who helped establish plymouth colony and organize the first thanksgiving
William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving. As was the custom in England, the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest with a festival. The major similarity between the first Jamestown settlers and the first Plymouth settlers was great human suffering. November was too late to plant crops. Many settlers died of scurvy and malnutrition during that horrible first winter. Of the 102 original Mayflower passengers, only 44 survived.