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Dear Patriot, President George Washington declared the first Thanksgiving under the U.S. Constitution in 1789, setting the date for November 26th.[1] [2] [3] However, numerous earlier instances of thanksgiving celebrations and feasts occurred in North America, predating Washington's proclamation by many decades and even centuries. According to www.iAsk.Ai - Ask AI: The concept of "days of thanksgiving" has existed for thousands of years, long before European colonization of North America, often involving giving thanks to deities.[4] [5] These early observances were typically religious in nature, sometimes involving fasting, and were called for by magistrates, churches, or heads of households for various reasons, such as expressing gratitude for divine aid or military victories.[5] [6] Here's a chronological overview of earlier documented thanksgiving occurrences: 1541 (Palo Duro Canyon, Texas): Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his 1,500 men observed a feast of prayer and thanksgiving led by Padre Fray Juan de Padilla. This event predates the Plymouth Thanksgiving by 79 years.[7] 1565 (St. Augustine, Florida): Spanish settlers, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving upon landing and shared a meal with the native Seloy tribe. While a significant early event, it did not become the origin of the national annual tradition.[4] [8] 1578 (Nunavut, Canada): English explorer Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew held a thanksgiving service upon safely landing in what is now Newfoundland, Canada, after their quest for the Northwest Passage.[4] [8] 1598 (Near San Elizario, Texas): Juan de Oñate, a Spanish dignitary, ordered a feast of thanksgiving after his party of 500 soldiers, women, and children survived a harrowing journey across the Chihuahua Desert to the Rio Grande.[7] 1607 (Jamestown, Virginia): English colonists in Jamestown held thanksgiving services for their safe arrival and again three years later when a supply ship arrived after a harsh winter.[4] [8] 1607 (Fort St. George, Maine): English colonists at Fort St. George held a harvest feast and prayer meeting with the Abenaki Indians.[7] 1610 (Jamestown, Virginia): The first permanent settlement of Jamestown held a thanksgiving.[4] 1619 (Berkeley Hundred, Virginia): On December 4, 38 English settlers celebrated a thanksgiving immediately upon landing, as their London Company charter specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God." This celebration has been commemorated annually at Berkeley Plantation since the mid-20th century.[4] [6] 1621 (Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts): The Pilgrims, having brought in a good harvest with the assistance of the Wampanoag, celebrated for three days in the autumn. This event, often popularized as the "first Thanksgiving," was more accurately a harvest celebration, featuring feasting, games, and a demonstration of arms. Accounts from William Bradford and Edward Winslow describe a meal that included fowl (including wild turkeys), venison, fish, eels, shellfish, and a Wampanoag dish called nasaump. The Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 of his men joined the celebration, contributing five deer to the meal.[4] [5] [9] [10] These earlier events demonstrate that while the 1621 Plymouth harvest celebration is widely recognized, it was one of many thanksgiving observances that occurred in North America, reflecting both European religious traditions and harvest festivals, as well as interactions with Indigenous peoples.[4] [5] [8] The modern national holiday, however, largely evolved from the New England Thanksgiving traditions and was significantly influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale's advocacy and President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation in 1863.[4] [5] [6] [11] Authoritative Sources Thanksgiving (United States). Wikipedia↩ 2 Thanksgivings? It's happened. Here's why we now celebrate on 4th Thursday of November. news-journalonline.com↩ The Long History of the Thanksgiving Holiday in the U.S. reprosenthal.com↩ Thanksgiving: Historical Perspectives. National Archives↩ Thanksgiving History. The Mayflower Society↩ A History of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History↩ Thanksgiving Timeline. History.com↩ The Real History of Thanksgiving. Library of Congress Blogs↩ The First Thanksgiving. Plimoth Patuxet Museums↩ The True Story of Thanksgiving. National Museum of the American Indian↩ Sarah Josepha Hale. National Women's History Museum↩

This was first posted on my blog at https://charleneedge.com on November 14, 2025 Greetings, readers! I hope you're all doing well. It's November already and one thing I celebrate in November is a birthday. Not my birthday but my first book's. Undertow is nine years old this month. I think most of you have read it, so thank you very much. If you haven't, I invite you to do that! It reads like a mystery and has a happy ending. Today I'm sending a little insider info to you on the book's progress in the world. This is relevant because I created this blog 10 years ago specifically to let subscribers like you know I was working on what became Undertow. Over the years, I also wrote a lot of blog posts about cults and fundamentalism which many folks tell me are helpful. In November 2016, we launched the book and sold it from my website for one month before it was available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. It was a VERY exciting time. Actually, it still is an exciting time for the book. Read on... Undertow fun facts Undertow copies sell every month. Every single month since its publication in November 2016, copies of the book have sold in paperback and/or eBook to readers around the world. That tells me people are interested in understanding why people join cults. They're also keen to know my own first-person account of being a committed leader and Biblical researcher with The Way International and why I stuck with the cult for so long: 17 years. And how I escaped. You may have noticed that high-control groups like The Way are more prominently reported on these days, so the topic is still very relevant. How many copies have sold? As of today, IngramSpark reports that 1,844 copies have been sold by online booksellers since Undertow went on sale back in 2016. Libraries and indie bookstores can order copies using the ISBN and Library of Congress numbers. Also, I've sold about 100+ paperback copies in person. Who reads Undertow? Over the years, many readers have contacted me to share their own experiences in The Way or other cults, thank me for my story, and oh yeah, some try to convince me to join their church or otherwise convert to something that can "help" me. No matter the messages, I'm glad the book makes people think. Undertow has reached people not only in the USA but in other countries including Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., The Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, and Chile. When I receive monthly sales reports from IngramSpark, the company that prints the book on-demand and distributes it, I'm humbled. I'm struck by the consistent interest in this book. It's an honor to have my story add to the conversation about what attracts people to controlling and abusive organizations and how followers can eventually resist them, reject them, and heal from them. I thought you might like to see the kind of folks Undertow readers are. Some wrote generous blurbs (praises) for Undertow, which appear on the book's front pages and cover: Family, friends, and neighbors, such as friend, Robyn Allers, author and journalist, who wrote a beautiful blurb. Childhood, high school, and college friends who knew me before I got into The Way. Some of my peers involved in The Way at the same time I was and who've also left it, such as Steve Muratore and Marty McRae, both former members of The Way Corps who provided invaluable former-insider blurbs for the book. And Buck Dopp, also a former Way Corps, who wrote this review here. Also, Stephen Spencer, former Way follower, wrote this review of Undertow, included here Kudos to fellow writer: Stephen J. Spencer | Charlene L. Edge Adult children of those peers. Some know my daughter! Adult children of peers who still adhere to Wierwille's teachings but in a Way offshoot group. At least one staff person at The Way International in New Knoxville, Ohio. I can't say who. :-) A minister in New Knoxville, Ohio near The Way International headquarters. Read his letter to me here. Religious scholars of Judaism and Christianity, such as Yudit Greenberg, PhD, and Philip Charles Lucas, PhD. Both contributed blurbs. Other authors who published Way stories, such as Karl Kahler, author of The Cult That Snapped and Kristen Skedgell, author of Losing The Way (currently out of print). They both wrote important blurbs. Authors who published memoirs about their confining and confusing religious experiences, such as Susan Campbell, author of Dating Jesus, and Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land. Both kindly provided blurbs for Undertow. Authors who write on the topic of cults such Jeff C. Stevenson, author of Fortney Road: Life, Death, and Deception in a Christian Cult. Jeff contributed a blurb, too. Also, Bart Stewart, who wrote a review published by the International Cultic Studies Association. Click here. Ex-members of other high-control groups. One in Canada contacted me. Emmy Award-winning television news producer, Rob Ruff, who provided a compelling blurb. A former leader in the Religious Right who wrote the blurb that appears on the front cover of the book. Read what he says here. Cult experts. Three are Michael Langone, PhD, Patrick Ryan, and Janja Lalich, PhD. All wrote insightful blurbs for Undertow. Some of my former college professors and the late Rita Bornstein, PhD, who was the president of Rollins College when I was a student there in the 1990s. She wrote a lovely blurb. Students at Rollins College who, for many years have been assigned Undertow in a religion class. I visit to discuss it with them. The professor, Dr. Todd French, provided an extensive blurb for Undertow. Mental health counselors, yoga teachers, and one of my own physicians. Librarians. In 2017, Undertow won an award from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. Librarians were the judges that year. Fellow authors and poets across the country and in other countries—you know who you are. Thanks to all of you who share Undertow with interested readers. I'm proud of that book and grateful to everyone who helped me publish it, especially my husband, Dr. Hoyt L. Edge; my daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Adam Chase; and the talented editors and book designer. In the Acknowledgments section of the book, you'll find a litany of folks who care about this story. Thanks for reading! Your writer on the wing, Charlene