The Mayflower and Her Log Part 13

Love Brewster was the second son of his parents, his elder brother Jonathan coming over afterwards.

Wrestling Brewster was but a "lad," and his father's third son.

Richard More and his brother, Bradford states, "were put to him" (Elder Brewster) as bound-boys. For a full account of their English origin, Richard's affidavit, etc., see ante. This makes him but about six, but he was perhaps older.

Governor Edward Winslow's known age at his death fixes his age at the time of the exodus, and his birth is duly recorded at Droitwich, in Worcester, England. (See "Winslow Memorial," David Parsons Holton, vol. i. p. 16.)

Mrs. Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow, the first wife of the Governor, appears by the data supplied by the record of her marriage in Holland, May 27, 1618, to have been a maiden of comporting years to her husband's, he being then twenty-three. Tradition makes her slightly younger than her husband.

George Soule, it is evident,--like Howland,--though denominated a "servant" by Bradford, was more than this, and should rather have been styled, as Goodwin points out, "an employee" of Edward Winslow.

His age is approximated by collateral evidence, his marriage, etc.

Elias Story is called "man-servant" by Bradford, and his age is unknown.

The fact that he did not sign the Compact indicates that he was under age, but extreme illness may have prevented, as he died early.

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 and Brewster, of whom extended mention has been made.

Governor William Bradford's date of birth fixes his age in 1620. His early home was at Austerfield, in Yorkshire. Belknap ("American Biography," vol. ii. p. 218) says: "He learned the art of silk-dyeing."

Mrs. Dorothy (May) Bradford's age (the first wife of the Governor) is fixed at twenty-three by collateral data, but she may have been older. She was probably from Wisbeach, England. The manner of her tragic death (by drowning, having fallen overboard from the ship in Cape Cod harbor), the first violent death in the colony, was especially sad, her husband being absent for a week afterward. It is not known that her body was recovered.

Dr. Samuel Fuller, from his marriage record at Leyden, made in 1613, when he was a widower, it is fair to a.s.sume was about thirty, perhaps older, in 1620, as he could, when married, have hardly been under twenty-one. His (third) wife and child were left in Holland.

William b.u.t.ten (who died at sea, November 6/16), Bradford calls "a youth." He was undoubtedly a "servant"-a.s.sistant to the doctor.

Isaac Allerton, it is a fair a.s.sumption, was about thirty-four in 1620, from the fact that he married his first wife October 4, 1611, as he was called "a young man" in the Leyden marriage record. He is called "of London, England," by Bradford and on the Leyden records.

He was made a "freeman" of Leyden, February 7, 1614. Arber and others state that his early occupation was that of "tailor," but he was later a tradesman and merchant.

Mary (Norris) Allerton is called a "maid of Newbury in England," in the Leyden record of her marriage, in October, 1611, and it is the only hint as to her age we have. She was presumably a young woman. Her death followed (a month later) the birth of her still-born son, on board the MAY-FLOWER in Plymouth harbor, February 25/March 7, 1621.

Bartholomew Allerton, born probably in 1612/13 (his parents married October, 1611), was hence, as stated, about seven or eight years old at the embarkation. He has been represented as older, but this was clearly impossible. He was doubtless born in Holland.

Remember Allerton, apparently Allerton's second child, has (with a novelist's license) been represented by Mrs. Austin as considerably older than six, in fact nearer sixteen (Goodwin, p. 183, says, "over 13"), but the known years of her mother's marriage and her brother's birth make this improbable. She was, no doubt, born in Holland about 1614--She married Moses Maverick by 1635, and Thomas Weston's only child, Elizabeth, was married from her house at Marblehead to Roger Conant, son of the first "governor" of a Ma.s.sachusetts Bay "plantation."

Mary Allerton, apparently the third child, could hardly have been much more than four years old in 1620, though Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic," p. 184) calls her eleven, which is an error. She was probably born in Holland about 1616. She was the last survivor of the pa.s.sengers of the MAY-FLOWER, dying at Plymouth, New England, 1699.

John Hooke, described by Bradford as a "servant-boy," was probably but a youth. He did not sign the Compact. Nothing further is known of him except that he died early. It is quite possible that he may have been of London and have been "indentured" by the munic.i.p.ality to Allerton, but the presumption has been that he came, as body-servant of Allerton, with him from Leyden.

Captain Standish's years in 1620 are conjectural (from fixed data), as is his age at death. His early home was at Duxborough Hall, in Lancashire. His commission as Captain, from Queen Elizabeth, would make his birth about 1584. Rose Standish, his wife, is said by tradition to have been from the Isle of Man, but nothing is known of her age or antecedents, except that she was younger than the Captain. She died during the "general sickness," early in 1621.

Master Christopher Martin, as previously noted, was from Billerica, in Ess.e.x. From collateral data it appears that he must have been "about forty" years old when he joined the Pilgrims. He appears to have been a staunch "Independent" and to have drawn upon himself the ire of the Archdeacon of Chelmsford, (probably) by his loud-mouthed expression of his views, as only "a month before the MAY-FLOWER sailed" he, with his son and Solomon Prower of his household (probably a relative), were cited before the archdeacon to answer for their shortcomings, especially in reverence for this church dignitary. He seems to have been at all times a self-conceited, arrogant, and unsatisfactory man. That he was elected treasurer and ship's "governor" and permitted so much unbridled liberty as appears, is incomprehensible. It was probably fortunate that he died early, as he did, evidently in utter poverty. He had a son, in 1620, apparently quite a grown youth, from which it is fair to infer that the father was at that time "about forty." Of his wife nothing is known. She also died early.

Solomon Prower, who is called by Bradford both "son" and "servant" of Martin, seems from the fact of his "citation" before the Archdeacon of Chelmsford, etc., to have been something more than a "servant,"

possibly a kinsman, or foster-son, and probably would more properly have been termed an "employee." He was from Billerica, in Ess.e.x, and was, from the fact that he did not sign the Compact, probably under twenty-one or very ill at the time. He died early. Of John Langemore, his fellow "servant," nothing is known, except that he is spoken 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 died early.

William White was of the Leyden congregation. He is wrongly called by Davis a son of Bishop John White, as the only English Bishop of that name and time died a bachelor. At White's marriage, recorded at the Stadthaus at Leyden, January 27/February 1, 1612, to Anna [Susanna]

Fuller, he is called "a young man of England." As he presumably was of age at that time, he must have been at least some twenty-nine or thirty years old at the embarkation, eight years later. His son Peregrine 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 perhaps older than her second. She must, in all probability (having been married in Leyden in 1612), have been at least twenty-five at the embarkation eight years later. Her second husband, Governor Winslow, was but twenty-five in 1620, and the presumption is that she was slightly his senior. There appears no good reason for ascribing to her the austere and rather unlovable characteristics which the pen of Mrs. Austin has given her.

Resolved White, the son of William and Susanna White, could not have been more than six or seven years old, and is set down by Goodwin and others--on what seems inconclusive evidence--at five. He was doubtless 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 was probably "under age." From the fact that he died early, it is possible that he was too ill to sign.

Edward Thompson is named by Bradford as a second "servant" of Master White, but nothing more is known of him, except that he did not sign the Compact, and was therefore probably in his nonage, unless prevented by severe sickness. He died very early.

Master William Mullens (or Molines, as Bradford some times calls him) is elsewhere 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 evident that he must have been forty years old or more when he sailed for New England, only to die aboard the ship in New Plymouth harbor.

That he was not a French Huguenot of the Leyden contingent, as pictured by Rev. Dr. Baird and Mrs. Austin, is certain.

Mrs. Alice Mullens, whose given name we know only from her husband's will, filed in London, we know little about. Her age was (if she was his first wife) presumably about that of her husband, whom she survived but a short time.

Joseph Mullens was perhaps older than his sister Priscilla, and the third child of his parents; but the impression prevails that he was slightly her junior,--on what evidence it is hard to say. That he was sixteen is rendered certain by the fact that he is reckoned by his father, in his will, as representing a share in the planter's half-interest in the colony, and to do so must have been of that age.

Priscilla Mullens, whom the glamour of unfounded romance and the pen of the poet Longfellow have made one of the best known and best beloved of the Pilgrim band, was either a little older, or younger, than her brother Joseph, it is not certain which. But that she was over sixteen is made certain by the same evidence as that named concerning 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 be taken too literally, has made him (see p. 181 of that book) "a dear old servant," whom Priscilla Mullens credits with carrying her in his arms when a small child, etc. Both Bradford's mention and Mr.

Mullens's will indicate that he was yet a young man and "needed looking after." He did not sign the Compact, which of itself indicates nonage, unless illness was the cause, of which, in his case, 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 is suggested to have been from Ess.e.x.

Stephen Hopkins is believed to have been a "lay-reader" with Mr. Buck, chaplain to Governor Gates, of the Bermuda expedition of 1609 (see Purchas, vol. iv. p. 174). As he could hardly have had this appointment, or have taken the political stand he did, until of age, he must have been at least twenty-one at that time. If so, he would have been not less than thirty two years old in 1620, and was probably considerably older, as his son Giles is represented by Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic," p. 184) as being "about 15." If the father was but twenty-one when the son was born, he must have been at least thirty-seven when he became a MAY-FLOWER Pilgrim. The probabilities are that he was considerably older. His English home is not known. Professor Arber makes an error (The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers," p. 261) in regard to Hopkins which, unless noted, might lead to other and more serious mistakes. Noting the differences between John Pierce and a Master Hopkins, heard before the Council for New England, May 5/15, 1623, Arber designates Master Hopkins as "Stephen" (on what authority does not appear), and leaves us to infer that it was the Pilgrim Hopkins. On further inquiry it transpires that the person who was at variance with Master John Pierce over the matter of pa.s.sage and freight money, on account of the unfortunate PARAGON, was a Rev. Master Hopkins (not Stephen of the MAY-FLOWER), who, we learn from Neill's "History of the Virginia Company," was "recommended July 3, 1622, by the Court of the Company to the Governor of Virginia, . . . being desirous to go over at his own charge. He was evidently a pa.s.senger on both of the disastrous attempts of the PARAGON under Captain William Pierce, and being forced back the second time, apparently gave up the intention of going.

Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, nothing is known concerning, except that she was not her husband's first wife. Sometime apparently elapsed between her 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 ("The Pilgrims in their Three Homes," p. 176) give the name of Ocea.n.u.s Hopkins's father as Giles, instead of Stephen. Constance (or Constantia) Hopkins was apparently about eleven years old in 1620, as she married in 1627, and probably was then not far from eighteen years old. Damaris Hopkins, the younger daughter of Master Hopkins, was probably a very young child when she came in the MAY-FLOWER, but her exact age has not been as certained. Davis, as elsewhere noted, makes the singular mistake of saying she was born after her parents arrived in New England. She married Jacob Cooke, and the ante-nuptial agreement of his parents is believed to be the earliest of record in America, except that between Gregory Armstrong and the widow Billington.

Edward Dotey is called by Bradford "a servant," but nothing is known of his age or antecedents. It is very certain from the fact that he signed the Compact that he was twenty-one. He was a very energetic man. He seems to have been married before coming to New England, or soon after.

Edward Leister (the name is variously spelled) was a "servant," by Bradford's record. He was doubtless of age, as he signed the Compact.

Master John Crackstone, being (apparently) a widower with a son, a child well grown, was evidently about thirty five years old when he embarked 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 to have been without children of their own, and as they took with them to New England two children who were their kindred, it may be inferred that they had been married some little time. It is hence probable that Mr. Tilley was in the neighborhood of thirty. His wife's age is purely conjectural. They were, Bradford states, "of the Leyden congregation."

Henry Sampson was apparently but a young English lad when he came over in the MAY-FLOWER with his cousins the Tilleys. As he married in 1636, he was probably then about twenty-one, which would make him five or six when he came over. Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic," p. 184) says he was "six."

Humility Cooper is said by Bradford to have been a "cosen" of the Tilleys, but no light is given as to her age or antecedents. She was but a child, apparently. She returned to England very soon after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Tilley, and "died young."

Master John Tilley, having twice married, and having a daughter some fourteen years old, must have been over thirty-five years old when he sailed on the Pilgrim ship. His birthplace and antecedents are not 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, and that she had, apparently, no child.

Elizabeth Tilley is said by Goodwin (op. cit. p. 298) and others to have been fourteen years old at her parents' death in 1621, soon after the arrival in New England. She was the child of her father's first wife. She married John Howland before 1624. Historians for many years called her the "daughter of Governor Carver," but the recovery of Bradford's MS. "historie" corrected this, with many other misconceptions, though to some the error had become apparent before.