Photo: Elizabeth Tilley, Mayflower Maiden
Elizabeth Tilley is our 9th great grandmother and Mary Chilton is our 11th great grandmother. Both girls were 13 years old when they traveled with their parents on the Mayflower. Both girls were orphaned soon after arrival in the New World as both sets of parents had died by early 1621. Mary Chilton’s father died on the Mayflower while it was in the bay near Provincetown, a few days before the group first landed at Plymouth December 21, 1620. Mary’s mother and both Elizabeth’s parents died in early 1621.
Here are the paths to our ancestors:
Fred Pemberton Abbott → Mary Emma Knowles Abbott → Mary West Knowles → James West → John West → Thomas West → Mary Bearse West → Experience Howland Bearse → John Howland → Elizabeth Tilley Howland
Fred Pemberton Abbott → Mary Emma Knowles Abbott → Mary West Knowles → James West → Relief Kingman West → James Kingman → Susanna Copeland Kingman → Mary Kingman Copeland → Desire Harris Kingman → Mercy Latham Harris → Susannah Winslow Latham → Mary Chilton Winslow
Elizabeth Tilley married John Howland, another passenger on the Mayflower. We have seven direct ancestors who traveled on the Mayflower to Plymouth: John Howland; Mary Chilton and her parents; and Elizabeth Tilley and her parents. Mary Chilton married John Winslow who arrived in Plymouth on the Fortune in 1621. John Winslow’s two brothers, Edward and Gilbert, arrived on the Mayflower.
Mary Chilton and John Winslow had ten children, one who died in infancy and one who died about age 20. The other eight children lived to adulthood, married, and all had many children. All their children were born in Plymouth, but the family then settled in Boston.
John and Elizabeth Howland had ten children, all of whom lived to adulthood, and provided 88 grandchildren. It is believed that John and Elizabeth have more descendants of the Mayflower living today than any other passengers (estimated to be over a million). Some of the Howland descendants are FDR, the Bush’s (father and sons), the actor Baldwin brothers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Humphrey Bogart, and Joseph Smith (Mormon church founder). That means all those people are our cousins in one way or another.
Click here to see Elizabeth Tilley's family: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Genealogy_Abbott_Feld_Family/individual.php?p=1591
Click here to see Mary Chilton's family: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Genealogy_Abbott_Feld_Family/individual.php?p=1385