Ellen More, “a little girl that was put to him” (Winslow), died early.She was sister of the other More children, “bound out” to Carver andBrewster, of whom extended mention has been made.
Governor William Bradford’s date of birth fixes his age in 1620. Hisearly home was at Austerfield, in Yorkshire. Belknap (“AmericanBiography,” vol. ii. p. 218) says: “He learned the art ofsilk-dyeing.”
Mrs. Dorothy (May) Bradford’s age (the first wife of the Governor) isfixed at twenty-three by collateral data, but she may have beenolder. She was probably from Wisbeach, England. The manner of hertragic death (by drowning, having fallen overboard from the ship inCape Cod harbor), the first violent death in the colony, wasespecially sad, her husband being absent for a week afterward. Itis not known that her body was recovered.
Dr. Samuel Fuller, from his marriage record at Leyden, made in 1613, whenhe was a widower, it is fair to assume was about thirty, perhapsolder, in 1620, as he could, when married, have hardly been undertwenty-one. His (third) wife and child were left in Holland.
William Butten (who died at sea, November 6/16), Bradford calls“a youth.” He was undoubtedly a “servant"-assistant to the doctor.
Isaac Allerton, it is a fair assumption, was about thirty-four in 1620,from the fact that he married his first wife October 4, 1611, as hewas called “a young man” in the Leyden marriage record. He iscalled “of London, England,” by Bradford and on the Leyden records.He was made a “freeman” of Leyden, February 7, 1614. Arber andothers state that his early occupation was that of “tailor,” but hewas later a tradesman and merchant.
Mary (Norris) Allerton is called a “maid of Newbury in England,” in theLeyden record of her marriage, in October, 1611, and it is the onlyhint as to her age we have. She was presumably a young woman. Herdeath followed (a month later) the birth of her still-born son, onboard the MAY-FLOWER in Plymouth harbor, February 25/March 7, 1621.
Bartholomew Allerton, born probably in 1612/13 (his parents marriedOctober, 1611), was hence, as stated, about seven or eight years oldat the embarkation. He has been represented as older, but this wasclearly impossible. He was doubtless born in Holland.
Remember Allerton, apparently Allerton’s second child, has (with anovelist’s license) been represented by Mrs. Austin as considerablyolder than six, in fact nearer sixteen (Goodwin, p. 183, says,“over 13”), but the known years of her mother’s marriage and herbrother’s birth make this improbable. She was, no doubt, born inHolland about 1614—She married Moses Maverick by 1635, and ThomasWeston’s only child, Elizabeth, was married from her house atMarblehead to Roger Conant, son of the first “governor” of aMassachusetts Bay “plantation.”
Mary Allerton, apparently the third child, could hardly have been muchmore than four years old in 1620, though Goodwin (“PilgrimRepublic,” p. 184) calls her eleven, which is an error. She wasprobably born in Holland about 1616. She was the last survivor ofthe passengers of the MAY-FLOWER, dying at Plymouth, New England,1699.
John Hooke, described by Bradford as a “servant-boy,” was probably but ayouth. He did not sign the Compact. Nothing further is known of himexcept that he died early. It is quite possible that he may havebeen of London and have been “indentured” by the municipality toAllerton, but the presumption has been that he came, as body-servantof Allerton, with him from Leyden.
Captain Standish’s years in 1620 are conjectural (from fixed data), as ishis age at death. His early home was at Duxborough Hall, inLancashire. His commission as Captain, from Queen Elizabeth, wouldmake his birth about 1584. Rose Standish, his wife, is said bytradition to have been from the Isle of Man, but nothing is known ofher age or antecedents, except that she was younger than theCaptain. She died during the “general sickness,” early in 1621.
Master Christopher Martin, as previously noted, was from Billerica, inEssex. From collateral data it appears that he must have been“about forty” years old when he joined the Pilgrims. He appears tohave been a staunch “Independent” and to have drawn upon himself theire of the Archdeacon of Chelmsford, (probably) by his loud-mouthedexpression of his views, as only “a month before the MAY-FLOWERsailed” he, with his son and Solomon Prower of his household(probably a relative), were cited before the archdeacon to answerfor their shortcomings, especially in reverence for this churchdignitary. He seems to have been at all times a self-conceited,arrogant, and unsatisfactory man. That he was elected treasurerand ship’s “governor” and permitted so much unbridled liberty asappears, is incomprehensible. It was probably fortunate that hedied early, as he did, evidently in utter poverty. He had a son,in 1620, apparently quite a grown youth, from which it is fair toinfer that the father was at that time “about forty.” Of his wifenothing is known. She also died early.
Solomon Prower, who is called by Bradford both “son” and “servant” ofMartin, seems from the fact of his “citation” before the Archdeaconof Chelmsford, etc., to have been something more than a “servant,”possibly a kinsman, or foster-son, and probably would more properlyhave been termed an “employee.” He was from Billerica, in Essex,and was, from the fact that he did not sign the Compact, probablyunder twenty-one or very ill at the time. He died early. Of JohnLangemore, his fellow “servant,” nothing is known, except that he isspoken of by Young as one of two “children” brought over by Martin(but on no apparent authority), and he did not sign the Compact,though this might have been from extreme illness, as he too diedearly.
William White was of the Leyden congregation. He is wrongly called byDavis a son of Bishop John White, as the only English Bishop of thatname and time died a bachelor. At White’s marriage, recorded at theStadthaus at Leyden, January 27/February 1, 1612, to Anna [Susanna]Fuller, he is called “a young man of England.” As he presumably wasof age at that time, he must have been at least some twenty-nine orthirty years old at the embarkation, eight years later. His sonPeregrine was born in Cape Cod harbor. Mr. White died very early.
Susanna (Fuller) White, wife of William, and sister of Dr. Fuller (?),was apparently somewhat younger than her first husband and perhapsolder than her second. She must, in all probability (having beenmarried in Leyden in 1612), have been at least twenty-five at theembarkation eight years later. Her second husband, GovernorWinslow, was but twenty-five in 1620, and the presumption is thatshe was slightly his senior. There appears no good reason forascribing to her the austere and rather unlovable characteristicswhich the pen of Mrs. Austin has given her.
Resolved White, the son of William and Susanna White, could not have beenmore than six or seven years old, and is set down by Goodwin andothers—on what seems inconclusive evidence—at five. He wasdoubtless born at Leyden.
William Holbeck is simply named as “a servant” of White, by Bradford.His age does not appear, but as he did not sign the Compact he wasprobably “under age.” From the fact that he died early, it ispossible that he was too ill to sign.
Edward Thompson is named by Bradford as a second “servant” of MasterWhite, but nothing more is known of him, except that he did not signthe Compact, and was therefore probably in his nonage, unlessprevented by severe sickness. He died very early.
Master William Mullens (or Molines, as Bradford some times calls him) iselsewhere shown to have been a tradesman of some means, of Dorking,in Surrey, one of the Merchant Adventurers, and a man of ability.From the fact that he left a married daughter (Mrs. Sarah Blunden)and a son (William) a young man grown, in England, it is evidentthat he must have been forty years old or more when he sailed forNew England, only to die aboard the ship in New Plymouth harbor.That he was not a French Huguenot of the Leyden contingent, aspictured by Rev. Dr. Baird and Mrs. Austin, is certain.
Mrs. Alice Mullens, whose given name we know only from her husband’swill, filed in London, we know little about. Her age was (if shewas his first wife) presumably about that of her husband, whom shesurvived but a short time.
Joseph Mullens was perhaps older than his sister Priscilla, and the thirdchild of his parents; but the impression prevails that he wasslightly her junior,—on what evidence it is hard to say. That hewas sixteen is rendered certain by the fact that he is reckoned byhis father, in his will, as representing a share in the planter’shalf-interest in the colony, and to do so must have been of thatage.
Priscilla Mullens, whom the glamour of unfounded romance and the pen ofthe poet Longfellow have made one of the best known and best belovedof the Pilgrim band, was either a little older, or younger, than herbrother Joseph, it is not certain which. But that she was oversixteen is made certain by the same evidence as that namedconcerning her brother.
Robert Carter is named by Bradford as a “man-servant,” and Mrs. Austin,in her imaginative “Standish of Standish,” which is never to betaken too literally, has made him (see p. 181 of that book) “a dearold servant,” whom Priscilla Mullens credits with carrying her inhis arms when a small child, etc. Both Bradford’s mention and Mr.Mullens’s will indicate that he was yet a young man and “neededlooking after.” He did not sign the Compact, which of itselfindicates nonage, unless illness was the cause, of which, in hiscase, there is no evidence, until later.
Richard Warren, as he had a wife and five pretty well grown daughters,must have been forty-five or more when he came over. He issuggested to have been from Essex.
Stephen Hopkins is believed to have been a “lay-reader” with Mr. Buck,chaplain to Governor Gates, of the Bermuda expedition of 1609 (seePurchas, vol. iv. p. 174). As he could hardly have had thisappointment, or have taken the political stand he did, until ofage, he must have been at least twenty-one at that time. If so, hewould have been not less than thirty two years old in 1620, and wasprobably considerably older, as his son Giles is represented byGoodwin (“Pilgrim Republic,” p. 184) as being “about 15.” If thefather was but twenty-one when the son was born, he must have beenat least thirty-seven when he became a MAY-FLOWER Pilgrim. Theprobabilities are that he was considerably older. His English homeis not known. Professor Arber makes an error (The Story of thePilgrim Fathers,” p. 261) in regard to Hopkins which, unless noted,might lead to other and more serious mistakes. Noting thedifferences between John Pierce and a Master Hopkins, heard beforethe Council for New England, May 5/15, 1623, Arber designates MasterHopkins as “Stephen” (on what authority does not appear), and leavesus to infer that it was the Pilgrim Hopkins. On further inquiry ittranspires that the person who was at variance with Master JohnPierce over the matter of passage and freight money, on account ofthe unfortunate PARAGON, was a Rev. Master Hopkins (not Stephen ofthe MAY-FLOWER), who, we learn from Neill’s “History of the VirginiaCompany,” was “recommended July 3, 1622, by the Court of the Companyto the Governor of Virginia, . . . being desirous to go over athis own charge. He was evidently a passenger on both of thedisastrous attempts of the PARAGON under Captain William Pierce, andbeing forced back the second time, apparently gave up the intentionof going.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, nothing is known concerning, except that she wasnot her husband’s first wife. Sometime apparently elapsed betweenher husband’s marriages.
Giles Hopkins we only know was the son of his father’s first wife, and“about 15.” An error (of the types presumably) makes Griffis (“ThePilgrims in their Three Homes,” p. 176) give the name of OceanusHopkins’s father as Giles, instead of Stephen. Constance (orConstantia) Hopkins was apparently about eleven years old in 1620,as she married in 1627, and probably was then not far from eighteenyears old. Damaris Hopkins, the younger daughter of Master Hopkins,was probably a very young child when she came in the MAY-FLOWER, buther exact age has not been as certained. Davis, as elsewhere noted,makes the singular mistake of saying she was born after her parentsarrived in New England. She married Jacob Cooke, and theante-nuptial agreement of his parents is believed to be theearliest of record in America, except that between GregoryArmstrong and the widow Billington.
Edward Dotey is called by Bradford “a servant,” but nothing is known ofhis age or antecedents. It is very certain from the fact that hesigned the Compact that he was twenty-one. He was a very energeticman. He seems to have been married before coming to New England, orsoon after.
Edward Leister (the name is variously spelled) was a “servant,” byBradford’s record. He was doubtless of age, as he signed theCompact.
Master John Crackstone, being (apparently) a widower with a son, a childwell grown, was evidently about thirty five years old when heembarked for New England. He left a daughter behind. He died early.
John Crackstone, Jr., was but a lad, and died early.
Master Edward Tilley (sometimes spelled Tillie) and his wife Ann seem tohave been without children of their own, and as they took with themto New England two children who were their kindred, it may beinferred that they had been married some little time. It is henceprobable that Mr. Tilley was in the neighborhood of thirty. Hiswife’s age is purely conjectural. They were, Bradford states, “ofthe Leyden congregation.”
Henry Sampson was apparently but a young English lad when he came over inthe MAY-FLOWER with his cousins the Tilleys. As he married in 1636,he was probably then about twenty-one, which would make him five orsix when he came over. Goodwin (“Pilgrim Republic,” p. 184) says hewas “six.”
Humility Cooper is said by Bradford to have been a “cosen” of theTilleys, but no light is given as to her age or antecedents. Shewas but a child, apparently. She returned to England very soonafter the death of Mr. and Mrs. Tilley, and “died young.”
Master John Tilley, having twice married, and having a daughter somefourteen years old, must have been over thirty-five years old whenhe sailed on the Pilgrim ship. His birthplace and antecedents arenot known, but he was “of the Leyden congregation.”
Mrs. Bridget (Van der Velde) Tilley was just possibly a second wife.Nothing is known concerning her except that she was of Holland, andthat she had, apparently, no child.
Elizabeth Tilley is said by Goodwin (op. cit. p. 298) and others to havebeen fourteen years old at her parents’ death in 1621, soon afterthe arrival in New England. She was the child of her father’s firstwife. She married John Howland before 1624. Historians for manyyears called her the “daughter of Governor Carver,” but the recoveryof Bradford’s MS. “historie” corrected this, with many othermisconceptions, though to some the error had become apparent before.Her will also suggests her age.
Francis Cooke’s age in 1620 is fixed by his known age at his death(“about 81”) in 1663. He was from the north of England, and long amember of Robinson’s congregation, both in England and inHolland(?).
John Cooke, son of Francis, is known to have been about ten years oldwhen he sailed with his father for America, as his parents did notmarry before 1609. He was undoubtedly born at Leyden. He was longsupposed to have been the last male survivor of the originalpassengers (dying at Dartmouth in 1695.)
James Chilton’s antecedents and his age are quite unknown. He must havebeen at least fifty, as he had a married daughter in Leyden,according to Bradford. He died among the first, and there isnothing of record to inform us concerning him, except Bradford’smeagre mention. He may have lived at Leyden.
Mrs. Chilton’s given name is declared by one writer to have been Susanna,but it is not clearly proven. Whence she came, her ancestry, andher age, are alike unknown.
Mary Chilton was but a young girl in 1620. She married, before 1627,John Winslow, and was probably not then over twenty, nor overfourteen when she came with her parents in the MAY-FLOWER.
Thomas Rogers appears, from the fact that he had a son, a lad well-grown,to have been thirty or more in 1620. His birthplace, antecedents,and history are unknown, but he appears to have been “of the Leydencongregation.” His wife and children came later.
Joseph Rogers was only a “lad” aboard the MAY-FLOWER, but he left aconsiderable posterity. Nothing is surely known of him, except thathe was Thomas’s son.
Degory Priest had the distinction of being “freeman” of Leyden, havingbeen admitted such, November 16, 1615. He was by occupation a“hatter,” a man of some means, who left a wife and at least twochildren in Holland when he embarked for America. His known age atdeath gives his age at sailing but a few months previous. At hismarriage in Leyden, October 4, 1611, he was called “of London.” Hewas about thirty-two when he married. His wife (a widow Vincent)was a sister of Isaac Allerton, who also was married at the sametime that he was. Goodwin (“Pilgrim Republic,” p. 183) also giveshis age as “forty-one.” His widow remarried and came over later.Dexter (“Mourt’s Relation,” p. 69, note) states, quoting from LeydenMS. records, that “Degory Priest in April, 1619, calling himself a‘hatter,’ deposes that he ‘is forty years of age.’” He must,therefore, have been about forty-one when he sailed on theMAY-FLOWER, and forty-two years old at his death.
John Rigdale and his wife Alice afford no data. They both died early,and there is no record concerning either of them beyond the factthat they were passengers.
Edward Fuller and his wife have left us little record of themselves savethat they were of Leyden, that he is reputed a brother of Dr. SamuelFuller (for whom they seem to have named the boy they brought overwith them,—leaving apparently another son, Matthew, behind), andthat both died the first winter. He must have been at leasttwenty-five, judging from the fact that he was married and had twochildren, and was perhaps somewhat older (though traditionallyrepresented as younger) than his brother. Neither his occupationnor antecedents are surely known.
Samuel Fuller—the son of Edward Fuller and his wife—is called byBradford “a young child.” He must have been some five or six yearsof age, as he married in 1635, fifteen years later, and wouldpresumably have been of age, or nearly so.
Thomas Tinker’s name, the mention of his “wife” and “son,” the traditionthat they were “of the Leyden congregation” (which is not sure), thecertainty that they were MAY-FLOWER passengers,—on Brad ford’slist,—and that all died early, are all we know of the Tinkerfamily.
John Turner and his two sons we know little about. He seems to have beena widower, as no mention is found of his wife, though this is notcertain. He was of the Leyden congregation, and evidently a man ofsome standing with the leaders, as he was made their messenger toCarver and Cushman in London, in June, 1620, and was apparentlyaccustomed to travel. He appears to have had business of his own inEngland at the time, and was apparently a man of sober age. As hehad three children,—a daughter who came later to New England, andtwo sons, as stated by Bradford,—it is probable that he was thirtyor over. He and both his sons died in the spring of 1621.
Francis Eaton was of Leyden, a carpenter, and, having a wife and child,was probably a young man about twenty five, perhaps a littleyounger. He married three times.
Mrs. Sarah Eaton, wife of Francis, was evidently a young woman, with aninfant, at the date of embarkation. Nothing more is known of her,except that she died the spring following the arrival at Plymouth.
Samuel Eaton, the son of Francis and his wife, Sarah, Bradford calls “asucking child:” He lived to marry.
Gilbert Window was the third younger brother of Governor Edward Winslow,and is reputed to have been a carpenter. He was born on Wednesday,October 26, 1600, at Droitwitch, in Worcester, England. (“WinslowMemorial,” vol. i. p. 23.) He apparently did not remain long inthe colony, as he does not appear in either the “land division” of1623 or the “cattle division” of 1627; and hence was probably notthen in the “settlement,” though land was later allowed his heirs,he having been an “original” voyager of the Plymouth colony. He wasbut twenty years and fifteen days old when he signed the Compact,but probably was—from his brother’s prominence and his nearness tohis majority—counted as eligible. Bradford states that he returnedto England after “divers years” in New England, and died there. Ithas been suggested that he went very early to some of the other“plantations.”
John Alden was of Southampton, England, was hired as “a cooper,” wastwenty-one years old in 1620, as determined by the year of hisbirth, 1599 (“Alden Memorial,” p. 1), and became the most prominentand useful of any of the English contingent of the MAY FLOWERcompany. Longfellow’s delightful poem, “The Courtship of MilesStandish,” has given him and his bride, Priscilla Mullens,world-wide celebrity, though it is to be feared that its historicalaccuracy would hardly stand criticism. Why young Alden should havebeen “hired for a cooper at Southampton,” with liberty to “go orstay” in the colony, as Bradford says he was (clearly indicatingthat he went to perform some specific work and return, if he liked,with the ship), has mystified many. The matter is clear, however,when it is known, as Griffis shows, that part of a Parliamentary Actof 1543 reads: “Whosoever shall carry Beer beyond Sea, shall findSureties to the Customers (?) of that Port, to bring in Clapboard[staves] meet [sufficient] to make so much Vessel [barrel or“kilderkin”] as he shall carry forth.” As a considerable quantity ofbeer was part of the MAY-FLOWER’S lading, and her consignors stoodbound to make good in quantity the stave-stock she carried away,it was essential, in going to a wild country where it could not bebought, but must be “got out” from the growing timber, to take alonga “cooper and cleaver” for that purpose. Moreover, the great demandfor beer-barrel stock made “clapboard” good and profitable returnlading. It constituted a large part of the FORTUNE’S return freight(doubtless “gotten out” by Alden), as it would have undoubtedly ofthe MAY-FLOWER’S, had the hardship of the colony’s conditionpermitted.
Peter Browne we know little concerning. That he was a man of earlymiddle age is inferable from the fact that he married the widowMartha Ford, who came in the FORTUNE in 1621. As she then was themother of three children, it is improbable that she would havemarried a very young man. He appears, from certain collateralevidence, to have been a mechanic of some kind, but it is not clearwhat his handicraft was or whence he came.
John Billington (Bradford sometimes spells it Billinton) and his family,Bradford tells us, “were from London.” They were evidently anill-conditioned lot, and unfit for the company of the planters, andBradford says, “I know not by what friend shuffled into theirCompany.” As he had a wife and two children, the elder of whom musthave been about sixteen years old, he was apparently overthirty-five years of age. There is a tradition that he was acountryman bred, which certain facts seem to confirm. (See landallotments for data as to age of boys, 1632.) He was the only oneof the original colonists to suffer the “death penalty” for crime.
Mrs. Ellen (or “Elen”) Billington, as Bradford spells the name, wasevidently of comporting age to her husband’s, perhaps a littleyounger. Their two sons, John and Francis, were lively urchins whofrequently made matters interesting for the colonists, afloat andashore. The family was radically bad throughout, but they have hadnot a few worthy descendants. Mrs. Billington married GregoryArmstrong, and their antenuptial agreement is the first of recordknown in America.
John Billington, Jr., is always first named of his father’s two sons, andhence the impression prevails that he was the elder, and Bradford sodesignates him. The affidavit of Francis Billington (PlymouthCounty, Mass., Deeds, vol. i. p. 81), dated 1674, in which hedeclares himself sixty-eight years old, would indicate that he wasborn in 1606, and hence must have been about fourteen years of agewhen he came on the MAY-FLOWER to New Plymouth. If John, hisbrother, was older than he, he must have been born about 1604, andso was about sixteen when, he came to New England. The indicationsare that it was Francis, the younger son, who got hold of thegunpowder in his father’s cabin in Cape Cod harbor, and narrowlymissed blowing up the ship. John died before 1630. Francis lived,as appears, to good age, and had a family.
Moses Fletcher was of the Leyden company, a “smith,” and at the time ofhis second marriage at Leyden, November 30/December 21, 1613, wascalled a “widower” and “of England.” As he was probably of age atthe time of his first marriage,—presumably two years or more beforehis last,—he must have been over thirty in 1620. He was perhapsagain a widower when he came over, as no mention is made of hishaving wife or family. He was possibly of the Amsterdam family ofthat name. His early death was a great loss to the colony.
A Thomas Williams is mentioned by Hon. Henry C Murphy (“HistoricalMagazine,” vol. iii. pp. 358, 359), in a list of some of Robinson’scongregation who did not go to New England in either the MAY-FLOWER,FORTUNE, ANNE, Or LITTLE JAMES. He either overlooked the fact thatWilliams was one of the MAY-FLOWER passengers, or else there weretwo of the name, one of whom did not go. Nothing is known of theage or former history of the Pilgrim of that name. He died in thespring of 1621 (before the end of March). As he signed the Compact,he must have been over twenty-one. He may have left a wife, Sarah.
John Goodman we know little more about than that he and Peter Browne seemto have been “lost” together, on one occasion (when he was badlyfrozen), and to have had, with his little spaniel dog, a rencontrewith “two great wolves,” on another. He was twice married, the lasttime at Leyden in 1619. He died before the end of March, 1621.As he signed the Compact, he must have been over twenty-one.
Edward Margeson we know nothing about. As he signed the Compact, he waspresumably of age.
Richard Britteridge affords little data. His age, birthplace, oroccupation do not transpire, but he was, it seems, according toBradford, the first of the company to die on board the ship aftershe had cast anchor in the harbor of New Plymouth. This factnegatives the pleasant fiction of Mrs. Austin’s “Standish ofStandish” (p. 104), that Britteridge was one of those employed incutting sedge on shore on Friday, January 12. Poor Britteridge diedDecember 21, three weeks earlier. He signed the Compact, and hencemay be accounted of age at the landing at Cape Cod.
Richard Clarke appears only as one of the passengers and as dying beforethe end of March. He signed the Compact, and hence was doubtlesstwenty-one or over.
Richard Gardiner, we know from Bradford, “became a seaman and died inEngland or at sea.” He was evidently a young man, but of his age orantecedents nothing appears. He signed the Compact, and hence wasat least twenty-one years old.
John Alderton (sometimes spelled Allerton), we are told by Bradford,—aselsewhere noted,—“was hired, but was reputed one of the company,but was to go back, being a seaman and so, presumably, unmindful ofthe voyages, for the help of others.” Whether Bradford intended bythe latter clause to indicate that he had left his family behind,and came “to spy out the land,” and, if satisfied, to return forthem, or was to return for the counsel and assistance of Robinsonand the rest, who were to follow, is not clear, but the latter viewhas most to support it. We learn his occupation, but can only inferthat he was a young man over twenty-one from the above and the factthat he signed the Compact. It has been suggested that he was arelative of Isaac Allerton, but this is nowhere shown and isimprobable. He died before the MAY-FLOWER returned to England.
Thomas English (or Enlish), Bradford tells us (“Historie,” Mass. ed.p. 533), “was hired to goe Master of a [the] shallop here.” He,however, “died here before the ship returned.” It is altogetherprobable that he was the savior of the colony on that stormy nightwhen the shallop made Plymouth harbor the first time, and, narrowlyescaping destruction, took shelter under Clarke’s Island. The firstthree governors of the colony, its chief founders,—Carver,Bradford, and Winslow,—with Standish, Warren, Hopkins, Howland,Dotey, and others, were on board, and but for the heroism and promptaction of “the lusty sea man which steered,” who was—beyondreasonable doubt—English, as Bradford’s narrative (“Morton’sMemorial”) shows, the lives of the entire party must, apparently,have been lost. That English was, if on board—Bradford shows inthe “Memorial” that he was—as Master of the shallop, properly herhelmsman in so critical a time, goes without saying, especially asthe “rudder was broken” and an oar substituted; that the ship’s“mates,” Clarke and Coppin, were not in charge (although on board)fully appears by Bradford’s account; and as it must have taken allof the other (four) seamen on board to pull the shallop, bereft ofher sail, in the heavy breakers into which she had been run byCoppin’s blunder, there would be no seaman but English for thesteering-oar, which was his by right. Had these leaders been lostat this critical time,—before a settlement had been made,—it iscertain that the colony must have been abandoned, and the Pilgrimimpress upon America must have been lost. English’s name should, byvirtue of his great service, be ever held in high honor by all ofPilgrim stock. His early death was a grave loss. Bradford spellsthe name once Enlish, but presumably by error. He signed theCompact as Thomas English.
William Trevore was, according to Bradford, one of “two seamen hired tostay a year in the countrie.” He went back when his time expired,but later returned to New England. Cushman (Bradford, “Historie,”p. 122) suggests that he was telling “sailors’ yarns.” He says:“For William Trevore hath lavishly told but what he knew or imaginedof Capewock Martha’s Vineyard, Monhiggon, and ye Narragansetts.” In1629 he was at Massachusetts Bay in command of the HANDMAID(Goodwin, p. 320), and in February, 1633 (Winthrop, vol. i. p. 100),he seems to have been in command of the ship WILLIAM at Plymouth,with passengers for Massachusetts Bay. Captain Standish testifiedin regard to Thompson’s Island in Boston harbor, that about 1620 he“was on that Island with Trevore,” and called it “Island Trevore.”(Bradford, “Historie,” Deane’s ed. p. 209.) He did not sign theCompact, perhaps because of the limitations of his contract (oneyear).
—- Ely (not Ellis, as Arber miscalls him, “The Story of the PilgrimFathers,” p. 377) was the other of the “two seamen hired to stay ayear,” etc. He also returned when his time expired. (Bradford,Hist. Mass. ed. p. 534.) He did not sign the Compact, probably forthe reason operative in .Trevore’s case. A digest of the foregoingdata gives the following interesting, if incomplete, data (errorsexcepted):—
Vocations of adults so far as known (except wives, who are presumed housekeepers for their husbands):—
Allowing for the addition of Wilder and the two sailors, Trevore and Ely, who did not sign it, the number of those who signed the Compact tallies exactly with the adult males. Besides these occupations, it is known that several of the individuals representing them were skilled in other callings, and were at some time teachers, accountants, linguists, writers, etc., while some had formerly practised certain handicrafts; Dr. Fuller, e.g. having formerly been a “silk-worker,” Brad ford (on the authority of Belknap), a “silk-dyer,” and others “fustian-workers.” Hopkins had apparently sometime before dropped his character of “lay-reader,” and was a pretty efficient man of affairs, but his vocation at the time of the exodus is not known.
The former occupations of fourteen of the adult colonists, Browne, Billington, Britteridge, Cooke, Chilton, Clarke, Crackstone, Goodman, Gardiner, Rogers, Rigdale, Turner, Warren, and Williams are not certainly known. There is evidence suggesting that Browne was a mechanic; Billington and Cooke had been trained to husbandry; that Chilton had been a small tradesman; that Edward Tilley had been, like his brother, a silk-worker; that Turner was a tradesman, and Warren a farmer; while it is certain that Cooke, Rogers, and Warren had been men of some means.
Of the above list of fourteen men whose last occupations before joining the colonists are unknown, only five, viz. Browne, Billington, Cooke, Gardiner, and Warren lived beyond the spring of 1621. Of these, Warren died early, Gardiner left the colony and “became a seaman;” the other three, Billington, Browne, and Cooke, became “planters.” Thomas Morton, of “Merry Mount,” in his “New Eng land’s Canaan” (p. 217), gives Billington the sobriquet “Ould Woodman.”
The early deaths of the others make their former handicrafts—except as so much data pertaining to the composi tion and history of the colony— matters of only ephemeral interest.
Probably no more vexatious problem presented itself for the time being to the “governors” of the two vessels and their “assistants,” upon their selection, than the assignment of quarters to the passengers allotted to their respective ships. That these allotments were in a large measure determined by the requirements of the women and children may be considered certain. The difficulties attendant on due recognition of social and official station (far more imperative in that day than this) were in no small degree lessened by the voluntary assignment of themselves, already mentioned, of some of the Leyden chief people to the smaller ship; but in the interests of the general welfare and of harmony, certain of the leaders, both of the Leyden and London contingents, were of necessity provided for in the larger vessel. The allotments to the respective ships made at Southampton, the designation of quarters in the ships themselves, and the final readjustments upon the MAY-FLOWER at Plymouth (England), when the remaining passengers of both ships had been united, were all necessarily determined chiefly with regard to the needs of the women, girls, and babes. Careful analysis of the list shows that there were, requiring this especial consideration, nineteen women, ten young girls, and one infant. Of the other children, none were so young that they might not readily bunk with or near their fathers in any part of the ship in which the latter might be located.
We know enough of the absolute unselfishness and devotion of all the Leyden leaders, whatever their birth or station,—so grandly proven in those terrible days of general sickness and death at New Plymouth,—to be certain that with them, under all circumstances, it was noblesse oblige, and that no self-seeking would actuate them here. It should be remembered that the MAY-FLOWER was primarily a passenger transport, her passengers being her principal freight and occupying the most of the ship, the heavier cargo being chiefly confined to the “hold.” As in that day the passenger traffic was, of course, wholly by sailing vessels, they were built with cabin accommodations for it, as to numbers, etc., proportionately much beyond those of the sailing craft of to-day. The testimony of Captain John Smith, “the navigator,” as to the passengers of the MAY-FLOWER “lying wet in their cabins,” and that of Bradford as to Billington’s “cabin between decks,” already quoted, is conclusive as to the fact that she had small cabins (the “staterooms” of to-day), intended chiefly, no doubt, for women and children. The advice of Edward Winslow to his friend George Morton, when the latter was about to come to New England in the ANNE, “build your cabins as open as possible,” is suggestive of close cabins and their discomforts endured upon the MAY-FLOWER. It also suggests that the chartering-party was expected in those days to control, if not to do, the “fitting up” of the ship for her voyage. In view of the usual “breadth of beam” of ships of her class and tonnage, aft, and the fore and aft length of the poop, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there were not less than four small cabins on either side of the common (open) cabin or saloon (often depicted as the signing-place of the Compact), under the high poop deck. Constructed on the general plan of such rooms or cabins to-day (with four single berths, in tiers of two on either hand), there would be—if the women and girls were conveniently distributed among them—space for all except the Billingtons, who we know had a cabin (as had also doubtless several of the principal men) built between decks. This would also leave an after cabin for the Master, who not infrequently made his quarters, and those of his chief officer, in the “round house,” when one existed, especially in a crowded ship.
Cabins and bunks “between decks” would provide for all of the males of the company, while the seamen, both of the crew and (some of) those in the employ of the Pilgrims—like Trevore and Ely—were no doubt housed in the fore castle. Alderton and English seem to have been counted “of the company.” The few data we have permit us to confidently assume that some such disposition of the passengers was (necessarily) made, and that but for the leaky decks, the inseparable discomforts of the sea, and those of over crowding, the wives of the Pilgrims (three of whom gave birth to children aboard the ship), and their daughters, were fairly “berthed.”
Bradford is authority for the statement that with the “governor” of the ship’s company were chosen “two or three assistants . . . to order [regulate] the people by the way [on the passage] and see to the disposition of the provisions,” etc. The last-named duty must have been a most difficult and wearisome one. From what has been shown of the poverty of the ship’s cooking facilities (especially for so large a company), one must infer that it would be hopeless to expect to cook food in any quantity, except when all conditions favored, and then but slowly and with much difficulty. From the fact that so many would require food at practically the same hours of the day, it is clear that there must have been distribution of food (principally uncooked) to groups or families, who, with the aid of servants (when available), must each have prepared their own meals, cooking as occasion and opportunity indicated; much after the manner of the steerage passengers in later days, but before those of the great ocean liners. There appears to have been but one cook for the officers and crew of the ship, and his hands were doubtless full with their demands. It is certain that his service to the passengers must have been very slight. That “the cook” is named as one of the ship’s crew who died in Plymouth harbor (New England) is all the knowledge we have concerning him.
The use of and dependence upon tea and coffee, now so universal, and at sea so seemingly indispensable, was then unknown, beer supplying their places, and this happily did not have to be prepared with fire. “Strong waters”—Holland gin and to some extent “aqua vitae” (brandy)—were relied upon for the (supposed) maintenance of warmth. Our Pilgrim Fathers were by no means “total abstainers,” and sadly bewailed being deprived of their beer when the supply failed. They also made general and habitual (moderate) use of wine and spirits, though they sharply interdicted and promptly punished their abuse.
In the absence of cooking facilities, it became necessary in that day to rely chiefly upon such articles of food as did not require to be prepared by heat, such as biscuit (hard bread), butter, cheese (“Holland cheese” was a chief staple with the Pilgrims), “haberdyne” (or dried salt codfish), smoked herring, smoked (“cured “) ham and bacon, “dried neat’s tongues,” preserved and “potted” meats (a very limited list in that day), fruits, etc. Mush, oatmeal, pease-puddings, pickled eggs, sausage meats, salt beef and pork, bacon, “spiced beef,” such few vegetables as they had (chiefly cabbages, turnips, and onions,—there were no potatoes in that day), etc., could be cooked in quantity, when the weather permitted, and would then be eaten cold.
Except as dried or preserved fruits, vegetables (notably onions), limes, lemon juice, and the free use of vinegar feebly counteracted, their food was distinctively stimulant of scorbutic and tuberculosis disease, which constant exposure to cold and wet and the overcrowded state of the ship could but increase and aggravate. Bradford narrates of one of the crew of the MAY-FLOWER when in Plymouth harbor, as suggestive of the wretched conditions prevalent in the ship, that one of his shipmates, under an agreement to care for him, “got him a little spice and made him a mess of beef, once or twice,” and then deserted him.
Josselyn, in his “Two Voyages to New England,” gives as the result of the experience and observations had in his voyages, but a few years later, much that is interesting and of exceptional value as to the food and equipment of passengers to, and colonists in, this part of America. It has especial interest, perhaps, for the author and his readers, in the fact that Josselyn’s statements were not known until after the data given in these pages had been independently worked out from various sources, and came therefore as a gratifying confirmation of the conclusions already reached.
Josselyn says as to food, as follows:—“The common proportion of victuals for the sea to a mess (being 4 men) is as followeth:—
“2 pieces of Beef of 3 lb. 1/4 apiece. Pork seems to have been inadvertently omitted.
“Four pounds of Bread [ship-bread].
“One pint & 1/2 of Pease.
“Four Gallons of Bear [Beer], with mustard and vinegar for 3 flesh days in the week.”
“For four fish days to each mess per day:—
“Two pieces of Codd or Haberdine, making 3 pieces of a fish, i.e. a dried salt cod being divided into three pieces, 2 of those pieces were to be a day’s ration for 4 men.
“Four pounds of Bread.
“Three-quarters of a pound of cheese.
“Bear as before.”
“Oatmeal per day for 50 men 1 Gallon [dry], and so proportionable for more or fewer.”
“Thus you see the ship’s provision is Beefe and Porke, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Pease, Pottage, Water-Gruel, Bisket, and six shilling Bear.”
“For private fresh provision you may carry with you (in case you or any of yours should be sick at sea):—
“Conserves of Roses, Clove-Gilliflowers, Wormwood, Green-Ginger, Burnt-Wine, English Spirits, Prunes to stew, Raisons of the Sun, Currence [currants], Sugar, Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, Pepper and Ginger, White Bisket, Butter, or ‘Captains biscuit,’ made with wheat flour or Spanish Rusk, Eggs, Rice, Juice of Lemons, well put up to cure or prevent the Scurvy, Small Skillets, Pipkins, Porringers and small Frying Pans.”
Josselyn further gives us an estimate for:—
“Victuals for a whole year to be carried out of England for one man and so for more after this rate.” He annexed also their current prices:—