Meet the American who gave the nation our Thanksgiving origin story: Pilgrim Edward Winslow

Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow wrote the only contemporary account of the Pilgrims' first year in Plymouth, including the story of the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Against all odds, following near death at sea, amid privation, disease and frightening loss of life, they planted the seeds of a daring new society.  It is the only account, written as it happened, of the Pilgrims’ first year in Plymouth. Winslow sat for a portrait in London, offering our only look at the face of an actual Pilgrim. The Pilgrims "were probably suffering from scurvy and pneumonia caused by a lack of shelter in the cold, wet weather." "We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us." — "Mourt’s Relation." "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together." — Edward Winslow "The Pilgrims had gone from the brink of perishing to an abundance ‘far from want’ in one growing season." "Winslow died a God-fearing Pilgrim at heart and with him went a very special set of skills." Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.

Within a few generations their descendants brazenly challenged the world's monarchial order with the revolutionary statement that "all men are created equal" and fought to establish the first great constitutional republic.