Kenelm Winslow (1599-1672) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 43) Theme: "Quite the Character"

Does the name make the man? Call a  man John or Edward and he may grow into the upstanding conventional sort of man those names seem to evince. Call a man Kenelm and it's quite possible he will be just a wee bit eccentric. At least that's my theory about why he among his Winslow brothers is the one who grew up to be quite the character!

Kenelm (my 8X great grandfather), born 30 April 1599, was  the fourth child born to Edward Winslow and Malgdalene Ollyver of Droitwich, England.  The names of his seven siblings were: Edward, John, Eleanor, Gilbert, Elizabeth, Magdalene and Josiah. Kenelm was named for his paternal grandfather, though we don't know whether the grandfather also had proven to be a bit of a character.

The Winslow family was quite well-to-do with father Edward owning a salt production business. The family home called Kerswell is still a magnificent home. My husband had made prior arrangements with the owners who graciously allowed us to have a tour inside the home on our 2004 visit to England. 

The old Winslow family home - Kerswell, photo taken 1998

It felt like such a tangible connection to be able to touch the ancient exposed beams that would have been touched centuries ago by Kenelm and his family. 

Lovely old beams from the time Kenelm grew up here at Kerswell, photos 2004

Of the five Winslow brothers, oldest brother Edward is the best known. He and younger brother Gilbert were both passengers on the Mayflower that arrived in America 400 years ago. (Gilbert returned to England within a few years and little is known of him.) Edward apprenticed as a printer and joined the Separatist religious group in Leiden, Holland, where he was involved in the underground printing activities of the dissident congregation. Once in America, Edward was one of the first signers of the Mayflower Compact, was a well-respected leader in the colony and is renowned for his report about that well-known first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony. 

Brother John Winslow (my 10X great grandfather) followed on the ship Fortune in 1621. He was a ship owner and respected businessman and took an active role in civic affairs like his older brother Edward. 

Another brother, Josiah, also arrived in Plymouth Colony in its early years, but he is sadly remembered for making a total shambles of trying to straighten out the financial affairs of the Colony. 

And then there was Kenelm.

He would have been about 30 when he arrived, unmarried, in Plymouth Colony. Unlike older brother Edward, his was not primarily a move for religious reasons. In fact, he sometimes found himself at odds with the church in his new home community, as we shall see. 

In 1634, he married the widowed Ellen (Newton) Adams. At the time of this marriage, Kenelm Winslow put up security to pay James Adams, Ellen's son from her first marriage, 5 pounds when he came of age. Kenelm was a man of his word: this was done and recorded on 26 December 1651. He and Ellen would have four children of their own, the oldest of whom was another Kenelm Winslow, my 7X great grandfather. 

In many ways, Kenelm was, like his brothers, an upstanding man and a major contributor to his new community. Having completed his seven year apprenticeship to Abraham Worthington prior to leaving England, he had been admitted to the Joiners' Company of London, England in about 1624. As a joiner, he would have designed and built much of the furniture needed by the colonists.  Kenelm was also known as the colony's coffin-maker.

Langdon (pp. 28 and 32) describes the significance of joiners to the community:  

The early settlers also made chests for themselves. They had joiners or cabinetmakers as they called them rather than carpenters, who did any work with wood for them that required skill in the mortise and tenon construction from building a house to making a chest or stool.  John Alden and Kenelm Winslow were the "joyners" of Plymouth.  They made chests and chairs and other furniture no doubt for the Pilgrims. . . .  From Plymouth Colony mostly there has come a type of chair, or two similar types of chair which are indeed instinct with dignity and certain formality but not so repellent in their magnificence.  These are the Carver Chair and the Brewster Chair.  It seems reasonable to believe that  John Alden  and Kenelm Winslow made quite a number of these, especially for the older leaders of the Colony.  There are chairs of these types extant ascribed to the ownership of Governor Carver, Elder Brewster, Captain Miles Standish and Edward Winslow.

Examples of Plymouth Colony furniture of the period can be found at the Plymouth Hall Museum website. 

In addition to his contributions to making the necessary furniture and coffins for the colony, Kenelm also took an active role in civic life. In 1635 he was one of the men chosen to assist the governor and council to set rates on goods and wages. In 1638 John and Kenelm Winslow were witnesses against Stephen Hopkins for selling wine at excessive prices. One might assume that they were just doing their rate-setting jobs, but it may equally have presaged Kenelm's propensity to take matters to court.

He was elected the town's highway surveyor where we get an early glimpse of him marching to the beat of his own drum. On 1 December 1640, he was fined 10 shillings for neglecting those surveying duties.

The following year, the Winslow brothers moved their families to Marshfield where Kenelm was living in 1646 when he was jailed for four weeks for for  using "approbrious words" against the church of Marshfield, calling them all a bunch of liars.

Memorial to the Early Settlers of Marshfield
Kenelm Winslow and wife Ellen listed between brothers Edward and Josiah and their wives

While resident in Marshfield, Kenelm was Deputy to the General Court 1642 - 44 and 1649 - 53. On 1 June 1647 he was chosen constable for Marshfield.   He served on juries and committees, but one sometimes gets the sense that he might have been granted these respected positions based in large part on the success and reputation of his older brothers. 

Stratton describes the many instances of Kenelm's litigious nature (pp. 376-77):  

On 4 June 1645 a committee examined his complaint of injustice and found it to be untrue.  He had said that he could not be heard in a case between himself and John Maynard, but the committee found the judge and jury without fault and ordered Kenelm imprisoned and fined 10 pounds.  On his petition the same day in which he acknowledged his offence and sorrow for same, he was released from imprisonment, and his fine was suspended for one year, and then if he showed good behavior, it would be remitted.  

On 5 May 1646 Kenelm was sued by Roger Chandler for detaining his daughter's clothes on pretense that she owed him further service, and the court ordered Kenelm to return her clothes immediately.

On the same day the court ordered Kenelm to find sureties for his good behavior for uttering those approbrious words against the Marshfield Church, having called them all liars. When he refused to do so, he was sentenced to prison, where he remained until the next month's court. 

Perhaps his month in jail taught him a valuable lesson for he seems to have gone quiet for awhile after these episodes. Still, one can imagine him in his workshop laboring over the next piece of furniture while fuming over some perceived slight, but he held things in check, at least for awhile.

Old habits die hard. On 7 March  1653/54 Kenelm complained against John Soule for speaking falsely of his daughter Eleanor by scandalizing her in carrying reports of her and Josias Standish. John Soule's father George requested that the matter be referred to another court to be tried by a jury of twelve of his equals, but  there is no further mention of the matter so perhaps the complaint was simply dropped. And that seemed to mark the end of Kenelm's public complaints.

Kenelm may have been a character who got himself embroiled in controversy, but he was not alone. People then were much like people now, notwithstanding their Puritan reputation. Cullity (p.9) recounted a couple of lawsuits involving my 7X great granduncles Joseph and Nathaniel Turner in nearby Scituate (spelling in the following as in the original): 

Consider the language and behavior reported in the suit brought by Charles Stockbridge and his wife, Abigail against Joseph Turner of Scituate in 1669. The two charged Turner with slander and defamation for reportedly saying that "the said Charles Stockbridge is a coocally rogue, and that Abigail, his wife, is as very strumpet as an in New England, and that the said Abigaill is a brasen faced whore, and that her husband is a coocally raskall, and he would prove him soe." Turner was fined 100 pounds. Another case in the same year involved the same Charles Stockbridge, but on the other end of the stick: "Mr. Joseph Tilden (1657-1712) complained against Charles Stockbridge, of Scituate, in an action of slander and defamation, to the damage of 1000 pound, for saying and reporting that Nathaniel Turner and Joseph Turner could kisse Elizabeth, the wife of the said Tilden, as ofte as they listed, and doe something else too, and that the said Nathaniel Turner knew her, the said Elizabeth Tilden, as well as her owne husband knew her.

Yes, this is of more than prurient interest in connection to today's story. Kenelm's great granddaughter Sarah Winslow would in the course of time marry James Whitcomb, the granddaughter of Nathaniel and Joseph Turner's sister Mary Turner. 

In any event, Kenelm lived another couple of decades, apparently in greater harmony with those around him. His eldest brother Edward died in Jamaica in 1655 while on colony business. Brother John had moved his family to Boston by then. No longer having his more successful brothers in  Marshfield may have put an end to much of his community involvement. 

Kenelm signed his will dated 8 August 1672. He must have had a premonition of his impending death which occurred 12 September while he was visiting his daughter at Salem; he was buried there the following day. His wife Ellen was named sole executrix of his estate which included real estate, money, goods and movables including a Bible and 7 other books. 

Some Resources:

• Anderson, Robert C., The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, 3 Volumes (Boston: New England Genealogical Society, 1995–1996), Vol.3  pp. 2033-2036.
• Cullity, Brian (Chief Curator), A Cubberd, Four Joyne Stools & Other Smalle Thinges: the Material Culture of Plymouth Colony, Printed for the Loan Exhibition May 8 - October 23, 1994, Heritage Plantation of Sandwich.
• Follansbee, Peter, Connecting a London-Trained Joiner to 1630s Plymouth Colony article accessed online 15 October 2020 at https://www.incollect.com/articles/connecting-a-london-trained-joiner-to-1630s-plymouth-colony
• Langdon, William Chauncy, Everyday Things in American Life 1607-1776, MacMillan Publishing Co., 1981.
• Roberts Gary Boyd, Mayflower Source Records: Deaths and Burials from the Early Records of Marshfield, accessed 9 October 2020 on ancestry.com, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1986.
• Stratton,  Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691, Ancestry Publishing 1986.
• Williston, George, Saints and Strangers, New York: Reynal and Hitchcock 1945.

John Winslow (1597-1674) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 11) Theme: "Luck"

The suggested theme this week is "Luck". The synonym "Fortune" happens to be the name of a ship that brought some of my ancestors to America from England in November of 1621. One of these was my 10X great grandfather John Winslow who had two brothers (Edward and Gilbert) who had arrived on the Mayflower the previous year and two other brothers (Josiah and Kenelm, my 8X great grandfather) who would follow a couple of years later.

The Winslow brothers were sons of salt merchant Edward Winslow and his wife Magdalene Ollyver of Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. Their home at Kerswell Green was still a beautiful thatch-roofed home when we last visited in 2004.

Old Winslow Home at Kerswell 1999

In the Plymouth Colony Division of Land in 1623, John Winslow was allocated his one acre of land described as "those lie to the sea, eastward". His future wife Mary Chilton, a Mayflower passenger, was granted land in the group "these lie on the north side of the town next adjoining to their gardens which came in the Fortune."

Young Mary Chilton had lost both her parents to the  General Sickness that claimed half the Mayflower passengers that first winter in Plymouth colony. Sometime between 1623 and 1627, she and John Winslow were married. They had ten children born between 1628 and 1653, one of whom was my 9X great grandmother Susannah Winslow who married Robert Latham (and who are reported in the colonial records for their horrific treatment of their young servant that had resulted in his death, showing that not all ancestors are the honourable upstanding citizens we might hope for).

John was one of the Purchasers in 1626; this was a group of prominent colony men involved in Plymouth investments. John and Mary were next mentioned in the Division of Cattle that was done in  1627, included in the group that received "the lesser of the black cows came in the Anne which they must keep the biggest of the two steers. And to this lot was two she goats".

John was declared a freeman in 1633 and became active in the government of the colony.  He served in many ways, including two years as Deputy from Plymouth to the general court. In 1638, he and brother Kenelm, another of my ancestors, were witnesses against a man named Stephen Hopkins for selling wine at excessive rates. Ancestors after my own heart!

Still, it seems he was more interested in advancing his business fortunes than in community service. As with other prosperous men, John had at least one indentured servant.

By the mid 1650s, he had sold some of his Plymouth property and moved to Boston where he was a wealthy merchant and shipowner. In September of 1671 he paid 500 pounds in silver for the mansion of the late Antipas Voice  in Boston, which was his home until his death in May of 1674 and then his wife's until her death five years later.

John's will of 1673 indicated a substantial estate for the time. In addition to giving a large amount of cash to his wife Mary (400 pounds) and significant sums to his children, grandchildren and extended family, he includes that "my Negro Girle Jane (after she hath served twenty yeares from the date hereof) shall be free, and that she shall serve my wife during her live/life and after my wifes decease she shall be disposed of according to the disscretion of my overseers." (spelling from the original will as set forth in Roser, below, p.35) (Ouch! With all my Colonial ancestors, I knew slavery would likely crop up sometime, but it's still difficult to actually see evidence of its association with a particular ancestor. Apparently certain forms of slavery were perfectly legal and seemingly acceptable in colonial New England. On its website (see below), the Medford [MA] Historical Society & Museum says that most prominent New England merchants had ties to the slave trade and made huge fortunes in this way. It is not only "The South" where the slave trade was closely tied to the economy and wealth.)

Stone Image from DPesave608 at Findagrave website

John was buried in 1674 in Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, MA. where wife Mary joined him five years later.

John Winslow had arrived in 1621 aboard the Fortune, a ship aptly named for the financially successful future he would achieve in New England.

Some Resources:

Johnson, Caleb H., The Mayflower and Her Passengers, Xlibris Corporation, 2006.

Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Increasings 2nd Edition, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1997.

Medford Historical Society and Museum website at 

http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/africa-to-medford/slaves-in-new-england/

Mary Whitcomb (1751-1828) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 10) Theme: "Strong Woman"

Giving birth under a bush while fleeing with her husband and several young daughters in the aftermath of Shay's Rebellion puts my 4th great grandmother Mary high on my list of strong female ancestors.

Mary Whitcomb was born 23 October 1751 in Warren, Worcester, Massachusetts, the youngest of 10 children born to James and Sarah (Winslow) Whitcomb. Mary's parents had both been married and widowed previously, James to three cousins in succession, none of whom had produced any children, and Sarah to Thomas Lincoln by whom she had three children. Several of Mary's older siblings were a full generation older than she was! Her father died when she was 11 and her mother when Mary was 19.

At the age of  20, Mary married John Bullen in Warren, Worcester, MA. John had been born in Brimfield, MA in 1747 to John and Abigail (Greene) Bullen, but had moved  to Ware by the time of his marriage. Baby girls started arriving within a couple of years and regularly thereafter: Anna (c.1774), Mary Polly (1777), Demia (1778), Ascha (1779). While Mary was busy producing all these daughters, her husband John was operating a tavern at "Bullon's Corners" on the turnpike at Ware. Assuming this was also the location of the family home, it is quite likely that Mary would have assisted with operating the tavern as well.

John enlisted in the American army during the War of Independence. First, he was on the payroll of Captain Breakenridge's Company of Militia in 1777. On 5 June 1780, John Bullen of Ware is among the men raised to reinforce the Continental army for the term of 6 months. They arrived at Springfield 13 July 1780 and marched to camp under command of Captain Thomas Pritchard. He was discharged 8 December 1780  and is credited as serving for 5 months, 3 days.

No children were added to the family between 1779 and 1783, probably a bit of a relief to Mary even though it was while her husband was involved in fighting the Revolutionary War. Finally, Mary and John's girls were joined by a brother, another John (1783) and yet another girl, Irene (c.1785).

Mary's son John Bullen (1783-1850)
(Sadly no photographs are available from the time of his mother Mary's life)

After the end of the Revolutionary War, all was not well in the new country. Economic and cultural injustices led to an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the new government during Shay's Rebellion (1786-1787). John is said to have served as a captain in the affair and is often thereafter referred to as "Captain John". Life must have been chaotic during those years for both John and Mary and their growing family of young children. After the suppression of the rebellion, 18 men were sentenced to death and escaped into neighbouring states to avoid their fate. John fled with Mary and all their young children to Paris Hills, Clinton (Oneida) N.Y., a distance of some 200 miles.

Escape from Warren, MA to Clinton, NY 

It was during this escape, sometime in 1787, that Mary inconveniently went into labour. She gave birth to daughter Pamela under a bush (or in a bush hut, according to some reports). Both mother and baby daughter survived, attesting to the strength of this family. (A recent DNA match between our family and a descendant of Pamela's adds a more personal connection to this event.)

(There is some confusion over birth order since yet another daughter was said to have born to John and Mary in 1787: Sarah Sally on 4 February 1787. No good source can be located for the place of Sarah Sally's birth - both Brimfield, MA and Clinton, NY are given in various family trees. Pamela's birthplace is generally given as Whitesboro, NY.  Without any good birth records, we can only guess that she must have been born close to the end of that year while the family was making their escape.)

The next child born was my 3X great grandfather David in 1788, followed by daughter Abigail (1790) and a third son Alfred (1793). In all, Jane gave birth to 11 children, all surviving to adulthood to marry and have children of their own. My database indicates 75 grandchildren for Mary and John, one of whom was my 2X great grandmother Sarah Catherine Bullen. Mary was obviously a strong woman made for motherhood in even the toughest of circumstances.

She died 28 February 1828 at the age of 76 years and is buried with her husband at Hannibal, Oswego, New York in the Old Clinton Burying Ground.

Old Clinton Burying Ground where Mary Whitcomb Bullen is buried, along with husband John.
Photo courtesy Jim High of Findagrave.com

Thankful Winslow (1715-1758) (Week 48) Theme: "Thankful"

The obvious choice for this week's American Thanksgiving theme might have been my 8th great grand-uncle Edward Winslow (1595-1655), Mayflower passenger and early governor of Plymouth Colony. He has long been associated with Thanksgiving because of his famous letter describing the "first American Thanksgiving".

Instead, I have chosen a less well-known Winslow, my 5th great grand-aunt named Thankful. Her name, unusual to modern tastes, was not unusual in her day. Early New Englanders often gave their children names of virtues that they hoped their children would emulate as they matured. Names such as Thankful, Temperance, Resolved, Mercy, Patience, Prudence, and Experience were commonplace. Others sound very odd indeed to modern ears. Imagine being called Silence or Freelove or Hallelujah! All of these are names I've encountered while researching my family tree.

Snippatuit Pond in the Rochester Area
Historic Photo courtesy Plumb Library, Rochester, MA

Thankful Winslow was born 2 April 1715 in Rochester, Massachusetts, to my 6th great grandparents Major Edward Winslow (1681-1760) and his wife Sarah Clark (1681-1767). (Edward's father, Kenelm Winslow was said to have been one of the earliest landowners in the Rochester area, but may not himself have ever lived there.) The house of Edward Winslow in Snippatuit was mentioned in 1726. The year prior to that, Major Edward Winslow of Sniptuit had been empowered to set up an iron mill on the Mattapoisett River.

Location of Rochester, Massachusetts
Google Earth Image

Thankful's father Edward was captain, and later major, in the local militia and took an active role in civic affairs in Rochester. He was also both a farmer and a maker/forger of iron.

Edward had married local girl Sarah Clark in the opening years of the 18th century. Their family started in 1703 with the birth of yet another Edward Winslow, followed by Mehitable in 1705, then my 5th great grandmother Sarah Winslow (1707-1771), Lydia, Mercy and Thankful, the youngest. One wonders whether Sarah had had a difficult pregnancy and was thankful for its successful outcome. Perhaps they simply wanted their young daughter to grow up remembering to be grateful for what life had to offer. However, the name Thankful does appear from time to time in this family and could simply be a family tradition.

Thankful would have been just a child when her older sister Sarah (my 5th great grandmother) married Thomas Lincoln and had three children with him prior to his death in 1730. Widowed Sarah then married my 5th great grandfather James Whitcomb and went on to have 10 additional children including my 4th great grandmother Mary Whitcomb. Other siblings would also have married and started their own families leaving Thankful as probably the last to leave home. The family all tended to remain in the Rochester, Massachusetts area.

Snappatuit Brook would have been a familiar sight to Thankful Winslow
Historic Photo courtesy Plumb Library, Rochester, MA

At the age of 20 Thankful married Josephus Hammond (1703-1779) and started a family of her own in Rochester. Children were born in 1736 (Parnal), 1738 (Edward), 1740 (another Thankful!), 1742 (Zuriah) and 1744 (Josephus).  She also suffered losses of her brother James Winslow in 1744 and sister Mercy in 1757.

Herring Run - Thankful would have been familiar with this terrain
Historic Photo courtesy Plumb Library, Rochester, MA 

The following year Thankful herself died on 2 October 1758. She is undoubtedly buried near Rochester, Massachusetts but her grave site has not been located.

(Bonus) Not Thanksgiving Turkey but Another Feast Story:

Not wanting to be deprived of a Thanksgiving feast story (after deciding NOT to tell the Edward Winslow story of the "first Thanksgiving" at Plymouth Colony) here is another story of a great early American feast that occurred years before the birth of Thankful, during the lifetime of her grandfather Kenelm Winslow:

I discovered this story while researching the early history of the Winslows in the Rochester, MA area. It comes down to us from Church's "Entertaining History of King Philip's War" which is described in Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts on pages 13-15.

In 1676, Awashonks, the female sachem (chief) of the Sogkonate tribe invited Captain Church to join her people in a feast and races being held on the "Sands and Flats." At the supper, "a curious young Bass was brought in on one dish, eels and flatfish on a second, shellfish on a third, but neither Bread nor Salt was to be seen at table."

Even more memorable than the all-seafood feast was the after dinner entertainment.

"A great pile of Pine knots and Tops was fired and the Indians gathered in a ring about it. Awashonks and the oldest of her people kneeling down made the first ring, and all the stout lusty men standing up made the next, and all the Rabble, a Confused Crew, surrounded on the outside. Then the Chief Captain stopped in between the people and the fire, and with a spear in one hand and a hatchet in the other danced round the fire and began to fight with it, making mention of all the several nations and companies of Indians that were enemies to the English; and at every tribe named he would draw out and fight a new fire brand, at finishing his fight with a fire brand he would bow to him and thank him." 

When he finished, another chief would step in to repeat the performance, and then another and another. They told Captain Church that they were making soldiers for him and the ceremony was a swearing in of all the young able men. This was obviously, then, not so much an entertainment as a significant ceremony. At the close of the performance, Awashonks presented Captain Church with a very fine firelock and in return received assurances of protection of the English. As a result, her tribe was protected by the English during the subsequent King Philip's War but her leadership among the Native Americans also suffered for being seen as too closely allied with the English. The feast may well have been a turning point in the eventual outcome of King Philip's War, something for which the English settlers of Rochester would no doubt be very thankful indeed.

Sources:

• "Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts: Being a History of These Towns", New York: The Grafton Press 1907
• "The New England Historical & Genealogical Register", 1851
• Scott, Henry Edwards (ed.), "Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts to the Year 1850", Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914; http://www.NewEnglandAncestors.org/
• "Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VQ6Q-1LN : accessed 19 Jan 2014), Edward Winslow in entry for Thankfull Winslow

Edward Winslow (1560- c1620) (Week 36) Theme: "Working for a Living"

The suggested theme this week is "Working for a Living". Among my ancestors I can count many preachers, teachers, a glass maker, a tanner or two, a cooper, merchants, carpenters, millers, weavers, fishermen and an abundance of farmers. But there was just one who made a living as a salt extractor. That man was my 9th great grandfather Edward Winslow, father to 5 Winslow men who were early Plymouth Colony settlers. Among them was not one, but two, of my 8th great grandfathers: Kenelm Winslow and John Winslow.

Winslow Family Home in England, "Kerswell"
Photo 1999

Edward Winslow was born 17 October 1560 at Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. In his early 20's he married his first wife Eleanor Pelham and by her had two children, a son Richard and daughter Margaret. After Eleanor died, he married his second wife, Magdalene Ollyver at St. Bride's Church in London, England on 4 November 1594.

Second entry for November 1594 for St Bride's Church is for Edward and Magdalene
From London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812

St. Bride's Church at the time of their marriage was an earlier version of today's wedding-cake spired landmark that was designed by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666. The medieval version was much simpler as can be seen from this segment of a copperplate map prepared just a few years before Edward and Magdalene's marriage there.

Copperplate map of London surveyed between 1553 and 1559
Wikimedia Commons Public Domain

Edward and Magdalene would go on to have a large family:

1. Edward (passenger on the Mayflower 1620) 
2. John (passenger on the Fortune 1621, my 8th great grandfather, married Mayflower passenger Mary Chilton)
3. Eleanor
4. Kenelm (also my 8th great grandfather, in Plymouth Colony by 1630 where he married Ellen Newton who had arrived on the Anne 1621)
5. Gilbert (passenger on the Mayflower 1620 but returned to England)
6. Elizabeth
7. Magdalene
8. Josiah (another early Plymouth settler by 1631)

Droitwich, England, has natural brine springs about ten times saltier than sea water. Archaeological evidence indicates that this natural feature has probably been exploited by humans since at least the Iron Age. Certainly the Romans took advantage of it to pay their soldiers in salt during their 400 year occupation of the area. The Domesday Book indicates the high value afforded to Droitwich because of this feature and records 1000 tons of salt a year being produced here.

By the late 1500's Edward Winslow was one of the men who extracted and sold the famous Droitwich salt. A method of evaporation would have been used to get the salt from the brine and the end product would have been in high demand for preservation of food.  This afforded Edward and Magdalene a comfortable lifestyle for their growing family. The family home was named  "Kerswell" and was a very attractive and comfortable dwelling near the small village of Kempsey, not far from Droitwich. It has continued to be inhabited as a beautiful home into the current century. Although the homeowners no doubt tire of Winslow descendants from North America returning "home" expecting to find a museum or other public place, this is definitely a private residence. It was suggested by them that at some point some of these descendants could consider purchasing the home with that in mind. However, with special prior arrangements having been made by my husband as a surprise for me, the owners very graciously allowed us inside on our visit in 2004 - a special treat indeed!

The author inside Kerswell 2004 - touching the beams that Edward touched
Photo courtesy Graham Barnard

In addition to his salt business, Edward also served as under-sheriff of Worcestershire.

No records have been found for the date of Edward's death, but it is thought to be around 1620. Edward's eldest son Richard from his first marriage was undoubtedly the son who inherited all the father's assets under English primogeniture.

Edward's other sons had all started to make lives of their own. Several seemed to be caught up in varying degrees of Puritan zeal. Son Edward, in particular, was active in illicit printing of Protestant Separatist religious tracts and went to Leiden, Holland, as part of the group that went there seeking religious freedom. He and brother Gilbert joined that group when it headed to America on the Mayflower.  Edward became one of Plymouth's leading men, acting as the colony's Governor for a period of time. He often represented the Colony in its dealings with England and returned to England to serve with Oliver Cromwell. He died of yellow fever near Jamaica in 1654 while acting as commissioner of a British naval mission against the Spanish.

1650 Portrait of Edward Winslow, son of the Edward of this Story
Wikimedia Commons

As for the other sons of Edward and Magdalene, Gilbert soon returned to England after coming on the Mayflower. John (my 8th great grandfather) arrived in Plymouth aboard the Fortune in 1621, the second ship to deliver settlers to Plymouth Colony. He married Mary Chilton who had arrived on the Mayflower. John was a wealthy merchant and shipowner. Josiah and Kenelm (the latter being another of my 8th great grandfathers) are known to have arrived in Plymouth before 1630, but no definitive ship's name has been attached to their travels.

Did some of Edward Winslow's Droitwich salt make its way to America aboard the Mayflower or the Fortune with his sons? Although there is no record of this, it would stand to reason that such a necessary commodity might well indeed have been included in the cargo.

Sources:

• Wikipedia article about Edward Winslow (the son) accessed 25 August 2015
• BBC, "The History of Salt Production at Droitwich Spa" accessed 24 August 2015 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/herefordandworcester/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8473000/8473037.stm
• Wikipedia article about John Winslow accessed 1 September 2015
• Willison, "Saints and Strangers" 1945, pages 450-451
• Colket, Meredith B, "Founders and Patriots - Founders of Early American Families (Emigrants from Europe 1607 - 1657)", 1975
• Stratton, "Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620 - 1691", page 376

Plymouth Colony Ancestors Who Arrived on the Mayflower, the Fortune and the Anne (1620-1623)

Mayflower Passengers, 1620

Replica of the Mayflower, Plymouth Harbour 1999

Having recently been provided with additional genealogical information by my 4th cousin Jack Brown, I have been able to expand the list of our ancestors who were early comers to Plymouth Colony. Because we now know that 13 of the estimated 102  passengers and 30 crew on board the Mayflower were "ours", it is helpful to have a list to keep them all straight. Here they are:

1. Peter Brown
2. James Chilton, a tailor, the oldest passenger aboard the Mayflower
3. Mrs. James Chilton (died the first winter at Plymouth)
4. Mary Chilton who became the wife of John Winslow, a passenger on the Fortune
5. William Mullins, a shopkeeper, shoe and bootmaker (died the first winter at Plymouth)
6. Alice Mullins (died the first winter at Plymouth) (Caveat: Alice may not be the mother of Priscilla and therefore may not be one of our ancestors after all!)
7. Priscilla Mullins who became the wife of John Alden
8. John Alden, the cooper aboard the Mayflower decided to stay on in Plymouth and marry Priscilla Mullins
9. John Howland, arrived as a manservant to Governor Carver (possibly a relative of his), married Elizabeth Tilley
10. Francis Cooke, a wool comber (his wife and daughter came later on The Anne)
11. John Tilley, a silk worker (died the first winter at Plymouth)
12. Joan (Hurst) Tilley (died the first winter at Plymouth)
13. Elizabeth Tilley  who became the wife of John Howland

Passengers on the Fortune, 1621 

After the Mayflower's arrival, the next ship to bring colonists to Plymouth was the Fortune. Ancestors who came on that ship were:

1. Moses Symonson (Simmons)
2. John Winslow married Mary Chilton who had arrived on the Mayflower, had brothers Edward and Gilbert aboard the Mayflower and another, Kenelm Winslow, who came later possibly on the second coming of the Mayflower - thus we descend from John and Kenelm's parents twice.

Passengers on the Anne, 1623

And the final of the first three ships that brought the last of the passengers who were named in the 1627 Division of Cattle in Plymouth included these ancestors:

1. Experience Mitchell
2. Ellen Newton, first married John Adams who had arrived on the Fortune and after his death married our ancestor Kenelm Winslow
3. Mrs. Francis Cooke (Hester Mahieu)
4. Jane Cooke

Ellen Newton, Plymouth Landowner 1623 (52 Ancestors #8) Theme: "Good Deeds"

If I could sit down to interview just one long-dead ancestor from my family tree, it would probably be my 8th great grandmother Ellen Newton (sometimes Eleanor or Elinor Newton) who lived from 1598 to 1681. She arrived in Plymouth Colony from England aboard the ship Anne in the summer of 1623, less than three years after the Mayflower. She seems to have come on her own, with no parents, siblings or husband. Was there some tragedy or scandal that she was escaping? Was she simply an adventurous young woman with an urge to expand her horizons? The mystery surrounding her reasons for making this 3 month voyage to an unknown new land is one that I would love to be able to discuss with her.

Although Ellen did not arrive on the Mayflower,
the Anne would have been smaller but similar in appearance to this replica Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbor

Ellen was one of the 27 women arriving aboard the Anne. William Bradford, one of the prominent Mayflower passengers, is quoted by Willison as having written that the company was "about 60 persons for ye generall, some of them being very usefull persons . . . and some were so bad as they were faine to be at charge to send them home againe ye next year." Undoubtedly Ellen was among the useful group!

Shortly after her arrival, Plymouth Colony made a division of lands among the colonists living there at the time. Each person was allotted one acre. Ellen Newton is listed by name for her acre "this goeth in with a corner by ye pond". Although not a "deed" in our usual sense of the word, this allotment was legally binding and indeed a "good deed" for this single woman. Her decision to come to America may not have been such a bad one - she probably would not have had title to any land had she remained in England.

Her English background remains unknown. Her single status upon arrival has caused much speculation over the years since it would have been very uncommon for a single woman to make such a trip on her own. Some say she was a relative of one of the other passengers on the Anne, in particular Bridget Lee Fuller, but the reason for this is simply because their acres of land were adjoining. Some say she was a young widow when she arrived, but this has never been proved either.

Memorial Plaque to those who, like Ellen, came aboard the ship Anne in 1623

Although she was not previously engaged to marry anyone, there were many unmarried men in Plymouth and available young women were in short supply. In 1625 Ellen married John Adams who had arrived in Plymouth in 1621 aboard the ship Fortune. Both Ellen and John were classified as "Strangers", a name given to those who arrived without having been part of the religious separatist group of Puritans (sometimes called "Saints") who had spent time at Leiden, Holland to avoid religious persecution in England. The Strangers were motivated more by a desire for land and improved economic prospects than for obtaining religious freedom. No doubt there was also a sense of adventure calling them across the sea.

John and Ellen had three children prior to his death in 1633: James, John and Susan Adams. In the 27 March 1634 tax list, "Widow Adams" is taxed for 9 shillings. Citizenship granted rights to land but also the obligation to pay taxes!

Memorial to the Pilgrim Maiden, Plymouth, MA
Statue sculpted in 1924 by H H Kitson in honour of the English women, like Ellen, who came to Plymouth Colony

In June of 1634, Ellen married again, this time to Kenelm Winslow, my 8th great grandfather. Kenelm was one of several prominent Winslow brothers who were living in Plymouth Colony. Two of them had arrived in Plymouth aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and eldest brother Edward was one of the leading men of the colony, acting as its Governor for a period of time. Others had arrived aboard the Fortune in 1621.  Kenelm didn't come on the Mayflower in 1620, although it is generally said that he arrived on the Mayflower when it returned in 1629. Ellen and Kenelm made their home in the new town of Marshfield from 1641; this was one of the earliest towns to be established after Plymouth.

Kenelm and Ellen are the 4th and 5th people listed on this memorial to the early Marshfield settlers

Unlike his brothers, Kenelm was not a Saint but a Stranger. He was a maker of fine furniture and coffins. I often wonder if Ellen was the envy of the community by virtue of having a house full of wonderful furniture, or if she was like the proverbial shoemaker's children who went barefoot.

Ellen must have had a merry ride during her marriage to Kenelm. He was a very litigious man and was always either suing or being sued and generally getting into scrapes of one sort or another. No Saint he! Ellen would have stood by her husband through the following situations:

• In 1638, Kenelm and his brother John were witnesses against Stephen Hopkins for selling wine at excessive prices.
• While Kenelm was the surveyor of the town, he was fined 10 shillings in 1640 for neglecting highways.
• He complained of injustice in a suit against John Maynard on 4 June 1645, but the committee found the judge and jury to have been without fault and ordered Kenelm to be imprisoned and fined 10 pounds. On his petition that same day in which he acknowledged his offence and apologized, he was released and given a suspended sentence. If he then showed good behavior, the sentence would be remitted completely.
• On 5 May 1646 he was sued by Roger Chandler. Roger said that Kenelm had detained Chandler's daughter's clothes for the reason that she owed him further service. (It was common in Plymouth Colony for children to work for other families as servants.)  The court ordered Kenelm to return her clothes.
• Kenelm was jailed for 6 weeks in 1646 for "approbrious words against the church of Marshfield, saying they were all lyars" according to Willison. When he refused to find sureties for his good behavior, he was put into prison until the next court date.
• On 7 March 1653/4 he complained against John Soule for speaking scandalously of Winslow's daughter and carrying reports between her and Josiah Standish.

Notwithstanding all of this, on 1 June 1647 he was chosen constable for Marshfield. From 1649 onward, he was frequently a deputy from Marshfield. Perhaps his good family connections caused some of his irascibility to be overlooked.

Kenelm was not only busy in community life, but he also fathered four children by Ellen: Kenelm (my 7th great grandfather) in 1635, Eleanor in 1637, Nathaniel in 1639 and Job in 1641.

Kenelm died 12 September 1672, but his widow Ellen lived until 5 December 1681, dying at the age of 83. She is buried at Marshfield, Massachusetts. Ellen Newton Adams Winslow was among the first of my ancestors to be a landowner in America - a "good deed" indeed!

Old Burying Ground in Marshfield no doubt contains Ellen's remains

Sources:

• Willison, George F., "Saints and Strangers", New York: Reynal & Hitchcock 1945
• Johnson, Caleb H., "The Mayflower and Her Passengers", Xlibris Corporation 2006
• "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2012), Ancestry.com
• "Mayflower Source Records: Marriages, Deaths and Burials" from the Early Records of Marshfield, MA
• Banks, Charles , "The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers" 1929 reprinted 2006
• Massachusetts General Court, "Records of the Colony of New Plymouth" Volume XII 1861
• Stratton, Eugene A., "Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691" 1986