The Chilton Family
Passenger Profile

James Chilton brought his wife and daughter Mary on the voyage of the Mayflower. Only Mary survived the first winter and James did not even reach Plymouth. He signed the Mayflower Compact on 11 November 1620 and died a month later, on 8 December 1620 at Provincetown when the ship was anchored in Cape Cod Harbor. It is not known when Mary’s mother died.

James was born circa 1556 at St. Paul’s Parish, Canterbury, Kent, England, the son of Lyonell Chilton. (His mother is believed to be Edith (     ) Chilton.)  James had 10 children: Isabel, Jane, Mary (died young), Joel, Elizabeth, James, Ingle, Christian, James and Mary.

Bradford tells us that another of Chilton’s daughters came over, which was likely around 1629 or 1630 when many more of the Leiden congregation emigrated. Isabel Chilton married Roger Chandler in Leiden in 1615 and it is Roger who is found in Plymouth records, the earliest being in 1633. The Chilton Silver Book credits marriages to three daughters, Sarah, Mary and Martha, who accompanied them.

James was a tailor. The family moved to Sandwich County, Kent, England by 1601, when the wife of James Chilton was excommunicated from the church of England for attending a private burial of a child. The family disappears from records until 1615, when daughter Isabel married Roger Chandler in Leiden. In 1619 James and daughter Ingle were attacked by a group of boys who thought they were Arminian. Chilton was hit in the head with a stone and sought the aid of a surgeon. Plans were already underway for the group to leave Holland for the New World.

Legend has it that young Mary Chilton was the first to step upon a rock which became  known as Plymouth Rock, a stepping-stone used by passengers to come ashore. In the 1623 land division, Marie Chilton is listed and would have received three acres, and in the Cattle Division dated 22 May 1627, Mary was now married to John Winslow. John was a passenger on the Fortune which arrived in Plymouth in 1621, and he was the brother of Mayflower passengers Edward and Gilbert Winslow. These Winslow brothers were the sons of Edward and Magdalene (Oliver) Winslow; John was baptized at St. Peters, Droitwich County, Worcester, England, 16 April 1597 and died at Boston between 12 March 1673/74 and 21 May 1674 (will & probate). Mary (Chilton) Winslow was baptized at St. Peter’s Parish, Sandwich County, Kent, England 31 May 1607 (not 30 May) and died at Boston, between 31 July 1676 and 1 May 1679 (will & executor refused).

John and Mary Winslow lived in Plymouth for many years raising their ten children: John, Susanna, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, a child and Benjamin Winslow. By 1655, they moved to Boston so that John could advance in his trade as a merchant.

Children of John and Mary (Chilton) Winslow:

  1. John Winslow, born at Plymouth, before 1630; died at Boston, between 3 and 12 October 1683 (will & probate); married 1) Elizabeth ( ); married 2) Judith; four children were by first wife: Richard, Elizabeth, John and Ann Winslow.
  2. Susanna Winslow, born at Plymouth before 1630; died at E. Bridgewater, after 14 November 1685; married probably at Plymouth, ca  1649, Robert Latham and had eight children: Mercy, Mary, Susanna, James, Hannah, Joseph, Elizabeth and Chilton Latham.
  3. Mary Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa 1631; died at Plymouth between 28 October 1663 and November 1665; married at Plymouth, 16 January 1650/51, Edward Gray and had six children: Desire, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, John and Anna Gray.
  4. Edward Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa  1635; died at Boston, 19 November 1682; married 1) before 1661, Sarah Hilton and had three children: John, Sarah and Mary Winslow. He married 2) at Boston, 8 February 1668, Elizabeth Hutchinson and had five children: Edward, Katherine, Elizabeth, Susanna and Anna Winslow.
  5. Sarah Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa  1638; died at Boston, 9 April 1726; married 1) at Boston, 19 July 1660, Myles2 Standish (Myles1) and had no children. She married 2) at Boston, November 1666 or 1667, Tobias Payne and had one child William Payne. She married 3) at Boston, circa 1672, Richard Middlecott and had four children: Mary, Edward, Sarah and Jane Middlecott.
  6. Samuel Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa 1641; died at Boston, 14 October 1680; married before 22 June 1675, Hannah Briggs and had two children: Richard and Mary Winslow.
  7. Joseph Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa 1643; died at Long Island, NY before 7 August 1679; married by 1668, Sarah Lawrence and had four children: child, child, Mary and Joseph Winslow.
  8. Isaac Winslow, born at Plymouth, circa 1645; died at Port Royal, Jamaica between 26 and 29 August 1670; married at Charlestown, 14 August 1666, Mary Nowell and had two children: Parnell and Isaac Winslow.
  9. Child, born before 1650; died young.
  10. Benjamin Winslow, born 12 August 1653; died unmarried.
Sources:
“The Likely Given Name of James Chilton’s Mother,” by Jon Wardlow, Mayflower Descendant 62 [Spring 2013]: 69-71. [Suggests the Edith Chilton who was buried 25 November 1579 was the wife of Lionel Chilton, James’ father.]
 
Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, James Chilton, by Robert M.
Sherman and Verle D. Vincent, rev. by Robert S. Wakefield, vol. 15.
Plymouth, 1997.
 
Mayflower Passenger References, (from contemporary records and scholarly
journals), by Susan E. Roser. 2011. pp. 173-80.