Day-Woodford Families » Capt. Peregrine White (1620-1704)

Personal data Capt. Peregrine White 

• He was born November 1620 in at sea on the Mayflower.Sources 1, 2

  Originally published in 1622, Mourt's Relation by Edward Winslow had the following excerpt:
  
  "Whileſt some were imployed in this diſcovery, it pleaſed God that Miſtris White was brought a bed of a Sonne, which was called Peregrine."
  
  Peregrine White, son of William and Susanna (Jackson) White, was the first English child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. He was born on board the Mayflower while it lay anchored in what is now called Provincetown Harbor. A 1616 map drawn by John Smith, shows the place name of "Milford Haven." William Bradford, author of the major contemporary works on Plymouth, does not name this place in his journal.
  
  After the Mayflower anchored in Milford Haven (alias Provincetown Harbor) male members of the company made three expeditions of "discovery" into the areas around Cape Cod Bay looking for a suitable place to settle. The first "discovery' took place November 15-17. The second was from November 24-30, and the third from December 6-12. The full quote from Mourt's relations concerning Peregrine's birth can be open to some different interpretations:
  
  "... a Company was chosen to goe out vppon a third discovery: whilest some were imployed in this discovery, it pleased God that Mistris White was brought a bed of a Sonne, which was called Peregrines."The fift day, we .... Wednefday, the fixt of December ..."
  
  Was Peregrine born during the second discovery or the third? Some have chosen to interpret this as born 4 December 1620, as the entry falls just before entries for the fifth and sixth of December. However, no "discovery" was taking place on the 4th of December. In addition, his baptismal record says he was born in November. Newspaper accounts of his death say he was born in November, and his age at death calculates to a birth in November, so he was born during the second "discovery" at the end of November.

• He died on July 20, 1704 in Marshfield (Plymouth Colony), Province of Massachusetts Bay, he was 83 years old.Sources 2, 3
• A child of William White and Susanna Jackson
• This information was last updated on January 10, 2023.

Household of Capt. Peregrine White

He is married to Sarah Bassett.

They got married before March 6, 1649 at Plymouth Colony, New England.Source 2

Notes about Capt. Peregrine White

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, "Peregrine" means "one who journeys to foreign lands," or, more simply, it is a French and Middle English word for "pilgrim."

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Timeline Capt. Peregrine White

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