First Generation

1. William WHITE (*) (') (~) was born on 10 November 1591 in Of Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.^1,2,3 This is a picture of a replica of the Mayflower. It was 90 feet long and 24 feet long. It had a crew of 15-20 men and a passenger load of 100 people on its voyage from Plymouth, England, to the New Plymouth (MA) in "New England" in the United States in 1620.

(William was a ninth great-grandfather of Gary Griggs.)

From MayflowerHistory.com: "William White is a difficult individual to research, and much as been mispublished about him. There is a marriage record in Leiden, Holland, which records the marriage of a William White to Anna Fuller on 27 January 1612; the marriage was witnessed by Sarah Priest and Anna's brother, Samuel Fuller. For many years this was thought to have been the Mayflower passenger, Susanna and Anna being reasonable variants of the same name.

This has been a heavily-debated issue: was this the marriage of the Mayflower passenger, or not? There are at least two William White's living in Leiden during the appropriate time period, one was a woolcomber and one was a tobacco merchant. The William White who married Anna Fuller was called a woolcomber in the 1612 marriage record, which was witnessed by Sarah Priest. On 10 April 1621, well after the Mayflower had departed, William White woolcomber was a party to the antenumptual agreement of Samuel Lee in Leiden. Thus, William White, woolcomber, could not have been the Mayflower passenger. And since Sarah Priest had witnessed the will of William White in 1612, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume it was the same William White who witnessed her own marriage to Godbert Godbertson in Leiden in October 1621? The Mayflower passenger was also not the tobacco merchant, who appears in numerous Leiden records throughout the 1620s. So there was either a third William White in Leiden, or else the William White of the Mayflower may have joined onto the Mayflower's voyage from England.

In any case, William and his wife Susanna came on the Mayflower in 1620 with son Resolved; Susanna gave birth to son Peregrine while the Mayflower was still anchored off the top of Cape Cod, waiting for the Pilgrims to discover a place to build their colony. William died the first winter, on the same day as three other passengers, including William Mullins. His wife Susanna remarried to Edward Winslow a few months later, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth."

The father of the Mayflower Passenger William White is also reported to have been Bishop John White, who was born about 1557 in Holland and was married in 1576 in Of Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands. Bishop's White's wife was reportedly born in England in about 1559.

Before 1620 he was a wool carder/comber in Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.⁴ He emigrated on 16 September 1620 from Plymouth, Devon County, England.^{1,4,5,6,7,8,9} William and his wife Susanna were passengers on the Mayflower with their five-year-old son, Resolved, and their two servants, William Holbeck and Edward Thomson.

William was originally from England, but he had moved to Leiden, Holland, in about 1608 with a group of "Separatists" who were trying to find religious freedom. They were called the Separatists because they demanded a complete separation from the Church of England. They wanted to worship in a very simple manner without all of the ritual and symbols which were used in the Anglican Church. In their study of the Bible they had decided the original church in New Testament times had been a simple church and they wished to follow that example in their own worship. They believed there were so many changes needed to be made in the Anglican Church that it could not be accomplished to their satisfaction. Therefore, the only possibility for them was to "separate" completely from the state church.

Their pastor, Richard Clyfton, had guided this religious community into a form of democratic self-government. Various points of view were tolerated, but the will of the majority ruled in decision-making. The members of this group believed in equal rights and equal duties for members of its congregation. Our modern concepts of a democratic system of government began with Pastor Richard Clyfton. It was their Pastor John Robinson who first coined the word "independent" in the matter of self-government.

In Amsterdam some disputes arose over church affairs, and in 1609 a group of about one hundred Separatists moved to Leiden, Holland, where they centered their activities around Leiden Univesity under the leadership of Pastor John Robinson. At that time, Leiden University was one of the leading universities in Europe.

[Note: The name of the Dutch city where they lived was spelled "Leiden." It is pronounced with a long "i" as though it were spelled "Lieden." Many sources spell the name Leyden, but the Dutch spell it "Leiden."]

Their years in Leiden seem to have been peaceful for the most part until William Brewster (who had become a printer of sorts) began publishing books in opposition to the Church of England and smuggling them back into England for distribution. This, of course, created tensions between the authorities in England and Holland.

King James demanded the Dutch authorities to arrest Brewster and return him to England for punishment. There are many letters between the English and Dutch authorities (which have been preserved) telling this intriguing part of the story.

While in Holland, William White met and married Susanna Fuller. Their son Resolved was born there.

The decision of the Separatists to leave Holland was based on a number of considerations. In the early 17th Century, Holland was overpopulated in relation to the economic situation of the day—much like England. William Bradford spoke of "the hardness of the place and country." The only occupations available to English immigrants were those in low-paying jobs such as cloth-making, related trades and other labor-intensive occupations. Some of the English who had fled to Holland expended their funds and "returned to the prisons of England rather than endure the hardships in Holland."

Many of those who remained in Holland began to succumb under the hardships and from old age. Bradford tells us "...their great and continual labours with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it [death] before its time."

In many instances the children were forced to labor alongside their parents in order to survive. As Bradford put it, "their bodies bowed under the weight of the same, and became decrepit in their youth, the vigour of nature being consumed in the very bud as it were." Some of the young men became soldiers in the Dutch military and others took to the sea for livelihood—life situations which tended to lead them into "dissoluteness and the danger of their souls." The Pilgrim fathers "saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted."

It appeared to the English community that the Dutch did not remember the Lord's Day and keep it holy, but after Sunday church services allowed feasting and merrymaking—especially among the children. This was intolerable to the English.

The younger family members were beginning to lose their English identity and becoming more Dutch than English. This is a concern we see in the United states in our own time among the American Indians, African Americans and immigrants from around the world. The fears of the Pilgrim fathers in that regard proved to be well-founded. The children of those English puritans who did not emigrate to New England or return to England became completely absorbed by the local population by 1660.

The twelve-year truce between Spain and the Netherlands had been signed on 30 March 1609 and was due to end in 1621. Bradford states "...there was nothing but the beating of drums and preparing for war." In such a military engagement the outcome would be uncertain, and "The Spaniard might prove as cruel as the savages of America." The Pilgrim fathers also had a desire to advance the gospels and the Christian doctrine in remote parts of the world.

The religion of the Pilgrims had grown out of the Puritan movement in England. With the English translations of the Bible at their disposal, they had decided to return their form of worship to a New Testament form, rejecting all of the formal rituals of the Catholic Church and the Church of England. During the later years in Leiden, their beliefs met some opposition and even heated debates at the University of Leiden from other groups such as the one led by the Arminians. By the last year there, the Pilgrims found themselves ridiculed and sometimes physically assaulted by opponents. In fact, James Chilton was stoned by a group of youths and nearly lost his life. The Pilgrim fathers "...therefore thought it better to dislodge betimes to some place of better advantage and less danger, if any such could be found." In the end, they concluded it was time to live as a distinct body by themselves under the Government of Virginia. Pastor John Robinson and the elders began to seek a refuge for the entire congregation.

Finally, the Leiden Separatists asked King James for a Royal Charter, which would allow them to establish a colony in the New World. Although James refused to give them a Charter, he promised that he would not try to stop them from settling abroad.

After long delays and great expense the Leiden group succeeded in getting a Patent from the London Virginia Company, which was a group of merchants who were investing their money in new settlements in America in hopes of financial gain. Because these merchants were investors looking for large gains, the Pilgrims were forced to agree to terms which indentured them for seven years before they would be free to take any profits for themselves.

The Mayflower, along with its master and part-owner, Christopher Jones, was engaged in London to carry the Leiden group to America. A smaller ship called the Speedwell was purchased and outfitted in Holland to accompany the Mayflower. The Separatist group planned to use Speedwell as a fishing boat in the New World. No one in their congregation knew much about fishing, but they thought it would help pay off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers.

It was originally intended the entire Leiden congregation would move to America, but they decided to send only sixty or seventy of their most able members to establish the community; the others were to follow at a later date.

When the time came for them to leave Holland, the departing group was accompanied by the entire congregation as they traveled by barge from Leiden to Delfshaven where the Speedwell was waiting to take them to Southampton, England, where they were to meet the waiting Mayflower.

Before leaving England, the Separatist leaders went to talk with Capt. John Smith, who had been to the New World and had made some extensive surveys of the New England area. Capt. Smith would have been willing to sail with them on the Mayflower as an adviser. However, the Pilgrim Fathers did not have the money to pay for his service. Instead, they purchased his book, which included a detailed map of the New England region.

When the first group of Separatists arrived at Southampton, there was an unpleasant disagreement with Thomas Weston. The money had run out and the ship was ready to depart. There was also some disagreement concerning the terms of the contract, which would not allow the Separatists to work for themselves during the term of the agreement. Weston became belligerent, refusing to alter the terms of the contract or to give the group another penny toward their expenses. As a result, the little band of colonists was forced to sell some of the butter from their provisions in order to pay the dock fees which were required before they could even weigh anchor.

Since there had not been enough volunteers to fill the two ships, a group of non-Separatist people was enlisted to fill out the required number of passengers for the voyage. Those additional passengers are many times referred to as the "strangers," since they were not all Separatists. It must be noted that ALL of the passengers who came on the Mayflower in 1620 became known as Pilgrims, whether they were Leiden Separatists (sometimes referred to as the "saints") or "strangers."

After many frustrating delays in leaving Southampton, and problems with the Speedwell, which proved unseaworthy, the Mayflower was forced to make the voyage to America without the company of the Speedwell. Because so many problems had developed, many of the Leiden members decided that they did not wish to make the voyage and returned to Holland.

After delays in Dartmouth and Plymouth while the Speedwell was examined, repaired and finally declared unseaworthy, the voyage finally got underway. The Mayflower made her final departure from Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers aboard. Of this number only 41 were members of the Leiden church. The remainder of the passengers were hired men, paid servants, or "strangers" who wanted to make a new life in America.

It is a puzzle how the Mayflower managed to accommodate 102 passengers and a crew of about 30. She was a merchant ship, not a passenger ship [there was no such thing as a passenger ship in those times]. Therefore, she was not equipped to take many passengers. Some passengers, we know, slept in the shallop, a large ship's boat which was stowed on the gun deck.

The passengers would have paid the ship's carpenter to build cabins or bunks in the 'tween decks. Double or triple tier bunks must have been built, or hammocks slung on the gun deck. Here they had their beds or hammocks, cooking pots, clothing and items they would need during the crossing. Their other goods were stored in the hold. There could have been little privacy.

A family's cabin on the Mayflower was very small and simple, often no more than canvas partitions around a set of bunk beds, depending upon how much the family could afford to pay the ship's carpenter.

The foods they ate on board--salted meat and fish, peas, beans, beer, and hard cheese--were not very different from what the country folk in England ate in winter or early spring.

There were 32 children or young people on the Mayflower. Of all the passengers, they were probably the most bored. They could play games or listen to someone read to them. When the weather was good, the sailors probably allowed them to go up on deck. In stormy weather they probably spent their time praying, being seasick, and trying to keep from being bruised and battered against the beams and walls of the ship, a common injury of passengers during a storm.

Among the furniture brought on Mayflower may be enumerated: chairs, table-chairs, stools and benches, tables of several sizes, table-boards, trestles, beds, bedding, cradles, cupboards and cabinets, chests, boxes, trunks, andirons, fireplace tools, shovels, cushions, rugs, blankets, etc.

Among the household utensils were spits, bake-kettles, pots, kettles, lamps, candlesticks, snuffers, buckets, tubs, baskets, sand-glasses, pewter-ware including platters, plates, tankards, and porringers. There would have been wooden-ware such as trenchers, trays, noggins, spoons, ladles and scoops. The earthenware would have included jugs, crocks, bowls, etc.

The Pilgrims would have need of a number of other pieces of equipment in order to build their homes, plant their crops, fish and protect themselves against attack. Such equipment would have included hoes, shovels, rakes, several kinds of axes, hatchets, sickles, adzes, hammers, mallets, nails, rifles, armor, lead for bullet-making, and barrels of gun powder.

After two months at sea, the Pilgrims arrived at Cape Cod. (Their destination was actually Virginia, where they had permission to settle.) Imagine the sight that greeted their eyes on that cold November morning. It was as though they had landed on another planet--a strange, unfriendly place with no signs of civilization--a stark, barren landscape. There were no friends or relatives to greet them, no warm homes for their comfort and no jobs to be had to earn a living.

Even before the Mayflower anchored off the tip of Cape Cod, there was a near mutiny. The passengers had hired themselves out as indentured servants, promising to work for seven years to pay for their passage. Some of these passengers thought they could do as they pleased since they were outside the bounds of English law. So they threatened to take their freedom as soon as they got on land.

The Pilgrim leaders knew it would take a lot of hard work to survive that first winter. They would have to cut down trees and haul logs and thatch to build houses. They knew they would need all the help they could get.

To solve the problem, the Pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact. The Compact was an agreement signed by all the men on board--including the indentured servants--promising to abide by laws that would be drawn up and agreed upon by all male members of the community. The women were not allowed to participate in the governing process.

The Compact states that they would choose their own leaders and make their own laws. It also stated there was to be equal justice for all. This Compact became the constitution of the Plymouth Colony. It was the first document of American democracy to establish "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

When the Separatist group decided that they must look for another homeland, Pastor John Robinson sent with them a long letter in which he outlined a plan for setting up a new government based on democratic principles. The Mayflower Compact which was signed on board the Mayflower at Cape Cod on November 21, 1620, was the direct outcome of Robinson's guidance.

This Compact, which was to be the official Constitution of Plymouth Colony for over 70 years, is the first American State Paper. It is also the first statement of the principles of democracy as we now know and understand them. For the first time in the history of the world, a group of men--of their own will--agreed to be governed by themselves according to the will of the majority. The Mayflower Compact is the first document of American Democracy.

The Mayflower was anchored in safe harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, near the Indian site of Paomet (the present-day location of Provincetown). After signing the Mayflower Compact, fifteen or sixteen of the colonists went ashore in the long-boat. The ship was out of wood for cooking, and the Pilgrims were eager to see the land which would be their new home. They were greeted by sandy beaches with wild grasses and shrubs that ran all the way to the water-line in places. The exploring party returned to the ship at nightfall, reporting that they had seen neither person nor habitation. They had seen only sandy dunes with pale grasses, marshy ponds and low trees. On the sandy hills they had seen thousands of birds.

The next day was the Sabbath, which was spent aboard the ship in rest and prayers of thanksgiving for their safe arrival in the New World. On Monday, they unloaded the shallop, which had been stored below on the waist deck. It had been dismantled and stored there for the crossing. Now it must be reassembled and repaired because it had sustained some damage and would need rather extensive repairs before it could be pressed into service.

Since the water was shallow, it was necessary to wade from the long-boat to the shore in the icy November water as the colonists took advantage of this opportunity to leave the ship. Some waded because it was necessary, though some did it for a lark--little suspecting that the colds they caught might contribute to the "Great Sickness," which would reduce their numbers in the weeks and months to come.

On land, the children could run as they wished without the confinement to which they had been subjected during the sixty-eight day crossing. The women found ponds of fresh water among the sandy dunes where they could do their much needed laundry. The carpenters went to work on the shallop, while some of the men explored the surrounding area.

After a few days exploring their initial landing area and after their first encounter with the Indians, the colonists sailed further along the coast, swinging west, then northward along the mainland. They explored around the harbor, which is now known as Plymouth Harbor, and spent some time on an island which is now known as Clark's Island. The colonists finally decided that the mainland was a good place to situate their families.

The Mayflower weighed anchor at Paomet and sailed into Plymouth Harbor. It was near Plymouth that the Pilgrims landed on December 21st. After three more days of exploring the Plymouth area, they decided upon Plymouth as the most favorable location--because it had a fair brook that ran under a high hill on which they could build a gun platform for their protection.

Some information about the Mayflower:

DEPARTURE: The Mayflower embarked from Southampton, England on 5 August 1620. She was subsequently forced into Dartmouth (England) because her consort ship, the Speedwell, was leaking. After mending, the Mayflower set sail about 22 August 1620 but was again forced back, this time to Plymouth, because of problems with the Speedwell. The Speedwell was abandoned at this point, twenty of her passengers returning home and the remaining (including William White and his wife and son) compacting onto the Mayflower. The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620.

ARRIVAL: The Mayflower crew sighted land off Cape Cod on November 9, 1620, and first landfall was made November 11, 1620.

DISTANCE AND TIME: The voyage from Plymouth, England to Plymouth Harbor (Massachusetts) is about 2,750 miles, and took the Mayflower 66 days to cover that distance. The Mayflower's return voyage, incidentally, only took a month.

NUMBER OF PASSENGERS: The Mayflower left England with 102 passengers, including three pregnant women, and a crew of unknown number (approximately 25 to 30). While the Mayflower was at sea, Elizabeth Hopkins gave birth to a son which she named Oceanus. After the Mayflower had arrived and was anchored in Provincetown Harbor off the tip of Cape Cod, Susanna White, the wife of William, gave birth to a son, which she named Peregrine (which means "one who has made a journey"). The Mayflower then sailed across the bay and anchored in Plymouth Harbor. There, Mary Allerton gave birth to a stillborn son. One passenger died while the Mayflower was at sea--a youth named William Butten, a servant-apprentice to Dr. Samuel Fuller. The death occurred just three days before land was sighted. One Mayflower crew member also died at sea, but his name is not known.

MAYFLOWER COMPACT: The following is a very careful letter-for-letter and line-by-line transcription made of the Mayflower Compact, as it is found in the original page of William Bradford's History Of Plymouth Plantation. This is exactly as it was written by Bradford, as best as can be represented by modern-day computer characters.

"In ye name of God Amen· We whose names are vnderwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soueraigne Lord King James by ye grace of God, of great Britaine, franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c Haueing vndertaken, for ye glorie of God, and aduancemente of ye Christian ^faith and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia· doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, couenant, & combine our selues togeather into a ciuill body politick; for ye our better ordering, & preseruation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof, to enacte, constitute, and frame shuch just & equall lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & conuenient for ye generall good of ye colonie: vnto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we haue herevnder subscribed our names at Cap= Codd ye ·11· of Nouember, in ye year of ye raigne of our soueraigne Lord king James of England, france, & Ireland ye eighteenth and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom ·1620·|"

On 11 November 1620, William White was the eleventh of the forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact. William immigrated on 21 November 1620 to Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts Colony, British Colonial America.⁹ He died on 14 March 1621 at the age of 29 in Plymouth County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.^{2,3,4,5,8,10,11,12} His date of death may have been 21 Feb 1621.

In 1651, Governor William Bradford wrote the following in his "Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647": "Mr. White and his two servants died soon after their landing. His wife married with Mr. Winslow. His two sons are married, and Resolved hath five children; Peregrine two, all living." He was buried on 15 March 1621 in Plymouth County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.^3,9 in the Coles Hill Burial Ground. William has Ancestral File Number FWQJ-0R.²

William WHITE (*) (') (~) and Susanna FULLER (*) (') (~) were married on 27 January 1612 in Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.^{1,2,3,4,5,8,13,14} (The date of their marriage may have been 11 Feb 1612.) Susanna FULLER (*) (') (~), daughter of Robert FULLER and Sarah DUNKHORNE, was born in 1592 in Scrooby, Notinghamshire, England.^1,2,10,12,15 Her birthplace may have been Rodenhall, Norfolk County, England.

From the Mayflower Families,com Website: "Later research claims that "Susanna was not the sister of Dr. Samuel Fuller as is often claimed. This fact is convincingly expressed in 'Mayflower Families Through Five Generations,' compiled in 1975, and no proof has been found concerning her parentage or that of her husband William White.

Annie A. Haxtun in "Signers of the Mayflower Compact," 1895, claimed that Susanna was Susanna Tilley and referred to the famous Cowles Bible in Connecticut that was supposed to have belonged to William White. According to the Bible, William married Susanna Tilley 'ye 3d of March 1620.' This was later debunked by many well known genealogists since the date would have been impossible based on the calendar in effect at that time.

The only positive clue to Susanna's ancestry seems to be a letter from Edward Winslow to 'Uncle Robert Jackson' in 1623, in which he sent news of Susanna, her late husband, and her children. He also sent his regards to his father-in-law in England, by which time Robert Fuller who was supposed to be Susanna's father, was nine years dead."

(Susanna was a 9th great-grandmother of Gary Griggs.). She emigrated in 1620 from England, United Kingdom.^1,4,5,8,16 on the Mayflower. She died on 1 October 1680 at the age of 88 in Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.^2,4,8,10,12 Her date of death may have been 18 Dec 1654.

From the Mayflower Families.com Website: "The last document mentioning Susanna by name was dated 12 (11) 1647 which is 22 Jan 1648 by the current calendar. No further record has been found concerning the woman who was the wife of the first Colony Governor and the mother of another; the first woman to marry in the Colony and the mother of the first English child born in the Colony.

One account indicates that she may have died before 2 July 1675, because 'her son Josiah Winslow made no proviso for her in his will, although he had made bequests to numerous relatives and friends.' This surely refutes the claim of some that she died at Marshfield within two weeks of Josiah's death in 1680." Susanna has Ancestral File Number FWQJ-1X.²

William WHITE (*) (') (~) and Susanna FULLER (*) (') (~) had the following children:

+2	i.	Resolved WHITE Sr. (*) (~).
3	ii.	Anna WHITE (1st) was born in 1615 in Of Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.2 (This is a picture of the Barbican Pier in Plymouth, England, near where the Mayflower departed in 1620. The original dock was destroyed in the early 1620's.) She was buried on 28 June 1615 in Of Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.2 She has Ancestral File Number NMFQ-B3.2
4	iii.	Anna WHITE (2nd) was born in 1616 in Of Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.2 (This is a painting of the signing of the Mayflower Compact.) She died on 21 December 1616 at the age of 0 in Of Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.2 She has Ancestral File Number NMFQ-C8.2
+5	iv.	Captain Peregrine WHITE Sr. (') (~).