James Chilton (c. 1556 – 1620) was a

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

passenger on the historic 1620 voyage of the ship ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

'' and was the oldest person on board. Upon arrival in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

, he was a signer of the

Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of Separatist Puritans, adventurers, a ...

. James Chilton was one of the earliest to die that winter, perishing within the following month.

Life in England

Chilton was born about 1556 (age 63 in 1619) probably in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The Chilton surname is an ancient one that appears in records from at least 1339, when his ancestor Robert Chilton was a Canterbury parliamentary representative.''A genealogical profile of James Chilton,'' (a collaboration of Plimoth Plantation and New England Historic Genealogical Society accessed 2013) His father was Lyonel Chilton.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, ''Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691'' (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 262 James became a

freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...

in 1583 in Canterbury, and in a Canterbury Quarter Session in the next year, he was recorded as being a tailor. Per Banks, in 1583 he was recorded as James "Chylton", citizen and tailor of Canterbury. James Chilton married about 1586 (date based on his first child's baptism date). Research has not revealed the name of his wife, which was at one time thought to have been his stepsister, Susanna Furner, but recent research has found this not to be true. As far back as 1840 Nahum Mitchell's History of Bridgewater provided the given name of James' wife as "Susanna", but there is no solid documentary evidence to this claim. James Chilton and his wife had seven children who were baptized in Canterbury, Kent between 1587 and 1589. About 1600 the family moved to

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

, also in Kent, where three more children were baptized. It is believed that here James met Moses Fletcher, who was also a ''Mayflower'' passenger, as well as other Separatists who later went to Holland, and so became part of the English

religious company. Sandwich was becoming a center of Separatist activity, and was home to several future members of John Robinson's Leiden church. The first evidence that the Chilton family had its own Separatist views appears in 1609. In late April, Chilton's wife was among four people who secretly buried a dead child, without having the Church of England perform its mandatory burial rites.

Life in Leiden

After the excommunication, sometime between 1609 and 1615, James Chilton and his family left England and joined John Robinson's congregation in Leiden, Holland. The first the family is heard from in Leiden is on July 2, 1615 when their eldest daughter Isabella married Roger Chandler. She is recorded as "Ysabel Tgiltron spinster from Canterbury." James Chilton's name was recorded for the first time in Leiden records on April 30, 1619 when he made a Leiden Remonstrant statement. An incident involving James and a daughter was recorded in Leiden on April 28, 1619, when it was reported that as they were returning to their home, about twenty boys began throwing rocks at them. When Chilton confronted the crowd, he was struck in the head by a large cobblestone, and was knocked unconscious.

On the ''Mayflower''

Not all members of the James Chilton family traveled on the ''Mayflower''. The Chilton family on that ship consisted of James Chilton, age about sixty-four and the oldest ''Mayflower'' passenger, his wife and their daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

, age about thirteen. Their daughters Isabella, married in 1615, and Ingle (Angel) stayed behind in Leiden. Isabella later came to Plymouth, but Ingle stayed in Leiden and married in 1622. She was still in Leiden in 1636, when she remarried. The records of their other children are not complete, although it is known that some died in infancy. James Chilton and his family left

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, England aboard the ''Mayflower'' on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.Eugene Aubrey Stratton. ''Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691,'' (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 413 On November 9/19, 1620, after about three months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called

Provincetown Harbor Provincetown Harbor is a large harbor#Natural harbors, natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly deep and stretches roughly from northwest to southeast and from northea ...

. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

, strong winter seas and a damaged ship forced them to return to the Cape Cod Hook where they anchored on November 11/21. Since there were no established laws where they landed they wrote the

, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other. James Chilton was one of the signers From Bradford's recollection about the Chilton family on the ''Mayflower'': "" From Bradford's recollection about the Chilton family in later years: ""

Family

James Chilton married by 1586 and had ten children. Three of the daughters, Isabella, Ingel (Angel) and Mary survived to adulthood and married. Both Isabella, who came to Plymouth later, and Mary, who was a Mayflower passenger, are known to have descendants.

Children

All children were born either in Canterbury or

(10 mi. distant) in Kent, England. Only three daughters, Isabella, Ingel, and Mary lived to maturity. 1 Isabella Chilton was baptized in 1586/7. She married Roger Chandler in Leiden, Holland on July 21, 1615 and had four children. There is no record of Isabella's death. Bradford's statement that Chilton had another daughter is the only proof that Isabella came to Plymouth. The family probably came to Plymouth in either 1629 or 1630 when Bradford states that "the rest of the Leiden contingent arrived". There is also an earliest tax record showing Roger Chandler March 25, 1633. Chandler is also shown in a record of those men able to bear arms in 1643, and a land record in 1644. He is also listed as a Freeman in 1648. Chandler died in Duxbury between 1658 and 1665. In October 1665, the land in Plymouth Colony (150 acres) is granted to the three unnamed daughters of Roger Chandler, deceased. 2 Jane Chilton was baptized June 8, 1589. 3 Joel Chilton was born about 1591 and buried in 1593. 4 Mary Chilton (first with that name) was born and died in 1593. 5 Elizabeth Chilton was baptized July 14, 1594. 6 James Chilton (the first with that name) was baptized August 22, 1596. 7 Ingel (Ingell) (Angel) Chilton was baptized on April 29, 1599. She married Robert Nelson in Leiden, Holland on August 27, 1622. She also married to Daniel Pietersz in Leiden on 26-3-1636 and to Matthijs Tilligem on 27-6-1637, witness was her sister Christina and her brother-in-law to be, Dionys van Steenstraten. 8 Christian was baptized on July 26, 1601. She was married to Joris Abrahamsz in Leiden on 16-05-1635, witness to this marriage was Engeltgen her sister and after the death of Joris she was married to Dionys van Steenstraten in Leiden on 16-1-1636. 9 James Chilton (the second with that name) was baptized on September 11, 1603. 10

(the second with that name) was baptized on May 30, 1607. Her parents died early at

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

. She was an

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

at age 13. In the 1623 land division, a "Marie" Chilton received shares for her parents' land. Since it is listed between

Alden Alden may refer to: Places United States *Alden, California, a former settlement * Alden, Illinois *Alden, Iowa * Alden, Kansas * Alden, Michigan * Alden, Minnesota * Alden, Oklahoma * Alden, Pennsylvania * Alden, New York ** Alden (village), New ...

and Standish, it has been suggested that she lived with either of those two families. There is no record which states with whom she lived after her parents' death. Between July 1623 and May 22, 1627, she married John Winslow in Plymouth. They had ten children. John is listed as having arrived at Plymouth in 1621 aboard the Fortune. John and Mary are part of the records of the 1627 division of cattle. John died before May 21, 1674, which is the date his will is proved. Mary died before July 11, 1679 which is the date her will was proved.

Death and memorial

Chilton died on December 8 (New Style 18), 1620. He was the only Mayflower Compact signer who died while the ''Mayflower'' was anchored at Cape Cod. There are three memorials to him in Provincetown. There is a small memorial plaque at Winthrop Street Cemetery, another in Pilgrims' First Landing Park (in the middle of the rotary at the extreme west end of Commercial Street), and the larger "''Mayflower'' Passengers Who Died At Sea" memorial plaque at Bas Relief Park.Provincetown Memorial James Chilton

'

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, James Mayflower passengers 1550s births 1620 deaths People from Canterbury Burials at Cole's Hill Burial Ground (Plymouth) Emigrants from the Kingdom of England People of the Plymouth Colony