GOV. ISAAC ALLERTON - The Immigrant

b. ca. 1586 England

d. 1-12 Feb 1658-59 New Haven, CT m. 1) 4 Nov 1611 Leydon, Holland m.2) 1626

m.3) at Marblehead, MA.

1) Mary Norris

b. Newbury, Burks, Eng.

d. 25 Feb 1621 Plymouth Colony

2) Fear Brewster

d. bef. 12 Dec 1634 Plymouth Colony

3) Joanna Swinneton

First marriage's child number 1, Bartholomew, died between 15 Oct 1558 and 15 Feb 1658-59. He was a minister in England, and married twice.

First marriage's child number 2, Remember, died between 12 Sep 1652 and 22 Oct 1656, and had 7 children.

The earliest records of New England and New Amsterdam regarding Isaac Allerton reveal that his

contemporaries held him in high esteem, with the exception of William Bradford. His broad spirit of enterprise exceeded that of any of the other Mayflower passengers. He had far-reaching activities which helped to weld together the colonies. His mission was one of conciliation and peace but was hampered by his environment and the narrow spirit of the times, so that many of his enterprises were unsuccessful. The records show him to have been one of the Pilgrims' mainstays in Holland, and no other was deemed suited to bring the last of the Pilgrims from Leydon to New Plymouth. He was one of the first signers of the Mayflower Compact. (Sumner)

The dealings of New Amsterdam and New Haven merchants with Virginia were always conducted with the English planters, not with Indians, yet Allerton, owing to his familiarity with their ways and friendliness with them, obtained his Virginia land directly from the Indians. His son Isaac removed to the Virginia plantation after his father's death and built a large mansion in which he spent the rest of his life. He also acquired large interests in Delaware Bay, where he had the trust and confidence of Swedish settlers. (Sumner)

1609

About this time Isaac Allerton went to Holland from England. Prior to this time he had lived in London and probably joined the Pilgrims there. He lived in Holland with his widowed sister, Sarah Allerton Vincent, whose marriage to Degory Priest occurred the same day as his own. In London Isaac was a tailor.

4Nov1611

M. 1) at Leydon, Holland, to Mary Norris of Newbury, England.

"Isaack Allerton, Jongman van Londe in Engelant, vergeselschapt met Edward Southward, Richard Masterson & Ranulphe Thickins zyn bekende met Marie Norris, jonge Dochter van Nubere in Engelant, vergeselschaptmetAnne Fuller & Dille Carpenter, haier bekende. Zyn getroute, voor Willem Cornelison Tyboult & Jacob Paedts Shepene des iiW Novembris xvr elfte."

'JsanbaH uodn aJqvl!VtlY sa:Jua.lajaH lvuo!ssajo.lcl puv lVUOS.lacl

English translation:

"Isaac Allerton, unmarried man from London, England, accompanied by Edward Southworth & Ralph Dickens his acquaintances, with Mary Norris, single woman of Newbury, England, accompanied by Anne Fuller and Priscilla Carpenter, her acquaintances. Married before William Cornelison T yboult & Jacob Paedts, sheriffs, November 4, 1611." (Sumner)

1615

Isaac became a citizen of Leydon and later that year he was the guaranty for Degory Priest. These two were the only two Pilgrims who became Dutch citizens.

1618

Isaac and Mary witnessed the betrothal of Edward Winslow, later governor of Plymouth Colony.

1620

Having joined with Samuel Fuller, Edward Winslow and William Bradford in a letter to Robert Cushman and John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth Colony, then in England, cautioning them not to go too far without the writers. History shows the Pilgrims paid dearly for Cushman's mismanagement.

Allerton left Holland on the Speedwell with his family on board. When the passengers readjusted at Plymouth, England, after the Speedwell, which leaked, was abandoned, the Allertons continued on the Mayflower. They left the baby Sarah behind, but she was later brought by her Aunt Sarah, now married to Cuthburt Cuthbertson. (Sumner)

Decl620

To New England on the Mayflower with his first wife, who was one of the many who died during the first winter. While on the Mayflower in Province town Harbor, Mary had a baby son, but the baby did not live and, as mentioned, she died within two months.

In the assignment of "the seven garden plotes" Allerton drew one next to Francis Cooke.

Bef.

25Feb1620-21 Mary Norris Allerton died.

1621

Governor Carver died, and William Bradford was chosen governor, with Allerton as assistant governor. He held this office until 1625 and perhaps longer.

He was at this time a freeman of the colony and was assessed the largest tax in the colony, £3.11. When his sister Sarah's estate was settled, he was the largest creditor at£75, but gave "free leave that the other creditors should be paid first, desiring rather to lose all rather than other men should lose any." (Sumner)

"Mary 'died with the first' in Plymouth, MA ... and was buried on Cole's HilL" (Sumner)

1623

Isaac received an additional seven acres.

1625

Robert Cushman died and Isaac as repeatedly sent to England beginning this date as the agent of the Plymouth Colony. He and Winslow, after several stormy meetings with the Merchant Adventurers in England, induced them to advance money for supplies which were committed to their custody as "our factours, at whose discretion they are to be sould, and commodities to be taken for them, as is fitting." (Sumner)

1626

1627

1628

1627

1630

Bef. 12Decl634

1634

1635

1936

1637

It was this bringing over of his own merchandise that incensed Bradford.

He went again in 1627 after Standish had failed the year before, returning in the spring of 1627 with the draft of an agreement "drawne by the best counsel oflaw they could get, to make it firme." By the contract the Adventurers sold their entire interest to Plymouth Colony for £1800, £200 to be paid annually. (Sumner)

He went to England again and made the first payment on the debt. He brought a great assortment of merchandise back, Bradford claiming that his own goods were more vendable than theirs, and so Allerton sold them outside of the Colony. They sent him to England again, "considering how well he had done the former business, and what goode acceptation he had with their friends there." He then spent 3 months in Holland, arranging for the rest of the Pilgrims to come to New England. 35 families did come, on the ship, Lion. He waited for the reading at the council table of the patents, which had been granted by the King - one a charter for Plymouth, the other a better one for Kennebec than he had obtained on a former trip. The Lion could wait no longer and sailed from Bristol with the last of the Pilgrims, forced to abandon the matter temporarily. (Sumner)

In the distribution of cattle of this year, Isaac and his party of thirteen fell "the Greate Black cow that came in the Anne, to which they must keepe the lesser of the steers and two she goats." (Sumner)

Isaac spent months in England, without much financial support, but he and the London partners did secure a patent ofland on the Penobscot, which provided the opportunity for Plymouth control of trade and fishing on the coast of Maine. With the English partners he bought the white Angel and hired the Friendship, seeing thereby the means of raising money to pay some of their debt, but Bradford was furious at the purchase. They now owed about £5,000. Bradford wrote in 1630, "Mr.Allertonfollowedhisaffaires and returned to England, with his White AngelL" Evidently Allerton took the ship over, himself, when the Colonists complained, and when the ship made money, they resented it. He had other clashes with Bradford and Allerton, feeling misused, and feeling his good name was tarnished, withdrew from the Colony. (Sumner)

He became a coast trader sometime after 1630.

Fear Brewster Allerton died at Plymouth Colony of "pestilent fever."

Although the Plymouth Colonists found fault with him, they could not spare him, and in 1634 elected him Assistant, hoping to induce him to return. He had built a house before 1635 at Rocky Nook, near "the Old Wading Place," at Jones' River, the property later belonging to his son-in-law Elder Thomas Cushman. (Sumner)

To the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Lived in Boston, MA.

"Isaac Allerton, gent." was on the second list of freemen.

26Sep1639

1643

Bef. 1644

1644

1645

1646

1647

1658

Gave a deposition at Plymouth that his age was "about 53 years."

He and eight others were elected for conferences during an uprising (Connecticut).

M. 3) Joanna Swinneton at Marblehead, MA.

The same men elected in 1643 sent a letter to Holland, charging Director Kieft with malfeasance in office and inciting the recent Indian War. They requested his removal (from New Amsterdam, now New York), and Peter Stuyvesant was sent over to replace him. Allerton was a burgher in New Amsterdam and was taxed sixty florins, one of the largest tax payers. The court minutes in New Amsterdam have many references to him. He seems to have been greatly in demand as security or bail, and often acted as Dutch interpreter at court. (Sumner)

Allerton and his wife were shipwrecked in a storm but all were saved. (Sumner)

A settlement of all London claims for Plymouth was completed and for the first time the Colony enjoyed freedom from debt. Winslow and others tried in vain to get Allerton to adjust his accounts. The probate files at Plymouth County show that many estates were indebted to him.

He established headquarters of his fishing fleet of eight boats at Marble Harbor, but his residence there was full of misfortune. His house at Marblehead burned, and a ship he sent to France was lost with its entire cargo. His earlier connections with Massachusetts Bay Colony were fruitful and he helped the new settlement of Boston very materially. Therewere later differences, suspected to be the outgrowth of his championship of Roger Williams. (Sumner)

Most of his time was at sea or looking after varied interests, and since he was no longer Plymouth's agent, he made the most of his opportunities. The Main records prove his association with Richard Vines and Sir Ferdinando Gorges - who in a deed calls him "rusty and well beloved"

He established business relations with new Amsterdam (New York) and New Haven, and had a home in each place. He was prominent, yet little is known of his later years in these places. He could speak Dutch and English as well as several Indian tongues. (Sumner)

He was the bearer of important letters passing between Stuyvesant and the governor of the New Haven Colony. His advice was sought by both.

His New Haven house was "a grande house with four porticoes" and was one of the "four which excelled in stateliness all other houses erected by the first generation of its inhabitants." He and Joanna had prominent seats in the New Haven Church under Rev. John Davenport, the seating rigidly appointed according to importance. (Sumner)

When over seventy, in order to meet a debt for Virginia tobacco, he mortgaged his house and farm near Delaware Bay, and later mortgaged a ketch, but he was always solvent and his credit the best. (Sumner)

290ctl659

1662

14May 1680

1682

His will was presented to the New Haven court by his son Isaac. This was in the form of a

"writeing" which appointed the widow and son Isaac as joint executors and showed about 4,390 guilders due him from the Dutch in New Amsterdam, and £100 from the English, as well as money due from Barbados and elsewhere. Isaac, Jr. declined to administer unless he might be free to act as he saw convenient, and two other trustees were appointed. The inventory of the New Haven property amounted to£U8, the house estimated at£75. Isaac bought the homestead from the creditors for £120 and in 1660 deeded it to his stepmother for life, with reversion to his daughter Mrs. Elizabeth Eyes, who eventually received it.

Joanna Allerton is given the most important seat in the church at New Haven, for a woman.

Living in New Haven, cr.

Joanna Allerton died.

Sources

Mayflower Families in Progress, "Isaac Allerton," compiler Robert S. Wakefield,

FASG, Genl. Society of Mayflower Descendants, [1990].

The Plymouth Adventure, Ernest Gebler, Doubleday, Inc., Garden City, NJ.

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Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Descendants of Thomas Farr of Harpswell, Maine and Ninety Allied Families, American Offset Printers, Los Angeles, CA, [1959], pp. 8-13.

Whittemore, Henry, Genl. Guide to the Early Settlers in America, Genl. Publ. Co., Baltimore, MD, [1967], p. 9.

Colonial Homes Magazine, "Pilgrim Perennials," article and pictures of Allerton's home at Plimoth Plantation, MA, restored [Oct. 1989].

A xeroxed book Introduction, no author or book name given.

ISAAC ALLERTON

b.22 May 1627 -30 Plymouth Colony d. 25 Oct 1702 Westmoreland Co., VA m. ca. 1652

1) Elizabeth ( )

d. 1655 New Haven, New Haven, CT

2) Elizabeth Willoughby b.1635

d. aft. 1672

First marriage's child number 1, Elizabeth, married twice and had six children.

Second marriage's child number 1, Willoughby, may have died 25 Mar 1724. He had two children. He was married three times.

Second marriage's child number 2, Mary, had 4 children.

Second marriage's child number 3, Frances, had 4 children.

1650

Graduated from Harvard University.

ca. 1652

Isaac m. 1) Elizabeth, and had two children by her.

ca. 1655

Elizabeth died in New Haven, CT.

1659

Elizabeth Willoughby m. 1) Simon Overzee, in Virginia.

ca. 1661

Elizabeth Willoughby Overzee m. 2) George Colcough.

ca. 1663

Isaac Allerton and Elizabeth Willoughby married.

250ctl702

Date of will.

30I5_cl701

Will proved.

Sources

Wakefield, Robert S., FASG, compiler, Mayflower Families in Progress, "Isaac Allerton," Genl. Soc. of Mayflower Descendants, [1990].