The Great Migration Begins, Mayflower edition: 11th great-grandfather Isaac ALLERTON

The second Mayflower family I descend from is that of Isaac ALLERTON, who would become vice-governor of Plymouth Colony (see post below for 12th great-grandfather John BILLINGTON).

From From The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 by Robert Charles Anderson:

ISAAC ALLERTON

ORIGIN: Leiden, Holland
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Marblehead, New Amsterdam, New Haven
RETURN TRIPS: Frequent trips to England, especially in the 1620s and 1630s, on personal and colony business
OCCUPATION: Merchant
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: "Mr. Alderton" admitted to Salem church 21 March 1646/7 [SChR 12]. Isaac Allerton and his wife were assigned pews in New Haven meeting house, 10 March 1646/7 [Small Gen 815]. (The Salem record may refer to a different man, as the records come so close together, and Allerton had not lived at Marblehead for some time.)
FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, immediately after Councillors, and well before those admitted on 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:3]; in Plymouth list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:52].
EDUCATION: Although there is no direct evidence of Isaac Allerton's education, and nothing written in his own hand, he must have been well-educated to engage in business, political and diplomatic activities as extensively as he did.
OFFICES: In early 1621, after the death of John Carver, William Bradford was chosen Governor, and "Isaac Allerton was chosen to be an assistant unto him who, by renewed election every year, continued sundry years together" [Bradford 86]. Chosen Assistant, 1 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:21].
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division "Mr. Isaak Alerton" received seven acres [PCR 12:4; MQ 40:10]. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division Mr. Isaac Allerton, his wife Feare Allerton, Bartholomew Allerton, Remember Allerton, Mary Allerton and Sarah Allerton were the first six persons in the second company [PCR 12:9].
Assessed £3 11s. in Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and £1 16s. in list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:9, 27].
Assigned mowing ground for year, 1 July 1633 [PCR 1:14].
On 6 May 1635 the Massachusetts Bay General Court noted that "Mr. Ollerton hath given to Moses Maveracke, his son-in-law, all his houses, buildings, & stages, that he hath at Marble Head, to enjoy to him & his heirs forever" [MBCR 1:147].
On 27 October 1646 "Isacke Allerton" of New Amsterdam in the province of New Netherlands, merchant, confirmed to son-in-law Thomas Cushman of New Plymouth a debt of one hundred pounds owed to Isaac by John Coombe [PCR 2:133].
In his "will," undated and proved 19 October 1659, "Isaac Alerton, late of New Haven, deceased," devoted most of the space to a list of debts owing to him, and then ordered "my son Isaac Allerton and my wife, as trustees to receive in my debts, & to pay what I owe, as far as it will go & what is overplus I leave to my wife and my son Isaac, as far as they receive the debts to pay what I owe." The inventory, taken 12 February 1658/9, totalled £118 5s. 2d., and included "the dwelling house, orchard & barn with two acres of meadow," £75 [MD 2:155-57; Small Gen 818-24].
BIRTH: About 1586 (deposed 26 September 1639 aged about 53 [Lechford 189-90; MD 4:109-10]).
DEATH: New Haven between 1 February 1658/9 (court appearance) and 12 February 1658/9 (date of inventory).
MARRIAGE: (1) At Leiden 4 November 1611 [New Style] Mary Norris "single woman from Newbury in England" [MD 7:129-30]; died Plymouth 25 February 1620/1 [Prince 289].
(2) At Plymouth between 1623 and 1627 Fear Brewster, daughter of WILLIAM BREWSTER; she died not long before 12 December 1634, presumably at Plymouth [MD 30:97-98; WP 3:177].
(3) By 1644 Joanna Swinnerton, probably the "Mrs. Swinnerton" who received a grant of land at New Haven on 17 March 1640/1 [NHCR 1:50; NEHGR 124:133; MD 42:124].
CHILDREN:
With first wife

i BARTHOLOMEW, b. say 1613; he returned to England, became minister at "Bamfield," Suffolk; m. (1) Margaret ____; m. (2) Sarah, dau. of Benjamin Fairfax; and had at least four children [MD 40:7-10].

ii REMEMBER, b. say 1615; m. by 6 May 1635 Moses Maverick [MBCR 1:147], son of Rev. JOHN MAVERICK [MD 5:129-41; NEHGR 96:358-61; Small Gen 669-80].

iii MARY, b. say 1617; m. by about 1636 Thomas Cushman, son of ROBERT CUSHMAN [MD 4:37-42]; a late annotation to Bradford's 1651 list noted that "Mary Cushman the daughter of Mr. Allerton" was still alive in 1690 [Bradford 448]; she d. Plymouth 28 November 1699 [MD 6:63], the last of the Mayflower passengers to die.

iv Child, bur. St. Peter's, Leiden, 5 February 1620 [NS] [Dexter 601].

v Son, stillborn aboard the Mayflower 22 December 1620 in Plymouth Harbor [Mourt 41].

With second wife
vi SARAH, b. Plymouth about 1626; no further record.

vii ISAAC, b. Plymouth say 1630; Harvard 1650 [Sibley 1:253-56]; m. (1) about 1652 Elizabeth _____ [NEHGR 124:83-84 argues that she was a daughter of Joanna Swinnerton, third wife of Isaac's father]; m. (2) Virginia about 1663 Elizabeth (Willoughby) (Overzee) Colclough, dau. of Capt. Thomas Willoughby and widow of Simon Overzee and George Colclough [Wakefield, Isaac Allerton of the Mayflower... (Plymouth 1990) 4-5]; all modern authorities agree that the Isaac Allerton born at New Haven in 1655, son of this Isaac Allerton by his first wife, died without issue, and some other origin must be found for the Allertons who appear in New Haven late in the seventeenth century [MQ 45:23; MD 42:117].

ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of Sarah Allerton, wife successively of John Vincent, DEGORY PRIEST and GODBERT GODBERTSON. On 2 December 1633, as part of the settlement of the estate of Godbert Godbertson, it was noted that "the greater part of his debts are owing to Mr. Isaack Allerton, of Plym., merchant, late brother of the said Zarah" [PCR 1:20].
COMMENTS: In his list of Mayflower passengers Bradford included "Mr. Isaac Allerton and Mary his wife, with three children, Bartholomew, Remember and Mary. And a servant boy John Hooke" [Bradford 441]. In his 1651 accounting of these families, he reported that "Mr. Allerton his wife died with the first, and his servant John Hooke. His son Bartle is married in England but I know not how many children he hath. His daughter Remember is married at Salem and hath three or four children living. And his daughter Mary is married here and hath four children. Himself married again with the daughter of Mr. Brewster and hath one son living by her, but she is long since dead. And he is married again and hath left this place long ago. So I account his increase to be eight, besides his son's in England" [Bradford 444-45].
Isaac Allerton was one of the busiest and most complicated men in early New England, and no attempt is made here to cover his career comprehensively. A full-scale biography would be needed for that, and an outline of what is available is given in the next section below. Records for Allerton may be found in virtually every colony on the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean, including Newfoundland, New Netherland, New Sweden, Virginia, Barbadoes, and Curacao.
Although some records of Allerton in New Netherland describe him as "of Suffolk," it is not certain that this refers to his place of origin in England, as some have claimed.
In noting his various residences above, we do not estimate years of removal, as he seems to have maintained residences simultaneously at more than one location. Also, the attempt made above to describe the estate of Allerton does not come close to showing the magnitude and intricacy of his business activities. No one has yet tried to survey comprehensively this, the major part of Allerton's life.
Since Moses Maverick, the husband of Remember Allerton, received Isaac Allerton's estate at Marblehead, and Isaac Jr. received his father's estate at New Haven, it is likely that Thomas and Mary (Allerton) Cushman were at some time given Allerton's property at Plymouth (assuming that there was more at Plymouth than the debt assigned by Allerton to Cushman in 1646 [PCR 2:133]).
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: The descendants of Isaac Allerton were treated extensively by Walter S. Allerton about a century ago, but this account is now obsolete [A History of the Allerton Family in the United States, 1585 to 1885... (New York 1888, rev. 1900)].
More recently Lora Underhill published an extremely detailed account of Isaac Allerton and his children [Small Gen 756-851]. Although this version of the life of Isaac Allerton has been shown to have errors, and although many new discoveries have been made, it has great value because it attempts to cite every record in which Allerton ever appeared (as available in 1934), and prints many of the records in full.
Much of the modern research on Allerton has been carried out by Newman Hall, presented in a series of periodical articles [NEHGR 124:133; MQ 45:23-24, 47:14-18; Virginia Genealogist 32:83-92, 171-78, 287-96; MD 40:7-10]. More recently Robert S. Wakefield has prepared the four-generation "genealogy in progress" published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants [Isaac Allerton of the Mayflower... (Plymouth 1990)].
For a different interpretation of the character of Isaac Allerton, see Michael McGiffert, "Religion and Profit Do Jump Together: The First American Pilgrim," Reflections 87:15-23 (a publication of Yale Divinity School).

Line: Isaac ALLERTON - Remember ALLERTON - Abigail MAVERICK - Martha WARD - Martha TUTTLE - Elizabeth HASKELL - Jeremiah FITTS - William FITTS - Sophia FITTS - Mary PURINTON - Frank PALMER - Dorothy PALMER - S. HOWES - Me.

Heather Wilkinson Rojo posted about her own Mayflower lines-- she has many, including descent from Isaac ALLERTON and Mary NORRIS, parents of Remember ALLERTON (Mary would give birth to a stillborn baby and die a few days later herself while the ship was still docked in the harbor).

Our common descent goes down through Martha TUTTLE and her husband Mark HASKELL, parents of Lucy (Heather's ancestor) and Elizabeth (my ancestor). Check it out!

The Great Migration Begins, Mayflower edition: 12th great-grandfather John BILLINGTON

I'm descended from two Mayflower families, so I thought it would be appropriate as Thanksigiving approaches to post on them. Today we'll look at John BILLINGTON.

From The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 by Robert Charles Anderson:

JOHN BILLINGTON

ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division John Billington received three acres as a passenger on the Mayflower [PCR 12:4]. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division John Billington Senior, Hellen Billington and Francis Billington were the eleventh through thirteenth persons in the seventh company, and John Billington [Jr.] was the tenth person in the ninth company [PCR 12:11, 12].
BIRTH: By about 1582 based on estimated date of marriage.
DEATH: Hanged September 1630 at Plymouth [Bradford 234; WJ 1:43].
MARRIAGE: By about 1607 Elinor _____; she married (2) between 14 and 21 September 1638 Gregory Armstrong and was living as late as 2 March 1642/3 [MF 5:34].
CHILDREN:
i JOHN, b. say 1604; d. Plymouth between 22 May 1627 and September 1630.

ii FRANCIS, b. about 1606 (deposed 10 July 1674 "68 years of age" [MD 2:46, citing PCR 1:81]); in the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 assessed 9s. [PCR 1:10, 27]; m. Plymouth __ July 1634 "Christian Eaton" [PCR 1:31]. She was CHRISTIAN (PENN) EATON, widow of FRANCIS EATON.

COMMENTS: In his list of passengers on the Mayflower Bradford includes "John Billington and Ellen his wife, and two sons, John and Francis" [Bradford 442]. In his 1651 accounting of the Mayflower families, Bradford reported that "John Billington, after he had been here ten years, was executed for killing a man, and his eldest son died before him but his second son is alive and married and hath eight children" [Bradford 446]. (The man murdered by Billington was JOHN NEWCOMEN.)
In a Survey of 1650 for the manor of Spalding in Lincolnshire is a lease for three lives in which one of the lives is "Francis Billington son of John Billington." In describing the three lives involved, we are told that "Francis Billington (as it is informed) was living about a year since in New England aged forty years or thereabouts" [NEHGR 124:116-18]. The estimated age for Francis Billington is probably less accurate than his own deposition in 1674, but this record does provide an excellent clue for further research on the English origin of the family.
The family of John Billington has been treated thoroughly by Harriet Woodbury Hodge in the fifth volume of the Five Generations Project of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and she lists the many occasions on which John Billington or his sons were in trouble with the Plymouth authorities in the first decade of the colony's existence [MF 5:31-34].
Among these incidents the most significant was Billington's outspoken support for Lyford and Oldham in their revolt against Bradford and the rest of the Leiden contingent [Bradford 156-57].

Billington and his family appear from the record to be, frankly, bad news. They were "Strangers", people who were not part of the English community that had left England to temporarily settle in Leiden, Holland-- and were therefore not trusted in the first place. The Billingtons may have even been Catholics, which, if true, would have done nothing to improve their popularity.

John Billington apparently encouraged mutiny onboard the Mayflower, disobeyed Captain Miles Standish, followed a minister who was later accused of rape, and was the first Englishman in the new world to be convicted of murder and hanged. His son Francis had come close to blowing up the Mayflowerwhen he shot off a musket near where the gunpowder was stored; his wife Eleanor was later put in stocks for insulting a high-standing member of the Pilgrim community.

But consider that everything we basically know about John and his family came from fellow Mayflower passenger and Plymouth Governor William Bradford, who despised the Billingtons. What if the only source of information about your life came from someone who hated you?

For this reason, I try to cut John Billington and his family a bit of slack.

Billington Sea, Plymouth, MA: discovered by John Billington's adventurous adolescent son Francis, who mistook this large pond for a sea.

Line: John BILLINGTON - Francis BILLINGTON - Mary BILLINGTON - Israel SABIN - Jeremiah SABIN I - Jeremiah SABIN II - Sarah SABIN - Samuel THURBER - Margaret THURBER - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - S. HOWES - Me.

Hannah Specht Baker, my 3rd great-grandmother

Hannah Melissa (SPECHT) BAKER (1843-1924) was my mother's father's mother's mother's mother, and it turns out that she had some pretty interesting ancestry on both sides of her family.

She was born Hannah Melissa SPECHT on December 7, 1843 to Anthony Christopher and Margaret Sophia (THURBER) SPECHT in Barton, Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada. She married George Arthur BAKER on Christmas Eve, 1862 in Barton, and was living with her widowed daughter Jennie (BAKER) SANFORD in Barnard, Vermont by the time of the 1920 census. Hannah died there on July 2, 1924, of (according to her death record) chronic bronchitis.

Her grandpa was a Hessian soldier

Hannah's father's father was Ensign Johann Julius SPECHT (abt 1749- aft 1833), a soldier sent from Braunsweig (Brunswick) Germany to fight for the British during the American War for Independence.

A substantial number of troops fighting on the side of the British during this war were from Germany; they were either criminals, desperate men of some sort, or veteran soldiers, recruited and sent over by German princes. Because the majority of these troops came from the region of Hesse-Kassel, they are generally referred to as "Hessians"-- even if they hail from elsewhere in Germany, as my 5th great-grandfather did.

According to an secondary online source I've found:

Ensign Johann Julius Anton SPECHT arrived in 1776 on the ship Ost-Rust.

In 1777 Ensign Specht, under the command of General John Burgoyne, was wounded and captured at Bennington. He spent the next five or so years as a prisoner of war.

After his release, around 1783, he petitioned for and was granted British subjectship and land in Nova Scotia, at the head of St. Mary's Bay. He married Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) and settled down there.

Johann Julius Specht died in Nova Scotia sometime after 1833. He has quite a few descendants through his sons, and the Specht surname has several variations: Speicht, Speight, and Spates, to name a few.

Primary sources:

WILHELMY, JEAN-PIERRE. German Mercenaries in Canada. Beloeil, Quebec: Maison des Mots, 1985. 332p. Page: 263

"An Eyewitness Account of the American Revolution and New England Life", The Journal of J.F.Wasmus, German Company Surgeon, 1776-1783, translated by Helga Doblin.

The Mayflower connection

Through her mother, Hannah Specht Baker was also a descendant of the Mayflower Billington family.

John Billington, his wife Eleanor (maiden name unknown) came to America on the Mayflower with their two sons, John Jr. and Francis. The family did not have a good reputation; John Billington made enemies easily and was known as a "foul mouthed miscreant."

Ten years after arriving in Plymouth, he shot and killed fellow colonist John Newcomen during a heated argument over hunting rights. For this, Billington was hanged in September of 1630. He was about 50 years of age.

Line 1: Johann Julius SPECHT - Anthony Christopher SPECHT - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - S. HOWES - Me.

Line 2: John BILLINGTON - Francis BILLINGTON - Mary BILLINGTON - Israel SABIN - Jeremiah SABIN - Sarah SABIN - Samuel THURBER - Margaret Sophia THURBER - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - S. HOWES - Me.