My 12th great-grandfather, James Chilton, was the oldest passenger on the Mayflower, having been born about 1556, likely in Kent, England, making him about 64 during the voyage. There are records showing baptisms for ten children of James Chilton between 1586 and 1607 in Kent, however historians don't agree on his wife's name. Their youngest child was Mary Chilton, baptized at St. Peter's, Sandwich, Kent, on May 30, 1607, making her 13 years old during the trip.
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| Courtesy: Wikipedia |
James was a signer of the "Mayflower Compact," the first governing document of the colony, which was signed aboard the ship on November 11, 1620.
It is said that Mary Chilton was the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Mary Chilton's Title to Celebrity: investigated in behalf of a descendant of John Haward, minimus, by Charles Thornton Libby, published in 1926, can be found at Ancestry.com and at FamilySearch.org. The author explored various sources for the Mary Chilton story. On page 6, the author notes that the earliest form of the story was written down in 1769 by a second great-grandson of Mary Chilton:
"Mary Chilton was the first European Female that landed on the North American shore; she came over with her father and mother and other adventurers to this new settlement. One thing worthy of notice is that her curiosity of being first on the American Strand prompted her, like a young Heroine, to leap out of the Boat and wade ashore."
