The importance of a single life: one of the most fascinating stories from US history that you've probably never heard of. Washed overboard from the Mayflower during a raging storm, John Howland almost died. He should have died. His rescue was not only daring but surprising, for he was a nobody at the time, merely an indentured servant. We don't know why some of the crew, who didn't even like the Pilgrims and often taunted and cursed them, chose in this instance to risk their lives to save him. We can be grateful they did. Had John Howland sunk to the bottom of the ocean, he would have taken with him all his future descendants, including Emerson, Longfellow, Humphrey Bogart, Dr. Spock, three US presidents (FDR, George H.W.Bush, George W. Bush), plus so many more. Maybe even you .