December 2, 2020
Introduction: In this article – to continue the celebration the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower – Melissa Davenport Berry writes about the discovery of the only surviving gravestone of a Mayflower passenger, Richard More. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
In a recent article (see: The Mayflower Passengers’ Dark Side: Scandal in Plymouth Colony, Part II), I wrote about George E. Bowman’s research proving that Captain Richard More was a Mayflower ancestor. During his long studies, Bowman – founder of the Mayflower Society and editor of The Mayflower Descendant magazine – had discovered the only tombstone of a Mayflower passenger that survived. It was Richard More’s grave, in the Charter Street Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. Alongside More’s grave are six other family members, and this cemetery plot is a remarkable example of well-preserved history.
Under the headline “Tomb of a Pilgrim,” this 1902 Boston Herald article reported that the discovery of More’s tombstone proved that he survived all the other Mayflower male passengers. (More’s tombstone gives a death date of 1692, but that date was added in the early 20th century. The original tombstone had no death date. The exact year he died is uncertain, but it was probably in 1696. The last Mayflower survivor, Mary Allerton, daughter of Isaac Allerton, died on 28 November 1699.)
Bowman’s article reported more information about Captain More from a deposition he gave to Governor Bradstreet on 27 September 1684. In it, More described how, as a boy, he was in the home of Thomas Weston, an ironmonger in London in 1620, and then transported to Plymouth on board the Mayflower. (Weston was a London merchant and agent for the Merchant Adventurers’ investment in the Mayflower. His daughter Elizabeth Weston married Salem pioneer Roger Conant, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.)
More deposed that Weston later sent another ship to the New World (near present-day Braintree), but that settlement was deserted due to Indians and sickness. Shortly after, Weston himself came to New England and ended up owning two plantations: in Yorke River in Virginia; and another in Maryland at “West St Maryres by Storyes Island.” The deposition helped establish the genesis of Capt. More, and the grave markers and additional court records show the family relationships to other prominent Salem colonists.
In the More family grave plot is the stone marker for Capt. More’s first wife Christian (Hunter) More (died 18 March 1676) and their daughter Christian More (died 30 May 1680), who married Joshua Conant, grandson of Roger Conant and Elizabeth Weston, on 31 August 1676.
Another daughter born to Capt. More and Christian was Susannah, who married (1st) merchant Samuel Dutch, c. 1675. One stone has her daughter Barbara Dutch (died 10 April 1678), buried next to her cousin Samuel More, son of Richard Jr. and Sarah More, who died 24 November 1673. Susannah married (2nd) Richard Hutton, c. 1694, and (3rd) John Knowlton in 1714. There are descendants alive today.
Another stone is Caleb More, son of Richard and Christian, who died at age 34 without issue.
Capt. More’s third wife, Jane (Hollingsworth Crumpton) More, died on 8 October 1686. Her stone is the most elaborate in the group. It sports a cherub’s head with wings and an ornamental border.
Jane was the daughter of Richard Hollingsworth Sr. of Salem who came over on the ship Blessing in 1635. I found a genealogy source which connects Capt. More’s first wife Christian to Hollingsworth.
The most important marker stone of the six is Captain Richard More. The tombstone says he died at age 84, but his age is uncertain.
In 1928 Bowman hosted a visit from the sixth great grandson of Captain More: Sir Jasper More, son of Sir Thomas Jasper Mytton More and Lady Norah Browne More. Sir Jasper lived in Linley Hall, the seat of the More family in Shropshire, England. Sir Jasper was instrumental in uncovering many unanswered questions on the More family, as explained in my earlier article.
According to a Boston Herald newspaper article, during his visit Sir Jasper laid a wreath on Captain More’s gravesite in Salem and another on the Provincetown memorial of Jasper More, the brother of Captain Richard.
Jasper was one of the three More children Mayflower passengers who died within months of their arrival in Plymouth. As noted in William Bradford’s journal for 6 December1620: “This day died Jasper More, a lad bound to Governor Carver.”
Check back for more on Captain Richard More – there is scandal coming!
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