General Notes

Society of Mayflower Descendants #G75025, state 3171

William White was born about 1590 in England and died on 21 Feb 1621 in Plymonth, Massachusetts.

William White is a difficult individual to research, and much as been mispublished about him.  There is a marriage record in Leiden, Holland, which records the marriage of a William White to Anna Fuller on 27 January 1612; the marriage was witnessed by Sarah Priest and Anna's brother Samuel Fuller.  For many years this was thought to have been the Mayflower passenger, Susanna and Anna being reasonable variants of the same name.

This has been a heavily-debated issue: was this the marriage of the Mayflower passenger, or not?  There are at least two William White's living in Leiden during the appropriate time period, one was a woolcomber, and one was a tobacco merchant.  The William White who married Anna Fuller was called a woolcomber in the 1612 marriage record, which was witnessed by Sarah Priest.  On 10 April 1621, well after the Mayflower had departed, William White woolcomber was a party to the antenumptual agreement of Samuel Lee in Leiden.  Thus, William White, woolcomber, could not have been the Mayflower passenger.  And since Sarah Priest had witnessed the will of William White in 1612, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume it was the same William White who witnessed her own marriage to Godbert Godbertson in Leiden in October 1621?  The Mayflower passenger was also not the tobacco merchant, who appears in numerous Leiden records throughout the 1620s.  So there was either a third William White in Leiden, or else the William White of the Mayflower may have joined onto the Mayflower's voyage from England.

In any case, William and his wife Susanna came on the Mayflower in 1620 with son Resolved; Susanna gave birth to son Peregrine while the Mayflower was still anchored off the top of Cape Cod waiting for the Pilgrims to discover a place to build their colony.  William died the first winter, on the same day as three other passengers, including William Mullins.  His wife Susanna remarried to Edward Winslow a few months later, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth.It has always been a traditon among some of the older people that they were descendants of William White of the Mayflower. Since this cannot be proved different, we can assume that they may be correct untill there is other proff. Therefore, I have written a short brief of the White family that was taken from a book written by Thomas and Samuel White. The years were 1607 to 1895.

The Puritanism began to rise with John Wyclif in the 14th Century. The Puritan was first applied to men of high standing in the Church of England. They were ridiculed by King James, the First . Even tho they were abused and murdered, they continued to worship God in the way they thought was right. With resolved to become Pilgrims and exile to a strange land.

They left England and went to Amsterdam, Holland, then some went to Leyden, Holland. After living here untill 1609 with 300 church members they had not found their home of religion and freedom.

They resolved to seek the New World, then on July 22, 1620, a few people with their Pastor John Robinson left Leyden, Holland, for Delfthaven, Holland, where a 60-ton ship called Speedwell was preparing for a voyage. They sailed for Southhampton, England to join with another ship, the Mayflower, that would lead the way to a New World. After encountering difficulty with the Speedwell on two different occasions, it was abandoned. Then on September 6, 1620, the Mayflower set sail with 101 people for America. After being at sea 65 days, the new world was sighted on November 9, 1620. Then on Monday, November 13, 1620, sixteen men went ashore to explore a place to settle. This group was headed by Captain Myles Standish. They finally landed on a piece of land, that is now known as Clark Island. On December 9, 1620, they held thier first Christian Sabbath ashore. On Monday they settled and established head-quarters on what was known as Forefathers Day.

Before they settled, five members of the group, William Bradfore, William Brewster, John Carver, Edward Winslow, and William White drew up an instrument which established the principle of individual liberties. Then on November 11, 1620, forty-one men at Cape Cod signed this compact, which represented one hundred people, one had died at sea. This was the birth of constitutional liberty; thus was organized the Right of Man. This compact, signed by forty-one men, was engraved on stone in the yard at Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Massachusetts. the sixth signer of this compact was William White.

William White was considered a well educated man. He was a wool carder by trade, the maker of cloth. He was the son of Bishop John White. He was married to Susanna Fuller in Leyden, Holland, July 1, 1612, by the Rev. John Robinson. With their first born child named Resolved and two servants, William Holbeck and Edward Thompson, they sailed on the Mayflower with other people from Leyden, Holland.

By spring of 1621, half of the people that settled at plymouth had died, one of them being William White. He died March 14, 1621. His widow, Susanna, then married Governor of the Colony Edward Winslow, Jr., May 12, 1621. She died October, 1680.

William and Susanna White's first son, Resolved, was born at Leyden, Holland in the year 1614. He was supposed to have reached the age of about six years at the time the Mayflower arrived. He married Judith Vassal April 8, 1640. He died about 1680 and she died April 3, 1670. They had six children: William born April 10, 1642; Jon born March 11, 1644; Samuel born March 13, 1646, Resolve born November 12, 1647; Anna born June 4, 1649; and Elizabeth born June 4, 1652.

William and Susanna's second child, a son was named Peregrine. He was born in Cape Cod harbor in the cabin of the Mayflower December 19, 1620. He was the first child born in the New World (New England). He was married to Sarah Basset in 1647. He died July 20, 1704, at Marshfield, Mass. His wife died January 20, 1711. They had four children: Daniel born 1649, Mercy norn 1653, Johathan born June 4, 1658, and Sarah born 1663.

I have given the dates of the children born to Resolve and Peregrine White as some of their children's children were named William and Emeline. Our ancestors may be traced from some of them.

Some of the above records were taken from a bible that belonged to William White which he brought over on the Mayflower. It is called the Breech Bible, bearing the date 1588. It is reported to have belonged to William White of England in 1608. In the Bible was written "Sonny was born to Susanna White Dec. 19, 1620, six o'clock in the morning." It is reported that a Mr. Charles M. Tainter had possession of the Bible and sold it to a Mr. S. W. Cowles, 891Main St., Hartford Conn. for $12.00 in the year 1892. It would be of interest to know where the Bible is now located.

Thomas and Samuel White said Ancestory and Descendants reflects honor or dishonor upon each other. Virtuous and godly children are the gems in the crown of an honorable ancestry and filing honor they in turn cherish them as their glory. The close connection between posterity and ancestry when it says "children's children are the crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers".

This genealogy information above was compiled by Harvel Eugene White

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