Mayflower Madness
Yes. America's first convicted murderer is my 11th great-grandpa.
I know every single one of us has some branches in our family tree that are a bit…unique. My wife and I absolutely love watching the series Who Do You Think You Are. For the uninitiated, Who Do You Think You Are is a series where celebrities, athletes, politicians, and other heavily spotlighted people team up with a group of genealogists. They begin by taking a look at their family tree and then dive deep into a single branch to discover as much as they can about one or two particular ancestors. The episode usually involves the whole team exploring archives, researching libraries, visiting grave sites, and traveling to that ancestor’s original hometown. Truly each episode is fascinating. As each person digs deeper into a single ancestor’s stories, they are often overwhelmed with emotions ranging from sorrow, happiness, shame, and anger as they become more connected to their past.
I’ve also done a lot of genealogical work on my own family tree and there is one particular branch that is totally nuts, very scandalous, and quite frankly, the kind of story that could absolutely find itself on an episode of a completely different kind of series; Drunk History.
This is a story of murder, fortunate coincidences, and one family’s fight for freedom of speech.
Plus, the Mayflower nearly blows up!!!
Ok, Dear Reader. This is the brief story about my ancestor, the first convicted felon ever in colonized America; John Billington.
The Mayflower set sail with 102 passengers from England headed towards the New World in 1620. About a third of the passengers claimed to be Separatists and were trying to get away from the persecuting rule of the Church of England. Others, known by the religious Pilgrims as “Strangers”, were onboard only with simple hopes of carving out a better life for themselves.
John Billington, his wife Elinor, and their two sons, John and Francis were part of that group of “Strangers”. Little is known about John Billington's life in England, but he quickly made himself known as a bit of a troublemaker whilst voyaging across the Atlantic on the Mayflower. A mutiny broke out near the end of the 10-week voyage and soon-to-be-named Plymouth Governor William Bradford wrote that several strangers made “discontented” and “mutinous speeches”.
Yup, you guessed it. John was at the head of that mutiny. Why mutiny on the very boat taking you to eventual freedom? Well, you may remember a little something called the Mayflower Compact from your days in high school history class. Basically the Compact was an agreement drafted up to establish a very rudimentary form of government for the settlement that would be established upon their disembarking in the New World. John was not such a fan of the agreement because he and several more of these “Strangers” felt it still pledged too much loyalty to the King of England and forced people to live under very strict Pilgrim rules.
The mutiny was obviously prevented and those involved were heavily punished. The Mayflower Compact was ultimately only signed by 41 of the passengers before disembarking into Plymouth. John did however end up signing it as a sign of good faith despite his distaste for it.
Remember how I said John became known as a bit of a troublemaker? Turns out his entire family carried the same infamy. While the Mayflower was anchored off the shore of Cape Cod, John’s 14-year-old son Francis (the son that my bloodline goes through) got a little bored and thought he’d have a little fun onboard. He made some makeshift dynamite and began firing his musket at it as a game. He was quickly stopped by some colonists though before he NEARLY BLEW UP THE MAYFLOWER! Can you imagine? This may have resulted in some space time continuum altering event and somehow our present now has clouds that rain bananas on Mondays. Who knows? Ha!
Fortunately, he made up for this irresponsible act in a a very coincidentally big way. He went off exploring, after what I’m sure was the punishment of a lifetime, and climbed a tall tree. He spotted a body of water that he thought was perhaps the Pacific Ocean (again, remember he is a 14-year-old). He rushed to the water with another crew mate and they discovered what is the now-named Billington Sea which ended up being a vital body of water for the Pilgrims.
John Billington Jr. also got into some trouble. It is recorded that in 1621 he got lost in the woods for several days only to be later returned home by the Native American tribe, the Nauset. This coincidentally ended up helping with initial conversations between the colonists and the tribe.
But the icing on the cake began to bubble up in March 1621 when John Billington Sr. refused Myles Standish’s orders to perform military duty in the colony. Standish was the colony’s military officer and advisor and John was still not 100% behind the idea of serving under the orders of the Mayflower Compact. John challenged this military order with “several speeches” and ended up being held “in contempt of the Captain’s lawful command”. He was then tied up by his neck and heels as public punishment. Pilgrims described the act as “the first offense since arrival” thereby making Billington the first to commit a crime in the New World.
But it does get worse.
In 1624, Billington was implicated, though never convicted of helping out with something called the Oldham-Lyford Scandal. This was a small revolt of a few men against the strict rule of the Plymouth church.
In 1630, John Billington ends up ending a years-long quarrel with fellow colony member, John Newcomen by shooting and killing him. The Plymouth Colony sentences John to death by hanging on September 30, 1630. Governor Bradford writes, “This as it was the first execution amongst [the colonists]. So was it a matter of great sadness unto them”. Yes, John Billington is remembered by history as the first convicted murderer in America. His wife Elinor suffers a similarly sad fate as she is sentenced to the stocks and whipped to death in 1636 for slander.
It’s kind of a wacky story right? And like the people who learn about their ancestors on Who Do You Think You Are I have so many mixed thoughts and feelings about my ancestor. I certainly can’t say I’m totally proud of the mutiny, murder, and seemingly dunderheaded stuff. Yet, there are many modern historians who come to John’s defense saying that “he was first and foremost a “Stranger” on the Mayflower. Even though he signed the Mayflower Compact, he was still seen as a “Stranger” which prevented him from holding public office and gave him only the smallest tract of land in the colony.”
John would often speak out against the Pilgrims seeming continued loyalty to England and also against their very strict rule of law. Some historians quickly point out “[he]stoutly supported individual independence and freedom of speech, raising the voice of opposition when he disagreed with the rule of government”. So vocal was Billington that Governor Bradford wrote a letter back to England telling Robert Cushman (an important organizer of the Mayflower voyage) “Billington still rails against you…he is a knave, and so will live and die”.
So there you have it. This family of troublemakers hanging way out there on a twisted, gnarled branch on my family tree. At the very least I hope this inspires you to do some more digging of your own into your family’s past. I absolutely love the movie Coco and its message of remembering your ancestors to keep their spirits alive. Our ancestors plead with us to remember them and learn about them.
John, you’ve got a wild tale my man. I’m not 100% sure what drove your motivations or actions. I don’t totally know if you were a troublemaker, a rebel, an activist, or simply a dad trying his best to find a better life for your family.
But I see you.
One day it’ll be pretty interesting to hear your side of this whole story.
Next up though, I need to learn more about Thankful Washburn! That name is just begging to be researched!
