He Was Twice Married, The Last
Time 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 was
presumably of age.
Richard Britteridge affords little data. His age, birthplace, or
occupation do not transpire, but he was, it seems, according to
Bradford, the first of the company to die on board the ship after
she had cast anchor in the harbor of New Plymouth. This fact
negatives the pleasant fiction of Mrs. Austin's "Standish of
Standish" (p. 104), that Britteridge was one of those employed in
cutting sedge on shore on Friday, January 12. Poor Britteridge died
December 21, three weeks earlier. He signed the Compact, and hence
may be accounted of age at the landing at Cape Cod.
Richard Clarke appears only as one of the passengers and as dying before
the end of March. He signed the Compact, and hence was doubtless
twenty-one or over.
Richard Gardiner, we know from Bradford, "became a seaman and died in
England or at sea." He was evidently a young man, but of his age or
antecedents nothing appears. He signed the Compact, and hence was
at least twenty-one years old.
John Alderton (sometimes spelled Allerton), we are told by Bradford, - as
elsewhere noted, - "was hired, but was reputed one of the company,
but was to go back, being a seaman and so, presumably, unmindful of
the voyages, for the help of others." Whether Bradford intended by
the latter clause to indicate that he had left his family behind,
and came "to spy out the land," and, if satisfied, to return for
them, or was to return for the counsel and assistance of Robinson
and the rest, who were to follow, is not clear, but the latter view
has most to support it. We learn his occupation, but can only infer
that he was a young man over twenty-one from the above and the fact
that he signed the Compact. It has been suggested that he was a
relative of Isaac Allerton, but this is nowhere shown and is
improbable. 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 altogether
probable that he was the savior of the colony on that stormy night
when the shallop made Plymouth harbor the first time, and, narrowly
escaping destruction, took shelter under Clarke's Island. The first
three 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 prompt
action of "the lusty sea man which steered," who was - beyond
reasonable doubt - English, as Bradford's narrative ("Morton's
Memorial") shows, the lives of the entire party must, apparently,
have been lost.
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