I decided to keep the names, but then my sister, their grandmother, remarked that I should also name somebody in the book after their older sister. So-o, like a good Aunt I went back and did a find and replace for a woman lawyer and changed her name to that older sister. But that proved problematic. We kept finding the old name in the proof copies, so I can’t recommend doing this. NOW I am going to use only deceased relative’s names, if any. Other names come to me by my characters reminding me of someone I know, someone who probably will not read the book, for example. :-) I do like Bible names and I do research names for times in history to make sure they were in use. I have a Baby Name book that gives best names by certain years and by country which helps also.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Something immediately comes to mind, but I really can’t take credit, as I believe the Lord had the biggest hand in it. As an adult mommy, I dreaded going back to college to get a teaching degree because I knew I would have to take Chemistry and I had no high school classes in it or other college prep classes. But I stood up in front of our little church one Sunday, admitted this concern, and then confessed I was going to go on and enroll but I was going to take the Master Chemist with me. I ended up with an “A” in Chemistry which carried so many quality points it threw me up into graduating magna cum laude. I was in a pleasant daze through the graduation, but half-fearful they’d announce this designation an error before it was over. LOL

I graduated with a BA before I married, but I went to graduate school after marrying and having two children. I thought the students would kind of ignore me, but instead, they included me in everything even though I was so much older than most of them. If you were an animal, which one would be, and why?

I guess, a horse, as they are lovely on earth and will be in the supernatural future as Christ rides a white horse in Revelation when He returns to earth.

What is your favorite food?

Southern corn bread—I guess this goes back to my Cherokee great-grandmother.

What was your greatest writing problem/roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

I believe that would be POV and Deep Point of View and staying in it. I’ve done lots of study on it and now teach classes, but still occasionally find myself slipping out of the POV character’s head with a description or something, as my editor knows.

It took me until about my 3^rd book to understand POV, and deep POV came later. Tell us about the featured book.

Marisol is Book 1 in my new Charleston Brides historical series. I already loved pirate tales set in Charles Town and the Caribbean (my first one was published in 2017, In a Pirate’s Debt). Also the idea of indentured servants who came to America from all over the world grabbed my interest. I began to imagine my heroine being born in the Spanish nobility but being forced to flee to the New World and ending up as an indentured servant. I researched Spanish women names and hit on Marisol, which means Mary of Solitude. I decided just how I could make sure she had to flee Spain in a great crisis, fall into many other problems, and would need God’s help and the hero’s help to find a fresh beginning and Happily-Ever-After in the New World. I also gave her my love of horses and a very special talent of dancing the Flamenco with an Andalusian horse partner.

The hero, Captain Ethan Becket, is a very special person also. I made him a former minister of Charles Town who now sails the seas as a privateer, sometimes pirate, grieving the death of his wife and child during birthing. The time period is also during the Spanish Inquisition. My book tag tells it all:

Escaping to the New World is her only option...Rescuing her will wrap the chains of the Inquisition around his neck.

Back cover blurb:

Marisol Valentin flees Spain after murdering the nobleman who molested her. She ends up for sale on the indentured servants’ block at Charles Town harbor—dirty, angry, and with child. Her hopes are shattered, but she must find a refuge for herself and the child she carries. Can this new land offer her the grace, love, and security she craves? Or must she escape again to her only living relative in Cartagena?

Captain Ethan Becket, once a Charles Town minister, now sails the seas as a privateer, grieving his deceased wife. But when he takes captive a ship full of indentured servants, he’s intrigued by the woman whose manners seem much more refined than the average Spanish serving girl. Perfect to become governess for his young son. But when he sets out on a quest to find his captured sister, said to be in Cartagena, little does he expect his new Spanish governess to stow away on his ship with her six-month-old son. Yet her offer of help to free his sister is too tempting to pass up. And her beauty, both inside and out, is too attractive for his heart to protect itself against—until he learns she is a wanted murderess.

As their paths intertwine on a journey filled with danger, intrigue, and romance, only love and the grace of God can overcome the past and ignite a new beginning for Marisol and Ethan.

I would pick up this book because of the cover and the back cover copy. Please give us the first page of the story.

Cadiz, Spain 1740

Marisol Valentin pressed her tearful face against the warm neck of her beloved mare, blocking out for a moment the sickening smell of human blood in the barn corridor. “Goodbye, my dear Jada.”

The horse nickered and nuzzled her, as if understanding. Dragging her feet out of the pregnant Andalusian’s stall, Marisol could no longer squelch the sob that escaped her lips.

She averted her eyes from the form lying in the moonlight near the tack room entrance. The still body of Diego Vargas, nobleman of Spain, sprawled across the dirt passage.

She’d killed him, but it had been her only choice.

Her breath strangled in her throat as she inched by. Somehow she made it across the shadowed stable courtyard and up the rear stairs of the hacienda. Bursting into her bedchamber, she shoved the door closed, and leaned against it. The pressure in her chest, the awful bile churning in her middle, they both rose up to strangle her. She drew in ragged breaths as tears flooded down her cheeks and onto her ripped gown.

Her maid Carmela dropped the camisole she was setting out on the bed. “Oh, my lady, what has happened?”

“Diego Vargas came into the foaling barn after I entered to check on Jada and he...” Her voice broke down. She wrapped her hands around herself and clenched her eyes to block out memories of his savage attack. “He’s ruined me, and I stabbed him.” Her lips trembled. “I only meant to stop him. Not kill him.”

Carmela gasped and her hand flew across her mouth. “Madre de Dios!”

13. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Blog: http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elva-cobb-martin

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin

Thank you, Elva, for sharing this book with my blog readers and me. I’m eager to read this story.

Readers, here are links to the book.

Marisol ~ Spanish Rose (Charleston Brides)  - paperback
Marisol ~ Spanish Rose (Charleston Brides Book 1) - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:

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Never Give Up! Five Steps to a Book Contract

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Friends please Note: this blog appeared today, Nov. 13, 2019, on Seriously Write https://seriouslywrite.blogspot.com/ -a great help to writers!   Invited by author Sandy Ardoin  https://www.sandraardoin.com/  Check them out!

Never Give Up! By Elva Cobb Martin

Have you ever thought of giving up on getting your book finished and published? Well, I want to encourage you. Never give up that dream. God is in the business of helping you finish what He has begun in your heart, according to Philippians 1:7 “Being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in your will perform it...”

I wrote my first novel, Summer of Deception, after attending a writers' conference. Once I started submitting it to publishers and agents, it was rejected 26 times. But I kept revising and rewriting. Meantime, my husband and I were called into full-time ministry, and the manuscript went into my attic for the next 20 years. End of story. Right? 

Nope. Summer of Deception, an inspirational romantic suspense, was contracted and published in 2017, thirty years after that first draft. It has spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers’ List for Women’s Religious Fiction. A prequel, In a Pirate’s Debt, the story of the pirate ancestor of the hero in Summer, soon followed. 

https://amzn.to/33Npc2L

Book 1 in my new Charleston Brides series, Marisol, released this week, depicts a heroine who would not give up. She epitomizes this spirit of not giving up when greatly tempted by circumstances. 

My Five Steps to a Book Contract

Step 1 – Keep God’s Confidence in Yourself and Never Give Up

Many may reject your manuscript, but someone will love it, if you don’t give up.

Step 2 – Hone Your Craft (Check out my Planning Your Novel blog series at http://bit.ly/2HbB5qM)

Carve out praying time, writing time, sharpening craft time, and reading time in your genre.

Step 3 – Find Writing Workshops and Critique Groups

How about your local American Christian Fiction Writers’ Chapter?

Step 4 – Help Other Writers

This is a spiritual principle. You will reap help you need when you sow into others.

Step 5 – Learn how to Submit to Editors and Agents

 Follow their submission guidelines.

Can you add to my list? What helped you not give up?

~~~~~~

Elva Cobb Martin,  a mother and grandmother, lives in South Carolina with her husband and a senior mini-dachshund named Lucy, and a sea green bird named Atticus. She is the upcoming president of her state chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, a retired teacher, minister, and now calls herself a full-time writer. Better make that rewriter. A life-long student of history, her favorite city, Charleston, inspires her stories of romance and adventure. She desires to share exciting love stories of courageous characters and communicate truths of the Christian faith to bring hope and encouragement.