John Carver1

b. 1585, d. April 1621
Family Background:
Horn and Allied Families
     John Carver was born by about 1585.2 He married Catherine White, daughter of Alexander White and Eleanor (—?—) (White), before 1609.1 He died in April 1621 in Plymouth. William Bradford wrote, "In this month of April [1621], whilst they were busy about their seed, their Governor (Mr. John Carver) came out of the field very sick, it being a hot day. He complained greatly of his head and lay down, and within a few hours his senses failed, so as he never spake more till he died, which was within a few days after. Whose death was much lamented and caused great heaviness amongst them, as there was cause. He was buried in the best manner they could, with some volleys of shot by all that bore arms. And his wife, being a weak woman, died within five or six weeks after him."1,3
     
     John Carver, first Governor of Plymouth Colony, and his wife Catherine were passengers on the Mayflower.1 In a letter dated June 1620, Reverend John Robinson wrote John Carver "My dear friend and brother whom with yours I always remember in my best affections."4,1

Citations

  1. [S626] Robert S. Wakefield, "The Family of Alexander White of Sturton Le Steeple, Co. Nottingham, England", The Mayflower Descendant 43 (July 1993): 184.
  2. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-16?? (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996-200?). The Great Migration Study Project is ongoing. Several volumes have been published in hardcopy, and new sketches appear frequently in the "Great Migration Newsletter" (online subscription or hardcopy). The database is online and may be viewed at New England Ancestors.org or Ancestry.com, both of which are subscription sites. It is also available in hardcover and CD-ROM from NEHGS.
  3. [S170] Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, citing William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, Samuel Eliot Morison, ed. (New York 1952), 86.
  4. [S627] John A. Howland, "Gov. John Carver", New England Historical and Genealogical Register 17 (January 1863): 63.