Jane G. Austin. Standish of Standish. 1889; Gutenberg.org, 12 July 2007. E-book.

Did you know that there was a popular nineteenth century novelist by the name of Jane Austin (not Austen)? American writer Jane G. Austin was a prolific writer of Americana, especially historical novels such as Standish of Standish.

Standish of Standish is really a fictionalized account of the first four years of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. While it does focus on Myles Standish, all of the early Pilgrims cross the pages of the novel at some point. The Indians Hobomok and Tisquantum (“Squanto”) also figure prominently in places.

Compared to the contemporary works of the Plymouth Pilgrims that we have (Of Plymouth Plantation, Mourt’s Relation, etc.), Standish of Standish focuses much more on the female characters. There is clearly a lot of made-up dialogue and romantic intrigue, but it does not appear to be made completely out of whole cloth like Longfellow’s “The Courtship of Miles Standish.”

The beginning is a bit of a slog because so many people (half the population) die the first winter. But here we begin to see character develop. One young woman cannot take the wilderness any longer and goes back to England. Most who survive hang on.

The author leaves the death of Dorothy Bradford a mystery. She also describes in some detail the settlers who would come in following years to join the Mayflower Pilgrims. She implies that many of the single women who came over on subsequent voyages already had a man picked out. We certainly cannot say that for sure, but many marriages took place after only a few months.

We see Standish leading the pilgrims in various military and political forays with the native Americans. For the most part, the relations were amicable, but Standish proved the settlers’ bravery when necessary.

Austin has a more realistic twist then Longfellow’s “Courtship.” The father of Priscilla Mullins (or Molines, as Austin prefers the original French) was one of the men who died the first winter. In this version, her dying father asks Standish to take care of his young daughter of 18 or 19 years. Standish promises to do that, but some others suggest that means he ought to marry her. She is nearly half his age, and there is no mutual attraction, so they are both in a somewhat awkward position.

John Alden is also. He likes Priscilla, but he also respects Captain Standish. It is all resolved happily for everyone.

Austin also suggests that William Bradford and Alice Carpenter were an item but her father made her marry Mr. Southworth. When Alice was widowed in Holland and heard that Mrs. Bradford had died, she came across to her true love.

Similarly, Barbara Standish came over when she heard Rose Standish had died because she had been carrying the torch, or at least great respect, for her second cousin Myles whom she had known since they were children.

The person at the Plymouth Hall Museum who told me of this book warned me that it was full of “florid Victorian prose.” Yes, there is some of that, but it is not too annoying. Like Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, she tries to present dialogue using the language of the early 1600s. I would not be surprised if some of those actors at Plimoth Plantation may use Jane G. Austin as a crib.

The novel is a good reminder of what the early settlers of North America encountered, and how they had to learn to live and to live together. Yes, it may be fictionalized some, but we see beliefs and character traits that would continue to be accepted and admired to the present day. Reading Standish of Standish reminds us of why Plymouth, Massachusetts, calls itself America’s Home Town.

P.S. If the reader can keep track, Austin also notes the relations of the Pilgrims to one another. That Susannah White was the sister of the Surgeon Samuel Fuller; that John Howland served William Bradford as his assistant; that Thomas Cushman, orphaned like a number of others, became a disciple of Elder Brewster; that Mrs. Brewster was the daughter of an Anglican bishop; that among Peter Browne’s descendants was John Brown of Kansas and Harper’s Ferry fame.

P.P.S. The actors at Plimoth Plantation might not agree with Austin’s conflating the role of surgeon and physician together. The “Samuel Fuller” there argues that he is no doctor but a surgeon and a barber. A “doctor of physic” is something else altogether.