A history of the Pilgrim Fathers and the founding of New England. The Pilgrim Fathers were a band of Christians who suffered persecution at the  hands of the ecclesiastical system prevailing in their day. As a consequence they resolved to look for peace in a country across the sea. In their search for freedom they suffered tragedy and hardship and became exiles for conscience sake. The author traces their emergence in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, their escape to Holland and their eventual landing at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in November 1620. He then shows how they adapted to their new environment and the effect that the preaching of the gospel had upon the new colony.