Resolved White

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899

Resolved White (c.1615 – after September 19, 1687) was a passenger on the historic voyage of the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. In 1620 he accompanied his parents, Pilgrims William White and his wife Susanna, on the journey. He married Judith Vassall, daughter of the historic William Vassall, a founder of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Later in life White became a notable person of Plymouth Colony.^[1][2][3]

English origins

Resolved White was the eldest son of Mayflower Pilgrims William White and his wife Susanna. The Mayflower Society states that her last name is unknown. Resolved was believed to be about five years of age in late 1620, having been born in England about 1615. His mother Susanna was pregnant during the Mayflower voyage and gave birth to his brother Peregrine in late November 1620, while the ship was anchored at Cape Cod.^[1][3]

The Whites are believed to have boarded the Mayflower as part of the London merchant group, and not as members of the Leiden Holland religious movement. Evidence of the William White family coming to the Mayflower from England and not Holland comes from William Bradford’s Mayflower passenger list which has "Mr. William White" in his section for London merchants along with Mr. Christopher Martin, Mr. William Mullins, Stephen Hopkins, Richard Warren and John Billington. It is believed that if William White had been a member of the Leiden congregation, his name would have appeared in Bradford’s work for that section, but it does not. There is no evidence to associate William White and his family with Leiden, Holland. And regarding the various White family ancestries which erroneously place the William White family in them, the Mayflower Society states that “Little is known about William White.”^[3][4][5]

Mayflower voyage

The White family, as recalled by William Bradford in 1651, per their Mayflower voyage, plus the birth of Peregrine: “Mr. William White, and Susana, his wife, and one sone, called Resolved, and one borne a ship-bord, called Peregriene; and *2* servants, named William Holbeck and Edward Thomson.”^[6]

The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship‘s timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.^[7]

On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.^[7][8]

In Plymouth Colony

Resolved White’s father William White died on February 21, 1621. With her husband's death, Susanna, with her newborn son Peregrine and five-year-old Resolved, became the only surviving widow out of the many families who perished that first winter. On May 12, 1621 Resolved’s mother Susanna married widower Edward Winslow, a Mayflower and later a Plymouth colony notable with whom she had five children, one of whom was Josiah Winslow, future Plymouth governor.^{[1][3] [9][10]}

In the 1627 Division of Cattle, both "Resolued" (sic) and his brother Peregrine were listed in the Third Lot under Capt. Standish in the family of Edward Winslow, his wife Susanna Winslow and their sons Edward and John Winslow.^[11]

About 1638 the Winslows with young Peregrine and Resolved White, moved to Green Harbor, now called Marshfield.^[12]

On August 3, 1640, Resolved White was granted 100 acres in Scituate next to Mr. William Vassall’s land. William Vassal was his father-in-law. On March 7, 1642/3 he was granted more land in Scituate.^[13]

In February 1642/43, a new church was founded in Scituate by William Vassall and other dissenters from the existing English Puritan church. Members, known as the “Vassall Group”, called their new church the "Second Church" of Scituate. Judith White, daughter of William Vassall and wife of Resolved White, was one of the founding members of this new church. But the religious situation in the colony finally forced religious dissenter William Vassall to leave for England a few years later never to return to the colony.^[14]

In the 1643 Able to Bear Arms (ATBA) list for Scituate "Resolued" (sic) White is listed with his father-in-law "Mr. Willam Vassell", and his brother-in-law "John Vassell". John Vassall later became a person of historic note and a wealthy Caribbean plantation owner.^[15]

The will of William Vassall Esq. of Barbados, dated July 31, 1655, named his daughter Judith White, wife of Resolved White.^[16]

On May 11, 1657, Resolved White was in Barbados, West Indies, to witness the sale by his sister-in-law Mary Vassall of her share of her father William Vassall's plantation at St. Michaels. The sale was to her brother-in-law, Nicholas Ware, a merchant of St. Michaels Barbados, who was the husband of her sister Anna.^[13][16]

On June 1, 1658 he was made a Freeman of Plymouth County.^[13]

On March 17, 1662 Resolved White of Scituate, planter, sold land in Scituate to William Wills. On September 25, 1663 Judith, wife of Resolved White, acknowledged the sale.^[13][16]

On June 3, 1668 Resolved White was elected surveyor of highways for Marshfield. On May 29, 1670 White was in the list of Freemen of Marshfield.

On July 4, 1674 White deposed he was aged 59 years. The July 2, 1675 will of Governor Josiah Winslow names brother Resolved White. (Josiah Winslow was a half-brother, being a son of Edward Winslow.)

In 1676, Resolved was a soldier in King Philip's War of 1676, and in 1680, he became a freeman in Salem before moving back to Marshfield a couple of years later.^[16]

On May 9, 1678 Resolved White, aged about 63 years, deposed. (Essex Co.) In June 1679, he again deposed; he was aged about 63 years. (Essex Co.) On 2:1:1679/80 Abigail White (2nd wife of White), aged about 74 years, deposed. (Essex Co.) May 19, 1680^[13][16]

The will of Abigail White, wife of Mr. Resolved White of Salem, dated April 26, 1682, proved June 1682, mentions her former husband William Lord; his kinsman William Lord and the latter’s children; and Resolved White her present husband.^[13][16]

Family of Resolved White

Resolved White married:

1. Judith Vassall on November 5, 1640 in Scituate. She was born in England c.1619 and buried in Marshfield on April 3, 1670. Her father was William Vassall, one of the founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her mother was Anne King.
2. Abigail (______) Lord, widow of William Lord, in Salem on October 5, 1674. She was born in England c.1606 and died in Salem between June 15 and 27, 1682.^[3]

Children of Resolved White and his wife Judith:

1. William White, born 10 or 18 April 1642 and died in Marshfield January 24, 1695. He apparently never married.^[17]
2. John White, born March 11, 1644 and died before 1684/5.^[17]
3. Samuel White, born in Scituate March 13, 1646 and died between March 1729/30 and April 1731. Married Rebecca ____. She was born c.March 13, 1646 and died in Rochester June 25, 1711 in her 65th year.^[18]
4. Resolved White (Jr.), born November 12, 1647 and may have died early in 1670. He was buried in Marshfield March 27, 1670 a week before the burial of his mother.^[17]
5. Anna White, born in Scituate June 4 or 5 1649 and died in Concord May 25, 1714 at age 64. Married John Hayward in Concord June 2, 1671. He was born in Concord December 20, 1640 and died there November 22, 1718 at age 78. He was the son of George and Mary ____ Hayward.^[19]
6. Elizabeth White, born in Scituate June 4, 1652 and was living March 10, 1712/13. She married Obadiah Wheeler (Jr.) in Concord July 17, 1672. He was born in Concord c.1650 and was living March 10, 1712/13. He was the son of Obadiah Wheeler Sr.^[20]
7. Josiah White, born in Scituate September 1654 and died in Boxford between March 3 and June 5, 1710. He married before December 30, 1680 Remember Read. She was baptized in Salem April 26, 1657 and was living in Salem May 20, 1721. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary ____ Read.^[20]
8. Susannah White, born August 1656. No further record.^[21]

Death and Burial of Resolved White

The exact date of death of Resolved White is uncertain. He died sometime after September 19, 1687. He may have been alive as late as 1690, as author Caleb Johnson reports that in that year, he provided a note to Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation stating that “Two persons living that came over in the first ship in 1620, this present year 1690: Resolved White and Mary Cushman.” He apparently died within a few years of that writing.^[5]

Resolved White was buried in Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield, as was his wife Judith in 1670. The burial place of his second wife Abigail is unknown. In Winslow Cemetery, there is a substantial monument to “The Settlers of Green Harbor Marshfield”, naming White and his wife Judith, as well as Resolved’s brother, Peregrine, and his wife Sarah. Also named on the monument is White’s mother Susanna, and her second husband Edward Winslow. Susanna’s date of death is uncertain – sometime between 1654 and 1675, with burial in Winslow Cemetery. Edward Winslow died during a British military expedition in the Caribbean in 1655, and was buried at sea there. A memorial to Edward Winslow exists in Winslow Cemetery.^[22][23][24]

References

Sources

• The Mayflower Society