Mary Chilton - Child on the Mayflower
Family Connection - 9th great-grandmother of Ruth Anne Bradley
Mary Chilton was born in Sandwich, Kent, England in late May, 1607. She was baptized on May 30, 1607. Her father, James Chilton, and his wife whose name is unknown, lived in Canterbury and Kent before joining the Separatist colony in Leiden, Holland with their ten children.
James, his wife, and Mary were the only members of their family to travel on the Mayflower. On November 21, 1620, the Mayflower anchored in what is now known as Provincetown Harbor on the coast of Cape Cod. It was cold, they were short on food, and between the storms and the leaky ship, the passengers were col, hungry, and wet with seawater. Many colonists, including both of Mary Chilton's parents died that first winter before the ship even anchored at Plymouth.
At thirteen, Mary would have been too young to live on her own, so she was likely fostered, but we don't know any details.
Tradition says that Mary was the first Mayflower passenger to step onto land at Plymouth Rock, but there is no historical source for that story.
As an orphan, Mary was given three shares of land in the land division - hers, her mother's, and her father's.
In 1624, at age 17 or so, Mary married John Winslow, a brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow. They had ten children - John, Susanna, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed child dead in infancy, and Benjamin.
After 1653, the family moved to Boston, where John became a prosperous merchant.
Mary died on May 16, 1679, in Boston, and was buried in the Kings Chapel Burying Ground.
Mary Chilton > Susanna Winslow > Hannah Latham > Joseph Washburn > Elijah Washburn > Joseph Washburn > Eli Washburn > Mary Washburn > Luretta J Lakin > William Darwin Fogg > Bessie Lakin Fogg > Ruth Ann Bradley
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