John Carver

John Carver was a leader of the English Separatists who sailed on the Mayflower and became the first governor of Plymouth Colony. He helped negotiate the Mayflower Compact and relations during the colony’s first winter, but died in the spring of 1621.

John Carver was born in Nottinghamshire and died in Plymouth Colony. Carver was chosen as the first governor of Plymouth Colony after the Mayflower crossing and was among the signers of the Mayflower Compact; he died in the spring of 1621 during the colony’s difficult first year.

Jeanne Blanchet’s Rite of Passage places John Carver among the senior Separatist leaders guiding the families who leave Leiden for North America. During the Mayflower voyage and the difficult establishment of Plymouth, his authority as one of the colony’s organisers and first governor provides the adult political framework around Sara Ann Clifton’s fictional coming-of-age experience.