Pilgrim fathers in Leiden (and their descendants)
(jan 2020) Terug naar Mijn Stambomen Pilgrim Fathers
The Pilgrim Fathers were puritan protestants who
escaped from England when Jacob I became king.
First the went to Amsterdam
bun then in 1609 they settled in Leiden, town of
refugees.
The bought some little houses near the Pieterskerk and preached at the home of John Robinson.
.
After some years they decided to go to America because
they could get free land there.
(and maybe the tolerance of the Dutch were bothering them, because they were
very puritan. Also they could have been afraid of assimilation, because a lot
of French refugees were becoming more and more Dutch. They even did translate
their names often!)
Most of the pilgrims went in 1620 to America with the
Mayflower. There were 102 people on board, 41 of them were pilgrims. After 60
days the Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
The first pilgrims were: Isaac Allerton, John
Allerton, William Bradford, William Brewster, John Carver, James Chilton,
Francis Cooke, Humility Cooper, John Crackstone, Moses Fletcher,
Edward Fuller, Samuel Fuller, William Holbeck, John Hooke,
Desire Minter, Degory Priest, Thomas Rogers, Edward Tilley, Thomas Tinker,
John Turner, Thomas Williams and Edward Winslow.
In 1629 the second Mayflower left, on that boat was Thomas Blossom and his family.
(Bush and Obama are descendants of him)
A lot of famous Americans descend from the Pilgrims,
presidents but also Richard Gere, Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe and many more.
A Willaerts, Lakenhal
In 1632 de last of the
Pilgrims left Leiden, they say.
But not all of them
went!
John Robinson died in
Leiden and got buried in de Pieterskerk, there still
is a plaque there.
Some of them had
married and got children who were married in Leiden.
Moses Fletcher (a
blacksmith from Canterbury) was a
pilgrim but two of his daughters remained in Leiden. They married Thomas Koet (familytree Koet) and Michiel Verschoore.
Descendants are named
Smit, Picard, le Clercq, Van Tol, Van der Linden, Lasschuijt and
many, many more.
James Chilton was the eldest passenger on the
Mayflower. He was probably from Canterbury, married and had about 10 children.
The first time he was mentioned in Leiden is at the
wedding of his daughter Isabel to Roger Chandler in 1615. (Her name was spelled: Ysabel Tgiltron so it a a miracle the
marriage was even found).
Two other daughters (and not one as many think) were married too in Leiden.
Ingle (as Engeltje)
married Robert Nelson in 1622 and I discovered that her sister Christian (Christijntje)
married Dionijs van Steenstraten in
1636.
So there are many descendants in the Netherlands, not
only in America!
The Pilgrims leave a lot of deeds in Leiden. Many got
married there or baptized a child.
Francis Cooke married Hester Mahieu
in 1603.
William Pontus married Wybra
Hanson in 1610
John Jennings married Elizabeth Pettinger
in 1610
Isaac Allerton married Mary Norris in 1611.
William Besset married Margriete Oldum in 1611
Randall Thickins married
Jane White in 1611
Degory Priest married Sara Allerton in
1611
William White married Ann Fuller in 1612
Edward Winslow married Elisabeth Barker in 1618.
Sara Allerton married Godbert
Godberts in 1621.
And more…