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The Date of Governor Bradford’s Passenger List
To the question, “When did Governor Bradford write his list of the Mayflower passengers?” the reply heretofore has been, “In 1650.” Such an answer seemed too indefinite, in regard to the record which is the foundation of all Mayflower genealogies, and I undertook to determine more closely, if possible, the time within which it must have been written. The success of the effort was greater than I expected, and the time has been reduced from one year to four weeks, as will be shown in the following notes. In studying the records left by the Pilgrims it is necessary to keep constantly in mind the fact that they used “old style” dating, and that, according to their calendar, the year 1650 began on the twenty-fifth day of March, and ended on the twenty-fourth day of the following March. Governor Bradford leaves no opportunity for doubt that he wrote his account of the Mayflower passengers during the year 1650, “old style,” for, near the middle of the list, he writes “till this year .1650,” and, in the last paragraph, “this present year .1650.” [1] The list, therefore, must have been written before March 24, 1650, old style, that is, before April 3, 1651, new style. Turning again to Bradford’s History we find: “And seeing it hath pleased him to give me to see .30. years compeated, since these beginnings. And that the great works of his providence are to be observed. I have thought it not unworthy my paines, to take a view of the deceasings, & Increasings of these persons, and such changes as hath passed over them, & theirs, in this thirty years.” [2] As Bradford distinctly says that thirty years have been “completed, since these beginings,” it is clear that he must have written this paragraph after the thirtieth anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims, that is, after December 21, 1650, new style. Thus Governor Bradford’s own statements, in his account of the passengers, limit the time within which it was written to the three and one half months between December 21, 1650, and April 3, 1651, new style. Continuing the investigation, a statement in the account of Elder Brewster’s family attracted my attention. After mentioning the Elder and his wife, Bradford writes, “His sone Wrastle dyed a yonge man unmaried; his sone Love, lived till his year .1650. and dyed, & left .4. children, now living.” [3] As the exact date of Love Brewster’s death is not known, I examined the probate records at Plymouth, and found that his will was dated October 11, 1650, new style, and his inventory was taken, by William Collier (his father-in-law) and Myles Standish, February 11, 1651, new style. [4] The latter date is important, because the Pilgrims usually took an inventory of a man’s property within a very few days after his death, [5] and as Love Brewster’s inventory was not taken until the tenth of February, it is probable that he died very late in January or even after the first of February. This would reduce to less than two and one half months the time within which the list could have been written. After studying without results the other references to the deaths of the passengers, attention was turned to the children and grandchildren mentioned by Bradford, and in his account of the family of William Mullins was found the following statement: “Only his dougter priscila survied, and maried with John Alden, who are both living, and have .11. children. And their eldest daughter is maried & hath five children.” [6] John Alden’s eldest daughter Elizabeth married on December 26, 1644, old style, William Pabodie, who was for many years the town clerk of Duxbury. While holding this office William Pabodie entered on the town records his own marriage, and the births of his children. The names of these children and the dates of their births I have copied directly from the original record made by their father: John, October 4, 1645; Elizabeth, April 24, 1647; Mary, August 7, 1648; Mercy, January 2, 1649; Martha, February 24, 1650; Priscilla, November 16, 1652; Priscilla, January 15, 1653; [7] Sarah, August 7, 1656; Ruth, June 27, 1658; Rebecca, October 16, 1660; Hannah, October 15, 1662; William, November 24, 1664; Lydia, April 3, 1667. It will be seen that the fifth child was Martha, who was born February 24, 1650, “old style,” or March 6, 1651, “new style,” and Bradford must have learned of her birth before he wrote: “And their eldest daughter is maried & hath five children.” It has therefore been demonstrated that Governor Bradford wrote his account of the Mayflower passengers and their “decreasings, & Increasings” during the four weeks between March 6, 1651, and April 3, 1651, both dates being in “new style.”
[NOTE: Bowman liked to use the correction factor for the number of days the Julian calendar (that the British Empire used) was off from the Gregorian calendar that was used by most of the Christian (i.e. Catholic) world since 1582. The British finally adopted the Gregorian calendar on 2 September 1752 which meant the following day was 14 September 1752 as by that time the two calendars differed by eleven days. Current genealogical standards do not adjust the days since that would have been an unknown concept to our ancestors. Double-dating (i.e. adding the year changing on 1 January) is the present way to present it. This means a researcher can compare dates in the British Empire with less error. Thus, Bradford’s passenger list was written between 24 February 1650/1 and 24 March 1650/1. – Scott Andrew Bartley]
Footnotes: [1]. Mayflower Descendant [hereafter MD], 1: 12, 16. [2]. MD, 1: 11. [3]. MD, 1: 12. [4]. Plymouth Colony Probate, 1: 89. [5]. The inventory of Henry Samson’s property was taken on the day of his death. [6]. MD, 1: 13. [7]. Those not familiar with the difference between “old style” and “new style” dating will, doubtless, think it impossible that Mary should have been born August 7, 1648, and mercy, January 2, 1649; but when we change these dates to “new style” they become respectively August 17, 1648, and January 12, 1650, and the apparent contradiction disappears. So in the case of the two children named Priscilla. the first one was born November 26, 1652, new style, and evidently died soon, for the next child, a girl, was born January 25, 1654, new style, and was also named Priscilla.
[This article was first published in the Mayflower Descendant, 1 [1899]: 161-163.]
Researched and created by Scott Andrew Bartley Please report any broken links, additions, or corrections to the webmaster. Page updated 23 April 2010
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