| Sources |
- [S394] Ancestry.com, Public Member Trees, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;), Skinner/Schinzel-Ahlemeyer/Haines Tree J_Ahlemeyer.
Record for John Billington (128) facts
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John Billington
The Billington family may have originated from around Cowbit and Spaulding, in Lincolnshire, England, where Francis Longland named young Francis Billington son of John Billington an heir. In 1650, a survey indicated that Francis Billington was then in New England. However, research has thus far failed to turn up any other records of the family's residence there.
The Billington family was Plymouth Colony's troublemakers. Just after arrival, young Francis Billington shot off his father's musket in the Mayflower's cabin, showering sparks around open barrels of gunpowder, nearly causing a catastrophe. A few months later in March 1621, father John was brought before the company for "contempt of the Captain's lawful command with opprobrious speeches", and was sentenced to have his neck and heels tied together: "but upon humbling himself and craving pardon, and it being the first offence, he is forgiven." Son John wandered off in May 1621, and was brought by Nauset Indians to Cape Cod, where he was later retrieved. In 1624, Billington was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal (a failed revolt against the Plymouth church), but played ignorant and was never officially punished for involvement. In 1625, Governor Bradford wrote a letter to Robert Cushman saying "Billington still rails against you, ... he is a knave, and so will live and die." In 1630, Billington shot and killed John Newcomen, they having been common enemies of one another for some time. Billington was tried by jury and hanged in September 1630 for the murder. In 1636, wife Eleanor (sometimes Helen) was sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for slandering John Doane. Eleanor would later remarry to Gregory Armstrong in 1638.
- taken from MayflowerHistory.com
KarenGray90added this on 3 Apr 2009 srichardson219originally submitted this to McKee / Rice / Richardson Family Tree on 14 Jan 2009
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Mayflower Passenger
John Billington was a signer of the Mayflower Compact and was also the first man to be hanged for a crime in the Plymouth Colony.
John Billington (c. 1580- September 30, 1630) was the first Englishman,[1] to be convicted of murder in what would become the United States and the first to be hanged for any crime in New England.
He came to the Plymouth Colony on the famous voyage of the "Mayflower" in 1620 with his wife and two sons. He soon made enemies with many aboard the ship. He was known as a "foul mouthed miscreant" and "knave." He was not a member of the separatist Brownist congregation that dominated the colony's life, but rather, he fled England to escape creditors. His sons were also seen as troublemakers.
In March, 1621 Billington was convicted of contempt for insulting Captain Miles Standish. His punishment was to have his heels tied to his neck. Billington apologized profusely and was spared from the penalty.
In 1624, Billington became a follower of the Reverend John Lyford, who was banished from Plymouth Colony in 1625 for being a danger to the community. Though Billington was nearly convicted as Lyford's accomplice, he was permitted to remain in Plymouth Colony.
In September 1630, after a heated argument over hunting rights, Billington fatally shot fellow colonist John Newcomen in the shoulder with a Blunderbuss. After counseling with Governor John Winthrop, Governor William Bradford concluded that capital punishment was the necessary penalty. Billington was convicted of murder and hanged at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
KarenGray90added this on 3 Apr 2009 smonsma00originally submitted this to Labbee/Robinson Family Tree on 20 Nov 2007
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Mayflower Compact
John Billington was a signer of the Mayflower Compact in 1620, the first document in America to establish rule by the people.
Mayflower Compact (1620)
The following is a very careful letter-for-letter and line-by-line transcription made by me of the Mayflower Compact, as it is found in the original page of William Bradford's History Of Plymouth Plantation. Spelling and punctuation have not been modernized. The original from which this transcription was made can be seen in the graphic at the bottom of this page.
In ye name of God Amen· We whose names are vnderwriten,
the loyall subjects of our dread soueraigne Lord King James
by ye grace of God, of great Britaine, franc, & Ireland king,
defender of ye faith, &c
Haueing vndertaken, for ye glorie of God, and aduancemente
of ye christian ^faith and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to
plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia· doe
by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and
one of another, couenant, & combine our selues togeather into a
ciuill body politick; for ye our better ordering, & preseruation & fur=
therance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof, to enacte,
constitute, and frame shuch just & equall lawes, ordinances,
Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought
most meete & conuenient for ye generall good of ye colonie: vnto
which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes
wherof we haue herevnder subscribed our names at Cap=
Codd ye ·11· of Nouember, in ye year of ye raigne of our soueraigne
Lord king James of England, france, & Ireland ye eighteenth
and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom ·1620·
SIGNERS:
John CarverEdward TilleyDegory PriestWilliam BradfordJohn TilleyThomas WilliamsEdward WinslowFrancis CookeGilbert WinslowWilliam BrewsterThomas RogersEdmund MargessonIsaac AllertonThomas TinkerPeter BrownMyles StandishJohn RigsdaleRichard BritteridgeJohn AldenEdward FullerGeorge SouleSamuel FullerJohn TurnerRichard ClarkeChristopher MartinFrancis EatonRichard GardinarWilliam MullinsJames ChiltonJohn AllertonWilliam WhiteJohn CrackstoneThomas EnglishRichard WarrenJohn BillingtonEdward DotyJohn HowlandMoses FletcherEdward LeisterStephen HopkinsJohn Goodman
KarenGray90added this on 3 Apr 2009 smonsma00originally submitted this to Labbee/Robinson Family Tree on 15 Jul 2008
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https://famouskin.com/family-group.php?name=2810%20john%20billington&ahnum=1
Notes:
BIOGRAPHY: Mayflower passenger. DEATH: Hanged for the murder of John Newcomen. The only contemporary eyewitness account was written by William Bradford, "1630 - This year John Billington the elder, one that came over with the first, was arraigned, and both by grand and petty jury found guilty of wilful murder, by plain and notorious evidence. And was for the same accordingly executed. This, as it was the first execution amongst them, so was it a matter of great sadness unto them. They used all due means about this trial and took the advice of Mr. Winthrop and other the ablest gentlemen in Bay of the Massachusetts, that were then newly come over, who concurred with them that he ought to die, and the land to be purged from blood. He and some of his had been often punished for miscarriages before, being one of the profanest families amongst them; they came from London, and I know not by what friends shuffled into their company. His fact was that he waylaid a young man, one John Newcomen, about a former quarrel and shot him with a gun, whereof he died." - Taken from Mayflower Families 5 Generations Vol. 21.
Sources for John Billington
1 NEHGS NEXUS: New England Across the United States, 1988, Vol. 5, p. 21.
2 Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. 1, A-F, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (1995), 173-174, 609.
3 Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Vol. 3, P-W, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (1995), 1423.
4 Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640, A Concise Compendium, Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2015), 29.
5 Originally compiled by Harriet W. Hodge; Revised by Robert S. Wakefield, F.A.S.G., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Vol. 21, John Billington, Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants (2001), 5.
6 Roberts, Gary Boyd, "No. 74 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: The New England Ancestry of Actor Richard [Tiffany] Gere", (accessed 10/10/2014).
7 Roberts, Gary Boyd, Notable Kin, Volume 2, Santa Clarita, California: Carl Boyer, 3rd (1999), 95.
8 Roberts, Gary Boyd, The Mayflower 500: Five Hundred Notable Descendants of the Founding Families on the Mayflower, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2020), 4, 255, 314, 370, 378, 585, 603, 682, 787.
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