John Tilley (Mayflower passenger)

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.

It has been suggested that John Tilley moved at some point prior to 1620 to Leiden, Netherlands with the Pilgrims (or “saints” as Plymouth Governor William Bradford later referred to them).

It’s possible that Robert aged 12 was living with a guardian in Oct 1617 or perhaps John travelled back from Leiden to arrange the apprenticeship.

If John Tilley was not with Pilgrims in Leiden, then he would have been one of Bradford's "strangers" who joined the expedition in Southampton where the Mayflower met up with the Speedwell in July 1620.

It was abandoned at Plymouth on 27 August after multiple attempts to repair leaks failed and the ship was deemed not safe to make the crossing.)

This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children.

After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on 11/21 November.

[11][12] Both John Tilley and his brother Edward were involved in the early exploring expeditions of the Cape Cod area in November and December 1620, with both suffering the effects of being ill-clad and wet in freezing temperatures.

[3][4] One such extensive exploration in which the John and Edward Tilley are named as having taken part began on Wednesday, 6 December 1620 in freezing weather using the ship's shallop – a light, shallow-water boat with oars and sails navigated by two pilots and crewed by a master gunner and two sailors.

The Pilgrims on board for this expedition, in addition to the Tilley's, were John Howland, Stephen Hopkins and his servant Edward Doty.

Senior members on the expedition included John Carver, William Bradford, militia captain Myles Standish and Edward Winslow.

"[18] John and Joan Tilley died sometime in the winter of 1620/1621, possibly after coming ashore, per Bradford, to the new Plymouth settlement.