| Name | William WHITE |
| Birth | 10 Nov 1591, Leyden, South Holland, NETHERLANDS |
| Death | 21 Feb 1620/21, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Age: 28 |
| Religion | "Mayflower Pilgrim" |
| Father | John WHITE (1560-) |
| 1 | Susannah FULLER |
| Birth | 1593, Redenhall parish, Norfolk County, ENGLAND |
| Death | 1 Oct 1680, Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Age: 87 |
| Religion | "Mayflower Pilgrim" |
| Father | Robert FULLER (1543-1614) |
| Mother | Frances BLACKWELL (1551-1614) |
| Marriage | 1612, Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts |
| Children | Resolved (~1615->1687) |
| Peregrine (1620-1704) |
6 September 1620 William, his wife, and son Resolved were three of the 102 passengers that embarked on the Mayflower, leaving Plymouth, England on this day. Many people are aware that the passengers of the Mayflower were fleeing religious persecution. What most people don't realize is that over half the passengers were "strangers" picked up from London, whose passage to America on the Mayflower helped the religious separatists pay the excessive expenses involved with sending a ship to the New World. Those in the Leyden contingent are the "religious separatists" and those of the London contingent are the "strangers". It is unknown at this time which group William belonged with.
9 November 1620 The passengers and crew aboard the Mayflower sighted land.
11 November 1620 The passengers and crew of the Mayflower made landfall in America. The group of 102 passengers who crowded aboard the Mayflower for the crossing was not homogenous. Many of the passengers were members of the Leiden congregation, but they were joined by a number of English families or individuals who were hoping to better their life situations, or were seeking financial gain. These two general groups have sometimes been referred to as the "saints" and "strangers." Although the Leiden congregation had sent its strongest members with various skills for establishing the new colony, nearly half of the passengers died the first winter of the "great sickness." Anyone who arrived in Plymouth on Mayflower and survived the initial hardships is now considered a Pilgrim with no distinction being made on the basis of their original purposes for making the voyage. - [2]
December 1620 Between the 7th and 10th, Susanna gave birth to their son Peregrine aboard the Mayflower, anchored in Provincetown Harbor, Plymouth Colony.
[NOTE] A second source states that he died on 14 May 1621.
Almost nothing is known about William White. The often-stated fact that he was a "wool comber" comes from the marriage record which is disproved above, so even his occupation is unknown. There were several William White's in Leyden, and it is possible he was one of them; but there is no evidence he was from Leyden either, and he could very well have boarded the Mayflower in London.
William White brought his 7-months pregnant wife Susanna, and son Resolved on the Mayflower. Susanna gave birth to Peregrine onboard the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor in early December, 1621. The name Peregrine means wanderer, traveller, or foreigner. The "tradition" to use a unique name such as Peregrine to commemorate the Mayflower's voyage and the Pilgrims journey may have come from the Hopkins family, who named their son who was born on the voyage, Oceanus. - [1]
[NOTE] The ancestry of William White of the Mayflower is not known. Incorrect royal lineages have been given for him, as well as an incorrect identification of him as the son of Rev. John White of London.
William Bradford wrote that William White came on the Mayflower with his wife "Susanna". There is a marriage record in Leyden on 27 January 1612 for a William White, woolcomber, and an "Anna" Fuller, sister of Samuel Fuller. The marriage was witnessed by Sarah Priest and Samuel Fuller. This record, however, does not relate to the Mayflower passenger, as commonly claimed. The reasons for this conclusion are as follows:
• A William White had Sarah Priest witness his marriage; a William White in 1621 witnessed the marriage of Sarah Priest. However, the William White of the Mayflower was dead in America and could not have witnessed Sarah Priest's marriage. It would therefore appear that this is not the William White who came on the Mayflower.
• Susanna, widow of William White, married second Edward Winslow. Anna Fuller was baptized in 1577, and Edward Winslow in 1595. It is most unlikely that 25-year old Edward Winslow would marry a woman 18 years older than him for his first wife.
• Children of William White were buried in infancy in 1613, 1615, and 1616. These deaths indicate it would be most unlikely they had a child Resolved in 1615.
Susanna, wife of William White, is not Susanna Tilley either, another common claim. That "theory" was disproved in Pilgrim Notes & Queries 1:1. - [1]
[1] - http://members.aol.com/calebj/passenger.html
[2] - http://www.mayflower.org/pilgrim.htm
[3] - Fuller, From the Mayflower ... to Michigan; www.jowest.net/genealogy/jo/fuller