Person:Edward Converse (2)

First Amercan ancestor of the Stafford branch of the Converse family. Came to America with Winthrop in 1630, and with him settled in Charlestown, near Boston.

1. ↑ Johnson, Edward Francis. Notes on the Family of Deacon Edward Convers. Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 3:325.
2. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 146:130.

   Traditionally (according to William G. Hill) b. 30 Jan 1590 in Wakerly, Northamptonshire, England, but that man prob. m. Jane Clarke, so is unlikely. Other more likely candidates would be two cousins: Edward, s/o Allen, bp. 23 Mar 1588/89 at Navestock, Essex (near South Weald where children baptized) , or Edward, s/o Anthony, bp. Feb 1690 Stanford Rivers, Essex, England.

3. ↑ Johnson, Edward F. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages . (Woburn, Massachusetts: Andrews, Cutler & Co., 1890-1919), 2:39.

The Winthrop Fleet (1630)

The Winthrop Fleet brought over 700 colonists to establish a new colony at Massachusetts Bay. The fleet consisted of eleven ships: the Arbella flagship with Capt Peter Milburne, the Ambrose, the Charles, the Mayflower, the Jewel, the Hopewell, The Success, the Trial, the Whale, the Talbot and the William and Francis.   Sailed: April and May 1630 from Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, England   Arrived: June and July 1630 at Salem, Massachusetts   Previous Settlers: The Higginson Fleet (1629)   Passengers: Winthrop wrote to his wife just before they set sail that there were seven hundred passengers. Six months after their arrival, Thomas Dudley wrote to Bridget Fiennes, Countess of Lincoln and mother of Lady Arbella and Charles Fiennes, that over two hundred passengers had died between their landing April 30 and the following December, 1630.   Selected leaders and prominent settlers: Gov. John Winthrop - Richard Saltonstall - Isaac Johnson - Gov. Thomas Dudley - Gov. William Coddington - William Pynchon - William Vassall - John Revell - Robert Seely - Edward Convers - Gov. Simon Bradstreet - John Underhill - William Phelps   Resources: The Winthrop Society - The Winthrop Fleet (Wikipedia)