Resolved White

Resolved White (c. 1615 – after September 19, 1687) was a passenger on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. In 1620, he accompanied his parents, Pilgrims William and Susanna White, on the journey. White married Judith Vassall, daughter of William Vassall, a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Later in life, White became a notable person of Plymouth Colony.

English origins Resolved White was the eldest son of Mayflower Pilgrims William and Susanna White. The Mayflower Society states that Susanna's maiden name is Jackson. Resolved is believed to have been about five years of age in late 1620, having been born about 1615. His mother was pregnant during the Mayflower voyage and gave birth to his brother Peregrine in late November 1620 while the ship was anchored at Cape Cod.

Mayflower voyage The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30–40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, contributed to the deaths of many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst came after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half of the passengers perished in the cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.

On November 9, 1620, after about three months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod Hook, where they anchored on November 11. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.

In Plymouth Colony William White died on February 21, 1621. With her husband's death, Susanna White, with her newborn son Peregrine and five-year-old Resolved, became the only surviving widow out of the many families who perished that first winter. On May 12, 1621, Susanna married widower Edward Winslow, a Mayflower and later Plymouth Colony notable with whom she had five children, including future Plymouth governor Josiah Winslow. In the 1627 Division of Cattle, Resolved and Peregrine were listed in the Third Lot under Capt. Standish in the family of Edward Winslow, his wife Susanna Winslow and their sons Edward and John Winslow. About 1638, the Winslows, with Peregrine and Resolved, moved to Green Harbor, now called Marshfield.

On August 3, 1640, Resolved White was granted 100 acres in Scituate next to William Vassall's land. White married Vassall's daughter, Judith, on November 5, 1640, in Scituate. In February 1642/43, a new church was founded in Scituate by William Vassall and other dissenters from the existing English Puritan church. Members, known as the "Vassall Group," called their new church the "Second Church" of Scituate. Judith White was one of the founding members of this new church. However, the religious situation in the colony forced William Vassall to leave for England a few years later, never to return to the colony. In the 1643 Able to Bear Arms (ATBA) list for Scituate, White is listed with his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, John Vassell, who would become a wealthy Caribbean plantation owner.

On May 11, 1657, White was in Barbados to witness the sale by his sister-in-law Mary Vassall of her share of William Vassall's plantation at St. Michaels. The sale was to Nicholas Ware, a merchant, who was the husband of her sister Anna.

On June 1, 1658, White was made a Freeman of Plymouth County.

Children Children of Resolved White and Judith: William White, born on April 10 or 18, 1642, and died in Marshfield on January 24, 1695. He apparently never married. John White, born on March 11, 1644, and died before 1684/5. Resolved White (Jr.), born November 12, 1647, and may have died early in 1670. He was buried in Marshfield March 27, 1670, a week before the burial of his mother. Elizabeth White, born in Scituate on June 4, 1652, and was living as of March 10, 1712/13. She married Obadiah Wheeler (Jr.) in Concord on July 17, 1672. He was born in Concord c. 1650 and was living as of March 10, 1712/13. He was the son of Obadiah Wheeler Sr. Josiah White, born in Scituate in September 1654 and died in Boxford between March 3 and June 5, 1710. He married before December 30, 1680, to Remember Read. She was baptized in Salem on April 26, 1657, and was living in Salem on May 20, 1721. She was the daughter of Thomas and Mary Read.