Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameJames Chilton 
416
416Birthabt 1556, Canterburty, Kent, England
Death18 Dec 1620, Proincetown, Cod Harbor, MA
FatherLyonell Chilton (~1530-1582)
MotherEdith Isabell
Misc. Notes
See Mayflower Passenger List in LINKS
BORN: About 1556 (he stated he was 63 in a 28 April 1619 Leyden document), probably Canterbury, Kent, England, son of Lyonell Chilton and his second wife (her name is unknown).
DIED: 8 December 1620, on board the Mayflower
MARRIED: probably about 1586 based on baptism of first known child. Her name is currently unknown. The claim by John Hunt in The American Genealogist 38:244-245 that his wife was possibly Susanna Furner has been recently disproven on the basis of the discovery of Susanna Furner's baptism record, which indicates she was far too young (only 12) to be married and having children in 1586. See Michael Paulick, "The 1609-1610 Excommunications of Mrs. Chilton and Moyses Fletcher--Mayflower Pilgrims" in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 153 (October 1999) for further information on this.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
James Chilton, a tailor by trade, was the oldest Mayflower passenger, and one of the first to die after reaching the New World. He was born and raised in Canterbury, Kent, England and around 1600 moved to Sandwich, Kent.
By July 1615, and probably as early as 1610, James, his wife, and at least some of his children were living in Leyden, Holland. On 28 April 1619, James Chilton and his daughter Isabella were caught in an anti-Arminian riot and James was hit in the head with a brick, and required the services of the town surgeon, Jacob Hey.
He came on the Mayflower with his wife and daughter Mary. James and his wife died the first winter, leaving their daughter orphaned; she probably joined with the household of Myles Standish.
Mary Chilton came on the Mayflower at the young age of 13, and popular legend gives her the distinction of being the first female to step ashore at Plymouth. She married John Winslow, who came in the ship Fortune in 1621, and was the brother of Mayflower passengers Edward Winslow and Gilbert Winslow.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Michael R. Paulick for obtaining a copy of James Chilton's signature from the Leiden Archives, and providing a copy to the Mayflower Web Pages.
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SOURCES:
Robert Moody Sherman, Mayflower Families for Five Generations: James Chilton, Richard More, and Thomas Rogers, volume 2 (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1978).
John G. Hunt, "Origins of the Chiltons of the Mayflower," The American Genealogist, 38:244-245.
Robert C. Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1:353-355 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995).
BORN: About 1556 (he stated he was 63 in a 28 April 1619 Leyden document), probably Canterbury, Kent, England, son of Lyonell Chilton and his second wife (her name is unknown).
DIED: 8 December 1620, on board the Mayflower
MARRIED: probably about 1586 based on baptism of first known child. Her name is currently unknown. The claim by John Hunt in The American Genealogist 38:244-245 that his wife was possibly Susanna Furner has been recently disproven on the basis of the discovery of Susanna Furner's baptism record, which indicates she was far too young (only 12) to be married and having children in 1586. See Michael Paulick, "The 1609-1610 Excommunications of Mrs. Chilton and Moyses Fletcher--Mayflower Pilgrims" in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 153 (October 1999) for further information on this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
James Chilton, a tailor by trade, was the oldest Mayflower passenger, and one of the first to die after reaching the New World. He was born and raised in Canterbury, Kent, England and around 1600 moved to Sandwich, Kent.
By July 1615, and probably as early as 1610, James, his wife, and at least some of his children were living in Leyden, Holland. On 28 April 1619, James Chilton and his daughter Isabella were caught in an anti-Arminian riot and James was hit in the head with a brick, and required the services of the town surgeon, Jacob Hey.
He came on the Mayflower with his wife and daughter Mary. James and his wife died the first winter, leaving their daughter orphaned; she probably joined with the household of Myles Standish.
Mary Chilton came on the Mayflower at the young age of 13, and popular legend gives her the distinction of being the first female to step ashore at Plymouth. She married John Winslow, who came in the ship Fortune in 1621, and was the brother of Mayflower passengers Edward Winslow and Gilbert Winslow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Michael R. Paulick for obtaining a copy of James Chilton's signature from the Leiden Archives, and providing a copy to the Mayflower Web Pages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
Robert Moody Sherman, Mayflower Families for Five Generations: James Chilton, Richard More, and Thomas Rogers, volume 2 (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1978).
John G. Hunt, "Origins of the Chiltons of the Mayflower," The American Genealogist, 38:244-245.
Robert C. Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1:353-355 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995).