Don't think this posted, it may have been too long, I've edited parts I didn't mean to include in the first place and parts not directly relevant, and I'm trying again. I was looking in the archives for information about the Billingsley family scandals at Plymouth, learned that noone on the list believes it happened! "Yeah, I've been trying to find hte source of that rumor for years" someone wrote. Heh, heh. I have two good sources say John Billington didnt even exist - Francis was the emigrant, father unknown! The man got retroactively kicked off the Mayflower. I searched until I found the sources on that, didn't take too long, read through it as the part where Winthrop, governor of MA corroborates Standish's account of Billington's execution for murder is at the end. John Billington, his wife Elinor, and two adolescent sons, John (ca 16) and Francis (ca 13), were passengers on the Mayflower. Seemingly, he was willing to debate any point with just about anybody; ten years after the Mayflower disembarked he was the first person in the English colonies executed for murder. According to Bradford in his History of Plymouth Plantation, "they came from London, and I know not what friends shuffled into their company"(Bradford 75, 87-8, 156-7, 234, 442, 1952). William Bradford, the 2nd Governor of New Plymouth, was critical of the Billingtons from the beginning. His references to them (written years later) almost invaribly chronicle their misconduct. His History is nearly the sole record of any of these events, and it is doubts that he was being entirely truthful. George F. Willison in his remarkable Saints and Strangers tells us that Bradford's verasity is questionable at best. "Bradford," he says," was disingenuious at times. He was not above politic distortion of facts...more than once he misrepresented the sequence of events, cleverly transposing cause and effect, in an attempt to justify some dubious action. His remarks about those who opposed him or his brethern in any way are often unreliable and always savage. He never wearied of repeating against them the most slanderous gossip and libels" (4). With that said let's see what can be made of the evidence we have. John Billington may well have been a leading voice among the dissident passengers on the Mayflower who apparently argued that New Plymouth's government should be independent of the separatist church from Leiden. We do know that their was a bitter quarel among the passengers which led to the formation of two factions called "the Saints" and the "Strangers." Before going ashore they had to "begin the first foundation of their govermente in this place" because they had heard of "discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers " had uttered (Bradford 89). Part of Willison's chapter dealing with the conflict is relevant here; John Billington acknowledged and presumably accepted of the conditions by being the 25th signer of the Mayflower Compact. The date was 11 November 1620 on board ship while anchored in Provincetown Harbor at the tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts [Bradford's History (1952) (75, 87-8,156-7,234,442]. His signature is far down the list. As Willison puts it Billington may very well have been "invited or commanded to sign." There is reason to believe that he was at the forefront of this mutiny because of subsiquent events. It is known that the colonists formed themselves into two distinct groups even while aboard the Mayflower. Each group had its epithet, "Saints" meaning the Separatists of the Leyden church and their supporters on one side, and the rest were called "Strangers," meaning the colonists who attached themselves to the group while in England preparing for the migration. Many of these were apparently Church of England supporters. Billington was apparently one of the latter group, according to Bradford's History of New Plymouth, and he was not averse of expressing his dissident opinions. Bradford obviously disliked the entire clan, as he called them "one of ye profanest families amongst them." The word 'profain' was applied in this period as a name-calling ephithet like 'hippie,' 'niger' or 'commie' were in the mid-to-late 20th century and 'profane' meant someone who was not of Thee church, rather than as literally meant 'heathen' or 'unholy' [Oxford English Dictionary]. Had they truely been wholely unChristian rather than Church of England supporters, they would more than likely have been sent back with the crew of the Mayflower as were the roudy settlers on the Fortune which arrived a year later. How Brandford was using the word 'profane,' however, is inconclusive. It is reasonable to assume that Billington was sincere in his criticism, enough to be seen as 'loyal opposition' by enough colonists that Bradford couldn't expell him. A few days after landing, 5 December 1620, one of the Billington sons, we are not told which, in his father's absence, fired a gun near an open half-keg of gunpowder in the crowed cabin of the Mayflower, endangering ship and passengers, "and yet, by God's mercy, no harm done [Mourt's Relation (31,44,69-70)]." In March 1621, Bradford chronicled "the first Offence since our arrival is of John Billington and is this month converted before the whole company for his contempt of the Captain's (Miles Standish's) lawfull command with oppobrious speeches, for which he is adjudged to have his neck and heels tied together. But upon humbling himself and craving pardon, and it being the first offence, he is forgiven [Pilgrim Reader (124-5)]." Early in January, shortly after the settlement at Plymouth, son Francis Billington saw from the top of a tree on a high hill "a great sea as he thought" which he later explored with one of the ship's crew. The two lakes thus discovered have ever since been known as "Billington Sea [Mourt's Relation (31,44,69-70)]." John Billington, Jr. lost himself in the woods in May of 1621, but was found and cared for by Indians on Cape Cod. Chief Massasoit sent word to Plymouth that young Billington was safe, and in June ten men set sail in the Pilgrim's company's shallop toward Nauset (Eastham) to bring the boy home. With this encounter the colony began a long and beneficial friendship with the Cape Indians which is commereated by the corn in our Thankgiving dinners. [Bradford's History (1952) (75, 87-8,156-7,234,442 and Mourt's Relation (31,44,69-70)]. In the Division of the Land at Plymouth in 1623, John Billington received three acres "on the South side of the Brooke to the Baywards. [Mayf Dec 1:151-2, 228]." Why the Billingtons, who all four miraculously survived the first bitter winter, received only three acres is a mystery. Families were allotted one acre for each household member, including servants. Possibly John, Jr. had been indentured as a servant to some other family. In the 1627 Division of Cattle, we know that young John Billington was listed with the Warren and Soule families, while his parents and brother Francis were grouped with the Hopkinses [Mayf Dec 1:151-2, 228]. Bradford described at length the 1624 confrontation of the Governor's Council with John Oldham and the minister, John Lyford. The two culprits had listed "120" highly critical accounts of affairs at Plymouth in letters to English movers and shakers. These were intercepted by Governor Bradford and his associates from the ship Charity before it sailed for England. "After the reading of (Lyford's) letters before the whole company, he was demanded what he could say to these things. But all the answer he made was, that Billington and some others had informed him of many things and had made sundry complaints, which they now denied. And this was all the answer they could have, for none would take (Lyford's) part in anything but Billington and any whom he named denied the things and protested he wronged them and they would have drawn them to such and such things which they could not consent to, though they were sometimes drawn to his meetings. [Bradford's History (1952) (75, 87-8,156-7,234,442]." So we know that Billington was willing to publicly acknowledge his dissident role while no others would and that he attempted to actually organize a sort of opposition party by conducting meetings at his home. After this 'trial,' Oldham and Lyford were banished from Plymouth Colony, but nothing is said of punishment for Billington. Perhaps his signing of the Compact insolated him in some way, as his signing made him thereafter, a member of the group, whether Bradford liked it or not. A number of other disgruntled settlers left voluntarily about this time. One wonders that John Billington was not expelled or at least urged to depart, but he remained at Plymouth, an outspoken critic and persistent rebel. On 9 Jun 1625 William Bradford, in a letter to Robert Cushman in England, wrote: "Billington still rails against you and threatens to arrest you, I know not wherefore. He is a knave, and so will live and die [Pilgrim Reader (284)]." The story of John Billington's execution for murder has often been embellished with fanciful details in prose and poetic fiction. But the only contempory eyewitness account was written by Bradford: 1630: This year John Billington the elder, one that came over with the first, was arraigned, and both by grand and petty jury found guilty of wilful murder, by plain and notorious evidence. And was for the same accordingly executed. This, as it was the first execution amongst them, so was it a matter of great sadness unto them. They used all due means about his trial and took the advice of Mr. Winthrop and other the ablest gentlemen in Bay of the Massachusetts, that were then newly come over, who concurred with them that he ought to die, and the land to be purged from blood. He and some of his had been often punished for miscarriages before, being one of the profanest families amongst them; they came from London, and I know not by what friends shuffled into their company. His fact was that he waylaid a young man, one John Newcomen, about a former quarrel and shot him with a gun, whereof he died. [Bradford's History (1952) (75, 87-8,156-7,234,442]." From this account came all the others; here's an example from freelance writer Clif Garboden in a clipping from some publication which was saved by Art E. Allen, "The crime: In 1630, John Billington got into the equivalent of a bar fight with Colonist John Newcomen. Later Billington caught up with Newcomen and blew him away with a blunderbuss. And the Punishment: A jury of 12 conviced Billington of 'willful murder by plaine & notorious evidence' and sentenced him to death. [Not true, the petty jury of the period was the governor's assistances (3) sitting in committee; and the grand jury was the General Court which consisted of virtually every male Freeman of the colony which gathered mid-summer. Action was taken in the General Court by simple majority. And the Saints had had that majority since the Mayflower disembarked.] Another paperback account comes from Bloodletters and Bad Men, 1975, "One of John Billington's bitterest enemies was John Newcomen, a neighboring settler. Their feud raged for a number of years until 1630 when Billington decided to end it with murder. Hiding behind a rock, Billington waited in the woods until Newcomen, hunting for game, appeared. Leveling his blunderbus, Billington shot and killed him at close range. He was quickly tried by the little band of pilgrims and hanged." Now all this is conjecture based on the word 'waylaid' in Bradford's account. We have no idea if the killing was truely "premeditated" and where does he get the idea that it was a "speedy trial" rather than a near linching. The use of these words colors our interpretation of what we read and make the capital sentence seem justified when we have heard only from the prosecution. He ends his account with the words, "Ironically, dozens of present-day Americans lay claim to being related to Billington, murderer or not." What does he expect us to do, falsify or distort history as he does! The Pilgrims doubted their authority to carry out the sentence and appealed to Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop, who with typical self-contradictory Old Testament flair advised that Billington 'ought to die and ye land be purged from blood.' The fact that the Governor felt compelled to have the sentenced sanctioned by the Bay Colony might presumably indicate that there were extenuationg circumstances which led Bradford to believe that he might be tried for murder if he carried out the sentence. Billington was then hanged, drawn and quartered--the first casualty in a 360-year-long debate over capital punishment. And perhaps the first American executed because society didn't much care for him or his opinions in the first place. The tradition that the execution took place in September is borne out by John Winthrop who wrote merely: 1630--"Billington excuted at Plymouth for murdering one [New England History (43)]. In as much a Winthrop arrived at Cape Ann 12 Jun 1630 and at "Mattachusetts" 17 Jun 1630, he was "lately come over" that summer when consulted about the legality of the trial [MA Pioneers (508)]. Yours, Dora __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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