TBT - The Pilgrim Connection

When flipping through the many pages of family history research that has been done on my grandfather's line, an interesting parenthetical note caught my attention.  It stated that three members of the family were passengers on The Mayflower in 1620.  How cool!

And since this particular group of people has been researched and re-researched, it's not too difficult to find out more about them.  Our ancestors are William and Susanna White, and their son Resolved.  Resolved was a young boy (about 5) when the family left for America.  What is unclear is whether the family were part of the Pilgrim community in Holland or they joined the trip in England.  Based on the reading I've done, I believe that they were in the latter group, categorized as London Merchants, and never lived in Holland.

Susanna was pregnant during the voyage and her baby, a boy named Peregrine, was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World.  He was born while the colonists were still living on The Mayflower (anchored at Provincetown Harbor, off the tip of Cape Cod) and trying to prepare housing on land.

William White was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.

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

Another interesting fact about Susanna is that she was one of only four married women who survived to see the First Thanksgiving.  Sadly, her husband died in February, and a few months later she married Edward Winslow.  This was the first wedding that took place in the colony.

In my search for pictures and documents for this blog post, I came across this

collage of famous Pilgrim descendants.  I wonder if any of them are my cousins?

The following bios are taken from The Pilgrim Hall Museum's website.

Susanna White

Susanna White was a member of the Leiden Separatist community. She and her husband, William, and their young son Resolved were passengers on the Mayflower. Susanna gave birth to another son, Peregrine, in December of 1620 while theMayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Peregrine was the first child born to the Pilgrims in New England.

William White died during February of 1621. Susanna married Edward Winslow (another Mayflower passenger, whose wife had also died during that hard first winter) on May 22 (May 12 Old Style), 1621. This was the first wedding in the new colony. By her second marriage with Edward Winslow, Susanna White and Edward Winslow had 5 children, although only 2 lived to adulthood : Josiah, born c1629 and Elizabeth, born in the 1630's.

Edward Winslow was " ... one of the most energetic and trusted men in the Colony. He went to England in 1623, 1624, 1635 and 1646, as agent of the Plymouth or Massachusetts colonies; and in 1633 he was chosen governor, to which office he was reelected in 1636 and 1644. He did not return to New England after 1646. In 1655 he was sent by Cromwell as one of three commissioners to superintend the expedition against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, and died at sea near Hispaniola, on the 8th of May of that year ..." (Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers (Boston Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), p. 274-5.

There is no evidence that Susanna White Winslow ever accompanied her husband Edward Winslow on his journeys out of Plymouth Colony.

The Winslows lived on a large estate named Careswell, in Marshfield (north of Plymouth).

We do not know the date of Susanna’s death. Her name appears in her husband Edward’s will, written in 1654. She is not mentioned in her son Josias' will. It is therefore assumed that Susanna White Winslow died between 18 December 1654 (when Edward Winslow's will was written) and 2 July 1675 (the date of Josias Winslow's will).

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Resolved White

Resolved White was a young boy, perhaps five years old, when he journeyed to Plymouth on the Mayflower with his parents, William and Susanna White.   The Whites had been part of the English Separatist congregation in Leiden, Holland, but it is not known when they joined the congregation (or if Resolved was born in England or in Holland).  Resolved's younger brother, Peregrine, was born on board the Mayflower while it was anchored in Provincetown harbor. 

His father, William, died the first winter.  His mother remarried in April of 1621; Resolved's new stepfather was Edward Winslow.

The family, at first, lived in Plymouth.  Edward Winslow was granted land in Marshfield, to the north, in 1632.  For several years, the family probably spent their summers on the farm in Marshfield, returning to Plymouth in the winter.  In 1636, the Winslow/White family settled permanently in Marshfield.

In 1640, at approximately age 25, Resolved married Judith Vassall, daughter of William Vassall of Scituate.  (Scituate is directly north of Marshfield.)  The couple had eight children: William, John, Samuel, Resolved, Anna, Elizabeth, Josiah and Susanna.  The family lived first in Scituate and, later, in Marshfield.  Judith died in 1670.

William Vassall, Resolved's father-in-law, left the Colony in 1646 and, after going to England, settled on Barbados where he owned a plantation.  On at least one occasion in 1657, after William Vassall's death, deeds show that Resolved White was in Barbados.

In 1674 at Salem, Resolved married Abigail Lord.  The couple lived in Salem where Resolved was elected a freeman in 1680.  Abigail died in 1682.  Resolved died between 1690 and 1694.

We have no will or inventory for Resolved White.

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More information about the family can be found on Wikipedia and at MayflowerHistory.com.

See also The Mayflower and Her Log from Project Gutenberg.