My Mayflower connection to 9 passengers

Mayflower

So exciting to learn I am connected to 9 original Mayflower passengers. On my father's side, I have direct ancestry to John Tilley and his wife Joan Hurst, their daughter Elizabeth Tilley and her husband John Howland and also to Degory Priest. On my mother's side directly come from Isaac Allerton and his wife Mary Norris and to their daughter Mary Allerton the wife of Thomas Cushman (Thomas Cushman was not a Mayflower passenger, he came to America in 1621 on the ship Fortune) and to Richard Warren (his wife Elizabeth Walker and their daughter Elizabeth Warren later came on the Anne in 1623-the wife of Richard Church).
On September 6, 1620 the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America. By the time the Pilgrims had left England, they had already been living onboard the ships for nearly a month and a half. The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6, until Cape Cod was sighted on 9 November 1620. The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem was sea-sickness. But by October, they began encountering a number of Atlantic storms that made the voyage treacherous. Several times, the wind was so strong they had to just drift where the weather took them, it was not safe to use the ship's sails. The Pilgrims intended to land in Northern Virginia, which at the time included the region as far north as the Hudson River in the modern State of New York. The Hudson River, in fact, was their originally intended destination. They had received good reports on this region while in the Netherlands. All things considered, the Mayflower was almost right on target, missing the Hudson River by just a few degrees.
As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on November 9. The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked. The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod. They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation. On December 25, 1620, they had finally decided upon Plymouth, and began construction of their first buildings.





(My connection to Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris and Mary Allerton: Sarah Cushman, Ebenezer Hawkes Sr, Ebenezer Hawkes Jr, Benjamin Hawkes, Joshua Hawkes, Joseph Bryant Hawkes, Amos Hawks, Joshua White Hawks, Illa L C Hawks, Carroll Denon Williams..)

1) ISAAC ALLERTON

Isaac Allerton: Isaac Allerton may have come from the vicinity of Ipswich, co. Suffolk, England. He first appears in Leiden, Holland records on 4 November 1611, when he married Mary Norris. Isaac had a sister named Sarah who also resided in Leiden, and who married future Mayflower passenger Degory Priest. He was probably also related, perhaps a brother, to Mayflower passenger John Allerton.
Isaac Allerton is one of the most complex figures in early Plymouth Colony. He was elected assistant to Governor Bradford in 1621, and continued in that capacity well into the 1630s. He was the individual sent to handle most of the buyout negotiations with the London investors that commenced in 1627, and continued through the early 1630s. Allerton soon began to take advantage of his position by engaging in some personal trading deals, and engaging the Pilgrims' joint-stock company in business ventures they had not authorized. After driving the colony deeper into debt with ill-advised business opportunities, he was eventually removed and replaced by Edward Winslow. After the death of his wife Fear in 1634, he retreated to the New Haven Colony and married there to Joanna Swinnerton. Allerton became an active merchant trader, engaging in transactions and trade with many neighboring colonies including the Dutch at New Netherlands; New Sweden; Virginia; Massachusetts Bay; and Barbados.

2) MARY NORRIS ALLERTON

Mary Norris: Mary (Norris) Allerton was about thirty when she came on the Mayflower with her husband Isaac and three children Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary. Her marriage record in Leiden indicates she was from Newbury, which is presumably Newbury, co. Berks, England. Searches of this area for her baptism record and other Norris family records have not yet turned up anything conclusive. They buried a child at St. Peters, Leiden, on 5 February 1620, and she gave birth to a stillborn son in Plymouth Harbor on 22 December 1620. She herself died during the height of the first winter, on 25 February 1621, though her husband and three children all survived.

3) MARY ALLERTON CUSHMAN

Mary Allerton Cushman: Mary Allerton born 1616 in  Leiden, The Netherlands and came on the Mayflower at the age of four with her parents Isaac and Mary (Norris) Allerton. Her mother Mary died during the height of the first winter in Plymouth 1621. Mary Allerton was married about 1636 to Thomas Cushman, who had been brought to Plymouth by his father Robert Cushman in 1621 onboard the ship Fortune. Thomas and Mary (Allerton) Cushman had a prosperous family, with seven of their eight children surviving to adulthood and marrying--and providing at least fifty grandchildren. Thomas came to America with his father, Robert Cushman,  on the ship FORTUNE in 1621, Robert Cushman returned to England alone, leaving Thomas as a ward of Governor William Bradford. In 1649 Thomas succeeded William Brewster as Ruling Elder and held that position for over 40 years until his death. Over his long life Cushman became a person of note in the colony being involved in numerous important activities. Both lived to very old age, with Thomas dying at the age of 85, and Mary living until age 83. In fact, prior to her death on 28 November 1699, Mary (Allerton) Cushman was the last surviving Mayflower passenger.




(My connection to Richard Warren and Elizabeth Walker: Lois Keele, Joanna Patten, Clara I. Billings, George P Billings, Titus Billings, Edward Billing, Hannah Church, Edward Church, Elizabeth Warren)

4) RICHARD WARREN

He participated in some of the early explorations of Cape Cod, when a suitable settlement location was being searched for.
One such extensive exploration began on Wednesday, 6 December 1620 in freezing weather using the ship’s shallop, a light, shallow-water boat with oars and sails which was navigated by two pilots, with a master gunner and three sailors. Pilgrims on board, in addition to Richard Warren, were senior members (Governor) Carver, Bradford, Standish and Winslow along with John and Edward Tilley, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins and Hopkins servant, Edward Doty. These persons were less than half the number of the previous exploration due to many having been felled by illness, the English exploring in freezing temperatures wearing unsuitable clothing due to not planning for the severity of the New England winter weather. This exploration would result in their first encounter with Indians and did not turn out well, as they learned that slow-firing muskets were no match for rapid-fire arrows. This Indian challenge to the Pilgrims was later known as the First Encounter.
In 1623 Warren felt that conditions were right to bring his family over from England, and they arrived that year on the Anne.
In the 1623 Division of Land, Warren received two “akers” (acres) of land in one area – “these lye one the north side of the towne nexte adjoyning to their gardens which came in Fortune” and five acres in another – “these following lye on the other side of the towne towards the eele-riuer (Eel River)” (as Richard “Waren”).
In Plymouth two more children were added to their family – in 1624 his wife Elizabeth gave birth to a son Nathaniel and in 1626 another son, Joseph.”
In 1626 twenty seven Plymouth settlers , called Purchasers, were involved with the colony joint-stock company which afterwards was turned over to the control of senior colony members. That group was called Undertakers, and were made up of such as Bradford, Standish and Allerton initially who were later joined by Winslow, Brewster, Howland, Alden, Prence and others from London, former Merchant Adventurers. The agreement was dated 26 October 1626 and was finalised sometime in 1627. Richard Warren may have originally been a party to the agreement, but due to his death, which may have been sometime in 1628, his name on the charter was replaced by that of his wife, recorded as “Elizabeth Warren, widow.”[11] Elizabeth Warren, as a widow, was named in a law passed by the Plymouth Court specifically to give her the Purchaser status that her husband had – “hee dying before he had performed the bargaine, the said Elizabeth performed the same after his decease, …"
In the 1627 Division of Cattle, Richard, his wife and their seven children, in the ninth lot, received several animals that had arrived on the ship Jacob, apparently in 1625. The ninth lot also listed John Billington and the Soule (spelled Sowle) family.
In his “Increasings and Decreasings”, Bradford assigns Richard Warren the title of “Mr.” which indicates someone of status, but does not mention him at all in his recording of Plymouth history. And except for a few mentions elsewhere, not very much is known about him in Plymouth, but the Warren family does seem to have been among those with wealth. His wife, ELIZABETH WALKER WARREN did not come on the Mayflower. Elizabeth Walker, was born in 1583. She was baptized September 1583 in Baldock, Hertfordshire, England. She and his first five children, all daughters, came to America in the ship Anne in 1623. Once in America, they then had two sons before Richard's untimely death in 1628. Richard Warren died in 1628. His wife Elizabeth outlived him by 45 years, dying at Plymouth in 1673. Her death was noted in the Records of Plymouth Colony (PCR 8:35) : "Mistris Elizabeth Warren, an aged widdow, aged above 90 yeares, deceased on the second of October, 1673, whoe, haveing lived a godly life, came to her grave as a shocke of corn fully ripe."[1] During the long period of her widowhood, Elizabeth Warren’s name appears in the records of Plymouth Colony. She appears first as executor of her husband’s estate, next paying taxes owed by a head of household, and finally as an independent agent in her own right.During her widowhood, Elizabeth Warren’s name is noted in Plymouth Colony records. She was listed as the executor of her husband’s estate, paying taxes as head of household and as an independent agent in her own right.

5) DEGORY PRIEST

Degory Priest (c.1579 - c.1621) was a member of the Leiden contingent on the historic 1620 voyage of the ship Mayflower. He was a hat maker from London who married Sarah, sister of Pilgrim Isaac Allerton in Leiden. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact in November 1620 and died less than two months later.
In some documents of the time, his name was also written as Digory Priest.
Degory Priest came alone of the Mayflower, with his family remaining in Leiden. He intended to send for his wife Sarah and daughters Mary and Sarah once the colony was established, that did not happen as Degory died in 1621.
Degory Priest married Sarah (Allerton) Vincent on November 4, 1611. She was the widow of John Vincent and sister of Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton. They had two daughters, Mary and Sarah.
Sarah Priest (his widow) married 2nd in Leiden on or shortly after November 13, 1621 Godbert Godbertson, whose name, per Banks, was also written as Cuthbert Cuthbertson. He was a hat-maker from Leiden, as was Priest, and had been in communion with the Pilgrims before their emigration. He had previously been married to Elizabeth Kendall in 1617, who presumably was deceased by the time of his second marriage. They came to Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623 with their son and her two daughters. Both Sarah and her second husband Godbert Godbertson died in 1633 in the epidemic that was rampant at that time. Their burial places are unknown.
I descend from their daughter, Mary Priest, who was born about 1612 and died in Charlestown in 1689. She married Phineas Pratt by 1633 and had eight children. The family moved to Charlestown about 1646. Mary Priest Pratt was a person of note in Plymouth history, coming on the ship Sparrow in 1622, being one of Thomas Weston's settlers at the failed Weymouth settlement, and coming to Plymouth in 1623.

(My connection to John Tilley his wife Joan Hurst Tilley and their daughter Elizabeth Tilley Howland: Elizabeth Tilley, Hannah Howland, Hannah Bosworth, Elizabeth Jenckes, Elizabeth Scott, Elizabeth M Cook, Sarah Scott, Benjamin F. Stewart, Lucinda Stewart, Ammon Curtis, Samuel F Curtis, Alton Craig Curtis...)

6) JOHN TILLEY

John Tilley: Surprisingly little is known about John Tilley. He was born in 1571 at Henlow, co. Bedford, England, a son of Robert and Elizabeth Tilley and his brother Edward Tilley and wife Agnes (along with their niece and nephew Humility Cooper and Henry Samson) also came on the Mayflower. Brother Edward is known to have lived in Leiden, but there is no record of John Tilley there (though it is certainly possible he was present there and just didn't get named in any record). John and Joan Tilley came on the Mayflower with their youngest child, Elizabeth, then about thirteen years old. Both John Tilley and wife Joan died the first winter at Plymouth, but their daughter Elizabeth survived and later married fellow Mayflower passenger John Howland.

7) JOAN HURST ROGERS TILLEY

Joan Hurst Rogers Tilley: Joan Hurst was born in 1567/8 in Henlow, Bedford, England, the daughter of William and Rose Hurst. She married first to Thomas Rogers in 1593 (not related to the Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers). With her husband Thomas, she had a daughter Joan, baptized on 26 May 1594 in Henlow. Attempts to determine what happened to Joan have so far been unsuccessful. She may have died young. When her first husband Thomas died, likely around 1594 or 1595, she remarried to John Tilly.

John and Joan (Hurst)(Rogers) Tilley came on the Mayflower in 1620, bringing with them daughter Elizabeth. Joan, along with her husband, died the first winter at Plymouth, orphaning their 13-year old daughter Elizabeth in the New World. Elizabeth would later marry to Mayflower passenger John Howland.

8) ELIZABETH TILLEY HOWLAND

Elizabeth Tilley: Elizabeth Tilley came on the Mayflower, at the age of about thirteen, with her parents John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley. Her parents, and her aunt and uncle Edward and Agnes Tilley, all died the first winter, leaving her orphaned in the New World. She soon married, about 1624 or 1625, to fellow Mayflower passenger John Howland, who had come as a manservant, or apprentice, to Governor John Carver who died in April 1621.
John and Elizabeth Howland raised a large family with ten children, all of whom lived to adulthood and married. As a result, they likely have more descendants living today than any other Mayflower passengers. Some of their descendants include Franklin D. Roosevelt; both President Bush's; actors Alec and Stephen Baldwin, Humphrey Bogart, Christopher Lloyd; Mormon church founder Joseph Smith; poet Ralph Waldo Emerson; and Doctor Benjamin Spock.

9) JOHN HOWLAND

John Howland: John Howland was born about 1599, probably in Fenstanton, Huntington. He came on the Mayflower in 1620 as a manservant of Governor John Carver. During the Mayflower's voyage, Howland fell overboard during a storm, and was almost lost at sea--but luckily for his millions of descendants living today (including Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush, and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt) he managed to grab hold of the topsail halyards, giving the crew enough time to rescue him with a boat-hook.



"Howland Overboard," a painting by maritime artist Mike Haywood. Giclee canvas prints are available from the MayflowerHistory.com Store.
It has been traditionally reported that John Howland was born about 1592, based on his reported age at death in the Plymouth Church Records. However, ages at death were often overstated, and that is clearly the case here. John Howland came as a servant for John Carver, which means he was under 25 years old at the time (i.e. he was born after 1595). William Bradford, in the falling-overboard incident, refers to Howland as a "lusty young man," a term that would not likely have applied to a 28-year old given that Bradford himself was only 30. Bradford did call 21-year old John Alden a "young man" though. Howland's wife Elizabeth was born in 1607: a 32-year old marrying a 17-year old is a relatively unlikely circumstance. Howland's last child was born in 1649: a 57-year old Howland would be an unlikely father. All these taken together demonstrate that Howland's age was likely overstated by at least 5 years. Since he signed the "Mayflower Compact", we can assume he was probably at least 18 to 21 years old in 1620.
John Howland had several brothers who also came to New England, namely Henry Howland (an ancestor to both Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford) and Arthur Howland (an ancestor to Winston Churchill).



Journey and Colony Timeline:
Beginnings & Proceedings 1620-1621
February 2, 1619/20 • Another patent, this time to “John Peirce and associates” is secured.

July 31, 1620 • The colonists leave Leiden for Delftshaven and from there to Southampton, aboard the Speedwell. At Southampton they meet the rest of the settlers and the Mayflower.

August 5, 1620 • The Speedwell and Mayflower set sail for the “northern parts of Virginia.”

August 13, 1620 • The Speedwell proves leaky and the two ships put into Dartmouth.

August 23, 1620 • After repairing the Speedwell, the two ships set sail. The ship continues leaking, and they both put back into Plymouth.

September 6, 1620 • The Speedwell and some of the passengers are left in Plymouth, and the Mayflower sails on alone.

November 9, 1620 • They spot the tip of Cape Cod, north of the land authorized in their patent. They attempt to sail south, but are defeated by treacherous shoals.

November 11, 1620 • The Mayflower anchors in Provincetown Harbor. The document now known as the Mayflower Compact is drawn up and signed by most of the men. This establishes a provisional governmental structure until a new patent can be obtained from the New England Company.

November 15 to December 7, 1620 • Parties of men go exploring in search of a good site for settlement.

December 8, 1620 • A party of explorers encounter Wampanoag for the first time on Cape Cod. Although shots are exchanged, no one is hurt in this “first encounter.” In the evening the men arrive in Plymouth Harbor.

December 11, 1620 • The shallop party lands in Plymouth and explores the coast.

December 16, 1620 • The Mayflower drops anchor in Plymouth Harbor.

December 20, 1620 • The colonists choose an abandoned Wampanoag village called Patuxet for their new home. The former inhabitants had died or been scattered in an outbreak of European disease four years before.

December 23, 1620 • Men go ashore and begin gathering building materials. Work continues as weather and health permit. During the winter, about half of the colonists die of scurvy and other diseases.

March 16, 1620/1 • Samoset, a Monhegan (Maine) Native, arrives in the colony and greets them in English.

March 17, 1620/1 • Samoset returns, bringing Tisquantum (Squanto) and announces the imminent arrival of the Wampanoag leader, Massasoit. Governor Carver and Massasoit conclude a treaty of peace. Squanto stays with the colonists.

April 5, 1621 • The Mayflower returns to England.

Mid-April, 1621 • Governor Carver sickens and dies. William Bradford is elected governor.

Late September/early October, 1621 • The colonists hold a harvest celebration. Massasoit and a number of Natives participate. Initial Growth, 1621-1627

November 9, 1621 • The ship Fortune arrives, bringing 35 new colonists, mostly men.

July/August, 1623 • Two more ships, Anne and Little James, arrive bringing almost 100 more colonists. Together with the passengers of the Mayflower and Fortune, they comprise the “Old Comers.” These early colonists often received preferential treatment in later colony transactions. 1623 • The colonists receive their own land on which to plant crops. November,

1623 • A fire destroys several buildings in Plymouth. An unknown number of colonists, having lost the homes and possessions, return to England.

1624 • A religious controversy centering around the Reverend John Lyford results in many leaving Plymouth for England or other areas of New England.

1626 • Plymouth builds its first trading house at Aptucxet on the southwestern side of Cape Cod. There they trade with the Natives of both Cape Cod and Narragansett Bay.

May 22, 1627 • The colony begins to divide its major assets, beginning with livestock. The resultant document lists most of the Plymouth inhabitants by name.