John Winslow
John Winslow (1597-1674) was one of several Winslow brothers who came to the Plymouth Colony in its earliest years. His brothers Edward and Gilbert were passengers on the Mayflower in 1620. John Winslow was a passenger on the Fortune in 1621, and two other brothers, Kenelm and Josiah, also settled in New England, arriving before 1632. The Winslow family was involved in all aspects of the Plymouth Colony, producing in the 17th century several governors and making their mark in New England history in both government and business.
John Winslow was born April 16, 1597 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. He grew up in Droitwich, Worcestershire, residing there with his parents, Edward Winslow and Magdalene Oliver/Ollyver, one step-brother, four brothers and two sisters. His father was a salt extractor.
John Winslow was a brother of Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow and came to Plymouth in 1621 on the ship Fortune. He was unmarried upon his arrival.
John Winslow married Mary Chilton between 1623 and May 22, 1627, in Plymouth and had ten children. She had been baptized in St. Peter’s Parish, Sandwich, Kent, England on May 31, 1607, and she died between July 31, 1676 and May 1, 1679 in Boston. In 1620 Mary and her parents had come to Plymouth as passengers on the Mayflower. Her parents died the first winter, with her father, James Chilton, named on several memorials in Provincetown in honor of those who were the earliest to die on board the Mayflower in November and December 1620. Tradition has it that Mary Chilton was the first Mayflower passenger to step ashore on Plymouth Rock.
The will of John Winslow, Senior of Boston, merchant, was dated March 12, 1673/74, and proved May 31, 1674. In the will he named his wife Mary, sons John, Isaac, Benjamin, Edward and Joseph; William Payne, the son of his daughter Sarah Middlecott; Parnell Winslow, daughter of his son Isaac; granddaughter Susanna Latham; son Edward’s children; son Joseph Winslow’s two children; granddaughter Mercy Harris’s two children; kinsman Josiah Winslow “now governor of New Plimouth”; brother Josiah Winslow; kinswoman Eleanor Baker, the daughter of his brother Kenelm Winslow; “my seven children”; Mr. Paddy’s widow; and his Negro girl Jane. He left personal property valued at £3,000, a good part of it in money, and this was a substantial sum for the time.
He died between March 12, 1673/4 and May 21, 1674 in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. At the time of his death he was one of the wealthiest merchants in Boston. Both he and his wife were buried in King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston. They both left wills that survive today.
His widow Mary survived him, but died before May 1678, and she dated her will, equally as detailed as her husband’s, July 31, 1676, proved July 11, 1679.
Mary Chilton
Mary Chilton was baptized on May 31, 1606 in Sandwich, Kent, England and was the daughter of the Mayflower passenger, James Chilton. Mary Chilton’s mother’s name has been listed as “Susannah, possibly Furner” in many places. She is listed by William Bradford as “Mrs. Chilton” or “James Chilton’s wife.” He may have never known her given name. At the age of thirteen, Mary Chilton accompanied her parents on the voyage to Plymouth. Her father, age sixty-four, was the oldest passenger on the Mayflower.
Mary is purported to be the first person to step off the Mayflower.
Her father died on December 18, 1620 and her mother died six weeks later on January 21, 1621, both shortly after arriving at Plymouth Rock, both of “the first infection of the disease” reportedly by Governor William Bradford in 1650. Once orphaned, she may have become the ward of Myles Standish or John Alden. 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.
She was one of eleven minor girls on the Mayflower, nine of whom survived the first year at Plymouth Rock and would have been present at the time of the famous First Thanksgiving in 1621. In contrast, only four of the 14 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. They had ten children: John, Susannah, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed 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. Her gravestone is at Kings Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.