Why did the Pilgrim Fathers take 126 pairs of shoes with them to Jamestown?

They were dangerously unprepared for the rigors ahead. These people were ill-suited to a life in the wilderness. They packed as if they had misunderstood the purpose of the trip. They found room for sundials and candle snuffers,a drum, a trumpet, and a complete history of Turkey. William Mullins packed 126 pairs of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots for all of the Pilgrims on board. Yet they failed to bring a single cow or horse, plow or fishing line. They had no idea what they were doing or what they were up against.

They didn't GO to Jamestown ! I would have thought it was the commonest of common knowledge that they were "dumped" hundreds of miles to the North, where they established an entirely different type of settlement from the Virginia one (and thereby planted the seeds of the future Civil War)

As regards the shoes - replacements would be very necessary within a short time, and there would be neither the skilled craftsmen nor the materials to make new ones over there.

That was to be a long-lasting problem in the American Colonies - lack of industrial development in them meant that they were dependent upon the import of manufactured goods - and other things such as tea - and British merchants sought to create a monopoly so that they could charge whatever prices they liked. Which led to large-scale smuggling and the"Gaspe" incident, and to extra taxes, and to protests and to - well perhaps SOME people will know where all that led ..........

the Pilgrim Fathers took 126 pairs of shoes with them to Jamestown to keep their cold feet nice and warm and to open a chain of shoe shops on the island.

Because they had no idea what life would really be like there. Can I point out that the Pilgrim Fathers landed at New Plymouth in 1620. The settlers that landed at Jamestown landed in 1605.

They knew that shoes could not be made in the New World due to a lack of shoemakers.

Whatever else that they did or did not bring with them was strongly influenced by their non-farming middle-class experience.

The landed in Massachusetts (Plymouth Rock) which was far short of their original destination because they ran short of beer. Water, at the time would become polluted during the sea voyage so dilute beer was used. The small amount of alcohol was enough to keep the water safe.

one of the pilgrims took 139 pairs of shoes

none of the pilgrims took farming equipment

I should imagine they planned to put them on their feet.