Peter Browne

Peter Browne ( 15941633), was a passenger on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower and was a signatory of the Mayflower Compact.

Life in England Browne was baptised on 26 January 1594/5 in Dorking, Surrey, England. This was the same home town as other Mayflower passengers – the Mullins family.

Peter Browne was a son of William Browne of Dorking. He had two older siblings, Jane and Thomas, as well as three younger brothers, Samuel, John and James. In or about 1605, when Peter was about ten years of age, his father died and the children may have been sent to family members and friends under apprenticeships. A local weaver probably apprenticed the three youngest sons in that line of work. Peter Browne was one of the men who signed the Mayflower Compact."

In the Plymouth settlement of 1620, the house of Peter Browne was near that of John Goodman and was close to the harbor on the south side of the village street. John Goodman is listed as having been alive at least on 19 January 1621 and is noted as having not survived that first winter, but his name does appear in records of the 1623 Division of Land and he may have died sometime after that. Martha gave birth to a son the day of arrival but he died soon after. Per Banks, Mourt's Relations (p. 63) records this event: "the good wife Ford was delivered of a sonne the first night shee landed, and both of them are very well."

Widow Martha Ford received four lots (shares) in the 1623 Division of Land, to which she was entitled by this family count. In those records, she is listed as "Widow Foord."

In 1626 Peter Browne was one of twenty-seven Purchasers involved with the colony joint-stock company which afterwards was turned over to the control of senior colony members. That group was called Undertakers, and were made up of such as Bradford, Standish and Allerton initially who were later joined by Winslow, Brewster, Howland, Alden, Prence and others from London, former Merchant Adventurers. On the agreement, dated 26 October 1626, his name appears as Peter Browne.

By the time of the 1627 Division of the Cattle, Peter Browne and his wife Martha had a daughter Mary and was pregnant with another daughter, Priscilla. Also in the family were children from Martha (Ford) Browne's first marriage, John and Martha Ford. The two Ford children shared in the 1627 division of the cattle. The "eaight lot" of the Division under 'Samuell ffuller", consisted of the "Peeter Browne" family listed as "Peeter Browne, Martha Browne, Mary Browne, John fford, Martha fford."

His wife Martha died about 1630, and Peter Browne remarried to a woman named Mary whose surname and ancestry have not been discovered. With the second wife, Peter Browne had two more children, Rebecca, about 1631, and another child about 1633, name and gender unknown, who may have died as a youth. married about 1630 or 1631 and had two children.

Peter Browne died shortly before 10 October 1633, when the after-death inventory of his property was taken. His death was not recorded in the records of Plymouth County. He and his first wife Martha were both buried at Burial Hill in Plymouth.