USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Families of the Pilgrims > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
GEN
ATTENTION: BAR CODE IS LOCATED INSIDE OF BOOK
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 7397
Gc 974.4 Sh26f Shaw, Hubert Kinney Families of the pilgrims
FAMILIES OF THE PILGRIMS
Compiled for THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS by HUBERT KINNEY SHAW
PUBLISHED BY MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS 9 Walnut Street
Boston 8, Massachusetts
1956
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Copyright, 1956, by
MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS
1388389
CONTENTS * * *
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgments
4
Introduction
5
Mayflower Compact
13
Passengers on the Mayflower
14
Wills and Inventories
17
John Alden
18
*Isaac Allerton
30
*John Billington
38
*William Bradford
41 47
*William Brewster
55
*James Chilton
59
Francis Cooke
64
Edward Doty
73
*Francis Eaton
84
*Edward Fuller Samuel Fuller
88
93
*Stephen Hopkins
98
John Howland
105
Richard More
118
Degory Priest
122
Thomas Rogers
125
Henry Samson
130
George Soule
137
*Myles Standish
145
Richard Warren
149
*William White
158
*Edward Winslow
164
Epilogue
169
References
172
Index
173
Peter Brown
* Brought wife on Mayflower.
With the exception of Richard More and Henry Samson, who were too young to sign, the heads of families listed above were included among the forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact, November 11/21, 1620.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The original idea for this book was suggested in 1951 by Henry Hornblower II, President of Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts. His continued interest in the project of research and publication is greatly appreciated.
I wish to thank the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Boston, Massachusetts, espe- cially Mrs. Frank L. Nason, Secretary, and Mrs. Howard W. Hopwood, Secretary to Mrs. Nason, for their valuable assistance and cooperation throughout the preparation of this volume.
Finally, I wish to express thanks to Professors Samuel Eliot Morison, of Harvard University, and Henry Steele Commager, of Columbia University, authors of The Growth of the American Republic, also to Arthur Wallace Calhoun, Dean of Sterling Col- lege, Sterling, Kansas, as well as to the publishers, Barnes & Noble, Inc., Oxford University Press, and Plimoth Plantation, respec- tively.
HUBERT KINNEY SHAW
Mayflower House Winslow Street Plymouth, Massachusetts
May 5, 1955
[4]
INTRODUCTION
In The Growth of the American Republic*, Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager present a clear and concise "group snapshot" of the Pilgrims :
"The Pilgrim fathers owe their fame not only to leading the Puritan vanguard to New England, but to the moving history of their adventures and suffer- ings, [written] by their leader, Governor Bradford. . After interminable delays the Mayflower set sail in the worst season of the year for an ocean crossing, and after a rough passage, anchored on 11 November 1620 in the harbor of Cape Cod .
"No group of settlers in America was so ill-fitted by experience and equipment to cope with the wilder- ness . . . yet none came through so magnificently. For as Bradford put it, 'they knew they were pil- grims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country' and as another wrote to [Sir Edwin] Sandys, 'It is not with us as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again.' . . For several years the colony ran neck-and-neck with famine. But they never lost heart or considered giving up and going home.
"These simple folk were exalted to the stature of statesmen and prophets in their narrow sphere, be- cause they ardently believed, and so greatly dared, and firmly endured. They set forth in acts as in words the stout-hearted idealism in action that Americans admire; that is why Plymouth Rock has become a symbol. For, as Governor Bradford con- cluded his annals of lean years: 'Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by his
* Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1950
{ 5 }%
hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand; so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea, in some sort, to our whole nation.' "
Another interesting word-picture of early Colonial times is presented by Dean Arthur W. Calhoun in A Social History of the American Family (Barnes & Noble, Inc., N. Y., 1945).
". . . Colonial childhood is largely hidden in obscu- rity. Letters and diaries contain little mention of the children save the record of births and deaths and maladies, and the like. Children were 'to be seen, not heard,' and not seen too much, either
"It was difficult at first to rear children in the new country. In the bareness and cold of Massachusetts, mortality of infants was frightful. One man had sixteen children. The first was only a year and a half old when the second was born. When the baby was four days old, the older child died. This calamity was five times repeated. Married nine years, the mother had one child living and five dead. With freezing homes, bad diet, and Spartan treatment, it does not seem strange that a large proportion of seventeenth- century children died in infancy. This was the case even in the most favored families; thus of Cotton Mather's fifteen children only two survived him, and of Judge Sewall's fourteen, only three outlived their father.
"A little book of etiquette apparently widely circu- lated in Colonial days contains directions for the table behavior of children :
'Never sit down at the table till asked, and after the blessing.
Ask for nothing ; tarry till it be offered thee. Speak not.
Look not earnestly at any other that is eating. When moderately satisfied leave the table. Sing not, hum not, wriggle not.
Spit nowhere in the room but in the corner. When any speak to thee, stand up. Say not I have heard it before.
Never endeavor to help out if he tell it not right. Snigger not; never question the truth of it.'
"The rigors and dangers of pioneer life constituted Colonial New England a man's world.
"These sturdy Englishmen came, not as individual adventurers, but as families. If men came alone, it was to prepare the way for wife and children or sweetheart by the next ship, and they came to stay. The success of English colonization, as contrasted with the more brilliant but less substantial French and Spanish occupation of the new world, is due to its family nature.
". . . Marriages began at an early date in the new world. Love-making must have been a welcome pas- time on the interminable voyages of those days, and chaperonage seems to have been unknown in Colonial life. Till the singing school came to save the day,. regular opportunities for young New Englanders to become acquainted with prospective mates were ap- parently few. But even in New England, maidens enjoyed large liberty, for the neighborhoods were at first composed of approved families, and in any case it was impossible in the wild, rough, new land, where every hand was needed for urgent labor, to think of secluding girls. To such influences, we may trace the liberty of the modern American girl
"In more than one instance, a lonely Puritan came to the door of a maiden he had never seen, presented credentials, told his need of a housekeeper, proposed marriage, obtained hasty consent, and notified the clerk, all in one day. On one occasion, a bold fellow removed a rival's name from the posted marriage
notice, inserted his own, and carried off the bride. After his death, she married the first lover
". . . Many towns assigned building lots to bachelors upon marriage. It is not strange that bachelors were scarce . In case of the decease of husband or wife, remarriage was prompt. The first marriage in the Plymouth Colony was that of Edward Winslow, who had been a widower only seven weeks, to Susanna White, who had been a widow not twelve weeks . . It was fitting that Winslow should be at the head of a household, and the White children needed a father, especially as their mother was taken up with the care of an infant.
"Selectmen were to see to it that parents educated their children, for 'many parents and masters are too indulgent and negligent of their duty.'
"Plymouth also took action. 'Forasmuch as the good education of children and youth is of singular benefit to any commonwealth; and whereas many parents and masters either through an over respect to their own occasions and business or not duly considering the good of their children and servants, have too much neglected their duty in their education,' parents are to be watched so that they properly teach their children. If after admonition and repeated fine, negligent parents did not improve, the children were to be taken away and placed with masters where they should receive training and government. It should be remembered in this connection that the Plymouth people for a long time were in bondage to the capitalists that financed the original expedition, and consequently had to absorb all their energies in a sordid struggle for material interests. But pioneer life puts a damper on culture.
"The tithing-man was the censor of New England family life. .. This prying authority would have been resented by as keen a people as the New
[8 ]>
Englanders, had it been imposed by external author- ity. In later days they quickly remembered the English maxim, 'Every man's house his castle.' James Otis in his speech on writs of assistance said, 'One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle ; and whilst he is quiet is as well guarded as a prince in his castle.
"The maintenance of family religion was universally recognized in early New England as a duty and was seriously attended to in most families. Daily the Scriptures were read, and worship was offered to God. Fathers sought for their children, as for them- selves, 'First the kingdom of God and His righteous- ness.' "
One of the most significant and forthright accounts of the Plymouth Colony's early development is the following report, quoted from Governor William Bradford's im- mortal history Of Plymouth Plantation (1952 edition, with notes and an introduction by Samuel Eliot Morison, pub- lished by Alfred A. Knopf, New York : pp. 120-1) :
". . . So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other things to go on in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end, only for present use (but made no division for inheritance) and ranged all boys and youth under some family. This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trou-
ble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have com- pelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.
"The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a common- wealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labour and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. . And for men's wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it. " * *
Twenty years later (1643), Bradford wrote :
"I cannot but here take occasion not only to mention but greatly to admire the marvelous providence of God! That notwithstanding the many changes and hardships that these people went through, and the many enemies they had and difficulties they met withal, that so many of them should live to very old age! It was not only this reverend man's [Elder William Brewster's] condition (for one swallow
{ 10 }+
makes no summer as they say) but many more of them did the like, some dying about and before this time and many still living, who attained to sixty years of age, and to sixty-five, divers to seventy and above, and some near eighty as he did. . They went from England to Holland, where they found both worse air and diet than that they came from; from thence, enduring a long imprisonment as it were in the ships at sea, into New England ; and how it hath been with them here hath already been shown, and what crosses, troubles, fears, wants and sorrows they had been liable unto is easy to conjecture. So as in some sort they may say with the Apostle, 2 Corinthians xi. 26, 27, they were 'in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of their own nation, in perils among the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.'
"What was it then that upheld them ? It was God's vis- itation that preserved their spirits. Job x. 12: 'Thou hast given me life and grace, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' He that upheld the Apostle up- held them. 'They were persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but perished not.' 'As unknown, and yet known ; as dying and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed'; 2 Corinthians vi. 9.
"God, it seems, would have all men to behold and ob- serve such mercies and works of His providence as these are towards His people, that they in like cases might be encouraged to depend upon God in their trials, and also to bless His name when they see His goodness towards others. Man lives not by bread only, Deuteronomy viii. 3. "
Faith and works, in harmonious combination, are the explanation for the Pilgrim families' triumph over hard- ship. Let us hope that their example and their precept, as
{ 11 %
demonstrated in their lives and set forth in the Mayflower Compact, will always be remembered by a grateful and reverent America.
As the late President Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard, expressed it,
"The personal and social virtues of the Mayflower Pilgrims are the surest foundations on which great states may be securely maintained. Therefore they are to be forever remembered with love and honor by the Great Republic which has inherited their ideals."
₩[ 12 ]x
THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We whose names are underwrit- ten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, De- fender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and con- venient for the general good of the Colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11 of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Ano. Dom. 1620.
#JOHN CARVER,
¡JOHN TURNER, ** FRANCIS EATON,
** WILLIAM BRADFORD,
#*EDWARD WINSLOW,
#*WILLIAM BREWSTER,
#*ISAAC ALLERTON,
#*JOHN BILLINGTON, ¡MOSES FLETCHER, +JOHN GOODMAN,
#*MYLES STANDISH,
*JOHN ALDEN,
*SAMUEL FULLER,
** DEGORY PRIEST,
#+CHRISTOPHER MARTIN,
¡THOMAS WILLIAMS, GILBERT WINSLOW,
# ** WILLIAM MULLINS,
# ** WILLIAM WHITE,
¡EDMOND MARGESON,
*RICHARD WARREN,
*PETER BROWN,
*JOHN HOWLAND,
+RICHARD BRITTERIDGE,
** STEPHEN HOPKINS,
*GEORGE SOULE,
#1EDWARD TILLY,
# ** JOHN TILLY,
¡RICHARD CLARKE, RICHARD GARDINER,
*FRANCIS COOKE,
+JOHN ALLERTON,
+THOMAS ENGLISH,
** THOMAS ROGERS, #+THOMAS TINKER, #1JOHN RIGDALE,
*EDWARD DOTY, EDWARD LEISTER.
# ** EDWARD FULLER,
(Note: November 21st. of our Calendar is the same as November 11th. of the Old Style Calendar.)
* Has descendants now living.
# Brought wife.
Died first winter.
[ 13 ]%
# ** JAMES CHILTON, +JOHN CRACKSTON,
PASSENGERS ON THE MAYFLOWER
Mr. John Carver; Kathrine, his wife; Desire Minter; and .2. man-servants, John Howland, Roger Wilder; Wil- liam Latham, a boy ; and a maid servant, and a child that was put to him, called Jasper More.
Mr. William Brewster; Mary, his wife; with .2. sons, whose names were Love and Wrasling; and a boy was put to him called Richard More; and another of his brothers. The rest of his children were left behind, and came over afterwards.
Mr. Edward Winslow; Elizabeth, his wife; and .2. men servants, caled Georg Sowle and Elias Story ; also a litle girle was put to him, caled Ellen, the sister of Richard More.
William Bradford, and Dorothy, his wife; having but one child, a sone, left behind, who came afterward.
Mr. Isaack Allerton, and Mary, his wife; with .3. chil- dren, Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary; and a servant boy, John Hooke.
Mr. Samuell Fuller, and a servant, caled William Butten. His wife was [left] behind, and a child, which came afterwards.
John Crakston, and his sone, John Crakston.
Captin Myles Standish, and Rose, his wife.
Mr. Christopher Martin, and his wife, and .2. servants, Salamon Prower and John Langemore.
Mr. William Mullines, and his wife, and .2. children, Joseph and Priscila ; and a servant, Robart Carter.
Mr. William White, and Susana, his wife, and one sone, caled Resolved, and one borne a ship-bord, caled Peregriene ; and .2. servants, named William Holbeck and Edward Thomson.
[ 14 ]
Mr. Steven Hopkins, and Elizabeth, his wife, and .2. children, caled Giles, and Constanta, a doughter, both by a former wife ; and .2. more by this wife, caled Damaris and Oceanus ; the last was borne at sea : and .2. servants, called Edward Doty and Edward Litster.
Mr. Richard Warren; but his wife and children were lefte behind, and came afterwards.
John Billinton, and Elen, his wife; and .2. sones. John and Francis.
Edward Tillie, and Ann, his wife; and .2. childeren that were their cossens, Henery Samson and Humillity Coper.
John Tillie, and his wife ; and Eelizabeth, their doughter.
Francis Cooke, and his sone John. But his wife and other children came afterwards.
Thomas Rogers, and Joseph, his sone. His other children came afterwards.
Thomas Tinker, and his wife, and a sone.
John Rigdale, and Alice, his wife.
James Chilton, and his wife, and Mary, their dougter. They had an other doughter, that was maried, came after- ward.
Edward Fuller, and his wife, and Samuell, their sonne.
John Turner, and .2. sones. He had a doughter came some years after to Salem, wher she is now living.
Francis Eaton, and Sarah, his wife, and Samuell, their sone, a yong child.
Moyses Fletcher, John Goodman, Thomas Williams, Digerie Preist, Edmond Margeson, Peter Browne, Richard Britterige, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardenar, Gilbart Winslow.
John Alden was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, wher the ship victuled; and being a hopefull yong man,
{ 15 }%
was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here ; but he stayed, and maryed here.
John Allerton and Thomas Enlish were both hired, the later to goe m (aste)r of a shalop here, and the other was reputed as one of the company, but was to go back (being a seaman) for the help of others behind. But they both dyed here, before the shipe returned.
There were allso other .2. seamen hired to stay a year here in the country, William Trevore, and one Ely. But when their time was out, they both returned.
These, bening aboute a hundred sowls, came over in this first ship; and began this worke, which God of his goodnes hath hithertoo blesed ; let his holy name have the praise.
(From Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Massachu- setts Historical Society Edition, 1912; Vol. II: 399-401.)
[ 16 ]}+
WILLS, INVENTORIES, ETC.
Data regarding the wills, inventories, and estates of Mayflower Pil- grims and their families have been published in The Mayflower Descend- ant. Volume and page numbers pertaining to records of many of the Mayflower Pilgrims, their children, and grandchildren are as follows: ALDEN
Banjamin3 .. 24:74
David2 . . 6:239
Isaac3
. 20:49
John1 .
3:120
John1 .
. 2:70
Joseph2 . . 6:86
Seth3 . . 21:179
Nathaniel3 . . 10:77
Thomas3 .. 27:81
Samuel3
20:76
William3
10:79
Zachariah3 .
. 10:79
ROGERS
John2
5:205
John3 .. 11:180; 20:5
Joseph2 . . 3:67
BRADFORD
Alice (Carpenter) (Southworth) . . 3:144
David3
.
. 23:183
Ephraim3 . . 21:189
John3
. 20:133
Joseph2 . . 5:217
William1 . . 2:228
William2 . . 4:143
BREWSTER
Love2 . . 2:203
William1 . . 3:15
Wrestling3 .
. 20:112
BROWN
Peter1 . . 5:29
COOKE
Caleb3
. 15:136
Francis1 .
2:24; 3:103
Jacob3
21:42
John2
3:33
DOTY (DOTEN)
Edward1 . . 3:87
Edward2
. 5:210
Elisha3 .
19:176
Isaac3
.
25:164
John2 . .
6:77
John3 .
. 20:27
Thomas2
. 4:233
EATON
Francis1
1:197
Samuel2
2:172
Samuel3
12:227
William 3
12:227
FULLER
Samuell
1:24; 2:8
Samuel2 (Edward1) .. 2:237
Samuel2 (Samuel1) . . 5:65
HOPKINS
Caleb3 .
. 8:240
Gyles2 . . 1:110
Stephen1 . . 2:12; 4:114
HOWLAND
Elizabeth (Tilley) . . 3:54
Isaac2 . . 6:147
Jabez2
7:198
Jabez3 .
21:145
John2
. 6:193
John3
. 10:80; 20:12; 23:111
Joseph2 .
, 3:71
MULLINS William2 . . 7:37
ALLERTON
Isaac1 . . 2:155
Isaac2 . . 7:173
SAMSON
Henry1
.
2:142
Henry3
.
23:42
James2.
. 6:184
John2
. 7:225
John3
. 20:96
Joseph3
23:173
Stephen2 . . 6:114
SOULE
Benjamin3 . . 25:72
George1
. 2:81
George2
7:210
James3 . .
23:49
John2
. 4:159
John3 . . 19:136
Joseph3
. . 11:108
Joshua3
. 11:133
Josiah3
11:107
Nathaniel2 . . 7:72
Zachariah3
8:186
STANDISH
Alexander2 . . 12:99
Myles1 . . 3:153
Myles? .. 21:2
Myles3 (Miles) .. 15:123; 23:133
WARREN Benjamin3 . . 23:152
Elizabeth (-) (agreement) . 2:64
James3 . . 25:3
Joseph2
4:14
Nathaniel2 .
.2:36
Nathaniel3 . . 22:43
Richard3
21:78
WHITE
Daniel3
20:61
Jonathan3
9:122
Peregrine2
. . 1:129; 3:119
WINSLOW
Edward1 . . 4:1
Isaac3 .
24:30
Josiah2 .
. 5:82
Mary (Chilton)
1:65
Sarah3
21:1
[ 17 ]
JOHN ALDEN (c. 1599 - 12 Sep. 1687)
Seventh Signer of the Mayflower Compact
"John Alden was hired for a cooper, at South-Hampton, . and being a hopefull yong man, was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or to stay when he came here ; but he stayed, and maryed here."
Bradford: History of Plymouth Plantation Mass. Hist. Soc. Ed., 1912, 2:400.
ALDEN FAMILY SURNAMES THREE GENERATIONS
ADAMS
ROGERS
ALDEN
SAMSON
BARTLETT
SEABURY
BASS
SIMMONS
BURRILL
SNELL
CHANDLER
SNOW
CHESEBOROUGH
SOULE
COE
SOUTHWORTH
COPELAND
SPRAGUE
DELANO
STANDISH
DREW
THAYER
FOBES
WALLEY
GRINNELL
WEBB
PABODIE (PEABODY)
WILLARD
PADDOCK
WISWALL
18 }
JOHN ALDEN
Bradford tells us that John Alden was hired at South- ampton as a cooper ; an Act of Parliament (1543) required that a ship carrying beer should have a cooper aboard to replace lost "barrel-stock."
He was the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact.
In 1627, he was one of the eight who assumed the Col- ony's debt. In 1634, he went with John Howland to the Kennebec (Maine) trading post.
He was a surveyor of highways; a member of a commit- tee for raising a force against the Indians; deputy from Duxbury from 1641 to 1649; a member of the Colony's council of war, 1646, 1653, 1658, and 1667 ; treasurer, 1656- 1658; Governor's Assistant, 1632-1641; and from 1650 to 1686. Twice he was deputy governor, 1664-1665, and in 1677.
About 1621, he married Priscilla Mullins (Molines), daughter of William, who with his wife also came in the Mayflower to Plymouth. (Both Mr. and Mrs. Mullins died in February, 1621, the first winter in Plymouth.)
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.