Peter Browne (Mayflower Pilgrim)

Peter Browne, (1594 – 1633), often modernized as Peter Brown, was a Pilgrim Father, a "Mayflower" passenger on its 1620 voyage that initiated the settlement of New England, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact, the first document of democratic and republican governance in the future United States of America.

Origin and Early Years

Peter Browne was probably born in January 1594 in Dorking, Surrey, England"Mayflower Families: Through Five Generations, Vol. VII, Third Ed.: Peter Brown". Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants; Boston, 2007.] to William Browne.Johnson, Caleb. "The Probable English Origin of Mayflower Passenger Peter Browne, And His Association with Mayflower Passenger William Mullins," "The American Genealogist", Vol. 79, No. 3; Demorest, Ga., 2004; pp. 161-178.] He was baptized in the local parish on January 26, 1594. While his brothers John (who joined him in 1632 in Plymouth Colony), Samuel, and James became weavers, his vocation is believed to have been a carpenter, machinist, or similar."Correspondence of the Pilgrim Peter Browne Society", Vol. I, No. I; Falmouth, Mass., 2008; pp. 3-4] In 1619 or 1620 he was likely enlisted by William Mullins, as part of the "London contingent," whose trades and skills were necessary for the voyage of the "Mayflower" and the "Speedwell" and the creation of the colony.Bradford, William. "History of Plymouth Plantation", Charles Deane, ed.; Boston, 1856.]

The Mayflower and Plymouth

On September 6, 1620, Peter Browne boarded the "Mayflower" at Southampton, Hampshire, England. With 102 fellow "Mayflower" passengers and crew, he intended to travel to "the Northern parts of Virginia" and establish an English colony near the mouth of the Hudson River. Due to severe weather conditions, the ship was forced to anchor off of Cape Cod, where the first disembarkation occurred and where the Pilgrims determined to bind themselves as a democratically governed and administered colony loyal to England through the signing of the Mayflower Compact by all eligible men on behalf of themselves, their families, and their fortunes and property. Peter Browne was one of the 41 men who signed it on November 11, 1620.

A January 12, 1621 incident is recorded in "Mourt's Relation" whereby Peter Browne and John Goodman became lost in the woods after their dogs began to chase a deer. After a sleepless night, during which time both Browne and Goodman believed they heard lions (possibly mountain lions or other large mammals such as bears or coyotes), they successfully reoriented themselves and returned safely to the site of the village on the shore.Winslow, Edward, et al.. "Mourt's Relation, or a Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth", Henry Dexter, ed.; publisher J.K. Wiggin, Boston, 1865.] Being among the half of the Pilgrims who survived the first winter, Browne was present at the First Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621, the event that set the precedent for the American Thanksgiving holiday.

By the middle of the 1620s, Browne had married Martha, the widow of ship's master Ford of the "Fortune", who was a passenger of that second ship to arrive at Plymouth. They had two daughters. By 1630, Martha was deceased and Peter Browne remarried to a woman called Mary. They also had two children together.

End of Life

The administration of the estate of Peter Browne on October 10, 1633, indicates that he died sometime since the last reference to his property in the records. It is widely believed that he succumbed to the same sickness that spread through Plymouth Colony in the summer of 1633. He was survived by his second wife Mary who acted as the executrix of his estate. The General Court determined that money was to be set aside for his daughters from his first marriage, whose care was taken up by neighbor John Donne. [" [http://www.pilgrimhall.org/willpbrown.htm Inventory of Peter Brown] ." Pilgrim Hall Museum; on-line source, accessed 18 July 2008.]

Descendants

Peter Browne had four children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. By his first marriage to Martha, widow Ford, he had daughters Mary and Priscilla. By his second marriage to Mary, he had daughter Rebecca and the child who did not survive. His daughters were:
* Mary Browne, who married Ephraim Tinkham and later relocated to Middleboro.
* Priscilla Browne, who married William Allen, but had no children.
* Rebecca Browne, who married William Snow and later relocated to Sandwich.

Though often stated in biographies of John Brown, the renowned 19th century abolitionist, it has been definitively proven that the Brown family of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut are not descendants of Peter Browne the "Mayflower" Pilgrim.

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