Experience Mitchell

Find A Grave's bio is not a definitive source RE marriages—and which child was borne by which wife. Read on below, until this Overview begins duplicating written matter. There's no 100% certainty about this matter.

Experience (1) MITCHELL was born about 1602 in England?. (2113) Wood MF5G:12, indicates that Experience's ancestry remains unknown, with a possible connection with a Thomas Mitchell, of England. He immigrated in Aug 1623 to Plymouth Colony, MA. (2114) Experience came on the ship Anne. He died between 1685 and 1689 in Plymouth, MA.(2115) (2116)

EXPERIENCE MITCHELL'S inventory was taken 14 May, 1689, and his will was proved 4 September, 1689; therefore the date of the will, 5 December, 1689, as recorded by the clerk, Samuel Sprague, is doubtless an error. The will must have been made on 5 December in the year 1688, or possibly even earlier.

The will and inventory are recorded in the Plymouth County Probate Records, Volume 1, pages 44 and 45. The wife Mary mentioned in the will was a second wife, the first one having been Jane2

According to MF5G:12: Experience was among several single men in the colony, and he, together with five other unmarried young men, were listed in the Division of Cattle along with Francis Cooke and his family--thus probably living with them at the time.

Mitchell, Experience

Experience Mitchell arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the Anne, and Banks writes that he was from Duke's Place, London. Underhill (Small Descendants, 1:510), based in part on Dexter (p. 625), thought Experience was the son of Thomas Mitchell of Cambridge, England, who was a member of Francis Johnson's church at Amsterdam, and that Experience was born in Leiden in 1611.

Experience received a letter dated 24 July 1662 from his nephew Thomas Mitchell in Amsterdam in which Thomas mentions having received Experience's letter dated 23 April 1661, and says, "I do also wish my cousin Elizabeth much joy with her [p.328] daughter that God has given her to her six sons. I do also wish my cousin Sarah much joy in her married estate" (PN&Q 3:102-03).

Experience was a Purchaser and was on the 1633 freeman list. He later moved to Duxbury, where he became a highway surveyor on 3 March 1639/40 (PCR 1:141); he also served on various juries (PCR, passim). On 7 June 1659 he was fined ten shillings for refusing to serve on the grand jury (PCR 3:168).

He married, probably not long after the 1627 cattle division, Jane Cooke, daughter of 1620 Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke; though there is no record of their marriage, their son Thomas Mitchell in a deed of 1 August 1672 refers to some land given him by his grandfather Francis Cooke (MD 3:104).

By his first wife Jane, Mitchell had Thomas and Elizabeth, but indirect evidence indicates that the rest of his children, with the exception of Mary, perhaps, were probably by his second wife Mary _____. See John B. Threlfall, "Comments on the Two Wives of Experience Mitchell of Plymouth, Mass.," NEHGR 127:94; Robert S. Wakefield, "Not All the Children of Experience Mitchell Are Mayflower Descendants," TAG 59:28; and Barbara L. Merrick, "Some Descendants of Francis Cooke, Mayflower Passenger," MQ 49:130. Also see Merton Taylor Goodrich, "Gaining Experience?A Problem in the Mitchell Family," TAG 12:193.

In his will, dated 5 December 1684, inventory 14 May 1689, Mitchell named his wife Mary; sons Edward and John; grandsons Experience and Thomas; granddaughter Mary Mitchell; and daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward, and Hannah Hayward (MD 32:97). His daughter Elizabeth, who married John Washburn, and his son Jacob, who married Susanna Pope, predeceased him.

In 1631 Experience sells his dwelling house, garden plot and fence, leading to the speculation that this may have been the approximate date of Jane's death, leaving him with small children. He was among the list of Freemen in Plymouth in 1633, and again on 7 March 1636/7; in Duxborrow about 1658 and again in Plymouth on May 1670. He was on various committees and held several offices from the years 1637 to 1662. He, like the other early Colonials, was granted additional lands through the years. In 1675/6 Experience and Edward Mitchell were were appointed by the Court to investigate the estate of Jacob Michell, deceased, for the good of his children. Experience, Edward and Joseph Bartlett were later appointed guardians of the children of Jacob Michell, deceased. Experience's will, dated 5 December 1684 and probated 4 September 1689 names son Edward, wife "mary michell", son John, grandson "Exsperience" [son of John] daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward and Hannah Hayward, grandson Thomas Mitchell and granddaughter mary michel whom he leaves in the care of his son Edward and Joseph Bartlet. His residence is given as Bridgewater. (See will) Parents: Thomas MITCHELL and Maria TROMDIN.

He was married to Jane COOKE after 22 May 1627 in Plymouth Colony, MA. (2117)(2118)

Notes: Rosser, Mayflower Increasings: "m. aft. 22 May 1627, Plymouth, Experience Mitchell . . ."

This date reflects that she was still single in the May 22, 1627 Division of Land.

Rosser: There is much controversy over the children of the two marriages of Experience Mitchell: "MFIP (Mayflower Families In Progress) , Cook:3 states Elizabeth Mitchell was b. 1628 and Thomas Mitchell c 1631. These two have been accepted by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants as Jane Cooke's. Since Thomas was the only Mitchell child known to have received land from grandfather Francis Cook, doubt is cast on the remaining Mitchell children who were born later than Thomas."

Ralph Wood takes exception, however, in his MF5G:12 volume, 1996, and includes Mary "presumed, quite safely, as a daughter of Jane, based on Mary's approximate date of birth.". Mary is born about 1632, presuming Jane married about 20. There is then a near 10-year span before the rest of Experience's children are born, presumably, by his second wife, Mary,.

Another observation is that if Jane died very early in their marriage, Experience was left with near infant children--quite a hardship in any event, and especially so in those days. Many such men would hasten to find a new wife and mother for such small children, and female companionship for themselves, however, Experience doesn't remarry until 1640/1.

Children were: Elizabeth (3) MITCHELL, Thomas[3] MITCHELL, Mary MITCHELL.

He was married to Mary before 1641 in Plymouth, MA?.(2119) The Cooke volume logs this as the date of his first child by his second wife, Mary. Children were: Sarah MITCHELL, Jacob MITCHELL, Edward MITCHELL, John MITCHELL, Hannah MITCHELL.

1. 1. EXPERIENCE MITCHELL was born about 1609 in Leiden, Holland. He came on the ship Anne in 1623 when he was fourteen years of age. At the division of cattle in May 1627, the first lot fell to Francis Cooke and his company, one of whom was Experience Mitchell. Experience was included in the list of Freemen in 1633. He married at age nineteen and lived on Spring Hill in Plymouth. He sold his home there in 1631 and removed to the Blue Fish River in Duxbury. He was an original proprietor of Bridgewater but did not remove there until late in life, sometime after 1680.

From Mayflower Families, Vol. II – The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Selected and Introduced by Gary Boyd Roberts:

Pg. 741.

COMMENT ON THE TWO WIVES OF EXPERIENCE MITCHELL OF PLYMOUTH, MASS

By John B. Threlfal of Madison, Wisc.

Experience Mitchell came to Plymouth, Mass. In 1623 and is known to have had two wives. The first was Jane Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and his wife Hester Mahieu. Experience Mitchell and Jane Cooke were married after 22 May 1627. She died at an unknown date but before 1666, and he married a second wife whose given name was Mary, her surname yet unknown. The late George E. Bowman and other genealogists of Plymouth families have rather thoroughly examined the existing records that throw light on these people. From this material it is known that Experience Mitchell had the following children:

i. i. Elizabeth, b. prob. 1628; mar. 6 Dec 1645, John Washburn, Jr. She was living in Nov 1681, but he mar. (2) 1684-6, widow Elizabeth Packard. Her children, surname, Washburn, were: John, Thomas, Joseph, Samuel, Jonathan, Benjamin, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, James and Sarah.

ii. ii. Thomas. On 8 June 1666, John Cooke, ratified and confirmed to Richard Wright and Thomas Mitchell upland and meadow “given by my father Francis Cooke unto the aforesaid Richard Wright and Thomas Mitchell” lying at Jones River in Duxbury “to be equally divided betwixt” the two. On 1 Aug 1672 Thomas Mitchell sold his share to Wright and the deed states that it was given to him by his grandfather Francis Cooke of Plymouth (Col. Deeds, 3:234). He also had land at Dartmouth, given him by his father but returned it in 1669 to his father, who the same day conveyed it to son Jacob. Thomas acknowledged the deed 1 March 1674. He apparently went to Block Island, R.I. where a Thomas Mitchell in 1678 was convicted of selling liquor to the Indians. He d. bef. May of 1687, leaving sons Thomas, John and Joseph, and perhaps daughters, assuming this to be the same Thomas (see the American Genealogist, 12:193-9).

iii. iii. Mary, prob. b. 1630-34; mar. 24 Dec 1652 at Plymouth, James Shaw, son of John. Three known children, surname Shaw: James, John and Anne, and probably two other daughters.

iv. iv. Sarah, prob. b. 1641-45; mar. John Hayward, son of Thomas and Susannah; his estate settled 1710; she d. aft. 1731; res. Bridgewater. Ten children, b. 1663-87, surname Hayward: Sarah, John, Joseph, Mary, Thomas, Benjamin, Susanna, Elizabeth, Benoni and Mercy.

v. v. JACOB2

vi. vi. Edward, prob. b. 1644-48; mar. Mary Hayward, dau. of Thomas and sister of John; he lived with her 40 years and had no children; she d. and he mar.(2) 26 Aug 1708 Alice Bradford, b. 28 Jan 1677, dau. of Major John and Mercy (Warren) Bradford and they had three children: Mary, Alice and Edward; he d. 15 Mar 1716/17 and, she mar. (2) Deacon Joshua Hersey of Hingham; she d. 14 Jul 1746 at Hingham; Edward res. Bridgewater and raised three orphaned children of his brother Jacob.

vii. vii. John; mar. (1) 14 Dec 1675, Mary Bonney, dau. of Thomas; had one child, Experience; Mary d. 13 May 1677 and he mar. (2) 14 Jan 1679/80, Mary Lathrop who d. 13 Feb 1679/80. He mar. (3) 24 May 1682, Mary Prior; had eight children by her: Mary, Hannah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Elizabeth again, John, Sarah and Esther. He res. Duxbury, moved to Providence, R.I. where he d. 14 Oct 1719.

viii. viii. Hannah, mar. ca 1682 Joseph Hayward, son of Thomas and brother of John, as his third wife; had seven children: Mary, Thomas, Edward, Hannah, Susanna, Peter and Abigail; he d. 20 Jun 1718.

Bowman and most other writers have casually attributed all of these children

to Experience Mitchell’s first wife, Jane Cooke. There seems to be no evidence to support such an assumption, except in the case of Thomas, and therefore Elizabeth, who must have been the eldest in order to have married in 1645. Thomas and Elizabeth were named, perhaps, for Experiences Mitchell’s family, his father perhaps being Thomas Mitchell of Cambridge, Eng. and Amsterdam, Holland (Lora A. W. Underhill, Edward Small and His Descendants, 1934, 1:510.)

Not one of the later children bore a Cooke name, i.e. Francis, Jane or Hester;

except perhaps Jacob, named for Jane’s brother. Furthermore, daughter Elizabeth was the only child of Experience known to name a child Jane; whereas Sarah, Edward, Jacob, Hannah and John (and also Elizabeth) all named a child Mary. None of Experiences’s children named a child Jane, Francis or Hester (Esther), except Elizabeth’s Jane and John’s Esther. It appears entirely possible that Jane (Cooke) Mitchell was the mother of only Elizabeth, Thomas and perhaps Mary; and that Experience’s second wife Mary, was the mother of the others.

All of the above is circumstantial evidence; hardly the kind a genealogist prefers. By the same token, there is not even this much to support Jane as the mother of all these children, as has been carelessly assumed. Although the Society of Mayflower Descendants accepts descendants through all of the children of Experience Mitchell for membership, such an assumption would seem to be suspect. There is, of course, always the possibility that second wife Mary was herself a Mayflower daughter. (This ends the article from Mayflower Families.)

REBUTTA to the Threlfal article (Gary Boyd Roberts).

The following was submitted to me by another Mitchell genealogist and I tend to agree with these arguments.  Respecting the submitter’s anonymity, I am not revealing the name of that person.  In November 1985 among the usual Thanksgiving observances there was an announcement that President William Howard Taft had been removed from the Mayflower Society “due to new information” about his ancestress Jane (Cooke) Mitchell.  However, after questioning it was learned that no new information had been discovered.  Some strict historians had determined that without birth dates of the children and the date of death of Jane (Cooke) Mitchell, the line was unproven except for the first two children (Elizabeth and Thomas), and possibly the third (Mary); all the rest were probably by Experience’s second wife Mary.  Since this cannot be proved we are at a “stand-off.”

====There is, though, a stronger possibility that Jane was the mother of them all:====

1. In John Putnam Demos’ A Little Commonwealth there are more than adequate statistics to the longevity of a woman’s childbearing years. Women of the 17th century bore children at regular intervals well into their 40’s.
2. The Honorable Nathum Mitchell in his History of Bridgewater (called an unreliable source by the Mayflower Society), refers to Experience’s “wife of his old age, Mary.” Experience was probably 30 years old in 1635 and in no way could be considered old. On the other hand if he married Mary around 1666, by which time Jane was definitely dead, he was then about 62 and would have been considered old in those days.
3. The most important clue to when Jane died is found in the division of Francis Cooke’s “Rockynook” property on June 8, 1666. This was made three years after Francis Cook’s death and was divided five ways “according to our fathers real Intent and purpose.” If Jane had been dead nearly 30 years, would his “will and intent” have been to divide his property five ways? Most probably Jane was still alive in 1663 but dead by June 8, 1666.
4. An earlier argument was that the Mitchell children did not have Cooke or Mitchell family names. The ancestry of Francis Cooke is totally unknown and it is only probable that Thomas Mitchell was the father of Experience, therefore, family names are unknown. “Experience” reflects the names being given in that age. Old family names were no longer the mode and names such as “Wrestling with the Devil” and “Love of God” were being given.

Three of the known children of Experience bore the names of Jane’s siblings. The unknown children who died in infancy may have had Cooke-Mitchell names.

All in all there is no way to be positive of the Cooke-Mitchell relationships. To change history, we must be sure of our facts and not move on personal interpretations.

Emigrated to New World on the third ship "Anne" in 1623

EXPERIENCE MITCHELL was born about 1609 in Leiden , Holland. He came on the ship Anne in 1623 when he was fourteen years of age. At the division of cattle in May 1627, the first lot fell to Francis Cooke and his company, one of whom was Experience Mitchell. Experience was included in the list of Freemen in 1633. He married at age nineteen and lived on Spring Hill in Plymouth. He sold his home there in 1631 and removed to the Blue Fish River in Duxbury. He was an original proprietor of Bridgewater but did not remove there until late in life, sometime after 1680. He is known to have had two wives. The first was Jane Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and his wife Hester Mahieu. Experience Mitchell and Jane Cooke were married after 22 May 1627. She died at an unknown date but before 1666, and he married a second wife whose given name was Mary, her surname yet unknown.

EXPERIENCE MITCHELL'S inventory was taken 14 May, 1689, and his will was proved 4 September, 1689; therefore the date of the will, 5 December, 1689, as recorded by the clerk, Samuel Sprague, is doubtless an error. The will must have been made on 5 December in the year 1688, or possibly even earlier.

The will and inventory are recorded in the Plymouth County Probate Records, Volume 1, pages 44 and 45. The wife Mary mentioned in the will was a second wife, the first one having been Jane2

According to MF5G:12: Experience was among several single men in the colony, and he, together with five other unmarried young men, were listed in the Division of Cattle along with Francis Cooke and his family--thus probably living with them at the time.

Mitchell, Experience

Experience Mitchell arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the Anne, and Banks writes that he was from Duke's Place, London. Underhill (Small Descendants, 1:510), based in part on Dexter (p. 625), thought Experience was the son of Thomas Mitchell of Cambridge, England, who was a member of Francis Johnson's church at Amsterdam, and that Experience was born in Leiden in 1611.

Experience received a letter dated 24 July 1662 from his nephew Thomas Mitchell in Amsterdam in which Thomas mentions having received Experience's letter dated 23 April 1661, and says, "I do also wish my cousin Elizabeth much joy with her [p.328] daughter that God has given her to her six sons. I do also wish my cousin Sarah much joy in her married estate" (PN&Q 3:102-03).

Experience was a Purchaser and was on the 1633 freeman list. He later moved to Duxbury, where he became a highway surveyor on 3 March 1639/40 (PCR 1:141); he also served on various juries (PCR, passim). On 7 June 1659 he was fined ten shillings for refusing to serve on the grand jury (PCR 3:168).

He married, probably not long after the 1627 cattle division, Jane Cooke, daughter of 1620 Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke; though there is no record of their marriage, their son Thomas Mitchell in a deed of 1 August 1672 refers to some land given him by his grandfather Francis Cooke (MD 3:104).

By his first wife Jane, Mitchell had Thomas and Elizabeth, but indirect evidence indicates that the rest of his children, with the exception of Mary, perhaps, were probably by his second wife Mary _____. See John B. Threlfall, "Comments on the Two Wives of Experience Mitchell of Plymouth, Mass.," NEHGR 127:94; Robert S. Wakefield, "Not All the Children of Experience Mitchell Are Mayflower Descendants," TAG 59:28; and Barbara L. Merrick, "Some Descendants of Francis Cooke, Mayflower Passenger," MQ 49:130. Also see Merton Taylor Goodrich, "Gaining Experience?A Problem in the Mitchell Family," TAG 12:193.

In his will, dated 5 December 1684, inventory 14 May 1689, Mitchell named his wife Mary; sons Edward and John; grandsons Experience and Thomas; granddaughter Mary Mitchell; and daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward, and Hannah Hayward (MD 32:97). His daughter Elizabeth, who married John Washburn, and his son Jacob, who married Susanna Pope, predeceased him.

In 1631 Experience sells his dwelling house, garden plot and fence, leading to the speculation that this may have been the approximate date of Jane's death, leaving him with small children. He was among the list of Freemen in Plymouth in 1633, and again on 7 March 1636/7; in Duxborrow about 1658 and again in Plymouth on May 1670. He was on various committees and held several offices from the years 1637 to 1662. He, like the other early Colonials, was granted additional lands through the years. In 1675/6 Experience and Edward Mitchell were were appointed by the Court to investigate the estate of Jacob Michell, deceased, for the good of his children. Experience, Edward and Joseph Bartlett were later appointed guardians of the children of Jacob Michell, deceased. Experience's will, dated 5 December 1684 and probated 4 September 1689 names son Edward, wife "mary michell", son John, grandson "Exsperience" [son of John] daughters Mary Shaw, Sarah Hayward and Hannah Hayward, grandson Thomas Mitchell and granddaughter mary michel whom he leaves in the care of his son Edward and Joseph Bartlet. His residence is given as Bridgewater. (See will) Parents: Thomas MITCHELL and Maria TROMDIN.

He was married to Jane COOKE after 22 May 1627 in Plymouth Colony, MA. (2117)(2118) Notes:

Rosser, Mayflower Increasings: "m. aft. 22 May 1627, Plymouth, Experience Mitchell . . ."

This date reflects that she was still single in the May 22, 1627 Division of Land.

Rosser: There is much controversy over the children of the two marriages of Experience Mitchell: "MFIP (Mayflower Families In Progress) , Cook:3 states Elizabeth Mitchell was b. 1628 and Thomas Mitchell c 1631. These two have been accepted by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants as Jane Cooke's. Since Thomas was the only Mitchell child known to have received land from grandfather Francis Cook, doubt is cast on the remaining Mitchell children who were born later than Thomas."

Ralph Wood takes exception, however, in his MF5G:12 volume, 1996, and includes Mary "presumed, quite safely, as a daughter of Jane, based on Mary's approximate date of birth.". Mary is born about 1632, presuming Jane married about 20. There is then a near 10-year span before the rest of Experience's children are born, presumably, by his second wife, Mary,.

Another observation is that if Jane died very early in their marriage, Experience was left with near infant children--quite a hardship in any event, and especially so in those days. Many such men would hasten to find a new wife and mother for such small children, and female companionship for themselves, however, Experience doesn't remarry until 1640/1.

Children were: Elizabeth (3) MITCHELL, Thomas[3] MITCHELL, Mary MITCHELL.

He was married to Mary before 1641 in Plymouth, MA?.(2119) The Cooke volume logs this as the date of his first child by his second wife, Mary. Children were: Sarah MITCHELL, Jacob MITCHELL, Edward MITCHELL, John MITCHELL, Hannah MITCHELL.

1. 1. EXPERIENCE MITCHELL was born about 1609 in Leiden , Holland. He came on the ship Anne in 1623 when he was fourteen years of age. At the division of cattle in May 1627, the first lot fell to Francis Cooke and his company, one of whom was Experience Mitchell. Experience was included in the list of Freemen in 1633. He married at age nineteen and lived on Spring Hill in Plymouth. He sold his home there in 1631 and removed to the Blue Fish River in Duxbury. He was an original proprietor of Bridgewater but did not remove there until late in life, sometime after 1680.

From Mayflower Families, Vol. II – The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Selected and Introduced by Gary Boyd Roberts:

Pg. 741.

COMMENT ON THE TWO WIVES OF

EXPERIENCE MITCHELL OF PLYMOUTH, MASS

By John B. Threlfal of Madison, Wisc.

Experience Mitchell came to Plymouth, Mass. In 1623 and is known to have had two wives. The first was Jane Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and his wife Hester Mahieu. Experience Mitchell and Jane Cooke were married after 22 May 1627. She died at an unknown date but before 1666, and he married a second wife whose given name was Mary, her surname yet unknown. The late George E. Bowman and other genealogists of Plymouth families have rather thoroughly examined the existing records that throw light on these people. From this material it is known that Experience Mitchell had the following children:

i. i. Elizabeth, b. prob. 1628; mar. 6 Dec 1645, John Washburn, Jr. She was living in Nov 1681, but he mar. (2) 1684-6, widow Elizabeth Packard. Her children, surname, Washburn, were: John, Thomas, Joseph, Samuel, Jonathan, Benjamin, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, James and Sarah.

ii. ii. Thomas. On 8 June 1666, John Cooke, ratified and confirmed to Richard Wright and Thomas Mitchell upland and meadow “given by my father Francis Cooke unto the aforesaid Richard Wright and Thomas Mitchell” lying at Jones River in Duxbury “to be equally divided betwixt” the two. On 1 Aug 1672 Thomas Mitchell sold his share to Wright and the deed states that it was given to him by his grandfather Francis Cooke of Plymouth (Col. Deeds, 3:234). He also had land at Dartmouth, given him by his father but returned it in 1669 to his father, who the same day conveyed it to son Jacob. Thomas acknowledged the deed 1 March 1674. He apparently went to Block Island, R.I. where a Thomas Mitchell in 1678 was convicted of selling liquor to the Indians. He d. bef. May of 1687, leaving sons Thomas, John and Joseph, and perhaps daughters, assuming this to be the same Thomas (see the American Genealogist, 12:193-9).

iii. iii. Mary, prob. b. 1630-34; mar. 24 Dec 1652 at Plymouth, James Shaw, son of John. Three known children, surname Shaw: James, John and Anne, and probably two other daughters.

iv. iv. Sarah, prob. b. 1641-45; mar. John Hayward, son of Thomas and Susannah; his estate settled 1710; she d. aft. 1731; res. Bridgewater. Ten children, b. 1663-87, surname Hayward: Sarah, John, Joseph, Mary, Thomas, Benjamin, Susanna, Elizabeth, Benoni and Mercy.

v. v. JACOB2

vi. vi. Edward, prob. b. 1644-48; mar. Mary Hayward, dau. of Thomas and sister of John; he lived with her 40 years and had no children; she d. and he mar.(2) 26 Aug 1708 Alice Bradford, b. 28 Jan 1677, dau. of Major John and Mercy (Warren) Bradford and they had three children: Mary, Alice and Edward; he d. 15 Mar 1716/17 and, she mar. (2) Deacon Joshua Hersey of Hingham; she d. 14 Jul 1746 at Hingham; Edward res. Bridgewater and raised three orphaned children of his brother Jacob.

vii. vii. John; mar. (1) 14 Dec 1675, Mary Bonney, dau. of Thomas; had one child, Experience; Mary d. 13 May 1677 and he mar. (2) 14 Jan 1679/80, Mary Lathrop who d. 13 Feb 1679/80. He mar. (3) 24 May 1682, Mary Prior; had eight children by her: Mary, Hannah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Elizabeth again, John, Sarah and Esther. He res. Duxbury, moved to Providence, R.I. where he d. 14 Oct 1719.

viii. viii. Hannah, mar. ca 1682 Joseph Hayward, son of Thomas and brother of John, as his third wife; had seven children: Mary, Thomas, Edward, Hannah, Susanna, Peter and Abigail; he d. 20 Jun 1718.

Bowman and most other writers have casually attributed all of these children

to Experience Mitchell’s first wife, Jane Cooke. There seems to be no evidence to support such an assumption, except in the case of Thomas, and therefore Elizabeth, who must have been the eldest in order to have married in 1645. Thomas and Elizabeth were named, perhaps, for Experiences Mitchell’s family, his father perhaps being Thomas Mitchell of Cambridge, Eng. and Amsterdam, Holland (Lora A. W. Underhill, Edward Small and His Descendants, 1934, 1:510.)

Not one of the later children bore a Cooke name, i.e. Francis, Jane or Hester;

except perhaps Jacob, named for Jane’s brother. Furthermore, daughter Elizabeth was the only child of Experience known to name a child Jane; whereas Sarah, Edward, Jacob, Hannah and John (and also Elizabeth) all named a child Mary. None of Experiences’s children named a child Jane, Francis or Hester (Esther), except Elizabeth’s Jane and John’s Esther. It appears entirely possible that Jane (Cooke) Mitchell was the mother of only Elizabeth, Thomas and perhaps Mary; and that Experience’s second wife Mary, was the mother of the others.

All of the above is circumstantial evidence; hardly the kind a genealogist prefers. By the same token, there is not even this much to support Jane as the mother of all these children, as has been carelessly assumed. Although the Society of Mayflower Descendants accepts descendants through all of the children of Experience Mitchell for membership, such an assumption would seem to be suspect. There is, of course, always the possibility that second wife Mary was herself a Mayflower daughter. (This ends the article from Mayflower Families.)

REBUTTAL to theThrelfal article (Gary Boyd Roberts). The following was submitted to me by another Mitchell genealogist and I tend to agree with these arguments. Respecting the submitter’s anomyminity, I am not revealing the name of that person. In November 1985 among the usual Thanksgiving observances there was an announcement that President William Howard Taft had been removed from the Mayflower Society “due to new information” about his ancestress Jane (Cooke) Mitchell. However, after questioning it was learned that no new information had been discovered. Some strict historians had determined that without birth dates of the children and the date of death of Jane (Cooke) Mitchell, the line was unproven except for the first two children (Elizabeth and Thomas), and possibly the third (Mary); all the rest were probably by Experience’s second wife Mary. Since this cannot be proved we are at a “stand-off.”

There is, though, a stronger possibility that Jane was the mother of them all:

1. In John Putnam Demos’ A Little Commonwealth there are more than adequate statistics to the longevity of a woman’s childbearing years. Women of the 17th century bore children at regular intervals well into their 40’s.

2. The Honorable Nathum Mitchell in his History of Bridgewater (called an unreliable source by the Mayflower Society), refers to Experience’s “wife of his old age, Mary.” Experience was probably 30 years old in 1635 and in no way could be considered old. On the other hand if he married Mary around 1666, by which time Jane was definitely dead, he was then about 62 and would have been considered old in those days.

3. The most important clue to when Jane died is found in the division of Francis Cooke’s “Rockynook” property on June 8, 1666. This was made three years after Francis Cook’s death and was divided five ways “according to our fathers real Intent and purpose.” If Jane had been dead nearly 30 years, would his “will and intent” have been to divide his property five ways? Most probably Jane was still alive in 1663 but dead by June 8, 1666.

4. An earlier argument was that the Mitchell children did not have Cooke or Mitchell family names. The ancestry of Francis Cooke is totally unknown and it is only probable that Thomas Mitchell was the father of Experience, therefore, family names are unknown. “Experience” reflects the names being given in that age. Old family names were no longer the mode and names such as “Wrestling with the Devil” and “Love of God” were being given.

Three of the known children of Experience bore the names of Jane’s siblings. The unknown children who died in infancy may have had Cooke-Mitchell names.

All in all there is no way to be positive of the Cooke-Mitchell relationships. To change history, we must be sure of our facts and not move on personal interpretations.

Arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the ship "Ann"

Emigrated to New World on the third ship "Ann" in 1623

Came to America in 1623 an the Ann

EXPERIENCE MITCHELL was born about 1609 in Leiden , Holland. He came on the ship Anne in 1623 when he was fourteen years of age. At the division of cattle in May 1627, the first lot fell to Francis Cooke and his company, one of whom was Experience Mitchell. Experience was included in the list of Freemen in 1633. He married at age nineteen and lived on Spring Hill in Plymouth. He sold his home there in 1631 and removed to the Blue Fish River in Duxbury. He was an original proprietor of Bridgewater but did not remove there until late in life, sometime after 1680. He is known to have had two wives. The first was Jane Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower and his wife Hester Mahieu. Experience Mitchell and Jane Cooke were married after 22 May 1627. She died at an unknown date but before 1666, and he married a second wife whose given name was Mary, her surname yet unknown.

Experience came over on the 3rd ship ANN in 1623 @ 14 years of age.

SOURCE< the Mayflower Society and family records.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=34766157
Birth: 1602 Death: 1689 Bridgewater Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA

Experience was born about 1602, in England. Experience is a subject in the book "Mayflower Families: Francis Cooke for Five Generations", published in association with the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Experience travelled in 1623 to Plymouth Colony on the ship "Anne", with his sister, Constant Mitchell. (Constant went on to marry John Fobes)

Experience married Jane Cooke, by about 1628 (no marriage record has been found). Jane was the daughter of Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke. She widowed him (She died before 1641, and perhaps years earlier). They had 3 children: Elizabeth b@1628 Thomas b@1630 Mary b@1632

Experience married Mary _____, by about 1641 (no marriage record has been found). She died after about 1662 (birth of last child). They had 5 children. Sarah b@1641 Jacob b@1643 Edward b@1645 John b@1650 Hannah b@1662

Experience is listed as one of the 54 Original Proprietors of Bridgewater. The request was 'as an enlargement to the west of Duxbury' and was granted by Governor Bradford in 1645.

NOTE: The date that Experience died is not known. He died sometime between 5 December, 1684, the date of his will, and 14 May, 1689, the date of the inventory of his estate.

Experience's grave is not marked with a headstone. In his book, "Epitaphs in Old Bridgewater", Williams Latham wrote: "The adult persons living and dying in this part of old Bridgewater previous to 1703, and probably buried in this yard, so far as is known, were N. Byram, 1688, and his wife, Robert Latham and wife, 1685-1688; Jonathan Cary, of Beaver, 1695; Experience Mitchell, of Elmwood, 1689; Mercy Harris, wife of Issac Harris, about 1682. No other public place of burial is known to have been used; and we find a very few private burying-grounds in the early settlement of the town, here, or elsewhere, in old Bridgewater."

Family links:

Parents:

 Thomas Mitchell (1566 - 1628)

 Margaret Williams Stocking-Mitchell (1568 - ____)

Spouses:

 Jane Cooke Mitchell

 Mary Mitchell

Children:

 Elizabeth Mitchell Washburn*

 Thomas Mitchell (1630 - ____)*

 Mary Mitchell Shaw (1632 - ____)*

 Sarah Mitchell Hayward (1641 - ____)*

 Jacob Mitchell (1643 - ____)*

 Edward Mitchell (1645 - 1717)*

 Edward Mitchell (1645 - 1717)*

 John Mitchell (1650 - 1719)*

 Hannah Mitchell Hayward (1661 - ____)*

*Calculated relationship

Note: There is no stone.

Burial: Old Graveyard East Bridgewater Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA

Experience Mitchell  born 1602 arrive on the Anne from Leiden Holland  . Immigrated to America in 1623 and became a citizen . Married Jane Cook  daughter of Francis Cook in 1628 . they had Elizabeth  Thomas and Mary .. Jane Passed away in before 1641 . And he remarried after that to Mary  maiden name unknown .They had 5 children 

They had 5 children. Sarah b@1641 Jacob b@1643 Edward b@1645 John b@1650 Hannah b@1662

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=34766157

The date that Experience died is not known. He died sometime between 5 December, 1684, the date of his will, and 14 May, 1689, the date of the inventory of his estate. 

Updated7/9/2015: Here are some internet resources for research. Find A Grave 34766157.CLM http://www.plimoth.org/media/pdf/mitchell_experience.pdf http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=34766157

• Residence: Blue Fish River, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America - 1623
• Residence: Spring Hill, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America - before 1639
• Residence: Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America - 1639
• Residence: Joppa, Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America - from 1684 to 1689
• Residence: Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America - 1689
  • Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 25 2018, 18:39:32 UTC

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Experience Mitchell BIRTH 1602 DEATH 1689 (aged 86–87) Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA BURIAL Old Graveyard East Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA PLOT There is no stone. MEMORIAL ID 3476615

Experience was born about 1602, in England. Experience is a subject in the book "Mayflower Families: Francis Cooke for Five Generations", published in association with the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

Experience travelled in 1623 to Plymouth Colony on the ship "Anne", with his sister, Constant Mitchell. (Constant went on to marry John Fobes)

Experience married Jane Cooke, by about 1628 (no marriage record has been found). Jane was the daughter of Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke. She widowed him (She died before 1641, and perhaps years earlier). They had 3 children: Elizabeth b@1628 Thomas b@1630 Mary b@1632

Experience married Mary _____, by about 1641 (no marriage record has been found). She died after about 1662 (birth of last child). They had 5 children. Sarah b@1641 Jacob b@1643 Edward b@1645 John b@1650 Hannah b@1662

Experience is listed as one of the 54 Original Proprietors of Bridgewater. The request was 'as an enlargement to the west of Duxbury' and was granted by Governor Bradford in 1645.

NOTE: The date that Experience died is not known. He died sometime between 5 December, 1684, the date of his will, and 14 May, 1689, the date of the inventory of his estate.

Experience's grave is not marked with a headstone. In his book, "Epitaphs in Old Bridgewater", Williams Latham wrote: "The adult persons living and dying in this part of old Bridgewater previous to 1703, and probably buried in this yard, so far as is known, were N. Byram, 1688, and his wife, Robert Latham and wife, 1685-1688; Jonathan Cary, of Beaver, 1695; Experience Mitchell, of Elmwood, 1689; Mercy Harris, wife of Issac Harris, about 1682. No other public place of burial is known to have been used; and we find a very few private burying-grounds in the early settlement of the town, here, or elsewhere, in old Bridgewater."

Family Members Parents Thomas Mitchell 1566–1628

Margaret Williams Mitchell 1568 – unknown

Spouses Jane Cooke Mitchell (m. 1628)

Mary Mitchell (m. 1641)

Siblings Constant Mitchell Forbes 1614–1661

Children Elizabeth Mitchell Washburn

Photo Thomas Mitchell 1630–1709

Mary Mitchell Shaw 1632 – unknown

Photo Jacob Mitchell 1636–1675

Sarah Mitchell Hayward 1641 – unknown

Photo Jacob Mitchell 1643–1675

Edward Mitchell 1645–1717

John Mitchell 1650–1719

Hannah Mitchell Hayward 1661 – unknown

Gravesite Details There is no stone

Maintained by: Chip5610 Originally Created by: Linda Mac Added: 13 Mar 2009 Find A Grave Memorial 34766157 Sponsored by Anonymous Source citation

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34766157/experience-mitchell

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"FamilySearch," database, FamilySearch   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (http://www.familysearch.org)

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"FamilySearch," database, FamilySearch   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (http://www.familysearch.org)

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"FamilySearch," database, FamilySearch   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (http://www.familysearch.org)

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