John Hooke, described by Bradford as a "servant-boy," was probably but a
youth. He did not sign the Compact. Nothing further is known of him
except that he died early. It is quite possible that he may have
been of London and have been "indentured" by the municipality to
Allerton, but the presumption has been that he came, as body-servant
of Allerton, with him from Leyden.
Captain Standish's years in 1620 are conjectural (from fixed data), as is his age at death. His early home was at Duxborough Hall, in Lancashire. His commission as Captain, from Queen Elizabeth, would make his birth about 1584. Rose Standish, his wife, is said by tradition to have been from the Isle of Man, but nothing is known of her age or antecedents, except that she was younger than the Captain. She died during the "general sickness," early in 1621.
Master Christopher Martin, as previously noted, was from Billerica, in Essex. From collateral data it appears that he must have been "about forty" years old when he joined the Pilgrims. He appears to have been a staunch "Independent" and to have drawn upon himself the ire of the Archdeacon of Chelmsford, (probably) by his loud-mouthed expression of his views, as only "a month before the MAY-FLOWER sailed" he, with his son and Solomon Prower of his household (probably a relative), were cited before the archdeacon to answer for their shortcomings, especially in reverence for this church dignitary. He seems to have been at all times a self-conceited, arrogant, and unsatisfactory man. That he was elected treasurer and ship's "governor" and permitted so much unbridled liberty as appears, is incomprehensible. It was probably fortunate that he died early, as he did, evidently in utter poverty. He had a son, in 1620, apparently quite a grown youth, from which it is fair to infer that the father was at that time "about forty." Of his wife nothing is known. She also died early.
Solomon Prower, who is called by Bradford both "son" and "servant" of Martin, seems from the fact of his "citation" before the Archdeacon of Chelmsford, etc., to have been something more than a "servant," possibly a kinsman, or foster-son, and probably would more properly have been termed an "employee." He was from Billerica, in Essex, and was, from the fact that he did not sign the Compact, probably under twenty-one or very ill at the time. He died early. Of John Langemore, his fellow "servant," nothing is known, except that he is spoken of by Young as one of two "children" brought over by Martin (but on no apparent authority), and he did not sign the Compact, though this might have been from extreme illness, as he too died early.
William White was of the Leyden congregation. He is wrongly called by Davis a son of Bishop John White, as the only English Bishop of that name and time died a bachelor. At White's marriage, recorded at the Stadthaus at Leyden, January 27/February 1, 1612, to Anna [Susanna] Fuller, he is called "a young man of England." As he presumably was of age at that time, he must have been at least some twenty-nine or thirty years old at the embarkation, eight years later. His son Peregrine was born in Cape Cod harbor. Mr. White died very early.
Susanna (Fuller) White, wife of William, and sister of Dr. Fuller (?), was apparently somewhat younger than her first husband and perhaps older than her second. She must, in all probability (having been married in Leyden in 1612), have been at least twenty-five at the embarkation eight years later. Her second husband, Governor Winslow, was but twenty-five in 1620, and the presumption is that she was slightly his senior. There appears no good reason for ascribing to her the austere and rather unlovable characteristics which the pen of Mrs. Austin has given her.
Resolved White, the son of William and Susanna White, could not have been
more than six or seven years old, and is set down by Goodwin and
others—on what seems inconclusive evidence—at five. He was
doubtless born at Leyden.
William Holbeck is simply named as "a servant" of White, by Bradford.
His age does not appear, but as he did not sign the Compact he was
probably "under age." From the fact that he died early, it is
possible that he was too ill to sign.
Edward Thompson is named by Bradford as a second "servant" of Master
White, but nothing more is known of him, except that he did not sign
the Compact, and was therefore probably in his nonage, unless
prevented by severe sickness. He died very early.
Master William Mullens (or Molines, as Bradford some times calls him) is elsewhere shown to have been a tradesman of some means, of Dorking, in Surrey, one of the Merchant Adventurers, and a man of ability. From the fact that he left a married daughter (Mrs. Sarah Blunden) and a son (William) a young man grown, in England, it is evident that he must have been forty years old or more when he sailed for New England, only to die aboard the ship in New Plymouth harbor. That he was not a French Huguenot of the Leyden contingent, as pictured by Rev. Dr. Baird and Mrs. Austin, is certain.