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This is the information I have collected on Edward Southworth, the father of the immigrant Constant Southworth. Each factual statement is footnoted with the source from which I acquired the material, but GenForum does not support footnotes so if you have a question about sources please e-mail me and I'll be happy to provide them to you. Of course, I also welcome corrections or additions to any of the information which I do have.
Edward Southworth was born in England around 1590. He was most probably the son of ThomasB Southworth of Samlesbury, Lancaster, a descendant of Sir Gilbert de Southworth who lived in the beginning of the 14th century.
The descent from Sir Gilbert-I is through Sir John-H, Sir Thomas-G, Sir Richard-F, Sir Christopher-E, Sir John-D, Sir Thomas-C, Sir John-B, and Sir Thomas-A. Edward's grandfather, Sir John-B, was a Roman Catholic during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a status that got him into much trouble. To add to his problems, his eldest son and heir, Sir Thomas-A, had become a Protestant -- the first in the family to do so. In 1584, the authorities learned that he was intent on disinheriting Thomas and had Sir John placed under arrest in London. In 1594, having spent several years in Fleet Prison, he was allowed to return to the family manor at Samlesbury. He died there, broken in spirit and health, on 3 November 1595.
His son and heir, Sir Thomas-A, was born in 1561. He married Rosamond Lister, daughter of William Lister of Thornton (d. 1582), in Craven, Yorkshire. She was a descendant of Walter of Gaunt (d. 1139) and Maud, daughter of Stephen, Count of Brittany. The couple had seven sons and four daughters, the former being:
i John b. m. ------ ------
ii Thomas b. m. ------ ------
iii William b. m. ------ ------
iv Richard b. m. ------ ------
v Michael b. m. ------ ------
vi Christopher b. m. ------ ------
vii Edward b.c. 1590 m. Alice Carpenter
There have been at least four pairs of brothers offered at various times as being the Edward and Thomas Southworth who fled to Leyden and who were the ancestors of the Plymouth Southworths. The best work by far on establishing which is the correct pair is Frederick L. Weis' The Ancestry of Ensign Constant and Captain Thomas Southworth (Dublin 1958). Weis does a thorough and convincing job of showing that the Edward of Leyden was a descendant of the Southworths of Samlesbury, the details of which are beyond the scope of this note, as are the details of the Southworth's English lineage. I simply refer the reader to Weis' work. For another lengthy treatment of the ancestry in England, refer to Samuel G. Webber's A Genealogy of the Southworths (Southards) (Boston 1905).
Little is known about Edward's early life. He was a member by birth in the Foreign Burgesses of the Preston Guild in Lancashire. Like his father, he was a follower of the reformed religion, and was living in Leyden, Holland, as one of the Pilgrim exiles in Rev. John Robinson's church as early as 1611. Although he came from a well-placed family in the English gentry, by the time he reached adulthood the family lands and fortune had been reduced to almost nothing due to death and inheritance taxes, as well as fines and confiscations resulting from the Catholic leanings of his grandfather. Moreover, he was the seventh and youngest son of his father, so most of the estate would have bypassed him anyway. He had a small inheritance from his grandfether -- twenty nobles a year, or about $32 -- but this was not enough to sustain him and a family. In Leyden, he took a job as a sayworker to make ends meet, apparently working for his father-in-law.
On Tuesday, 28 May 1613, he married ALICE-1 CARPENTER in Leyden; his brother Thomas was his best man. Alice was the daughter of Alexander Carpenter of Wrington, Somerset, England, and was born around 1590. Their intention to marry is recorded in the town records:
" Aengets De iiij May 1613. Eduwaert Sodtwaert saeywercker Jongman uyt Engelant vergeselschapt met Tomas Sodtwaert zyn brueder Samuel Fuller zyn zwager & Rogier Wilson zyn bekende met Els Carpenter Jonge Dochter mede uyt Engelandt vergeselschapt met Anna Ras & Elysabeth Gennings haer bekenden."
He and Alice had at least two children:
i Constant b.c. 1614 m. Elizabeth Collier
ii Thomas b.c. 1616 m. Elizabeth Raynor
By the time the Mayflower had sailed for New England in 1620, he had returned to London where he lived at Heneage House, Duke's Place. Several of the Pilgrims had the same address prior to their departure, and this area of London was a noted rendezvous for those espousing the cause. One of them, Robert Cushman, wrote the following letter to Edward at Heneage on 17 August 1620, from Darmouth, where the ship accompanying the Mayflower had put in for repairs:
" Loving friend, my most kind remembrance to you & your wife, with loving E.M. &c whom in this world I never looke to see againe. For besids ye eminente dangers of this viage, which are no less than deadly, an infirmitie of body hath ceased me, which will not in all licelyhoode leave me till death. What to call it I know not, but it is a bundle of lead, as it were, crushing my harte more & more these 14. days, as that allthough I doe ye actions of a liveing man, yet I am as but dead; but ye will of God be done.
Our pinass will not cease leaking, els I thinke we had been halfe way at Virginia, our viage hither hath been full of crosses, as our selves have been at crokednes. We put in hear to trime her, & I thinke, as others also, if we had stayed at sea but 3. or 4. howers more, shee would have sunke right down. And though tshe was twice trimed at Hamton, yet now she is open and leakie as a seive; and ther was a borde, a man might have puld of with his fingers, a foote longe, wher ye water came in as at a mole hole.
We lay at Hamton 7. days, in fair weather, waitning for her, and now we lye hear waiting for her in as faire a wind as can blowe, and so have done these 4. days, and are like to lye 4. more, and by yt time ye wind will happily turne, as it did at Hampton.
Our victualls will be halfe eaten up, I thinke, before we goe from the coaste of England, and if our viage last longe, we shall not have a months victialls when we come in ye countrie. Neare 700£ hath bene bestowed at Hampton, upon which I known not. Mr. Martin saith he neither can nor will give any accounte of it, and if he be called upon for accounts he crieth out of unthankfullnes for his paines & care, that we are susspitious of him, and flings away, & will end nothing.
Also he so insulteth over our poore people, with shuch scorne & contempte, as if thet were not good enough to wipe his shoes. It would break your hart to see his dealing, and ye mourning of our people. They complaine to me, & alass! I can doe nothing for them; if I speake to him, he flies in my face, as mutinous, and saith no complaints shall be heard or received but by him selfe, and saith they are forwarde, & waspish, discontented people, & I doe ill to hear them.
* * *
Friend, if ever we make a plantation, God works a mirakle; especially considering how scante we shall be of victualls, and most of all ununited amongst ourselves, & devoyd of good tuturs & regimente. Violence will break all. Where is ye meek & humble spirite of Moyses? & of Nehemiah who reedified ye wals of Jerusalem, & ye state of Israell? Is not ye sound of Rehoboams braggs daly hear amongst us? Have not ye philosiphers and all wise men observed yt, even in setled comone welths, violente governours bring either them selves, or people, or boath, to ruine; how much more in ye raising of comone welths, when ye morter is yet scarce tempered yt should bind ye wales.
If I should write to you of all things which promisculously forerune our ruine, I should over charge my weake head and greeve your tender hart; Only this I pray you, Prepare for evill tidings of us every day. But pray for us instantly! It may be ye Lord will be yet entreated one way or other to make for us. I see not in reason how we shall escape even ye gasping of hunger starved persons; but GOD can doe much, & his will be done!
It is better for me to dye, then now for me to bear it, which I doe daly, & expecte it howerly; haveing received ye sentance of death, both within me & without me. Poore William King & my self doe strive who shall be meate first for ye fishes; but we look for a glorious resurrection, knowing Christ Jesus after ye flesh no more, but looking unto ye joye yt is before us,, we will endure all these things and accounte them light in comparison of yt joye we hope for.
Remember me in all love to our friends as if I named them, whose praires I desire ernestly, & wish againe to see, but not till I can with more comforte looke them in ye face. The Lord give us that true comforte which none can take from us. I had a desire to make a breefe relation of our estate to some friend. I doubte not but your wisdome will teach you seasonably to utter things as here after you shall be called to it.
That which I have written is treue, & many things more which I have forborne. I write it as upon my life, and last confession in England. What is of use to be spoken of presently, you may speake of it, and what is fitt to conceile, conceall. Pass by my weake maner, fo rmy head is weake, & my body feeble, ye Lord make me strong in him, & keepe both you & yours."
Edward died at a young age, sometime before 1621 and probably in 1620 at Heneage House in London. His early death was not entirely unusual in his family; there were seven heirs to the Southworth lands in the short span of eighty years, and the average age of his ten brothers and sisters at their deaths was thirty-three.
The widowed Alice came to Plymouth Colony aboard the Ann. She left her two sons with friends, probably in London. She landed in Plymouth in July 1623, and on August 14 of that year married Gov. William Bradford at Plymouth (No. 82:4:2080), whose first wife Dorothy May had fallen overboard from the Mayflower and drowned in Cape Cod Bay. The colonists feasted on roast venison and "other such good cheer in such quantity that I could wish you some of our share," wrote Emmanuel Altham to a friend in England.
The rapidity with which she remarried after her arrival suggests that she was acquianted with the groom before her immigration; they likely knew each other well in Leyden. One early comentator suggested they had a different relationhip:
" There had been an early attachment, and marriage had been prevented by parents of the lady, objecting to the inferior rank and circumstances of Bradford. She now, a widow, came over purposely to marry him."
This story may be apochryphal; she had nothing left to keep her in England, many of her close friends and coreligionists had emigrated to Plymouth, and New England held a host of opportunities for her young sons. In addition, at this period it was unusual for either a widow or widower to remain such for any period of time. Bradford needed a wife, and she needed a husband and a father for her two young sons.
Alice and William had three children (surnamed Bradford):
i William b. 17 June 1624 m. Alice Richards
ii Mercy b.a. 1627 m. Benjamin Vermayes
iii Joseph b. 1630 m. Jael Hobart
William died in 1657. Alice survived him by many years, dying at Plymouth on Saturday, 26 March 1670. She was buried the following Wednesday, March 30. Her nephew, Nathaniel Morton, composed the following ode "[u]pon the life and death of that godly matron, Mistris Alice Bradford widdow, late deceased:"
"Heer lyes the shaddow of a blessed mother / In Israel, well knowne to one and other,
Of good decent of holy predecessors; / Her father equall was to the confessors
And holy martires, suffered for Chris sake, / Altho hee suffered no att fiery stake,
And shee with him and others in his youth / Left theire owne native country for the truth
And in successe of time she marryed was / To one whose grace and vertue did surpasse,
I mean good Edward Southworth, who not long / Continued in this world the saints amonge.
With him shee lived seven years a wife, / Till death did put a period to his life.
And in some space of time, by God's good hand, / Shee was brought over into New England,
And in short time the Lord did so dispose, / That Mr. William Bradford shee did choose
To be her second husband; whom to fame / I need not, for it is enough to name
The name of Bradford fresh in memory, / Which smeles with odoriforos fragrance.
With him shee lived a wife a wife years thirty four, / Till God saw good his time should be no more
In this sad world, but tooke him hence to heaven, / Anno one thousand six hundred fifty seven.
E'r since that time in widdowhood shee hath / Lived a life in holiness and faith,
In reading of Gods word and contemplation, / Which helped her to asurance of salvation
Through Gods good sperit working with the same, / For ever praised be his holy name.
To about fourscore years shee did attaine, / But shee afflicted much with heavy paine:
As Moses saieth, her strength but sorrow was, / And shee to eternall rest made hast apace.
Shee now with holy Abram hath attained / A good old age. Her life was never stained
With any sin that any one could call / Remarkable, notorious, capitall,
But contrarywise she lived soe / As silence might the most malignant foe
Shee had, or any other that professe / The waies of Christ and of just riteousness.
Tis sad to see our houses dispossessed / Of holf saints whose memory is blessed;
When they decease and closed are in tombe, / Theres few or none that rises in their rome
That's like to them in holiness and grace, / Which makes our times looke so sad a face.
Her glasse is run, her worke is done, and shee / Is happy unto all eternity.
Lett her relations all and every one / Take her example, doe as shee has done,
In love to God his waies and one another, / Then they Will well improve theire blessed mother.
Her holy, blessed, example, / That gives a gracious presedent soe ample
To them and unto all both one and other / That follow may after this blessed mother.
Ile multiply noe more words but ab[?]e / That I dare use concerning her dear [?]e
Adoe, my loving friend, my aunt, my mother, / Of those that's left I have not such another."
Her will, dated 29 December 1669, was probated on 7 June 1670:
" I allis Bradford senir of the Towne of Plymouth in the Jurisdiction of New Plymouth widdow: being weake in body but of Disposing mind and prfect memory blessed be God; not knowing how soone the Lord may please to take mee out of this world unto himselfe: Doe make and ordaine this to be my last Will and testamentl in manor and forme as followeth;
Impr I bequeath my soule to god that gave it and my body to the Dust in hope of a Joyfull resurrection unto Glory; Desiring that my body may be Intered as neare unto my Deceased husband; mr. William Bradford: as Conveniently may be; and as for my worldly estate I Dispose of it as followeth;
Impris I give and bequeath unto my Deare sister Mary Carpenter; the bed I now lye on with the furniture: therunto belonging and a paire of sheets and a good Cow and a yearling heiffer and a younge mare.
Item I give and bequeath unto my son mr Constant Southworth my Land att Paomett: viz: all my Purchase land there: with all my rights privilidges and appurtenances thereunto belonging; To him and his heires and assignes for ever;
Item I give and bequeath unto my said son Constant Southworth and unto my son mr Joseph Bradford: the one halfe of my sheep: to be equally Devided betwixt them; and the other halfe to my son Captaine William Bradford.
Item I give unto my said son Joseph Bradford my paire of working oxen and a white heiffer;
Item I give unto my honored frend mr Thomas Prence one of the bookes that were my Deare husbands Library; which of them hee shall Choose;
Item I give unto my Deare Grand child Elizabeth howland; the Daughter of my Deare son Captaine Thomas Southworth Deceased, the sume of seven pounds; for the use and benefitt of her son James howland.
Item I give unto my servant maide Mary Smith a Cow Calfe to be Delivered her the next springe if I decease this winter; my will is that shee have one Delivered to her out of my estate in som short time after my decease;
[A]ll the rest of my estate not Disposed of allreddy by this my last Will and Testament; as above said; I give and bequeath unto my sonnes mr Constant Southworth Captaine William Bradford and mr Joseph Bradford to be equally Devided amongst them in equall and alike portions;
In witnes that this is my Last Will and Testament I the said Allis Bradford have heerunto sett my hand and seale; this twenty ninth day of December Anno Dom one Thousand six hundred sixty nine."
An inventory of her estate was taken on 31 March 1670:
" 8 Cowes, 2 yearlings, a 2 yeare old steer, a steer of 4 yeare old, 1 : 2 yeare old heiffer, 1 old horse and three mares, 17 sheep;
In the New Parlour Chamber: 1 bed a bolster and 2 pillowes, 1 green rugg and 1 Coverlid & 2 blanketts, a bedsteed & Curtaines and vallence, 2 Chaires, 3 wrought stooles, one Table and Carpett, a Carved Chest;
In the outward Parlour Chember: a bedsteed and Curtaine and vallence and settle;
In the old parlour Chamber: a smale bed 2 blanketts 1 Coverlid & a pillow, 1 old green Cloth Goune, 8 yards of hommade Cloth, 2 Chestes, 2 Iron beames 1 hoshed 1 barrell and other old lumber;
In the studdy in bookes: mr Perkins two of them, 3 of Docter Willetts on genises exodus & Daniel, Guicksarraden, the history of the Church, Peter Martirs Comon places, Cartwright on remise Testament, the history of the Netherlands, Peter Martir on the Romans, Moors workes on the New Testament, Cottons Concordance, Speeds history of the world, Weams Christian Sinnagogue & the protracture of the Image of God, the Meathod of Phisicke, Calvins harmony and his Coment on the actes, Downhams 2cond: prte of Christian warfare, mr Cottons answare to mr Williams, Taylers libertie of Prophesys, Gouges Domesticall Dutyes, the INstitutions or reasons Discused & observations Divine and morall the synode of Dort and the Appolpgye, mr Ainsworth workes the Counterpoison & the tryall, mr Ainsworth on Genesis exodus & livitticus, Calvin on Genises, Dike on the Deceightfulness of mans hart, Gifford refuted, DOd on the Comaundements and others of his, 53 smale bookes, Calvin on the epistles in Duch : and Divers other Duch bookes, 2 bibles, the actes of the Church, 3 of mr Bridgg : his workes, the Lives of the fathers, a skin of buffe;
In the old Parlour: 1 feather bed 1 bolster 2 ruggs and a blankett, a bedsted & settle Curtaine and vallence, a Court Cubbert, a Table and forme and 2 stooles, 1 great lether Chaire, 2 great wooden Chaires, 1 great winscott Chist and a Cubbert, 2 boxes and a Deske and a wrought stoole and an old Case of bottles, 2 guns and a paire of bandaleers;
The plate: the great beer bowle, another beer bowle, a wine Cupp, a salt, a trencher salt & a Drame Cupp, 7 silver spoons, a silver Dish, 2 blanketts, 1 Diaper Table Cloth and a Dozen of Diaper Napkins, another Diaper Table Cloth and 7 Diaper Napkins, 2 holland Table clothes, 1 old Cuppert Cloth, 4 pillow beers, 5 towells, 3 holland sheets, 2 paire of Cotten and linnine sheets, 19 Cotton and linnine Napkins, a paire of pillowbears, a nother paire of pillowbears, 5 sheets, in shiftes and other wearing linnine, a Dingcaster hatt, her wearing Clothes and a little peece of bayes, a wicker baskett; galley potts & glasses & such smale thinges of Little vallue;
In the great Parlour: 2 great Carved Chaires, a Table and forme and Carpett, 10 Cushens, a Causlett and hedpeece, 4 great lether Chaires, in glasses and earthen ware, a Case and five knives, a rest & some other odde thinges;
In the Kitchen: 24 pewter platters and a brim bason, 2 fflaggons : 2 quart potts & 3 pint potts, 6 smale pewter Dishes and a smale bason, 7 porrengers, 6 pewter plates, 2 pewter Candlestickes & a saltseller, 3 Chamber potts and three smale sawcers and pewter funnell, 2 pye plates, a tinning pan and 2 Coverings & a lanthorne, 1 great Jugg and 5 smaller ones 4 earthen pans and 2 earthen potts, 2 ffrench kettles, an old warming pan, 1 little ffrench kettle, 2 brasse kettles a Duch oan, 3 brasse skilletts, 1 old brasse skimer and Ladle, 3 brasse Candle stickes and a brass pestle and Mortor, a paire Andirons, a Chafeing Dish and a stew pan, 1 Iron skillett and an Iron kettle, 2 Iron potts, 2 paire of pothangers and 2 paire of pott hookes, 2 paire of tonggs and 2 fier shovells, 2 spitts and a gridiron and an Iron Driping pan, a paire of Iron rakes, 4 Dozen of trenchers, a box Iron 2 gallon glasse bottles and three pottle bottles, a spining wheele a bucking tubb 2 pailes 2 kimnells two bowles 4 smale wooden Dishes 1 tray 2 Burchen trayes, Scales & waightes with an Iron beame, 2 beer barrells, a prsell of sheepes woole, 2 smale swine, in Mony [16 shillings], a silver bodkin, in provision [£1.10.00], one halfe hogshed and a smale prsell of salt, one paire of oxen in Mr Joseph Bradfords hand."
The inventory listed many items that she had obviously inherited from her second husband. For example, all the books were from his library; she couldn't read. The total value of the estate was £162.17.00.
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