My Family Was At the First Thanksgiving
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 737 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Joy Neal Kidney has always loved Thanksgiving, and it makes perfect sense why. Her family was there at the first one. One branch survived a fall from the Mayflower in the middle of the ocean, and another began with a child who lost both parents before being taken in by a family whose story led straight to that early gathering. Joy shares why the holiday has always felt personal to her.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:14.0 | This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories. |
| 0:18.1 | All season long, we're playing Thanksgiving stories. It's one of our favorite holidays, |
| 0:23.7 | and so much of the traditions surrounding it concerns things we value here on this show, |
| 0:29.9 | family, faith, and food. It's also Joy Neal Kidney's favorite holiday. She's one of our show's |
| 0:36.0 | regular contributors and listeners |
| 0:38.6 | out in Des Moines, Iowa, where she records stories about her family's life and her life that can |
| 0:45.4 | often be heard here. She also listens to us on 1040 WHO, one of our very best and earliest |
| 0:53.3 | affiliates. In keeping with the spirit of the holiday season, |
| 0:57.2 | today, Joy shares the story of the first Thanksgiving and how that relates to her own family. |
| 1:04.8 | Take it away, Joy. |
| 1:16.0 | We all know the story of Thanksgiving. |
| 1:19.4 | A hundred pilgrims came over on the Mayflower, |
| 1:22.3 | stepped out on Plymouth Rock with their buckled shoes, and were greeted by Indians who proceeded to teach them to plant corn with fish. |
| 1:27.8 | They had a big Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie with cool whip, right? |
| 1:38.2 | A newspaper once noted that Thanksgiving is a holiday that has no religious affiliation, |
| 1:44.5 | and that the whole tradition centers around food. |
| 1:48.3 | School children are taught that it celebrates how nicely the pilgrims and Indians got along. |
| 1:53.7 | But the pilgrim's faith in God is why we celebrate any of it. |
| 2:00.8 | John and Joan Tilley believed that the Church of England did not teach the any of it. |
| 2:06.1 | John and Joan Tilly believed that the Church of England did not teach God's word as they found it in their Bible. They were required to attend Anglican services, but they also met |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.