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 assume 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 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 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
Massachusetts 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 passengers 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 municipality 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
Essex. 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.
