By Jared L. Olar
January 2011
Updated December 2013
Numbered among my mother's forefathers is James Chilton, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims, whose daughter Mary Chilton, my mother's ancestress, married a younger brother of another Mayflower Pilgrim, Edward Winslow, Governor of Plymouth Colony. Legend has it that James Chilton's daughter Mary was the first Pilgrim to step foot on Plymouth Rock. James, a tailor of Canterbury, Kent, England, was born no later than 1562 in Canterbury, the son of Lyonell Chilton. The name of James' mother is unknown, but his father Lyonell is known to have married a widow named Isabell Furner. In 1583, James was registered as a freeman of Canterbury, which means he could not have been younger than 20 years old that year. James took a wife circa 1585, probably in Canterbury, but her name is unknown. Earlier writers, relying on Judge Mitchell's 1840 History of Bridgewater, said her name was "Susanna," but no evidence confirming that is available. James and his wife had 10 children, the seven eldest born at St. Paul's Parish or St. Martin's Parish in Canterbury, the three youngest born at St. Peter's Parish, Sandwich, England. James and his wife were among the first of the colonists to die in that first terrible winter. He died 8 Dec. 1620 at Provincetown, Cape Cod Harbor, Massachusetts, and his widow died shortly after 11 Jan. 1621.
Master Edward Winslow was born 18 Oct. 1595 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, son of Edward and Magdalene (Oliver) Winslow. Prior to joining the Separatists in Leiden, Holland, Winslow was employed as an assistant printer at Choir Alley Press from 1617 to 1619. One of the leading men of Plymouth Colony, Winslow was active in promoting the welfare of the colony in various ways. From 1624 to 1646, he served as a member of the colony's General Court as either governor or assistant governor. He returned to England in 1646 never to return. In 1655 he was appointed by the English dictator Oliver Cromwell to attempt to seize the West Indies from Spain. The mission was a failure. Winslow fell sick of tropical fever and died on his flagship on 8 May 1655 "at sea betwixt Domingo and Jamaica." He was buried at sea with salvo of cannon. Winslow was twice married but had only five children, all by his second wife. Of those five children, only the two youngest survived to adulthood to leave progeny after them in New England.
Gov. Edward Winslow's younger brother John Winslow, born 1597 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, followed Edward to Massachusetts in 1621 on the Fortune, a 55-ton ship that sailed out of London in early July and arrived at Plymouth Colony on 11 Nov. 1621, bringing 35 persons to settle in Massachusetts. About 1627, John married Mary Chilton, daughter of the Mayflower Pilgrim James Chilton, and they had 10 children. John and his family moved to Boston in 1655, and there he died in 1674.
My genealogy traces back to James Chilton of the Mayflower through two different lines of descent. The following chart shows that I am both 12th and 13th in descent from James Chilton, and both 10th and 11th in descent from Mary Winslow, niece of Gov. Edward Winslow of Plymouth Colony.
Kenelm Winslow Lyonell Chilton
d. 1607 |
| |
Edward Winslow JAMES CHILTON
_______________|_________ d. 1620
| | |
GOV. EDWARD WINSLOW John Winslow=Mary Chilton
d. 1654 d. 1674 | d. 1679
|
Edward Gray=Mary Winslow
______________________________|___________________________
| |
Samuel Little=Sarah Gray Nathaniel Southworth=Desire Gray
| |
Edward Little Capt. Ichabod Southworth
| |
Edward DeWolf=Elizabeth Little Priscilla Southworth=Deacon Nathaniel Macomber
| |
Dorastus DeWolf Rev. Job Macomber
| |
Malinda DeWolf=Manly Sherman Shaw Charles Stinson=Lydia Macomber
| |
|______________________ George Russell Linn=Abigail Stinson
| _________________|
| |
James Monroe Shaw=Mary Rebecca Linn
|
Sherman Linn Shaw
|
Sherman Linn Shaw II
|
Joseph Olar=Dolores Frances Shaw
|
Jared Linn Olar
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