The Mayflower and Her Passengers

by Caleb H. Johnson

When the Mayflower embarked on her famous voyage to America in 1620, she was carrying 102 passengers. To most, they are simply known as "the Pilgrims." Perhaps the name of Governor William Bradford, Elder William Brewster, or Captain Myles Standish are vaguely familiar; but the vast majority of the Mayflower passengers have remained anonymous and nameless. In The Mayflower and Her Passengers, I have attempted to resurrect the unique individuality of each passenger by providing short biographies for each person or family group. Also included is a groundbreaking new biography of the Mayflower ship itself.

Genres: History, Research, Historical

291 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 2006

About the author

Caleb Johnson, the author and historian behind MayflowerHistory.com, graduated from Texas Tech University with two majors (history and English) and two minors (computer science and archaeology). He subsequently earned an MBA with an emphasis in IT Management. In November 2020, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. He has been researching and studying the Mayflower passengers since 1992, and has authored and edited a number of books including the 1173-page reference tome, The Complete Works of the Mayflower Pilgrims (Vancouver, 2003); The Mayflower and Her Passengers (Xlibris, 2005); William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation (Xlibris, 2006), and his best-selling work--a biography of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins entitled Here Shall I Die Ashore (now also available in audiobook form). He also transcribed the Brewster Book Manuscript. His research has been used and cited by New York Times best-selling authors including Nathaniel Philbrick (Mayflower) and Nick Bunker (Making Haste from Babylon); he assisted with the Sally Fields episode of PBS's "Finding Your Roots"; and participated in the PBS show “Hit and Run History: Stephano—The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck” (2020). Caleb edited the scholarly historical and genealogical journal, the Mayflower Descendant from 2011-2014. Caleb has been on the forefront of genealogical research as it pertains to the English origins of the Mayflower passengers, discovering and publishing the English origins of Stephen Hopkins at Hursley, Hampshire (1998) and Peter Browne at Dorking, Surrey, England (2004). He discovered English records documenting the origins of Thomas Williams, Solomon Prower, John Hooke, John Crackstone, and others. In 2017-2019, he collaborated with Sue Allan and Simon Neal to piece together the English origins of William and Susanna (Jackson) White, Dorothy May, Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow, Isaac Allerton, and John Carver.

Reviews

[Graham Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It being a bare-bones recounting of dates and facts, it's not the most readable piece, but it brought the lives of the Mayflower pilgrims to life for me in a way no other book has so far.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched collection of biographies.

[Nicholas Maulucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing. A lot of the same information over and over again, but very detailed and interesting. You could probably read any 20 pages of the book and have gotten the gist of the whole thing.