Thomas Rogers, a 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...

Pilgrim and one of forty-one signatories 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...

, was among those who did not survive that first harsh Plymouth, Massachusetts winter of 1620-1621.

Thomas Rogers was accompanied by his son, Joseph, but not his wife or other children, who had stayed behind in Leiden. There is record of his wife and other children in the 1622 poll tax of Leiden. Thomas died during the first winter in Plymouth, when Joseph was 18. Joseph married Hannah, who bore him four sons and four daughters. Thomas' daughters Elizabeth and Margaret apparently came to New England later, but no further information is available. Thomas' son John came to Plymouth about 1630. On April 16, 1639, John married Anna Churchman, who bore him one son and three daughters.

Governor William Bradford (Mayflower passenger) wrote of Thomas Rogers in 1650: "Thomas Rogers, and Joseph, his sone (came). His other children came afterwards… Thomas Rogers died in the first sickness, but his son Joseph was still living, and was married with 6 children. The rest of Thomas Rogers children came over, and were married, and had many children.”

The Thomas Rogers Society -