Alden House Historic Site

Pilgrim Lore

 

The "First Comers"

 
 

Under the original agreement with the "merchant adventurers", those who came and worked as partners in the Plymouth venture would all benefit from the 1627 Division of the colony assets. While we tend to give the Mayflower passengers special consideration as "The Pilgrims" (a term they did not use to denote themselves that came into use at the end of the 18th century), the Plymouth colonists classified all those who arrived on the first four ships alike, and referred to them as the "Old Comers" or "First Comers" (which also included a few stragglers such as Phineas Pratt).

The Fortune

The ship Fortune arrived at Plymouth on November 9, 1621, just a few weeks after the "First Thanksgiving". This passenger list is based on the 1623 Division of Land, compiled by Charles Edward Banks in Planters of the Commonwealth, and by the information found in Eugene Aubrey Stratton's Plymouth Colony: Its History and its People, 1620-1691.

Fortune Passenger List
John Adams
William Basset
Elizabeth Basset (Wife)
William Beale
Jonathan Brewster
Elizabeth Basset (Wife)
Clement Briggs
Edward Bumpas
John Cannon
William Conner
Robert Cushman
Thomas Cushman (Son)
Philipe de la Noye
Steven Deane
Thomas Flavell & Son
______ Ford
Martha Ford (Wife)
Thomas Flavell & Son		 Martha Ford (daughter)
John Ford (son)
Robert Hickes
William Hilton
Bennet Morgan
Thomas Morton
Austen Nicolas
William Palmer
William Palmer (son)
William Pitt
Thomas Prence
Moses Simonson
Hugh Statie 
James Steward
William Tench
John Winslow
William Wright

Ann & Little James

"The vessels parted company at sea; the ANN arrived the latter part of June, and the LITTLE JAMES some week or ten days later; part of the  number were the wives and children of persons already in the Colony  The ship Anne arrived in Plymouth in July, 1623 accompanied by the Little James, bringing new settlers along with many of the wives and children that had been left behind in Leyden when the Mayflower departed in 1620."  EMIGRANT ANCESTORS, John Camden Hotten, 1874

Anthony Annabal, wife
Jane Annabal, and children:
Sarah, Hannah
Edward Bangs
Robert Bartlett
Fear Brewster
Patience Brewster; (daughters of Elder Brewster)
Mary Bucket
Edward Burcher.
Thomas Clarke.
Christopher Conant
Hester Cooke (joined her husband and son, both MAYFLOWER passengers), and children: Jane, Jacob, and Mary
Godbert Godbertson
Sarah (Priest) Godberston, and children: Marrah Priest, Sarah Priest, and Samuel
Anthony Dix
John Faunce
Mr. Pierce's two servants.
Joshua Pratt
James Rand
Robert Ratcliffe and his wife
Nicholas Snow
Alice Southworth (Bradford)
Francis Sprague, and either his wife or daughter Anna, and daughter Mercy

Barbara — (Standish)
Thomas Tilden and wife
Stephen Tracy
Ralph Wallen and wife Joyce
Goodwife Flavell
Edmund Flood
Bridget Fuller
Timothy Hatherly.
William Heard
Margaret Hickes and her children (wife of Robert Hickes, who came in the FORTUNE): Lydia, Phoebe, Samuel and Ephraim
William Hilton's wife and children: William, and Mary
Edward Holman.
John Jenny
Sarah Jenny, and children: Samuel,Abigail and Sarah
Manasseh Kempton
Robert Long
Experience Mitchell
George Morton and his wife Julianna, and children: Nathaniel, Patience, John, Sarah, and Ephraim
Thomas Morton, Jr.; son of Thomas Morton, who came in the FORTUNE
Ellen Newton
John Oldham and his sister, Lucretia
Frances Palmer; wife of William Palmer, who came in the FORTUNE
Christian Penn
Elizabeth Warren, wife of Richard (MAYFLOWER), and children: Mary, Anna, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Abigail