William White (Mayflower passenger)

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Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)

William White was a Mayflower passenger who settled in Plymouth Colony in 1620. He was born probably in England (year unknown) and died on the 21st of February, 1621, in Plymouth Colony.[1]

The Mayflower Voyage

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899

William White and his wife Susanna and their son Resolved, departed Plymouth, England aboard the Mayflower September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship‘s timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.[2]

On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.[3][4]

Life in Plymouth

Governor Bradford, in his journal Of Plymouth Plantation wrote that among the passengers on the Mayflower were Mr. William White and Susanna his wife and one son called Resolved, and one born a-shipboard called Peregrine, and two servants named William Holbeck and Edward Thompson.[5] In 1651 Bradford added that “Mr. White and his two servants died soon after landing. His wife married Mr. Winslow… His two sons are married and Resolved hath five children, Peregrine two, all living. So their increase is seven.”[6][7][8]

In late November 1620, their son Peregrine White was born, the first English child born in Plymouth Colony and possibly in that part of North America.[9][10]

In May 1621, Susanna White became the first Plymouth colony bride, marrying Edward Winslow, a fellow Mayflower passenger whose wife had perished several weeks previously. At least five children were born to Edward Winslow and his wife Susanna.[11][12]

About 1638, the Winslows moved with Susanna’s sons Resolved and Peregrine White, to Green Harbor, now called Marshfield Massachusetts. Edward Winslow later became Governor of Plymouth County, and was also the colony agent in England. In England, his diplomatic skills soon came to the attention of Oliver Cromwell, the new Puritan leader of the country. Cromwell required Winslow head a joint award reparations commission to assess damage caused by Danish ships.[13][8]

Edward Winslow lived in England the last six years of his life, serving the government there. When his will was written in 1654 as resident of London, the document stated that he left his New England property to his son Josiah “hee (sic) allowing to my wife a full third parte thereof for her life also” so it is probable that his wife did not follow him to London. Edward Winslow died of fever May 7/8, 1655 while on a British military expedition in the Caribbean[14][15][16][17]

There is no trace of Susanna’s death beyond a sales record in 1647, and no further record of Susanna has been found. Though she was the wife of one colony governor and the mother of another, the first bride in the colony and the mother of the famed Peregrine White, she seems forgotten in the records.[18]

The Mayflower Society has refuted the reported maiden surname of 'Fuller' for Susanna White and has determined that the maiden name of Susanna White is unknown. Further, Susanna ____ (White) Winslow, was not the sister of Dr. Samuel Fuller as is often stated. The Samuel and Edward Fuller who traveled on the Mayflower were sons of Robert Fuller of Redenhall, England. Robert had a daughter Anna, born about 1578, far too old a bride for Edward Winslow who was not born until 1595. The 1615 will of Robert Fuller mentions no daughter named Susanna, nor a daughter married to William White. It does mention Alice Bradford, a sister-in-law. In a letter that Edward Winslow wrote in 1623 to “Uncle Robert Jackson”, he provided news of Susanna, her late husband William White, and her children. He also sends his regards to his father-in-law in England, obviously not Robert Fuller who had been dead for nine years.[19][20]

Another misrepresentation is that William White once lived in Holland. For many years genealogists assumed that William White spent his early married years in Holland, marrying and burying children but no proof that they apply to the Pilgrim William White but rather they probably apply to the William White who was still living there in 1621.[21]

The family of William White and wife Susanna

William White married by about 1615 Susanna ______. She was born probably in England and died between December 18, 1654 (date of Edward Winslow’s will) and July 2, 1675 (date of son Josiah Winslow’s will). They had two sons:

  • Resolved White, born probably ca. 1615 in England (deposition) He died after September 19, 1687.

He married (1) at Scituate in Mass. on November 5, 1640 to Judith Vassall. She was born in England ca. 1619 and was buried at Marshfield, Mass. April 3, 1670. She was a daughter of William Vassall and Ann King. The will of her father, William Vassall, Esq., of Barbados Island dated July 31, 1655, names daughter Judith White, wife of Resolved White.[22][23] Judith Vassall, is buried in Winslow Cemetery [24]

  • Resolved White and his wife Judith had eight children: William, John, Samuel, Resolved, Anna, Elizabeth, Josiah and Susanna.

Resolved White married (2) in Salem, Mass. On October 5, 1674 Abigail _____ Lord, widow of William Lord. She was born ca. 1606 and died in Salem between June 15 and 27 1682. Resolved White was buried in the Winslow Cemetery. [25]

  • Peregrine White, born aboard the Mayflower at Cape Cod Harbor (now Provincetown Harbor) before the end of November, 1620. He died in Marshfield, Mass. July 20, 1704 at age 83 years and 8 months.

He married before March 6, 1648/9 Sarah Bassett, born in Plymouth ca. 1630 and died in Marshfield, Mass. January 22, 1711. She was a daughter of William Bassett and his wife Elizabeth _____.

  • Peregrine and his wife Sarah had seven children: Daniel, (child), Jonathan, Peregrine, Sarah, Sylvanus and Mercy.

Susanna married secondly May 12, 1621 in Plymouth Colony Edward Winslow by whom she had five children - Edward, John, Josiah, Elizabeth and one child who died young.[26][27] Susanna White Winslow was buried in the Winslow Cemetery with her 2nd husband Edward Winslow [28]

References

  1. ^ William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth, (Boston: 1856), p. 101
  2. ^ Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 413
  3. ^ George Ernest Bowman, The Mayflower Compact and its signers, (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920), Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document, pp. 7-19.
  4. ^ Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 413
  5. ^ William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston: 1856), p. 448
  6. ^ William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth (Boston: 1856), p. 451
  7. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.,) pp. 1, 5
  8. ^ a b )Pilgrim Village Family Sketch:William White (a collaboration of American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society)
  9. ^ Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (New York: Viking, 2006), pp. 89-90
  10. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White, (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.), p. 1.
  11. ^ Pilgrim Valley Family Sketch Edward Winslow
  12. ^ William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth, (Boston: 1856), p. 101
  13. ^ Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War, (New York: Viking 2006), p. 184
  14. ^ David Lindsay, PhD., Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger amongst the Pilgrims, (New York: St. Martins Press, 2002), p. 137
  15. ^ Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War (New York: Viking 2006), p. 184.
  16. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.), p. 2.
  17. ^ David Lindsay, PhD., Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger amongst the Pilgrims (New York: St. Martins Press, 2002), p. 137
  18. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.) p. 2.
  19. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.) pp. 2-4.
  20. ^ Emma Siggins White, Genesis of the White Family (Kansas City, Mo.: Tierman-Dart Prtg Co. 1920), p. 50
  21. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.), p. 3.
  22. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.) pp. 5-10.
  23. ^ Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (New York: Viking, 2006), pp. 69, 89-90
  24. ^ Memorial of Judith Vassall
  25. ^ Resolved White
  26. ^ Nathaniel Philbrick. Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War (New York: Viking, 2006), p. 104
  27. ^ Ruth Wilder Sherman, CG, FASG and Robert Moody Sherman, CG, FASG. Re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Vol. 13: Family of William White (Pub. General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2006 3rd Ed.) p. 5.
  28. ^ Susanna White Winslow

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