William Brewster
In the 1580s, he was an assistant to William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I; Davison was a party to the 1587 execution of Mary Queen of Scots. About twenty years later, Brewster was among those prominent in the early English Separatist church, emigrating to Holland in 1608 where he became Ruling Elder of the Leiden church. While in Leiden, he was hunted by English authorities in England and Holland for printing seditious tracts against the Anglican church (Church of England), forcing him to go into hiding until the Mayflower departure. He boarded the Mayflower with his wife, two sons, and two of the four More children who were on the ship: Mary, age 4, who died early, and Richard, age 6, who survived. In Plymouth Colony, Brewster was Ruling Elder of the Plymouth Church until his death in 1644 at age 80.
Francis Cooke
Early prominent member of the Leiden Separatists who was residing in Leiden well before the arrival of the English Separatists, where he married Hester Mayhieu, a French Walloon. He came over in 1620 accompanied by his son John, with the rest of his family coming over on the Anne in 1623. Over his long life, he was involved in many colonial military and governmental activities and died in 1695.
James Chilton
Author Charles Banks provides that his name was written as “James Chylton” in records of 1583. He was a Leiden Separatist who was about age 64 on the Mayflower, making him the oldest passenger. His wife Susanna and daughter Mary came with him, with daughter Isabella coming later and daughter Ingle staying in Leiden. He died on December 8, 1620, while the ship was still anchored in Cape Cod Harbor
