John Billington

Abt 1580 - 1630  (50 years)    Has no ancestors but more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	John Billington
  Birth	Abt 1580	England
  Perhaps Lincolnshire
  Gender	Male
  Prominent People	1620	Mayflower
  1st settler USA
  Death	Sep 1630	Plymouth, Devon, England
  Person ID	I77615	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	3 May 2017

  
  

  Family	Eilnor Lockwood,   b. 1580, England d. 1642, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, USA (Age 62 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1604
  Children	1. John Billington,   b. Abt 1604   d. 1627-1630 (Age 26 years) + 2. Francis Billington,   b. 1606-1609   d. 3 Dec 1684, Middleboro (Age 75 years)
  Family ID	F32013	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	31 Jan 2003

  
  

• Event Map	Click to hide
  		Birth - Abt 1580 - England Prominent People - 1st settler USA - 1620 - Mayflower Death - Sep 1630 - Plymouth, Devon, England  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Notes

  Mayflower passenger. The first Englishman hanged in America for murder. The only clue to the ancestry of John Billington is a 1612 lease of 29 acres of land from the English Crown to a gentleman, Francis Longland, and two heirs of his choice. He chose Francis Billington, son of John, and Francis Newton, son of Robert. In 1650, a survey of the land stated that Francis Longland was still living in Welby, Lincolnshire, England, aged 70, and that Francis Newton was living in Swayfield, Lincolnshire, England, and that Francis Billington was living in New England, aged about 40. Research is currently ongoing into the Newton, Longland, and Billington families of Lincolnshire. Preliminary discoveries made by researcher Leslie Mahler show that Francis Longland was the son of John and Mary Longland of Welby. Mary Longland names her son Francis, and a daughter "Katherine Newton" in will of 20 August 1613. Also mentioned in Mary's will, among others, is her goddaughter Mary Newton. It seems likely that Katherine married Robert Newton, and they had a son Francis Newton. This would make Francis Newton the nephew of Francis Longland. The connection between Francis Longland and Francis Billington has not yet been discovered, but research in this area continues. There is a John Billington son of John baptized on 25 April 1604 in Thurlby Near Bourne, Lincolnshire, which seems like a good candidate for the John Billington II of the Mayflower. There is a Francis Billington bp. 24 June 1607 in St. Michael, Stamford, Lincolnshire son of William which should be "watched" when further research is made, because this shows there are two Francis Billington's of the same age in the same county. John Billington came on the Mayflower with his wife Ellen and children John and Francis. The Billingtons are recorded as a contentious family. Young Francis Billington nearly blew up the Mayflower while it was sitting in Provincetown Harbor--he shot off a gun near an open barrel of gun powder inside the Mayflower's cabin. Shortly after settling down at Plymouth, John Billington the elder was charged with contempt when he bad-mouthed and insulted Myles Standish, and was sentenced to have his neck and heels tied together, but he humbled himself and was forgiven. A few months later, John Billington the younger wandered off into the woods, and was taken by the Nauset Indians to Cape Cod, where he lived for about a month before he was returned. In 1624, John Billington the Elder was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal, in which blasphemous letters were secretly being written and sent to England trying to undermine the Plymouth Colony. However, Billington claimed he was a scapegoat, and there was not enough evidence to show he was a party to the scandal so the matter was dropped. In 1630, John Billington the Elder was tried and executed for the murder of John Newcomen, whom Billington had shot with a musket in a quarrel over a past dispute between the two. He was found guilty by a grand and petty jury, "by plain and notorious evidence", and became the first Englishman to be hanged in New England.