In 1650, William Bradford (also commemorated in name in this part of Eggbuckland), the man elected Governor of the settlement founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, included in his passenger list; “Mr Isaack Allerton and Mary his wife; with 3 children, Bartholomew, Remember and Mary and a servant boy, John Hooke.”
He later wrote; “Mr Allerton his wife died with the first and his servant John Hooke. Himself married again with the daughter of Mr Breswter and hath one son living by her, but she is long since dead. And he is married again and hath left this place long ago.”
Born in England between 1583 and 1586, Isaack is thought to have been a tailor. An ancestor of Presidents Zachary Taylor and Franklin D Roosevelt, he had eight-known descendents, a relatively small number compared to other Mayflower passengers.
On board the Mayflower there was also one John Allerton and although there is no known link between the two, it is thought they may be related as both, for a time, lived in the same neighbourhood and buried children in St Peter’s Church, Leyden. John, who was residing in Holland before he set out for America, had planned to return with the Mayflower to help others from the Leyden congregation make the perilous journey across the Atlantic. However, he died during the first winter.
