The Mayflower and our family

← Family tree · The journey · Eleven lives · Passenger list · Sources and research notes

In 1620, Mayflower carried families, servants and tradespeople across the Atlantic to begin new lives. Some had left England for religious freedom in the Netherlands; others joined for work and opportunity. They reached Cape Cod after a difficult crossing, then faced a winter that killed roughly half their company.

Our Leonard branch connects to several of these families. Their lives took very different paths: some died within months of arrival, while others raised large families, traded along the coast and helped govern Plymouth. The eleven people below include those represented in our tree and Francis Cooke, whose possible connection is discussed in the research notes.

Explore the family branches through James Leonard and Sally Wood, or open a passenger’s tree entry from their biography.

The journey

Leaving England and Leiden

Some passengers were English Separatists who had moved to the Netherlands to worship outside the Church of England. Leiden offered religious freedom, but earning a living was difficult and parents worried about their children’s future. Other passengers joined for work and opportunity. There was no single reason shared by everyone, and many left spouses or children behind. Plimoth Patuxet: Who were the Pilgrims?

Across the Atlantic, autumn 1620

The intended companion ship, Speedwell, repeatedly leaked. After delays and returns to port, Mayflower sailed alone from Plymouth, England, in September. The crossing took about 66 days. People lived in crowded quarters through rough seas; William Butten died before arrival, and Oceanus Hopkins was born at sea. The ship reached Cape Cod in November, outside the intended settlement area near the Hudson River. Adult male passengers signed the Mayflower Compact to establish civil government. Plimoth Patuxet: Mayflower and the Compact; Massachusetts Society passenger register

Cape Cod to Patuxet / Plymouth

After exploring Cape Cod, the colonists chose a settlement site across the bay in December. It was Patuxet, a Wampanoag community devastated by an epidemic before their arrival. This was an inhabited Indigenous homeland with existing governments and relationships. The colonists named their settlement Plymouth. They were entering what is now Massachusetts, more than 150 years before the United States existed. Pilgrim Hall Museum: Patuxet

The first winter and the work of survival

Cold, illness, poor shelter, and inadequate food killed roughly half the company. Survivors cared for the sick while building houses; the ship remained their shelter during the early construction. Five of the people profiled here died that winter: Thomas Rogers, Degory Priest, John Tilley, Joan Tilley, and Mary Norris Allerton. Their family connections continued through surviving children, including children who crossed on later ships.

In spring 1621, Ousamequin, the Pokanoket sachem often called Massasoit in English accounts, and Plymouth’s leaders made an alliance with mutual obligations. Tisquantum helped with translation, planting, and local knowledge. He had been kidnapped into slavery in 1614 and returned to find his Patuxet community devastated. Both the alliance and his assistance had political purposes as well as practical consequences. Wampanoag people were participants with interests of their own. Plimoth Patuxet: the alliance; Tisquantum’s story

Edward Winslow’s contemporary account describes a three-day harvest celebration in 1621 attended by Ousamequin and about 90 men. It was one moment in an evolving relationship, rather than a guarantee of lasting peace. Wampanoag communities continue today. Read the eyewitness account and its context.

The eleven passengers

These families crossed together, lost loved ones and built new households in Plymouth and beyond.

Thomas Rogers

About 1572–1621 · Watford → Leiden → Plymouth · Died in the first winter

Thomas married Alice Cosford in Watford in 1597 and was living in Leiden by 1617, where he bought a house. He sailed with his son Joseph, leaving Alice and other children in the Netherlands. Thomas died during the first winter; Joseph survived. Our branch follows another son, John Rogers, and his daughter Abigail into the Richmond and Leonard families. John is recorded in Plymouth by 1633. Society profile: Rogers family

Thomas in the family tree.

Francis Cooke

About 1583–1663 · Leiden → Plymouth · Survived the first winter

Francis married Hester Mahieu in Leiden in 1603. He and their son John sailed in 1620; Hester and their other children followed aboard Anne in 1623. Francis lived in Plymouth for more than four decades, dying in 1663. Their daughter Jane Cooke married Experience Mitchell, joining another family that arrived aboard Anne. Society profile: Cooke family

Degory Priest

Explore Degory Priest in the tree.

About 1579–1621 · England → Leiden → Plymouth · Died in the first winter

Degory married Sarah (Allerton) Vincent in Leiden in 1611. He traveled without Sarah and their daughters Mary and Sarah, and died on 1 January 1621. His widow remarried Godbert Godbertson and came with the girls on Anne in 1623. Our tree follows daughter Sarah Priest, whose descendants married into the Coombs, Bennett and Wood families. Society profile: Priest family

John Howland

Explore John Howland in the tree.

About 1598–1673 · Fenstanton → Plymouth · Survived the first winter

John sailed in John Carver’s household. During a storm he fell overboard, caught a rope, and was pulled back aboard. After surviving the first winter, he married Elizabeth Tilley around 1623 and they had ten children. He later served in Plymouth government and died in 1673. Their daughter Desire Howland married John Gorham; our branch continues through their descendants. Society profile: Howland family

John Tilley

Explore John Tilley in the tree.

Baptized 1571–1621 · Henlow → Plymouth · Died in the first winter

John traveled with his wife Joan and their daughter Elizabeth. His brother Edward and sister-in-law Ann also sailed. John joined the December exploration of Cape Cod before the settlement was established. Both Tilley couples died during the first winter; Elizabeth survived. Elizabeth later married fellow passenger John Howland. Society profile: Tilley family

Joan (Hurst) Tilley

Explore Joan (Hurst) Tilley in the tree.

Baptized 1568–1621 · Henlow → Plymouth · Died in the first winter

Joan was a widow when she married John Tilley in 1596. Her first husband was named Thomas Rogers, but he was a different man from the Mayflower passenger. She sailed with John and Elizabeth and died shortly after the family came ashore. Her daughter Elizabeth went on to raise ten children with John Howland. Society profile: Tilley family

Elizabeth Tilley

Explore Elizabeth Tilley in the tree.

Baptized 1607–1687 · Henlow → Plymouth → Swansea · Survived the first winter

Elizabeth was about thirteen on the voyage. Losing her parents, uncle, and aunt in the first winter left her the sole survivor of her immediate Tilley passenger family. She married John Howland and raised their ten children; she died in Swansea in 1687. Elizabeth and John’s descendants unite the Howland and Tilley branches of our tree. Society profile: Tilley family

Peter Browne

Explore Peter Browne in the tree.

About 1594–1633 · Probably Dorking → Plymouth · Survived the first winter

Peter sailed as a single man. In January 1621, he and John Goodman became lost while gathering thatch and endured a freezing night before finding their way back. He subsequently married Martha Ford, then a woman named Mary whose surname is unknown. He died in 1633. Daughter Mary Browne married Ephraim Tinkham, beginning the Tinkham branch that leads into our Wood family. Society profile: Peter Browne

Isaac Allerton

Explore Isaac Allerton in the tree.

About 1586–1659 · Leiden → Plymouth → New Haven · Survived the first winter

Isaac sailed with his wife Mary Norris, three children, and apprentice John Hooke. He survived the loss of his wife and a stillborn son. As Plymouth’s commercial agent he made repeated Atlantic journeys; disputes over his business dealings ended that role. He later traded in other colonies and died in New Haven. His daughter Mary Allerton married Thomas Cushman; their descendants connect to our Wood family. Society profile: Allerton family

Mary (Norris) Allerton

Explore Mary (Norris) Allerton in the tree.

Died 1621 · Leiden → Plymouth · Died in the first winter

Mary married Isaac in Leiden in 1611 and crossed with their children Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary. She gave birth to a stillborn son in December 1620 and died in February 1621. Her daughter Mary survived and later raised a family of her own in Plymouth. Society profile: Allerton family

Mary Allerton

Explore Mary Allerton in the tree.

About 1616–1699 · Leiden → Plymouth · Survived the first winter

Mary was a small child when the family sailed. She later married Thomas Cushman, who had arrived on Fortune in 1621. They had eight children, including Elkanah, an ancestor in our Leonard branch. Mary died on 28 November 1699, the last surviving Mayflower passenger. Society profile: Allerton family

Complete passenger list

This register distinguishes 102 people who set out from Oceanus Hopkins, born at sea, and Peregrine White, born aboard in Cape Cod harbor. William Butten died before landfall, so departure and arrival counts differ. Isaac and Mary Allerton’s unnamed stillborn son is discussed above. The ship also had a crew: this passenger register includes the two hired seamen William Trevor and Ely named by Bradford, but is not a complete crew roster.

Names have spelling variants in historical records. Some given names remain unknown; unnamed wives and children are included as people rather than omitted. The names follow William Bradford’s account, reproduced by Pilgrim Hall Museum, checked against the Massachusetts Society register. Bold names are the eleven people profiled above.

Born aboard

• Oceanus Hopkins — son of Stephen and Elizabeth; born during the Atlantic crossing.
• Peregrine White — son of William and Susanna; born in Cape Cod harbor.

Sources and research notes

Early Mayflower Society publications record accepted ancestry for Clarence Ettienne Leonard and his daughter Pearl Meredith Leonard, listed as Mrs. Orville L. Sigafoos. Together with established relationships among the passengers, they support ten of the eleven connections discussed here.

• The 1901 General Society roster, page 89 names Clarence’s Howland, Tilley, Rogers, Browne and two Priest lines.
• The Mayflower Descendant, volume 8 (1906), page 190 records Pearl’s Browne, Howland, Priest and Rogers lines; volume 9 (1907), page 62 adds Isaac and Mary Allerton.
• Elizabeth Tilley, Joan Hurst and Mary Norris follow through the passenger marriages and parentage described above. The tree’s intermediate generations are also mapped in public FamilySearch profiles, linked from individual tree entries.

These publications and compiled trees provide a strong starting point, but the complete descent to the present has not yet been checked against original records. The remaining questions are concentrated in a few places:

• Francis Cooke: the proposed route passes through the Mitchell, Washburn, Bryant and Pratt families. Mary/Molly Pratt’s public profile does not identify her parents. A Leonard genealogy names her mother as Beth Bryant; the family chart names Ruth. The connection is not joined in the tree. Jane Cooke’s dates also differ between the chart and the Society’s account.
• A second Priest line: Abner Pratt’s public pedigree leads back to Mary Priest, but the link from Abner to Mary/Molly Pratt is still missing. The connected tree follows Degory’s daughter Sarah instead.
• Dates and duplicate entries: Sally Wood’s birth and Betsey Tinkham’s lifespan differ between the older archive and newer profiles, as do the marriage dates for Ephraim/Molly and James/Sally. The archive also contains two Thomas Rogers entries; passenger links open the one connected to John Rogers. These details are retained for comparison rather than silently reconciled.

“About” marks an estimated date; Peter Browne’s identification with the Dorking family remains probable. Historical spellings vary, including Brown/Browne. Source links accompany the biographies; the next research step is to compare the approved lineage papers and original vital, church and probate records for the connecting generations.

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