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“REAL” Story of the Mayflower

“Real story of the MAyflower:

JOINT PREPARATIONS FOR EMIGRATION TO AMERICA


Two chartered English companies controlled Virginia; the First Virginia Company of London (Southampton and other local Lords and Burgesses had shares in this), and the Virginia Company of Plymouth. The First Virginia Company of London went bankrupt and was therefore unable to service the colony. Neither was it prepared to allow freedom of worship to the negotiators. However, in 1619 the Leyden delegation secured a tract of land in Virginia made out in the name of a sympathizer, Rev. John Wincob, a name that is often forgotten.

The option of land was never taken up, but one of the leaders of the Second Virginia Company, Thomas Weston, persuaded the Leyden puritans to join them. A complicated – and harsh – Agreement of Ten Articles was drawn up which the would-be settlers had to agree to. The terms of the agreement left the Leyden contingent very short of money, so they were unable to provision themselves properly for the first few months of survival in the New World. 

Some prospective Leyden settlers withdrew at this stage, and they were replaced (by the London shareholders of the Company) with others from England. Among these was Miles Standish, a soldier, and Christopher Martin, the latter causing trouble later when he, as the Treasurer of the venture, as well as being Company agent, refused to account for £700 which he had spent in Southampton.

In 1620 the London adventurers chartered the Mayflower under her master Captain Christopher Jones of Harwich. She was a good, stout, and ocean going ship of 180 tons. The Leyden contingent, however, could not afford such a big or good vessel. They needed a ship which could be used when they actually arrived in America, rather than a chartered one, so they bought the Speedwell. The 60-ton ship was refitted in Holland, and they hired a less experienced Master, Captain Reynolds. It is thought, but cannot be proved without a doubt, that the Speedwell was built originally in Southampton in 1606. A ship of that name and tonnage was certainly built there.


Whatever; Southampton was chosen as the rendezvous point for the voyage to America. The Mayflower sailed from London with about 70 immigrants on board and arrived in Southampton about the 29th July where others joined her. One cannot be precise about the date because in 1752 when the New Gregorian Calendar was introduced officially, the difference between the old Julien calendar and the new was adjusted to 11 days. In 1620, however, the difference was considered to be 10 days. 
 The Speedwell left Holland on 1st August (Gregorian time from now on) from Delft Haven near Rotterdam with less than 50 emigrants aboard. On arrival at Southampton the ship had to have another refit at West Quay with money the Leyden “Saints” could ill afford. She was overmasted for a start and would have wallowed in heavy seas. Quarrels and disagreements broke out and Thomas Weston for the Company refused to let the Leyden people have any more money because they would not sign an amended contract. As a result the group had to sell some of their belongings, food and stores, to pay Southampton its harbour and other dues.

The party from both ships spent nearly 2 weeks in Southampton, which at that time was recovering from a downturn in trade and was a fairly prosperous town. At least one new member, John Alden, a cooper, joined the emigrants. It is thought that he was the son of George Alden who lived in what is now called the Old Town. (Rate Roll for All Saints Parish 1602) There were, however, two Alden families in Southampton at that time. Longfellow’s romantic poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish” keeps his memory alive, however, whichever family he originally belonged with.

It is possible that other Southampton families joined the Pilgrims, or at the very least had sympathy with them. Certainly, Steven Hopkins and his second wife, Elizabeth, had connections with Hampshire. His, but possibly not her, children were born in Hursley, and his first wife was buried there.

In Southampton in 1620, the congregation of the French Church, St Juliens, in Winkle Street, which was licensed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1567 for use by the Huguenot refugees, had almost as many English worshippers as Huguenot families.
Now as this was obviously from preference, it must be presumed that the choice was made because of the more rigid, Puritan-like customs of the “foreign” church. In 1635 after an official Visitation, however, the English were ordered to return to their own churches.

On the other side of the coin, some of St Julien’s congregation, notably the Dellamotte’s who had been among St Julien’s Elders, had joined the less rigid Anglican congregation. Judith, Philip Delamotte’s, widow, was buried in St John’s in 1640 and her granddaughter, Martha was christened an Anglican.

The Speedwell and the Mayflower eventually sailed from Southampton for the New World on the 15th August, but twice they had to turn back. The second time they limped into Plymouth where it was decided that the Speedwell was unseaworthy. She was leaking like a sieve, so was abandoned. Some of the Pilgrims left the ship and the venture there, but others transferred to the Mayflower in what must then have become extremely crowded conditions for such a long journey. The Mayflower was hardly the Queen Mary in the first place! The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth for America on September 16th and arrived at Cape Cod on 21st November.

Cape Cod was not the intended place of disembarkation and on arrival such was the distrust among the colonists-and between them and the Company-that the famous Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed on board before anyone was allowed to disembark. 

This agreement was thought necessary because there was unrest and it was felt that some of the non-Separatists, called “Strangers,”(the others, particularly those from Leyden, were called “Saints”) among the passengers would defy the Pilgrim’s leaders if they were landed in a place other than that specified in the land grant they had received from the London Company. Although not meant as a democratic document – more a way of quelling mutiny -the Compact became the basis of government in the Plymouth Colony and eventually, America. After it was signed, the Pilgrims elected John Carver as their first governor, the first free election of the New World.

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

”In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these present, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.”


There were 41 signatories of the 102 passengers, 37 of whom were members of the “Separatists”. This compact established the first basis in the New World for written laws. Half the colony failed to survive the first winter, but the remainder lived on and prospered. 
MAYFLOWER PASSENGER LIST NAMES
alden John (prob. Soton) 
Allerton Isaac 
Mary Allerton (wife) 
Allerton Bartholomew (son) 
Allerton Mary (daur) 
Allerton Remember (daur) 
Allerton Jon ( sailor. no relation) 
Billington Don 
Billington Eleanor (wife) 
Billington Frances (relationship unknown) 
Billington John (son) 
Bradford William 
Bradford Dorothy May (wife) 
Brewster William 
Brewster Mary (wife) 
Brewster Wrestling (son) 
Brewster Love (son) 
Britteridge Richard 
Brown Peter 
Butten William 
Cartier Robert 
Carver John 
Carver Katherine (wife) 
Chilton James 
Chilton Susanna (wife) 
Chilton Mary (unknown r’ship) 
Clarke Richard 
Cooke Francis 
Cooke John (son) 
Cooper Humility 
Crackson John 
Crackston John (son) 
Doty Edward 
Eaton Francis 
Eaton Sarah (wife) 
Eaton Samuel (son) 
Ely ???? (sailor) 
English Thomas 
Fletcher Moses 
Fuller Edward 
Fuller Ann (wife) 
Fuller Samuel (son) 
Fuller Samuel (not related. Doctor) 
Gardiner Richard 
Goodman John 
Holbeck William 
Hooke John 
Hopkins Steven (Hursley, Hants connections) 
Hopkins (Fisher)Elizabeth (2nd wife) 
Hopkins Giles (son) 
Hopkins Constance (daur) 
Hopkins Damaris (daur) 
Hopkins Oceanis (son born at sea)
Howland John 
Langmore John 
Latham William 
Margeson Edmund
Martin Christopher
Martin nee Prower, Marie
Minter Desire
More Elinor 
More Jasper (brother) 
More Richard (brother)
More Mary (sister)
Mullins William
Mullins Alice (wife)
Mullins Joseph (son)
Mullins Priscilla(m. John Alden)
Priest Degory
Prower Solomon
Rigdale John
Rigdale Alice (wife) 
Rogers Thomas
Rogers Joseph (son)
Sampson Henry
Soule George
Standish Miles
Standish Rose (wife) 
Story Elias 
Thompson Edward 
Tilley Edward
Tilley Ann or Agnes (wife)
Tilley John (brother to Edward
Tilley Joan (Johns wife)
Tilley Ellizabeth) (daur)
Tinker Thomas
Tinker ?????? (wife)
Tinker ?????? (son)
Trevore William (sailor)
Turner John
Turner – two sons 
Warren Richard
White William 
White Susannah (wife)
White Peregrine (son b. at sea)
White Resolved (son)
Wilder Roger
Williams Thomas
Winslow Edward
Winslow Elizabeth (wife)
Winslow Gilbert (brother)
MORE INFORMATION
 A great deal has been written about and around the Pilgrim Fathers and there are several commemorative sites one can visit, both literally and on the Internet. In Southampton, as well as the obvious Mayflower Park right on the Waterfront, there is the Mayflower Memorial on the other side of the road which was erected in 1913, and the Mayflower Theatre in Commercial Road. Southampton also has a plaque which was presented to the Mayor in 1970 by the Society of Mayflower Descendants to commemorate 350 years from the date of the sailing of the Speedwell and Mayflower.

The Mayflower Memorial



There are some very good websites specifically about the Pilgrim Fathers, the Mayflower, and the families that the ship carried. Just a quick look using any of the popular search engines will come up with quite a list. Those that can be 
recommended are:



http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/history/  (needs to be typed in the address bar) 
http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com  (an Ancestry.com site)
http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower  A very large site packed with well researched genealogical information by Caleb Johnson.

List of published sources used for this piece:

Handbook accompanying the Mayflower Exhibition, Southampton 1970
A Social History of England by Asa Briggs
History and Topography of Buckinghamshire by J J Sheehan
 Pilgrim Fathers Southampton Record Series
Southampton Guide Book Milestone Publications 

Viktoria Turner 
History Research

Salute to the Mayflower in Mayflower Park Southampton
Salute to the Mayflower in Mayflower Park Southampton

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