15. More than two-thirds of the women Pilgrims died during the winter in the Mayflower
The diseases which ravaged the Separatists, Strangers, and the crew in the Mayflower proved particularly deadly to the women of the expedition. Of the 19 adult women who sailed to the New World, 14 of them died in the Mayflower as the ship lay at anchor. Among the survivors was Priscilla Mullins, just 18 years of age when the voyage began. It is often written that Mullins entire family died during the first winter. It is true that all of her family who made the voyage died, though two siblings remained in England. Some evidence indicates that she considered returning to England in the Mayflower. As one of the few surviving women, Mullins nursed the sick and infirm. Among her many patients was John Alden.
Rose Standish, wife of Myles Standish, died during the first winter of an unknown ailment. Her widowed husband, Myles, reportedly became one of the few who did not fall ill during that dreadful winter. William Bradford, whose chronicles contain much of the information known about the early days of the colony, recorded that Standish assuaged his grief by tending to the ill. Bradford noted that Standish cared for him during his own illness. Thus, both Standish and Priscilla Mullins occupied themselves caring for the sick, though beyond the poem The Courtship of Myles Standish there exists no record of a budding relationship between the pair. Standish married his second wife, Anne, sometime after 1623.