Part of the Massachusetts Biographies Project
William White
William White, immigrant ancestor, came in the "Mayflower." He had been in Holland a number of years, going therence from London, England, and by many genealogists believe to be the son of Bishop John White, of London. He was a wool carder by trade. He married at Leyden, Holland, January 27, 1612 (by Rev. Robinson) Anna or Susanna Fuller. He brought with him his wife, his son Resolved, and two men servants, William Holbeck and Edward Thomson, both of whom died soon after landing. Samuel Fuller, another "Mayflower" passenger, was a brother of Mrs. White. White was one of the leaders of the company, helped draw the Compact and was the sixth to sign it, and was an educated man. He died February 21, 1621/2, and his widow married second, Edward Winslow, who became governor of the colony, May 12, 1621. She died October, 1680. The famous "Breeches Bible" of William White has been preserved. It was printed in London in 1588, and is filled with records of the White and Brewster families. According to these records the book was owned by William White in England in 1608, and brought over in the "Mayflower". It was a record of the birth of Peregrine, the first child of English parents born in this country - "Sonne born to Susanna Whit dec. 19, 1620, yt six o'clock morning." There are some childish pictures and scribbling in the book, including a caricature of Peregrine, a sketch of a meeting house, and an Indian drawing his bow. The book was owned in 1895 by S.W. Cowles, of Hartford, Connecticut. children: 1. Resolved, born, according to his own statement, in Leyden, 1615; married Judith, daughter of William Vassall, married second Abigail Lord, widow of William Lord of Salem. 2. Peregrine, mentioned below.
Source:
Cutter, William Richard. Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Vol IV. Lewis Historical Publishing
company, 1908. pg. 1747