Descendants of the Mayflower passengers are as varied as the pilgrims themselves, representing various social classes and pursuing diverse occupations.
Misconceptions Regarding Mayflower Passengers
There are two common misconceptions about descendants of this brave band of pilgrims who stepped ashore late in 1620. First, it has long been assumed that all those people who bragged about Mayflower ancestors were full of hot air because, really, how many people could be descended from so few people so long ago. Second, those who seemed credible were labeled as elitist muckety-mucks.
Who Are the Pilgrim Descendants?
The truth is that tens of millions of people are descended from the Mayflower pilgrims. That’s because many of them started off with about 12 children, 70 grandchildren and more than 300 great-grandchildren. If nearly every one of those 300+ great-grandchildren and their descendants kept populating America at that rate, it adds up to a staggering rate 10 or more generations later, even though families did shrink in size.
Another truth is that large numbers usually carry with them a great leveling factor. In this case, it means that in the generations alive now, people from nearly every walk of life descend from those brave Mayflower ancestors.
Which Mayflower Pilgrims Left Descendants?
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants says these are the passengers that left descendants:
John Alden, Isaac Allerton, Mary (Norris) Allerton, John Billington, William Bradford, William Brewster, Peter Browne, James Chilton, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Francis Eaton, Moses Fletcher, Edward Fuller, Samuel Fuller, Stephen Hopkins, Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins, John Howland, Richard More, William Mullins, Degory Priest, Thomas Rogers, Henry Samson, George Soule, Myles Standish, John Tilley, Joan (Hurst) Tilley, Richard Warren, William White and Edward Winslow.
Genealogists able to document their descent from one or more of these Mayflower pilgrims who settled at Plymouth Colony are eligible to apply for membership in the Mayflower Society.
What Were the Mayflower Pilgrims Like?
Here is what we know about some of the Mayflower pilgrims.
- John Alden, 21, was a cooper (barrel-maker). He married Priscilla Mullins and they had 10 children.
- The jury is out on whether Francis Billington was a spunky young lad or a trouble-maker.
- William Bradford, orphaned as a child, helped plan the voyage to America, obtaining government permissions, financing, ship hire and provisions. He served 36 years as Plymouth Colony’s governor.
- William Brewster was the group’s first religious leader in America while they waited for an ordained minister. His inventory of several hundred books in both English and Latin attests to his scholarship, love of learning and spirituality.
- Francis Cooke, a woolcomber, came with his teenage son John. His wife and two other children arrived three years later; two more children were born at Plymouth.
- Edward Doty, a servant of Stephen Hopkins, was a high-spirited, aggressive young man who was often in court because of disagreements with his neighbours.
- Francis Eaton was a carpenter. His first two wives died at Plymouth and his third wife survived him.
- Samuel Fuller, a surgeon, was tax collector at Plymouth when he died during a 1633 smallpox epidemic.
- John Howland, servant to John Carver, later became a Plymouth official, serving as an assistant to the governor. He was put in charge of the colony’s Kennebec River fur trading post.
- William White died during the first year at Plymouth, but left sons Peregrine, who became a farmer and militia officer, and Resolved, who lived at Scituate, Marshfield and Salem.
A good site for family researchers seeking information on the Plymouth pilgrims is that of the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth.
(Companion articles discuss the Mayflower Compact and list its signers.)
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