John Tilley

John Tilley (winter of 1620/21) and his family were passengers on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact, and died with his wife in the first Pilgrim winter in the New World. Life in England John Tilley was baptised on 19 December 1571 at Henlow in Bedfordshire, England. He was the eldest child of Robert Tilley and his wife Elizabeth. John had a younger brother, Edward, who also came on the Mayflower with his wife. John Tilley, his brother Edward and their wives all perished that first winter in the New World. There are few records of John Tilley's life in England. His name appears in the will of George Clarke of Henlow, dated 22 September 1607, which notes that Thomas Kirke, then residing with Tilley, owed money to him. There is a record of a John Tilley, yeoman, residing at Wooton, Bedfordshire, who made a disposition on 7 April 1613 with his age stated as 40 years, which would probably make him the Mayflower passenger of that name. Additionally, October 1617 Robert Tilley was apprenticed by his father John Tilley to Bedford tailor John Jones for eight years. (This information was also printed in The Howland Quarterly Howland Quarterly v71 #1 Mar 2006, “The Tilley’s of England and New England: Part 1” by Gail Ann Adams.)