The Allerton Family
Passenger Profile

Isaac and Mary (Norris) Allerton were accompanied on the voyage by their three children, Bartholomew (aged about 7), and daughters Remember (about 5) and Mary (about 3). Also with them was John Hooke, an apprentice of about 12 years of age who died the first winter.

Isaac has been identified as the son of Bartholomew and Mary (    ) Allerton, born probably in East Bergholt, co. Suffolk, England, circa 1587. Isaac had a sister, Sarah, and it is believed that Mayflower passenger John Allerton may have been a brother.

Isaac married in Leiden, Holland on 4 November 1611, Mary Norris of Newbury; it was here that the Allerton children were born. An unnamed child was buried at Leyden on 5 February 1619/20.  Mary was expecting a child when the voyage set out, and she was delivered of a stillborn son on board ship at Plymouth Harbor on 22 December 1620. Mary herself died at Plymouth two months later, on 25 February 1620/21.

Isaac’s sister Sarah (Allerton) (Vincent)(Priest) Cuthbertson/Godbertson, came to Plymouth in the Anne in 1623 with her husband, Godbert Godbertson, their son Samuel Godbertson, and her two daughters Mary and Sarah Priest. Sarah’s second husband was Degory Priest, a Mayflower passenger who, traveling alone, did not survive the first winter.

Isaac was one of the first five signers of the Mayflower Compact and would go on to serve as Assistant to Governor William Bradford for several years. He was the colony’s agent, making numerous trips to London to purchase supplies and negotiate agreements. It was his mingling of personal and colony business on such trips that saw him fall from favor with Plymouth leaders and be removed of his duties.

Isaac married circa 1626, as his second wife, Fear Brewster, daughter of Elder William Brewster. They had two children, Sarah (no further record) and Isaac, before Fear’s death circa 1633 during the epidemic that took many lives in Plymouth. It would appear from the colony records that Isaac Jr. was reared by the Brewsters and the Elder placed the boy with his son Love Brewster.

While Isaac is found in New Amsterdam as early as 1639, he still had dealings and land holdings in Plymouth. He married a third time, probably in New Haven, circa 1641-45, Joanna Swinnerton, who was likely a widow.

Isaac is one of the most colorful of the Pilgrims, his adventures are mentioned numerous times in the records of Plymouth, Salem, New Amsterdam, New York, and New Haven, and in the works of Bradford, Winthrop, Lechford and Aspinwall. He escaped from a burning house in Marblehead in 1634; in 1635, one of his boats was cast away in a violent tempest and 21 persons drowned; in 1636 his boat was cast upon an island and he was stranded for 10 days; and in 1645, he and his wife with others, were cast away in a great storm and snow, but everyone was saved. A plaque can be found in Manhattan where Isaac had a warehouse and home between 1647 and 1659.

Isaac died in New Haven, CT between February 1 -12, 1658/59, the dates of a court appearance, and the date his inventory was taken.

Children of Isaac and Mary (Norris) Allerton:

  1. Bartholomew Allerton: born circa 1612. He returned to England after the 1627 Cattle Division, probably on one of his father’s many trips to England where he died probably at Bramfield between October 15, 1658 and February 19, 1659. He married in England where all his children were born, first to Margaret ( ) and second to Sarah Fairfax. He had four children: Isaac, Mary, Dorothy and John Allerton.
  2. Remember Allerton: born circa 1614; died between 12 September 1652 and 22 October 1656. She married Moses Maverick and had seven children: Rebecca, Mary, Abigail, Elizabeth, Samuel, Elizabeth and Remember Maverick.
  3. Mary Allerton: born circa 1616; died 28 November 1699, the last survivor of the Mayflower She married Thomas Cushman and had eight children, Thomas, Sarah, Mary, Isaac, Elkanah, Fear, Eleazer and Lydia Cushman.

Children of Isaac and Fear (Brewster) Allerton:

  1. Sarah Allerton: born at Plymouth, circa 1627; died before 1651; no further record.
  2. Isaac Allerton: born at Plymouth, between May 22, 1627 and 1630; died at Westmoreland County, VA between 25 October and 30 December 1702. He married 1) probably at New Haven, CT, circa 1652, Elizabeth ( ), and had two children, Elizabeth and Isaac Allerton. He married 2) in Virginia, circa 1663, Elizabeth (Willoughby)(Overzee) Colclough, and had three children, Willoughby, Frances and Sarah Allerton.

Descendants of Isaac Allerton are invited to join the Pilgrim Isaac Allerton Society.

Allerton plaque

A Mayflower Pilgrim and colonial merchant who came to New Haven in 1649. He was interred in the Old Burying Ground on the New Haven Green and was the only member of the Mayflower Company to be buried in Connecticut.

Erected by the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Connecticut 1941.