The Great Migration - Puritan Ships

Halsall, William F. Arrival of the Winthrop’s Ships in Boston Harbor. 1880. N.p.

Besides the famous (or should I say infamous?) Mayflower carrying Separatist passengers, there was a series of ships that brought Puritans to America in the seventeenth century.

The Recovery

In the Spring of 1633 (31 March to be exact), the Recovery set sail from Weymouth, Dorsetshire for New England, captained by Master Gabriel Cornish. Among its passengers were six Thomases, six Johns, two Roberts, a David, a Jonathan, a Daniel, a Joseph, a William, an Anthony, an Elizabeth, a Mary, and a Sarah. The oddeset name on board this ship was Ezechia, which was a variant of the name Hezekiah. 

The Elizabeth

The ship left port in mid-April 1634 from Ipswich, Suffolk, bound for New England. It took the ship six months to reach its destination, and the ship was captained by Master William Andrewes. It's not surprising that the most popular names on board were John (x15) and Elizabeth (x11), followed by eight occurrences of Thomas and eight occurences of Mary. Other classics included Henry (x5), Richard (x4), Isaac (x3) [includes variation Isaacke], Robert (x3), William (x3), Samuel (x3), Joseph (x2), George (x2), Sarah (x5), Susan (x4), Martha (x4), Anne (x5) [includes variantion Anna], and Abigail (x2). Less common occurrences of one passenger were Edmond, Martin, Daniel, Edward, Philip, Rose, Elinor, Bridget, Katherine, Rebecca, and Lydia. The most eccentric names on board were Thurston, which occured twice in father and son, Humphry, Abraham, Ursula, and Phebe. 

Other passengers on Puritan ships:

Just (Houlding, 23), Darcas (Rose, 2), Ffayth (Newell, 14), Wilbroe (Cooper, 42), Barbarie (Ruggels, 30), Augustine (Clement, --), Hercules (Woodman, --), Zacheus (Courtis, --), Etenetus (Olney, --), Isbell (Tuttell, 70), Sycillie (Clark, 16), Palmer (Tingley, 21), Eglin (Hanford, 46), Randolphus (Elmes, 15), Clement (Bates, 40), Jervice (Gold, 30), Jersula (Greenoway, 32), Hopestill (Ffoster, 14), Philemon (Dalton, 45), Abram (Ffleming, 40), Aymes (Gladwell, 16), Josias (Cobbett, 21), Hilary (Carter, 27), Gamaliel (Bewmont, 21), Caleb (Carr, 11), Bennett (Morecock, 16), Merriall (Saltonstall, 22), Tomazin (Carpenter, 35), Dyonis (Taylor, 48), Constant (Wood, 12), Michelaliel (Monnings, 3), Cesara (Covell, 15), Annis (Almy, 8), Geo (Cocke, 25), Theophilus (Jones, 3), Thomaxin (Manson, 14), Remembrance (Tybott, 28), Salomon (Martin, 16), Ephraim (Howe, 9), Obediah (Hawes, 6mo)

Any of these names peak your interest? I'll do a follow up post for other passengers on other Puritan/Pilgrim ships and the origins of some of these names.