Why Young Alden Should Have
Been "Hired For A Cooper At Southampton," With Liberty To "Go Or
Stay" In The Colony, As Bradford Says He Was (Clearly Indicating
That He Went To Perform Some Specific Work And Return, If He Liked,
With The Ship), Has Mystified Many.
The matter is clear, however,
when it is known, as Griffis shows, that part of a Parliamentary Act
of 1543 reads:
"Whosoever shall carry Beer beyond Sea, shall find
Sureties to the Customers (?) of that Port, to bring in Clapboard
[staves] meet [sufficient] to make so much Vessel [barrel or
"kilderkin"] as he shall carry forth." As a considerable quantity of
beer was part of the MAY-FLOWER'S lading, and her consignors stood
bound to make good in quantity the stave-stock she carried away,
it was essential, in going to a wild country where it could not be
bought, but must be "got out" from the growing timber, to take along
a "cooper and cleaver" for that purpose. Moreover, the great demand
for beer-barrel stock made "clapboard" good and profitable return
lading. It constituted a large part of the FORTUNE'S return freight
(doubtless "gotten out" by Alden), as it would have undoubtedly of
the MAY-FLOWER'S, had the hardship of the colony's condition
permitted.
Peter Browne we know little concerning. That he was a man of early
middle age is inferable from the fact that he married the widow
Martha Ford, who came in the FORTUNE in 1621. As she then was the
mother of three children, it is improbable that she would have
married a very young man. He appears, from certain collateral
evidence, to have been a mechanic of some kind, but it is not clear
what his handicraft was or whence he came.
John Billington (Bradford sometimes spells it Billinton) and his family,
Bradford tells us, "were from London." They were evidently an
ill-conditioned lot, and unfit for the company of the planters, and
Bradford says, "I know not by what friend shuffled into their
Company." As he had a wife and two children, the elder of whom must
have been about sixteen years old, he was apparently over
thirty-five years of age. There is a tradition that he was a
countryman bred, which certain facts seem to confirm. (See land
allotments for data as to age of boys, 1632.) He was the only one
of the original colonists to suffer the "death penalty" for crime.
Mrs. Ellen (or "Elen") Billington, as Bradford spells the name, was
evidently of comporting age to her husband's, perhaps a little
younger. Their two sons, John and Francis, were lively urchins who
frequently made matters interesting for the colonists, afloat and
ashore. The family was radically bad throughout, but they have had
not a few worthy descendants. Mrs. Billington married Gregory
Armstrong, and their antenuptial agreement is the first of record
known in America.
John Billington, Jr., is always first named of his father's two sons, and
hence the impression prevails that he was the elder, and Bradford so
designates him. The affidavit of Francis Billington (Plymouth
County, Mass., Deeds, vol. i. p. 81), dated 1674, in which he
declares himself sixty-eight years old, would indicate that he was
born in 1606, and hence must have been about fourteen years of age
when he came on the MAY-FLOWER to New Plymouth. If John, his
brother, was older than he, he must have been born about 1604, and
so was about sixteen when, he came to New England. The indications
are that it was Francis, the younger son, who got hold of the
gunpowder in his father's cabin in Cape Cod harbor, and narrowly
missed blowing up the ship. John died before 1630. Francis lived,
as appears, to good age, and had a family.
Moses Fletcher was of the Leyden company, a "smith," and at the time of
his second marriage at Leyden, November 30/December 21, 1613, was
called a "widower" and "of England." As he was probably of age at
the time of his first marriage, - presumably two years or more before
his last, - he must have been over thirty in 1620. He was perhaps
again a widower when he came over, as no mention is made of his
having wife or family. He was possibly of the Amsterdam family of
that name. His early death was a great loss to the colony.
A Thomas Williams is mentioned by Hon. Henry C Murphy ("Historical
Magazine," vol. iii. pp. 358, 359), in a list of some of Robinson's
congregation who did not go to New England in either the MAY-FLOWER,
FORTUNE, ANNE, Or LITTLE JAMES. He either overlooked the fact that
Williams was one of the MAY-FLOWER passengers, or else there were
two of the name, one of whom did not go. Nothing is known of the
age or former history of the Pilgrim of that name. He died in the
spring of 1621 (before the end of March). As he signed the Compact,
he must have been over twenty-one. He may have left a wife, Sarah.
John Goodman we know little more about than that he and Peter Browne seem
to have been "lost" together, on one occasion (when he was badly
frozen), and to have had, with his little spaniel dog, a rencontre
with "two great wolves," on another. He was twice married, the last
time at Leyden in 1619. He died before the end of March, 1621.
As he signed the Compact, he must have been over twenty-one.
Edward Margeson we know nothing about. As he signed the Compact, he was
presumably of age.
Richard Britteridge affords little data. His age, birthplace, or
occupation do not transpire, but he was, it seems, according to
Bradford, the first of the company to die on board the ship after
she had cast anchor in the harbor of New Plymouth. This fact
negatives the pleasant fiction of Mrs. Austin's "Standish of
Standish" (p. 104), that Britteridge was one of those employed in
cutting sedge on shore on Friday, January 12.
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