James Chilton's wife, "Mayflower" Passenger

Very little is known about James Chilton's wife. Mrs. Chilton's name has not even been discovered. It has been widely suggested for many years she may have been Susanna Furner, but this was fairly conclusively disproven by the research of Michael Paulick, published in 1999.

http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/MrsChilton.php

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/mayflower/james_chilton.htm

The CHILTON/FURNER alleged marriage has been reproduced many times in genealogies since 1962. The baptism of Susannah FURNER may be found in the parish register of St. Paul's church, Canterbury as follows:"Susan Furner the 5th daye" November, 1573. The CHILTON's first child Isabell was baptised on 15th January 1586. Using old style dates, Susan would have been only 12-1/2 years old at the time of her marriage to James CHILTON, then about 29 years old. She would have been only 13 at the birth of Isabell. This is highly unlikely therefore, until evidence has been submitted for their marriage, Mrs. CHILTON's identity has not been proven and remains a mystery.

---

In 1620, Susanna Chilton (Furner) departed England for Massachusetts on the Mayflower with her husband, James, and daughter, Mary. James was one of the three men who died at sea during the crossing. Susanna died that first winter in Massachusetts. Over half of the passengers died that first winter. Susanna's daughter, Mary Chilton, survived and celebrated the first Thanksgiving in November 1621.

Details on the Mayflower, it's Passenger List, and those that died within the first year can be found at the following links:

Mayflower:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower

Passengers List:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_passengers_on_the_Mayflower#ci...

List of Mayflower Passengers who died the first winter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mayflower_passengers_who_died_...

---

Like so many women of that time, Mrs. James Chilton's name is sadly unknown. John Hunt suggested she was James Chilton's stepsister, Susanna Furner, but more recent research has proved this to be false. The idea that her name was Susanna apparently dates back to Nahum Mitchell's 1840 book "History of Bridgewater" but he does not document any source for this information. She was most likely married around 1586 based on the baptism of her first child. She had ten children; Isabella (1587), Jane (1589), Joel, Mary, Elizabeth, James, Ingle, Christina (1601), James (1603), and Mary (31 May 1607). On 12 June 1609, Mrs. Chilton was excommunicated from the Church of England for "privately burying a child of Andrew Sharp of St. Mary's parish...which they secretly conveyed to the earth without any notice given to me or my clerk...which act some of them seem now since to dissent calling into question the lawfulness of the king's constitutions in this and other behalfs, affirming these things to be popish ceremonies and of no other force". This incident seems to have prompted the family to immigrate to Leiden and join the Pilgrim Separatists. Mrs. Chilton, her husband James, and daughter Mary all came on the Mayflower. At this time James was about Sixty four years old and Mary was about thirteen. We can assume that Mrs. Chilton must have been much younger than her husband to have had a thirteen year old daughter. She and husband died shortly after arriving to Plymouth, most likely while the Mayflower was still anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. There is a tradition that states that their daughter Mary was the first female to step ashore at Plymouth, upon Plymouth Rock.