Pilgrim William Bradford

Continuing my posts on how my great grandfather Cone was related to four of those hardy souls who made the 1620 trip on the Mayflower. Today I'm focusing on his relationship with William Bradford one of the most interesting Pilgrims and perhaps the person who first identified their group as such. Below is his relationship with William Bradford:

Frederick Naaman CONE son of
William Warner and Eliza (UTLEY) CONE
William Warner CONE, son of Naaman and Joanna (WARNER) CONE
Joanna WARNER, daughter of Thomas and Rhoda (HOPKINS) WARNER
Thomas WARNER, son of Eleazar and Joanna (HALE) WARNER
Eleazar WARNER, son of Thomas and Delight (METCALF) WARNER
Delight METCALF, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Abiel (Adams) METCALF
Abiel ADAMS, daughter of William and Alice (BRADFORD) ADAMS
Alice BRADFORD, daughter of William and Alice (RICHARDS) BRADFORD
William BRADFORD, son of William and Alice (CARPENTER)(SOUTHWORTH) BRADFORD
William "The Pilgrim" Bradford

More about William Bradford...

William was born in the Yorkshire English village of Austerfield, the son of William and Alice (HANSON) Bradford. He was baptized in Austerfield March 19, 1589/90. Orphaned very young, he was raised first by his grandfather then shuttled back and forth between a number of uncles. He was about 12 years old when he began attending Separatist services in Scrooby. It was against the wishes of his family that he joined that church when he was 16 becoming close with the family of fellow church member William Brewster.

When James I became King of England he tried to put an end to separatist church movements and imprisoned many of the Scrooby congregation. In 1607, the congregation voted to leave England for the Netherlands where freedom of religion was permitted. Immigration without permission from the Crown was banned. None the less, members of the Congregation singly and in small groups made their escape to Holland. Beginning in Amsterdam, and eventually settling in Leiden.

Bradford arrived in Amsterdam in August 1608, and lived with the Brewster family until he was able to claim his family inheritance when he turned twenty-one in 1611. Those funds allowed him to purchase his own home, to practice the trade of weaving and most importantly marry Dorothy May. Their son John Bradford was born in Leiden in 1617.

The story of the Congregation's decision to leave Leiden for the New World is well known. The 100 foot ship Mayflower with a crew of no more than 40 and 102 passengers must have been dreadfully crowded. The three month voyage probably seemed an unending night mare. They had planned to arrive in Virginia and ended up instead far to the north. Harsh weather prevented them from trying to continue south after their arrival in what would become Massachusetts. It was William Bradford who was responsible for applying the term "Pilgrim" to their party. He wrote in his journal;

     "With mutual embraces and many tears, they took their leaves of one another; which
     proved to be the last leave to many of them... but they knew they were pilgrims and 
     looked not much on those things, but lifted their eyes to heaven, their dearest country
     and quieted their spirits."

During the first harsh winter in Plymouth nearly half of the settlers died. Many do not remember that the first deaths happened before the group had even decided on the location for their settlement. Dorothy (May) Bradford slipped and fell over the side of the Mayflower and drowned in frigid Cape Cod Harbor while William was ashore with the exploration party. It must have been a bitter sweet debarkation for him after that.

William Bradford went on to become Governor of the Plymouth Colony. He was remarried to Alice Carpenter Southworth and had three children including our ancestor William Bradford. Much of what we know about the Plymouth colony comes from William. His Of Plymouth Plantation, a history of the colony from 1621 to 1646 and his Journal were published. The Pilgrim Hall Museum website  has a wonderful article on William Bradford including passages from his journal.The museum also contains a chair attributed to William Bradford that descended through the Bradford and Hedge families.

Among the legion of William Bradford's descendants celebrating Thanksgiving 2013        
                                                      Ed and 10th great grand daughter Cecily (Cone) Kelly with                                                 grandchildren Cooper and Cassidy (12th generation descendants)

Another Mayflower Passenger in the Cone Family Tree - Edward Doty

Yesterday I mentioned my great grandfather Frederick Naaman Cone's membership in the Mayflower Society which was traced to William Brewster. Today I add his descent from Edward Doty.

Frederick Naaman Cone son of
William Warner and Eliza (Utley) Cone
Eliza Utley, daughter of Philip and Harriet (Pratt) Utley
Harriet Pratt, daughter of Jeremiah and Jennet (Pratt) Pratt
Jeremiah Pratt, son of Edward and Mary (Pratt) Pratt
Edward Pratt, son of Daniel ad Mercy (Doty) Pratt
Mercy Doty. daughter of Edward and Sarah (Faunce) Doty
Edward Doty, son of Edward and Faith (Clarke) Doty

If one describes the passengers on the Mayflower as two groups "Saints and Strangers", then Edward Doty would have fallen in the later group. He is often listed as the servant of fellow passenger Stephen Hopkins. Some interpretations are that he was apprenticed to Hopkins. He was included in the signing of the Mayflower Compact.

His birth place and parentage in England have not been discovered. It is generally presumed that he was born some time between 1597-1602 based on his inclusion in the Compact but his exclusion from the distribution of lands. Claims that he was baptized May 14, 1598 have been discredited.

Edward had a bit of a temper, which he may or may not have passed on to his descendants, and was involved in 1621 in the only duel fought in the Plymouth Colony. He and Edward Leister (another servant to Stephen Hopkins) fought each other with swords and daggers. They were both wounded before others were able to separate them. Sentenced to be tied together at their heads and feet for one day, their piteous condition and continual pleadings led to their separation after only an hour.

He was declared a 'freeman' in 1633 so by then had obtained some stature in the community. William Bradford records that he was married twice but the name of his first wife is unknown. He married Faith Clarke January 1635 in Plymouth. She had arrived on the ship Francis with her father Thurston in April 1634. Edward and Sarah were the parents of nine children.

He died August 23, 1655 in Plymouth and is buried in the Plymouth Burying Hill.

For those who would like to pursue their relationship to Edward Doty, in addition to the Mayflower Society, there is also The Pilgrim Edward Doty Society

Edward Doty's oil lamp on display at the Mayflower House Museum
from the Pilgrim Edward Doty Society website

Mayflower Ancestors

     As Thanksgiving approaches, my thought turn to Plymouth and the story of the Pilgrims feast of thanksgiving with the Indians. I do not remember when I first learned that I was descended from some of the Pilgrims but I certainly knew as early as elementary school. My grandfather's brother William Lawrence Cone had produced an extensive Cone Genealogy which mentioned several of the Mayflower passengers but I did not know that he and his father were members of the Mayflower Society.

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants (commonly called the Mayflower Society) was organized in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1897 in an effort to honor the memories of their Pilgrim ancestors. Membership is limited to those who can prove descent from one of the 102 passengers who arrived aboard Mayflower in 1620. I had always assumed that the Cones had traced their lineage to Stephen Hopkins for the acceptance into the Mayflower Society. My great grandfather Frederick Naaman Cone's great grandmother was Rhoda Hopkins and direct descendant of Stephen and Giles Hopkins. Today I was reading "Mayflower Ancestral Index, Volume 1" compiled by Milton E. Terry, PhD. and Anne Bordin Harding published by the Society in 1981 and discovered that they had proven their descent from William and Mary Brewster.

So for interested Cones out there, I will repeat the lineage here.

7859 Frederick Naaman Cone son of William Warner and Eliza (Utley) Cone*
7866 William Warner Cone, son of  Naaman and Joanna (Warner) Cone
36787 Joanna Warner daughter of Thomas and  Rhoda (Hopkins) Warner
17896 Rhoda Hopkins*, daughter of  Elisha and Drusilla (Conant) Hopkins
23368 Elisha Hopkins, son of Nathaniel and Abigail (Merrick) Hopkins
23368 Abigail Merrick, daughter of Joshua and Lydia (Mayo) Merrick
23197 Lydia Merrick, daughter of Thomas and Barbara (Knowles) Mayo
23261 Thomas Mayo, son of Nathaniel and Hannah (Prence) Mayo
27343 Hannah Prence, daughter of Thomas and Patience (Brewster) Prence
4708 Patience Brewster, daughter of William and Mary (?) Brewster, Pilgrims

William Brewster was born circa 1566 some sources suggest Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England and others Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. The son of William and Mary (Smythe) (Simkinson) Brewster, joined a large family of half siblings. His father William was the postmaster in Scrooby for some time. He was the third William Brewster in a line going back to William Brewster 1510-1558 and his wife Maud Mann(1513-1558).

Pilgrim Brewster was an educated man who had studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge and then entered the service of diplomat William Davison. His skill in Latin proved extremely useful in his travels with Davison which included the Netherlands. Unfortunately, his employ was terminated when his mentor was imprisoned and William returned to Scrooby and was able to obtain the position of postmaster once held by his father.
It was in Scrooby that he became a member of the Separatist Congregation. Perhaps his earlier experiences in Holland helped him recommend that the Congregation relocate to that country.

While living in Leiden, William taught English at Leiden University and also printed pamphlets on religion directed at the English market. It was his publication of a pamphlet that criticized the English king and the royal effort to seize Brewster that led to the congregations decision to depart for the New World. Brewster was the lay leader of the congregation that sailed on the Mayflower and was accompanied by his wife Mary and sons Love and Wrestling. He remained the congregation's religious leader until Pastor Ralph Smith arrived in 1629.

The Brewsters moved to Duxbury in 1632 and began to farm there. His daughters Fear and Patience both died in the smallpox epidemic of 1634. William lived until April 10, 1644. He is buried in Burial Hill, Plymouth.

Eliza Utley Cone and Rhoda Hopkins have other lines to the Mayflower but those are stories for another day.