| Notes |
- William White, a wool carder, perhaps related to the White family of Sturton le Steeple, was one of the first twelve men on the Mayflower who were in a position to be called Mr. or Master because of social or economical status. He was a leading "stranger" who joined the Mayflower journey to America.
Little is known about Pilgrim William White. He and Susanna White left England with son, Resolved. At Cape Cod, on Nov. 11, 1620 according to the old calendar, William was one of the forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact. Two to three weeks later, son Peregrine was born, the first English birth in Plymouth Colony. Susanna was widowed in February. Their two servants died about the same time. Susanna became the first colony bride in May, marrying Edward Winslow, a Mayflower passenger who had lost his wife a few weeks before. At least five children were born to Susanna and Edward Winslow.
SUMMARY:
The ancestry of William White of the Mayflower is not known. Incorrect royal lineages have been given for him, as well as an incorrect identification of him as the son of Rev. John White of London.
William Bradford wrote that William White came on the Mayflower with his wife "Susanna". There is a marriage record in Leyden on 27 January 1612 for a William White, woolcomber, and an "Anna" Fuller, sister of Samuel Fuller. The marriage was witnessed by Sarah Priest and Samuel Fuller. This record, however, does not relate to the Mayflower passenger, as commonly claimed. The reasons for this conclusion are as follows:
A William White had Sarah Priest witness his marriage; a William White in 1621 witnessed the marriage of Sarah Priest. However, the William White of the Mayflower was dead in America and could not have witnessed Sarah Priest's marriage. It would therefore appear that this is not the William White who came on the Mayflower.
Susanna, widow of William White, married second Edward Winslow. Anna Fuller was baptized in 1577, and Edward Winslow in 1595. It is most unlikely that 25-year old Edward Winslow would marry a woman 18 years older than him for his first wife.
Children of William White were buried in infancy in 1613, 1615, and 1616. These deaths indicate it would be most unlikely they had a child Resolved in 1615.
Susanna, wife of William White, is not Susanna Tilley either, another common claim. That "theory" was disproved in Pilgrim Notes & Queries 1:1.
From http://mayflowerhistory.com/white-william/
William White
BAPTIZED: 25 January 1586/7 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, son of Edward and Thomasine (Cross)(May) White.
MARRIAGE: Susanna Jackson, about 1614, probably in Amsterdam.
CHILDREN: Resolved and Peregrine.
DEATH: 21 February 1620/1 at Plymouth.
Important Note: The origins of William White in England were just recently discovered in 2017 in a collaborative research project by Caleb Johnson, Sue Allan, and Simon Neal. The results of this research were published in the following peer-reviewed genealogical articles:
Caleb Johnson, Sue Allan and Simon Neal, "The English Origin and Kinship of Mayflower Passengers William White and Dorothy (May) Bradford of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire," The American Genealogist, 89-2(April 2017):81-94 and 89-3(July 2017):168-188.
Sue Allan, Caleb Johnson and Simon Neal, "The Origin of Mayflower Passenger Susanna (Jackson)(White) Winslow," The American Genealogist 89-4(October 2017):241-264.
William White was baptized on 25 January 1586/7 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, the son of Edward and Thomasine (Cross)(May) White. His mother, Thomasine, was married to John May, and was therefore was also the grandmother to Mayflower passenger Dorothy May.
William's mother Thomasine was buried on 10 November 1591 at Wisbech. His father Edward died about 1594 when he was seven, and he went to live with his maternal grandmother Jacomine and her second husband Thomas Robinson. Thomas Robinson died in 1595, so widow Jacomine raised her grandchildren William (and sister Martha) White. Martha died and was buried at the age of 19 in 1608, and (turning 21 that year) William headed off with his half-siblings Henry and Jacomine May to Amsterdam (he was given permission to reside in Amsterdam in June 1608), where they joined the church congregation of Henry Ainsworth. William White witnessed the marriage of his half-sister Jacomine to Amsterdam printer Jan l'Ecluse on 5 May 1609.
He married Susanna Jackson, daughter of Richard and Mary (Pettinger) Jackson. Susanna was likely born and raised in Scrooby, and her father held a lease for a portion of Scrooby Manor. She may have fled with her father to Amsterdam in 1608, and there married William White.
William and Susanna had their son Resolved about 1615, and son Peregrine was born sometime the last three days of November 1620, after arrival and anchorage off Provincetown Harbor, but before the Pilgrims had explored and found Plymouth.
William died the first winter, 21 February 1620/1, on the same day as three other passengers, including William Mullins. His wife Susanna remarried to Edward Winslow a few months later, on 12 May 1621, being the first marriage to occur at Plymouth.
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1586 - Abt 1620 (33 years)