Christopher Jones is believed to have been born in Harwich, Essex, around 1570, although baptismal records are blank for his parish church for the period of time between April 1565 and June 1571.

Josian probably brought a substantial marriage portion and had inherited her late husband's house in Church Street, Harwich together with other land and property.

[1] It is believed Josian may have remarried in 1626 as in that year a 'Joan Jones', widow, married one Thomas Bartelmore at Stepney, London, directly across the Thames from Rotherhithe.

[3] Queen Elizabeth I called Harwich "a pretty town", and it was extremely loyal to her in sending three ships to join the attack against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

As with Plymouth, Harwich became wealthy by the pillaging of Spanish ships of the Armada though its primary business then was the export of English woollen cloth to Holland for finishing.

Its explorers also could relate some stories of far places travelled to, with tales when Jones was a youth of their men voyaging as far as Baffin Island in the far Arctic.

As with other seaports around the country, Harwich was a place where sea captains and merchants ran the local government and levied their own taxes on the citizens to take care of town business.

[1] Civil accounts record Jones acting as an assessor for tax on land and property and also as a jury member when his father-in-law was reprimanded for failing to repair steps to the quay adjacent to his house.

Jones' wealthiest client was William Speight, one of the mercantile elite, who resided in Vinery Ward, the wine merchant's district, opposite Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

As warden of the Company of Merchant Taylors, Speight owned property that ranged from country estates in Suffolk to lower-level dwellings and warehouses in London.

When Jones left London aboard the Mayflower on a voyage to France, he would normally carry as trade goods to exchange for quality French wine a hold filled with English woollens, the country's strongest export.

[10] In addition to wine and wool, with Jones as captain the Mayflower had transported hats, hemp, Spanish salt, hops and vinegar to Norway.

Jones and Robert Child still owned their quarter shares in the ship, and it was from them that Thomas Weston chartered her in the summer of 1620 to undertake the Pilgrim voyage.

The entire crew stayed with the Mayflower when it wintered over in Plymouth in 1620-1621, with about half of them dying during that time, including the gunner, boatswain, 3 of 4 quartermasters and cook.

An important person on the captain's staff that Bradford oddly neglected to mention was the ship's surgeon, a young man just out of apprenticeship as a London barber-surgeon by the name of Giles Heale.

Another person that Bradford also did not mention who is recorded as possibly being a principal officer of the Mayflower due to his title, is a man identified only as "Master" Leaver.

[14][15] Mayflower embarked about sixty-five passengers in London about the middle of July 1620, proceeded to Southampton on the English south coast and met Speedwell bringing the Leyden contingent from Holland.

The two ships planned to begin their trans-Atlantic journey on 5 August, but problems with Speedwell, which could not be corrected, caused the loss of a month of critical voyage time with the fall Atlantic gale season coming on.

After 66 days of fighting gales and with the ship's timbers rupturing, and with a detriment to the health of all on board, the Mayflower finally arrived within the waters of the Cape Cod Bay on 11 November before anchoring off what is now Provincetown.

[16] Recent research has revealed that the ship docked at the tiny fishing village of Renews in Newfoundland for fresh water and food before arriving in Provincetown.

He had originally planned to return to England as soon as the Pilgrims found a settlement site, but members of his ship's crew were ravaged by the same illnesses that overcame the Mayflower passengers, and he had to remain in Plymouth Harbor "till he saw his men began to recover".

These included Christopher Martin, the Mayflower's treasurer who was responsible for provisioning the ship, his wife, step-son and servant, together with two single men from Great Burstead – Peter Browne and Richard Britteridge.

[22] After Jones died in 1622, the Mayflower lay idle on the mud flats of the River Thames near Rotherhithe and was reported in many books to be a rotting hulk.

However, Christopher Jones' House at 21 King's Head Street, Harwich is now open to visitors from Easter to the end of October on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 3pm.

Also, in conjunction with the displays at the Christopher Jones House, there is a complementary Mayflower Exhibition in the nearby Harwich Town Museum.