Pilgrim Descendants in

Leiden is not only the town where the on the Fortune in 1621. Daughter • Daughter Elizabeth Fletcher married Pilgrims sought refuge in the early Isabella Chilton and her husband twice. She had children from her sec- seventeenth-century; it is also home Roger Chandler came to New England ond marriage, to Michiel Verschoore, to many Pilgrim descendants. When in 1632. Americans descended from and some of these children are known the Pilgrims left Leiden, they left many these couples have many distant Dutch to have married. After several more separatists behind. Some crossed the cousins. Daughter Christina Chilton generations of descendants, every Atlantic later, but others remained and (Christijntjen Gilton) remained in line seems eventually to have become merged into Leiden’s population. An Leiden and married twice. She had extinct. No known descendants of untold number of Leidenaars descend children with her second husband Elizabeth Fletcher are living today. from these separatists. A smaller num- Dionysius van Steenstraten. Their few • Daughter Priscilla Fletcher married ber descend from passengers. thousand progeny includes hundreds of three times. Her first marriage, to Two of the oldest Mayflower passengers, living descendants, many still in or near Thomas Coit (Koet) of Canterbury, and , have Leiden. produced four children. Three of living descendants in Leiden. these children are known to have The Mayflower Families through Moses Fletcher married and left issue but most lines Five Generations “Silver Books,” and, Moses Fletcher traveled alone, intend- seem to end. Priscilla’s son Dirck thus, American Ancestors’ Mayflower ing to have his children join him later. Koet had two children with Stijntje Families Fifth Generation Descendants, He signed the , Eduards, but no further descen- 1700–1880 database, are unparalleled but he died the first winter, and his dants have been identified. Priscilla’s resources. But those resources are not children stayed in Leiden. One son daughter Dorothea Koet married entirely comprehensive. Volume 15 and two daughters are known to have Jan Barentsz Holthuijs and had of the silver books, on James Chilton married in Leiden. several children; their son Johannres Houthuijs married and had chil- and Richard More, does not include • Son John Fletcher married and had dren, but no further descendants are Chilton’s Dutch descendants, and no children, but I’ve not found any known. Priscilla’s youngest son Jan silver book exists for Moses Fletcher. marriages for these children. Thomasz Koet married twice. He This family did not carry on had eight children with his first wife, James Chilton the Fletcher surname. No Marijtje Jacobs van Duuren, and they James Chilton left descendants on both American named Fletcher have living descendants—some of sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Daughter inherited their surname from whom have joined the Mayflower accompanied her parents Moses Fletcher. on the Mayflower and Society. later married John Winslow, who arrived Tamura Jones is a well-known genealogy technologist and innovator. He’s also a modern pilgrim, an Englishman living in Leiden, and fluent in Dutch. He has been researching Leiden genealogy in general and Leiden Pilgrims—Dutch descendants of Mayflower Pilgrims—in particular for more than a decade.

THE 60 AmericanAncestors.org Leiden research Research into Dutch Mayflower descendants has been based on birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records. Those documents stretch back more than 400 years, and many are now online, but they are not without challenges. The handwriting may be hard to read, some originals are damaged, and some are in Latin or French rather than Dutch. In older records, name variations may extend beyond spelling; someone may be identified by a patronym in one record and a surname in another. And finally, early Leiden death and burial records contain so little information that it is often hard or impossible to link Left: © Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden by PeteBobb/Wikimedia them to a particular individual. Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0. Above: American and Dutch Mayflower Genealogical records are subject to privacy laws, descendants pose for a picture outside the Lakenhal in Leiden which are easily summarized: 100 years for births, 75 on May 1, 2009—exactly 400 years after the Pilgrims arrived in years for marriages, and 50 years for deaths. Tracing Leiden. Image by the author. progeny to living descendants is not a trivial challenge. All public genealogical records can be accessed on the Erfgoed Leiden website itself (in Dutch). The The lines for all known Moses than one percent same records are also available through the national Fletcher descendants go through of Leidenaars WieWasWie (WhoWasWho) site (wiewaswie.nl/en/), Priscilla Fletcher and Thomas Koet. are Mayflower and the OpenArchives site (openarch.nl/?lang=en), All people with the surname Koet in descendants. One both of which have English interfaces. the Netherlands are descended from hundred years In 2009, the Leiden Archives, now part of this couple. An older Koet family can from now, when Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken (Heritage Leiden and be found in Germany, and in America the quincen- Region), opened the Pilgrims Archives website there is a Koet family with an original tennial of the (pilgrimarchives.nl). It featured Pilgrim-related surname of Kvet, but no other Dutch Mayflower voyage documents from the time the Pilgrims were in Leiden, Koet family exists. So, if any of your is commemo- complete with Dutch transcriptions and English trans- Dutch ancestors was a Koet, you are a rated, Mayflower lations. This site has been offline for years but should descendant of Moses Fletcher. descendants will return in 2020. I’ve been researching descendants of almost certainly Moses Fletcher for more than a decade comprise a few now. Barring mistakes, I’ve identified percent of the Leiden population. primarily for Canada, Australia, and more than 11,000 and I estimate that The Netherlands has an extensive the United States, with smaller numbers living descendants number around colonial history, so it is no surprise going to South Africa, New Zealand, 1,000. Most live in or near Leiden. Of that some of these descendants or their and Brazil. Today I know of Moses those I’ve spoken to, a few had already partners were born in the Dutch East Fletcher descendants in Australia, researched their ancestry, but most Indies or Suriname. Leiden is a city New Zealand, Canada, and the United were surprised to learn about their of immigrants, and I know of several States—so there are a few Moses Mayflower connection. descendants who married Germans or Fletcher descendants in America today. Belgians. Still, most descendants were born in Leiden, married in Leiden to P Mayflower descendants a partner from Leiden, had children in Leiden and beyond in Leiden, and died in Leiden. Many When you visit Leiden as a Mayflower Probably no city outside the United Dutch Chilton and Fletcher descen- descendant, you are not just walking States has as many Mayflower descen- dants have a Mayflower descendancy through an ancestral town, you are also dants as Leiden. Leiden has a popu- line with a continuous Leiden presence walking among Mayflower family. lation of about 125,000. Assuming a for more than 400 years. thousand Moses Fletcher descendants After the Second World War, the Keep up to date on Tamura Jones’ and a few hundred James Chilton Dutch government actively encouraged Leiden Pilgrims research by following descendants, with a majority in emigration. Between 1947 and 1963, @LeidenPilgrims on Twitter. Leiden, I estimate that slightly less more than 400.000 Dutch citizens left, THE NETHERLANDS Winter 2020 American Ancestors 61