MAYFLOWER 400
Felix Rowe tells the story of the Pilgrims’ voyage, and explains how to find out if your family were on board
Uncover your link to the pilgrims who settled the USA
The Mayflower set sail from south-west England to the New World in September 1620, carrying just over 100 passengers. Among them were about 30 religious separatists – the so-called Pilgrim Fathers – fleeing from persecution to found a new colony. Despite treacherous conditions, they succeeded. Now, 400 years later, there are some 35 million direct descendants from the passengers and crew, some 10 million in the USA. Their progeny have included film stars, eight US presidents and the first American in space.
The Ultimate Origin Story
In the USA, the tale of the Mayflower has assumed nearmythical status. It’s an integral part of the country’s origin story: the epic voyage, the godly mission, the establishment of a secular government, the first Thanksgiving. But the reality is equally fascinating.
The Pilgrims’ story begins on the Lincolnshire, south Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire border, with a group of religious dissenters at odds with the Church of England, who set up their own clandestine Scrooby Congregation. They are often labelled Puritans, but were technically separatists. It’s an important distinction: they didn’t seek to purify the existing Church (deemed beyond redemption), but rather set up an entirely new one.
The abridged narrative sees the Pilgrims fleeing England for the New World, but their original destination was closer to home. After a first failed escape attempt in 1607 led to arrest and brief imprisonment, they fled via Immingham, Lincolnshire, to Amsterdam. The relative religious toleration of the Calvinist Netherlands made it a sanctuary for European theological refugees, and the separatists ultimately settled in Leiden.
To all intents and purposes, the move was permanent. The group laid down roots, found jobs, raised families and for over a decade lived relatively peaceably. Ultimately, though, the leaders felt that their vision was being
compromised. They feared losing their English identity, and that their children were being tempted by Leiden’s earthly pleasures. With opportunities opening up in North America, they resolved to live by their principles unhindered. In 1620, commercial and legal arrangements were made via the Plymouth Company to establish a colony in Virginia.
The Voyage
The journey itself was pitted with false starts and about-turns. Had history taken a different turn, we might be remembering two iconic ships: the Mayflower and Speedwell, which were due to travel in tandem. They set sail from Southampton in August, but before long Speedwell was taking on water, forcing a return to Dartmouth for repairs. Again they set off, only to return to Plymouth. Speedwell was retired and her remaining supplies and passengers all crammed aboard the Mayflower. By now, the passengers and crew had spent around a month aboard, within cramped confines and using up valuable supplies.
Eventually, they got underway, but the delays meant the Atlantic crossing would have to be endured in less than favourable conditions. A cracked beam had to be repaired at sea. What’s more, on arrival, the new settlers would be greeted by a harsh North American winter.
A Colony Is Established
The Pilgrims arrived a few degrees north of their intended destination, the Hudson River (near modern-day New York City), then part of Virginia. Poor conditions scuppered their attempts to sail south, and so they decided to settle in the area around Cape Cod. However, their land charter lacked jurisdiction here, so before disembarking they drafted the Mayflower Compact. This landmark social contract bound the settlers to cooperate with one another. Often regarded as the first example of a written constitution, history has presented it as an early precedent for secular rule in the future USA. The compact’s signatories did, however, pledge allegiance to the English Crown.
You might assume that the new colony was named Plymouth in honour of the Pilgrims’ last steps on English soil. However, the location had already been named New Plimouth (sic) after a previous expedition. English fishermen had long been fishing seasonally off Newfoundland, staying ashore locally to cure the fish before returning home. As a result of this and other commercial expeditions, the coastline was relatively well mapped and contact had been established with some of the native population. Indeed, the first Native American to visit the Pilgrims greeted them in English learnt from fishermen.
The label ‘Pilgrims’ wasn’t used by the settlers themselves. Although some references to ‘pilgrims’ exist in their writings, its popularity is largely a product of later romanticism. They tended to refer to themselves, no less modestly, as ‘saints’. For many years, their venture was known as the Brownist Emigration after the
separatist Robert Browne, who later shunned his followers and became an Anglican priest.
Key Figures
In tracing potential Mayflower heritage either side of the Atlantic, you’ll become familiar with several key characters (comprehensive passenger lists are readily available online). William Bradford (of Austerfield, Yorkshire) and William Brewster (of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire) were influential separatist figures, who became important statesmen in Plymouth. Yet, only a third of the passengers were actually religious dissenters. The remainder, while presumably sympathetic or simply keen for adventure, were either hired hands with specific skills to ensure the colony’s survival or indentured servants. Myles Standish, for example, who was later immortalised in literature, was a military man employed to protect the colony. The four More children were spirited away aboard the Mayflower as indentured servants despite their mother’s protests, following claims of illegitimacy.
Seventy-four of the passengers were male and 28 female. Among them, we have some wonderful examples of Puritan Christian names typical of the 17th century: Truelove, Humility and Resolved.
Five passengers died at sea, including Bradford’s first wife Dorothy, who drowned in Cape Cod Harbor. These deaths were offset by the births of Oceanus Hopkins, born on the crossing, and Peregrine White, born aboard once the ship had anchored.
Tracing Descent
For many Americans, Mayflower heritage is a badge of honour. In 2011, actor Ashley Judd appeared on the US version of Who Do You Think You Are? to discover she was a descendant of William Brewster. She joins a club that includes actors Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood and Humphrey Bogart, actor and singer Bing Crosby, the astronaut Alan Shepard, and aviator Amelia Earhart.
Although the chances of descending from a single source may seem remote, particularly as so many died in the first winter, a rough estimate suggests odds of about one in 33 in the USA. Politician Sarah Palin and actor Richard Gere can both trace
‘The More children were spirited protests’ away despite their mothers’
their lines back to six passengers. Potentially, 0.46 percent of the world’s population can trace their lineage to the Mayflower.
If you include passengers and crew of other ships, the families they left behind, members of other contemporary colonies and Native Americans, the odds of a link to the USA’s formative years soar. Edith Wilson, for instance, the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, is descended from both Jamestown colonists and the Native American Pocahontas.
Other Ships And Colonies
The Mayflower was the first of several English ships to facilitate Plymouth Colony.
If you can’t trace your lineage back to the Mayflower, there may be a connection to other early colonists, many of whom followed from Leiden. Fortune arrived in 1621, bringing some Mayflower family members and Leiden associates. Anne and Little James followed in 1623, and yet others during the first decade of settlement. Mayflower was a popular ship name at this time (another made the trip in 1629), causing potential confusion. The White Angel arrived in 1630.
If your family has early connections to the region, it wouldn’t be surprising (indeed, to a degree it would be expected) to discover descent from passengers of several ships. New blood was essential to the entire enterprise. William Bradford, for example, married Alice Southworth, who arrived on Fortune.
The ‘Founding Fathers’ motif paints Plymouth as lone beacon, standing in isolation. In reality, there were a handful of colonies contemporary to Plymouth, some that preceded it by a fair margin. Jamestown predated Plymouth by 13 years. Both Jamestown and the short-lived Popham Colony were founded in 1607, back when the Founding Fathers were making their base in the Netherlands. Others followed, including Nantasket (1621) and Cape Ann (1623). The most successful, the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628), expanded rapidly and eventually absorbed its rival, the neighbouring Plymouth Colony.
So, while Mayflower might be the key word many are desperate to trace in their heritage, there are a whole host of other rich avenues to explore, each with a fascinating story waiting to be discovered.