Sarah Allerton, 13th Great-Grandmother

June 14, 2017 — 10 Comments

London

Sarah Allerton was born in London in 1588, and died in Plymouth Colony in 1633.  She arrived in the new world on the ship Anne with her third husband in 1632 after my 13th great-grandfather had sailed on the Mayflower then died shortly after arrival in the colony.  Her brother Isaac was a signer of the Mayflower Compact as well, and assistant to Governor Bradford in America.  Isaac later disgraced himself, moved to New Amsterdam, and became known as the first Yankee trader.

Sarah Allerton’s parents are not given but information is provided by unknown sources. Her parents would have been Edward Allerton, b. 1555 St. Dionis, Backchurch, London, England, died 1590 England, and Rose Davis, b. ca. 1559 in St. Peters, Corningshire, died June 1596 in England. Edward’s father was William Allerton, b. 1529. Sarah however certainly had at least two brothers. Isaac’s will also mentions a “brother Breuster”. The two siblings were:

1) Isaac Allerton, b. ca. 1586. He was one of the more famous of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was originally a tailor in London and was married in Leyden, the same day as his sister, 4 November 1611, to Mary Norris of Newbury, England, b. ca. 1588.
He came over on the Mayflower, with his wife and three children, and became First Assistant (1621 to ca. 1631) to Governor Bradford. Mary Norris died in childbirth, with a stillborn son, the first winter. She died 25 February 1620/1 on the Mayflower, while the first houses were still being built at Plymouth. In ca. 1626 he married Fear Brewster, b. 1606 at Scrooby, England , daughter of William and Mary Brewster, William being one of the most famous Pilgrims. Fear had arrived in Plymouth in July 1623, on the Anne, the same ship that brought Mary Priest and her two children.
Isaac was well known for his unscrupulous dealings with fellow Pilgrims and eventually left the colony in disgrace in the 1630’s when he lost the support of William Brewster. “A most enterprising man, he engaged in commercial pursuits at Marblehead and in Maine and later resided at New Amsterdam.” . He is often remembered as “the first Yankee trader”. Fear died in Plymouth before 12 December 1634. Isaac Allerton was probably married a third time to Joanna Swinnerton, before 1644, probably New Haven, CT. There were no known children from this marriage. He died insolvent between 1 and 12 February 1658/9 in New Haven, CT. Joanna was still living in 1684. Isaac’s children were (Sarah and Isaac were by his second wife):
Bartholomew, b. ca. 1612, in Leyden, Holland. Bartholomew returned to England. He first married Margaret _____ and then Sarah Fairfax, prob. in Rumbough, Suffolk, England. He died between 15 October 1658 and 19 February 1658/9, prob. at Bramfield, Suffolk, England. Four children are recorded.
Remember, b. ca. 1614 in Leyden. She m. Moses Maverick, before 6 May 1635 and died between 12 Sept. 1652 and 22 Oct. 1656. Moses lived in Lynn, Salem, and at Marblehead (all MA) in the time they were married. They had seven children, born at Lynn and Salem. Moses remarried in Boston to Eunice (Cole) Roberts by whom he had four children.
Mary, b. June 1616, m. Thomas Cushman, ca. 1636, in Plymouth, MA. Cushman came to Plymouth in 1621 on the Fortune. They had eight children. She died 28 November 1699, Plymouth, MA, the last survivor of those who came on the Mayflower. One of her grandchildren, Allerton Cushman, married in 1726 to Elizabeth Sampson, cousin of Benjamin Sprague.
Child, buried St. Peters, Leyden, 5 February 1620.
Stillborn son, b. 22 December 1620 on the Mayflower, Plymouth Harbor.
Sarah, b. ca. 1627 in Plymouth, died young before 1651.
Isaac Allerton, Jr., b. between 22 May 1627 and 1630, Plymouth, MA. He married first to Elizabeth _____, ca. 1652 (2 children) and then to Elizabeth Willoughby, a widow of Overzee and Colclough, ca. 1663, in Norfolk County, VA. Elizabeth was born in 1635 in England (12). They had three children, all born in Westmoreland Co, VA. Isaac became the first Plymouth student at Harvard (he graduated according to in 1650) and later went into business and made a fortune himself. He died Westmoreland Co., VA in 1702.
As is the case for Degory Priest, a General Society of Mayflower Descendents book is available on the first five generations of Isaac Allerton’s descendents. A somewhat earlier and shorter version, covering four generations, was published in 1996. Isaac Allerton has apparently a relatively small number of descendants compared to other Mayflower passengers, but is an ancestor to Presidents Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt (the latter also descended from Degory Priest through Sarah). The presidents are both thus our very remote (!) relatives: President Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), through Isaac Allerton Jr., was a 5th cousin to Mary (Scott) Wisdom; President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), through Degory Priest, was an 8th cousin to Paul Graham.

2) Sarah Allerton, b. ca. 1588 at London . She was first married to John Vincent and then married to Degory Priest as noted above. Having received word of her husband’s death, she remarried on 13 November 1621 in Leyden, to Godbert Godbertson (name used in but also often called Cuthbert Cuthbertson). They arrived in July-August of 1623 on the Anne with their three children (two by Degory Priest). It is possible that there were two additional children with them by the first marriage of Godbertson (I think there is a reference to five children that arrived with them in and see also mention of three Cuthbertson below). Francis Sprague, another of my ancestors, was also a passenger. Godbert (ca. 1590-633), a Dutch Walloon, was a hat-maker in Leyden. He had been married previously in 1617 to Elizabeth Kendall. He became a “purchaser”, i.e., a shareholder in the Pilgrim Company when it was formed in 1626. He died seven years later, in Plymouth, of “infectious fever”. She died in Plymouth before 24 October 1633. On 11 November 1633 their son-in-law Phineas Pratt was appointed “to take possession of the personal property of Cuthbert Cuthbertson and his wife Sarah”.