John Tilley (bef. 1571 - abt. 1621)

Born before 19 Dec 1571 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan (Hurst) Tilley — married 20 Sep 1596 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England

Descendants

Died about 10 Apr 1621 after about age 49 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

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John Tilley was a passenger on the Mayflower. Join: Mayflower Project Discuss: mayflower

Biography

Question: What is the relationship of these two Tilley families:

• Robert Tilley, father of Edmund. Born 1540, Henlow, Bedfordshire.
• John Tilley, father of Rose, John, Robert and Elizabeth. Born 1571, Henlow, Bedfordshire.

Answer: Robert is the father of both Edmund and John, who are siblings. Edmund (baptized Edward) died at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, as did his brother John Tilley.^[1]

Editing Note: No "primary source" documentation provided to show that the marriage of John Tilley and Elizabeth Comyings is the same John Tilley who was a Mayflower Passenger. See Robert S. Wakefield, "Additions and Corrections to Torrey", The American Genealogist, Vol 67: Page 31. This source states that this John Tilley did not marry Elizabeth Comyings.

1571 Baptism

19 DEC 1571^[2] Henlow, County Bedford, England. Henlow Parish Register& Bishop's Transcripts; Baptisms:1574, Dec. 19; John, s. Robert Tillye^[3]

1596 Marriage

20 SEP 1596 Henlow, Co. Bedford, England. Henlow Parish Register & Bishop's Transcripts; Marriages: Tilley; 1596, Sep. 20; John Tyly & Joan Rogers^[3]

Children of John Tilley and Joan (Hurst) Rogers

1. Rose Tilley, baptized 23 Oct 1597 at Henlow, Bedfordshire, England; ^[4] buried 28 Feb 1601 at Henlow.^[5]
2. John Tilley, baptized 26 Aug 1599 at Henlow, Bedfordshire, England
3. Rose Tilley, baptized 28 Feb 1602 at Henlow, Bedfordshire, England^[6]
4. Robert Tilley, baptized 25 Nov 1604 at Henlow, Bedfordshire, England; served as an apprentice to a tailor; married Mary Hawkins 1 Nov 1632 at St Paul’s Church, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
5. Elizabeth Tilley, baptized 30 Aug 1607 at Henlow, Bedfordshire, England; sailed on the Mayflower in 1620; married John Howland 14 Aug 1623 at Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died 21 Dec 1687 at Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts; will written 17 Dec 1686 and proved 10 Jan 1687/8

Emigration 1620 on the Mayflower

Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The list of passengers on the Mayflower given by Governor William Bradford (2nd Governor of Massachusetts), in "Of Plimoth Plantation", page 449, includes the following:

'John Tilley and his wife, and Elizabeth their daughter.'^[3][7]

John Tilley signed the Mayflower Compact 11 Nov 1620.^[8]

1621 Death and Burial

11 JAN 1621 Plymouth, Massachusetts #S41 Genealogical Dictionary under Tilley states:

John, Plymouth, perhaps brother of Edward, came with wife and one child Elizabeth in the Mayflower, 1620, and all (it was believed by Shurtleff in Geneal. Reg. I. 52) died next winter. But his daughter Elizabeth who married John Howland outlived all her fellow passengers. except three who were younger.

Buried 10 Apr 1621 Coles Hill, Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass

According to "Saints and Strangers", by George F. Willison, Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1945, pg.439, under "Saints" is a "silk worker, of London. On third discovery, probably on First and Second as well." He died shortly after arrival in America.

Mayflower, First Sickness and Cole's Hill Burial Ground

Sources

1. ↑ Ward, Robert Leigh. English Ancestry of Seven Mayflower Passengers: Tilley, Sampson and Cooper, The American Genealogist (The American Genealogist, Barrington, RI, 1976) Vol. 52, Page 203
2. ↑ Henlow Baptisms : 1567-1581: Bedfordshire parish registers by Bedfordshire (England); Emmison, F. G. (Frederick George), 1907-1995,Volume 26,page A2, https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari26bedf/page/n11/mode/2up?q=Tilley+
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} The American Genealogist v. 52; #4; p. 198
4. ↑ Rose Tilly, daughter of John Tilly : England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5GY-8JB : 11 February 2018, Rose Tilly, 23 Oct 1597); citing HENLOW,BEDFORD,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm Q942.565 B4E V. 26.
5. ↑ Rose Tilley, buried 28 Feb 1601 at Henlow, Bedford : Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ5-MXF8 : 16 March 2018), Rose Tilley, ; citing Henlow, , Bedford, England, Cemetery, Maine State Library, Augusta; FHL microfilm 1,316,315.
6. ↑ Rose Tyllye, daughter of John Tyllye : "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5GY-8VM : 11 February 2018, Rose Tyllye, 28 Feb 1602); citing HENLOW,BEDFORD,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm Q942.565 B4E V. 26.
7. ↑ History of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts, database online at Google Books. (pub.1856). A Primary Source: records and diary kept by Gov Bradford in Plymouth; first hand account of their persecutions in England, fleeing to Holland in 1607/08, and leaving Holland for the New World in July 1620.
8. ↑ Morton, Nathaniel. New England's memorial. (Boston: Congregational board of publication, 1855) Originally published 1669.p. 26 Note: The original compact is gone. Morton furnished the earliest known list 1669 facsimile

• Wikipedia article on John Tilley
• Caleb H Johnson, "Manorial Records - New Information," The Mayflower Quarterly, Vol 76, No. 2 (June 2010), 125-134.
• James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Originally published Boston 1860-62, reprinted April 1873 and 1884. Reproduced by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore 1981.)
• Edward Norris Wentworth, Jr. The Genealogy of Edward Norris Wentworth Junior. Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA; Date: June 1928. Special Project Submitted in Courses in Community Life and Advance Biology at the University High School, University of Chicago
• "The Mayflower Passenger List", by Caleb Johnson at MayflowerHistory.com, database online, c.1994-2016
• Robert Charles Anderson, "The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633," Published 1995 by The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Volume 3, Page 1822.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #21561583
• Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856) p. 449 "John Tillie, and his wife; and Eelizabeth, their doughter." p. 453 "John Tillie and his wife both dyed a litle after they came ashore; and their daughter Elizabeth maried with John Howland, and hath issue as is before noted."
• Bradford, William, 1590-1657. Of Plimoth Plantation: manuscript, 1630-1650. State Library of Massachusetts "List of Mayflower Passengers." In Bradford's Hand.

Additional Reading

• List of the Mayflower Passengers, database online hosted by RootsWeb at Ancestry.com, Author: Duane A. Cline, c.2006 (Link via Wayback Machine at Archive.org, capture date 09 Oct 2022.)

• Sail 1620 - Biographies of John and Edward Tilley