Kids-- meet your 10th great grandmother, Mary Chilton, who is depicted in this well-known 1877 Henry Bacon oil painting. She is the girl being helped ashore. According to Chilton family tradition, first recorded in 1744, she was perhaps the first pilgrim to step ashore at what would become Plymouth. She arrived on the Mayflower as young teen (age 15),whose parents died on board. She was taken in by other pilgrims and later married John Winslow. Young Mary Chilton, one of eleven under-age girls on the voyage, was among the nine that survived. By contrast, only four of the fourteen adult women on the Mayflower survived the first winter. So your great grandmother was at the first Thanksgiving feast!
Mary received three shares in the 1623 land division—one for each of her parents and one for herself. Her land was between that of Myles Standish and John Howland. Later, her sister Isabella came from England.
Mary Chilton married John Winslow, who arrived on the Fortune in 1621. John and Mary had 10 children: John, Susanna, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed child who died young, and Benjamin. Sometime after Benjamin’s 1653 birth, the Winslows moved to Boston, eventually purchasing in 1671 “the Mansion or dwelling-house of the Late Antipas Voice with the gardens wood-yard and Backside as it is scituate lying and being in Boston aforesaid as it is nowe fenced in And is fronting & Facing to the Lane going to mr John Jolliffes” The house no longer exists but a plaque marks its place on today’s Spring Lane. John Winslow, a prosperous Boston merchant, died in 1674.
Mary (Chilton) Winslow died in 1679. Her will conveys numerous silver cups, tankards and spoons to children and grandchildren, as well as linens and furniture that would only have been found in a well-to-do family. The inventory of Mary’s estate equally bespeaks of a wealthy household containing perhaps as many as six bedrooms and at least nine leather chairs.
The Winslows are believed to be buried in the old Winslow tomb at King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.
Mary Chilton married John Winslow, who arrived on the Fortune in 1621. John and Mary had 10 children: John, Susanna, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed child who died young, and Benjamin. Sometime after Benjamin’s 1653 birth, the Winslows moved to Boston, eventually purchasing in 1671 “the Mansion or dwelling-house of the Late Antipas Voice with the gardens wood-yard and Backside as it is scituate lying and being in Boston aforesaid as it is nowe fenced in And is fronting & Facing to the Lane going to mr John Jolliffes” The house no longer exists but a plaque marks its place on today’s Spring Lane. John Winslow, a prosperous Boston merchant, died in 1674.
Mary (Chilton) Winslow died in 1679. Her will conveys numerous silver cups, tankards and spoons to children and grandchildren, as well as linens and furniture that would only have been found in a well-to-do family. The inventory of Mary’s estate equally bespeaks of a wealthy household containing perhaps as many as six bedrooms and at least nine leather chairs.
The Winslows are believed to be buried in the old Winslow tomb at King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.
You kids and grandkids are directly related to her through Dad's mother (Granny)'s father's line.
4 comments:
wow! that is so cool! how neat that she is depicted in that painting. i like the new banner. i need to make a new one for my blog.
that is neat information. I like your blogs new design.
So fun to find out things like that!
Just wanted to let you know I had just visited your blog early last week and while we were visiting Boston on Saturday I came across Mary Chilton's grave site. Her tombstone was not marked but a plaque on the gate entering the graveyard noted that she was buried there. It was quite a interesting to have just read about her and then to visit and come across her name and remember she was your relative. I took a picture of the plaque if that would be something you'd want me to send you. Just thought I'd share that with you.
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