Degory Preist, Thirteenth Great-Grandfather

June 12, 2017 — #ancestors #archetypes # insight #history, genealogy, Mayflower, pioneer

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My 13th great-grandfather was a hatter who sailed to America on the Mayflower, but did not survive the first winter.  His wife and children came to Plymouth in 1623 to take over his allotment in the colony.

Degory Priest was one of the Pilgrim passengers on the Mayflower in 1620. His wife, Sarah Allerton, and children Mary and Sarah stayed behind in Holland in Leiden where some of the Pilgrims had moved to escape religious persecution in England. He died during that first desperate winter in Plymouth. His wife and children came to North America on the Anne in 1623. At least one of his grandchildren was an early resident of Nantucket Island. Alternate spellings of his name are “Gregory”, “Degorie”, or “Digorie” Priest. Sarah Allerton’s brother Isaac Allerton and his family were also passengers on the Mayflower.

Degory and Sarah have many notable descendants including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Maria Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Richard Gere, Dick Van Dyke, and Orson Scott Card.

Degory PRIEST (1579 – 1621)
13th great-grandfather
Mary Priest (1613 – 1689)
daughter of Degory PRIEST
Daniel Pratt (1640 – 1680)
son of Mary Priest
Henry Pratt (1658 – 1745)
son of Daniel Pratt
Esther Pratt (1680 – 1740)
daughter of Henry Pratt
Deborah Baynard (1720 – 1791)
daughter of Esther Pratt
Mary Horney (1741 – 1775)
daughter of Deborah Baynard
Esther Harris (1764 – 1838)
daughter of Mary Horney
John H Wright (1803 – 1850)
son of Esther Harris
Mary Wright (1816 – 1873)
daughter of John H Wright
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Mary Wright
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Degory Priest deposed that he was 40 years old in a document signed in Leiden in April 1619; this would place his birth at about 1579 in England.  On 4 November 1611, he was married to Sarah (Allerton) Vincent, the widow of John Vincent, and the sister of Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton; Isaac Allerton was married to his wife Mary Norris on the same date.

It has been suggested that Degory Priest of the Mayflower may have been the Degorius Prust, baptized 11 August 1582 in Hartland, Devon, England, the son of Peter Prust.  However, given that the baptism appears to be about 3 years too late, and the fact that none of the Leiden Separatists are known to have come from Devonshire, I doubt this baptism belongs to the Mayflower passenger.  Degory Priest was one of the earliest to have arrived in Leiden, so it is more reasonable to suspect he is from the Nottinghamshire/Yorkshire region, the Sandwich/Canterbury region, the London/Middlesex region, or the Norfolk region: all of the early Separatists in Leiden appear to have come from one of these centers.

Degory and wife Sarah had two children, Mary and Sarah.  Degory came alone on the Mayflower, planning to bring wife and children later after the colony was better established.  His death the first winter ended those plans.  His wife remarried to Godbert Godbertson in Leiden, and they had a son Samuel together.  Godbert, his wife Sarah, their son Samuel, and his step-children Mary and Sarah Priest all came on the ship Anne to Plymouth in 1623.

Mayflower Compact

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