James Chilton
Encyclopedia
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
. He was a signer of the Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
, and was probably the oldest Mayflower passenger.
In Canterbury
James Chilton was born around 1556, almost certainly in CanterburyCanterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
. Nothing is known of his youth. His father, Lyonell Chilton, was a yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
in Canterbury, and served two years as churchwarden
Churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...
of St. Paul's Parish Church there.
In 1583, James Chilton received the unusual privilege of being made a freeman "by gift," by Canterbury's mayor. As a freeman, Chilton became a "Merchant Tailor" in Canterbury's Company of Woollen Drapers and Tailors. Around this same time, he married and began a family. While he would eventually have at least ten children, only three are known to have lived to adulthood.
From 1584 to 1600, Chilton was charged and fined several times in Canterbury, for offenses ranging from selling food or drink without a license to beating a man with a stick.
In Sandwich
In 1600 or 1601, Chilton and his family moved twenty kilometres east, to SandwichSandwich, Kent
Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....
, Kent. Sandwich was becoming a center of Separatist activity, and was home to several future members of John Robinson's Leiden church.
The first evidence that the Chilton family had its own Separatist views appears in 1609. In late April, Chilton's wife was among four people that secretly buried a dead child, without having the Church of England perform its mandatory burial rites. When the burial was discovered, the group rejected the need for the mandatory rites, calling them "popishly ceremonies and of no other force." For this defiant act, Chilton's wife and two of the others were excommunicated from the Church of England on 12 June 1609.
In Leiden
Sometime between 1609 and 1615, Chilton and his family left England and joined John RobinsonJohn Robinson (pastor)
John Robinson was the pastor of the "Pilgrim Fathers" before they left on the Mayflower. He became one of the early leaders of the English Separatists, minister of the Pilgrims, and is regarded as one of the founders of the Congregational Church.-Early life:Robinson was born in Sturton le Steeple...
's congregation in Leiden, Holland. Chilton's oldest daughter Isabella was married in Leiden 21 July 1615 (New Style).
On Sunday, 28 April 1619 (New Style), Chilton's house in Leiden became the scene of a small riot, due to a case of mistaken identity. Shortly after Chilton returned home from church, about twenty boys assembled and began throwing things at his house, shouting that Arminians were meeting there. When Chilton confronted the crowd, he was struck in the head by a large cobblestone, and was knocked unconscious.
On the Mayflower
When the ship MayflowerMayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
set out for North America in 1620 with members of the Leiden congregation, William Bradford recalled that the passengers included "James Chilton, and his wife, and Mary, their dougter." At about 64 years old, Chilton was probably the oldest passenger on the ship. Chilton's other two known surviving children, 21-year-old Ingle and married 33-year-old Isabella, remained behind in Leiden.
When the Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
was drawn up on 11 November 1620, Chilton was one of the signers.
James Chilton died on 8 December 1620, while the Mayflower lay anchored in Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly 30 to deep and stretches roughly one mile from northwest to southeast and two miles from northeast to southwest, i.e., one large, deep bowl with no dredged channel necessary for...
. He evidently died of disease, as Bradford reported that he "dyed in the first infection."
What became of Chilton's family
- Chilton's wife also died during the first winter, "in the first infection."
- Chilton's daughter MaryMary ChiltonMary Chilton was a Pilgrim and purportedly the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.-Biography:...
, who was left an orphan at Plymouth, survived and later married John Winslow, brother of Edward WinslowEdward WinslowEdward Winslow was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644...
.
- Chilton's daughter Ingle married Robert Nelson in Leiden in 1622. No further record has been found of her.
- Chilton's daughter Isabella came to Plymouth ColonyPlymouth ColonyPlymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
around 1630, with her children and her husband, Roger Chandler.