Mary Chilton
Encyclopedia
Biography
Mary Chilton was born on May 31, 1607 in Sandwich, KentSandwich, 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....
, England and was the daughter of Mayflower
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...
passenger James Chilton
James Chilton
James Chilton was an English Separatist who came to America aboard the ship Mayflower. He was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and was probably the oldest Mayflower passenger.- In Canterbury :...
. Mary Chilton's mother's name has been listed as "Susannah, possibly Furner" in many places. Ancestry.com shows several records listing Susannah Furner as James Chilton's wife. Susannah Furner was thought to be the daughter of Frances and Isabella Furner, but this was disproven by Michael Paulick in 1999 (it was proved that Susannah Furner was James Chilton's step-sister, and while this does not necessarily preclude her also being his wife, there is no solid evidence that they were married.
She is listed by William Bradford as "Mrs. Chilton" or "James Chilton's wife." It is possible that he never knew her given name. At the age of thirteen, Mary accompanied her parents on the voyage to Plymouth. Her father, at age sixty-four, was the oldest passenger on the Mayflower.
By legend, Mary Chilton was the first female passenger to step ashore at Plymouth, reportedly so excited that she jumped out of the small boat and waded ashore onto "Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It is an important symbol in American history...
."
Her father died on December 18, 1620 aboard the Mayflower and her mother died six weeks later on January 21, 1621, also aboard ship, both of "the first infection of the disease" according to a report by Governor William Bradford in 1650. Once orphaned, it is believed she became the ward of Myles Standish
Myles Standish
Myles Standish was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for Plymouth Colony. One of the Mayflower passengers, Standish played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception...
or John Alden
John Alden
John Alden is said to be the first person from the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. He was a ship-carpenter by trade and a cooper for Mayflower, which was usually docked at Southampton. He was also one of the founders of Plymouth Colony and the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact...
. Chilton was given three shares in the land division of 1623, one for herself and one each for her deceased parents. Her property was situated between those of Standish and John Howland
John Howland
John Howland was a passenger on the Mayflower. He was an indentured servant who accompanied the separatists, also called the Pilgrims, when they left England to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts...
.
She was one of eleven minor girls on the Mayflower. Of these, she was one of the nine to survive the first year at Plymouth and would have been present at the time of the famous First Thanksgiving in 1621. In contrast, only four of the fourteen adult women survived the first year.
She married John Winslow (possibly on October 12, 1624) and thus became the sister-in-law of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644...
. They had ten children: John, Susannah, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an un-named child who probably died in infancy, and Benjamin. All but Benjamin married, and Benjamin's birth is the only one listed in the records of Plymouth colony.
The family moved to Boston some time after the birth of Benjamin in 1653. There John Winslow is said to have prospered as a merchant.
She made out a will on July 31, 1676 (one of two female passengers from the Mayflower who did so, Elizabeth Tilley being the other) and died before May 1, 1679 in Boston.
Notable Descendants
Notable descendants of Mary Chilton include First Lady Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, singer Pete SeegerPete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Ambassador Pamela Harriman
Pamela Harriman
Pamela Beryl Harriman , also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English-born socialite who was married and linked to important and powerful men. In later life, she became a political activist for the United States Democratic Party and a diplomat...
, poet Robert Lowell
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
, actress Jane Wyatt
Jane Wyatt
Jane Waddington Wyatt was an American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television comedy Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television series Star Trek...
, Marjorie "Betty Crocker" Child
Marjorie Husted
Marjorie Child Husted was a home economist who helped develop the brand character Betty Crocker.Born in Minneapolis, Marjorie Child, she was a graduate of the University of Minnesota and an initiated member of Alpha Delta Pi.In 1924, the daytime radio broadcast Betty Crocker Cooking School of the...
, Attorney General Elliot Richardson
Elliot Richardson
Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. As U.S...
, actor Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, and former governor Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
. Another descendant, Marcus Winslow, was the uncle by marriage of actor James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
. It has also been alleged, though not proven, the former Vice President Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
was also a descendant.
Mary had a great-grandson, born on June 26, 1702, named Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
.He was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Nonconformist Leader.
In 1858, rumors were spread that Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was a descendant of Mary Chilton's daughter, but the claim has never been conclusively proven or disproven. It has been suggested that one of Mary's daughters could have married Abraham Lincoln's ancestor, Samuel Lincoln
Samuel Lincoln
Samuel Lincoln , was progenitor of many notable United States political figures, including his great-great-great-great-grandson, President Abraham Lincoln, Maine governor Enoch Lincoln, and Levi Lincoln, Sr...
.