Richard More (Mayflower passenger)
Richard More was born in Corvedale, Shropshire, England, and was baptised at St James parish church in Shipton, Shropshire, on 13 November 1614. Richard and his three siblings were at the centre of a mystery in early-17th-century England that caused early genealogists to wonder why the More children's father, believed to be Samuel More, would send his very young children away to the New World on the Mayflower in the care of others. It was in 1959 that the mystery was explained. Jasper More, a descendant of Samuel More, prompted by his genealogist friend, Sir Anthony Wagner, searched and found in his attic a 1622 document that detailed the legal disputes between Katherine More and Samuel More and what actually happened to the More children. It is clear from these events that Samuel did not believe the children to be his offspring. To rid himself of the children, he arranged for them to be sent to the Colony of Virginia. Due to bad weather, the Mayflower finally anchored in Cape Cod Harbor in November 1620, where one of the More children died soon after; another died in early December and yet another died later in the first winter. Only Richard survived, and even thrived, in the perilous environment of early colonial America, going on to lead a very full life.
Richard became a well-known sea captain who helped to deliver to various colonies the supplies that were vital to their survival, travelled over Atlantic and West Indies trade routes and fought in various early naval sea battles. He and other Mayflower survivors were referred to in their time as "First Comers", who lived in the perilous times of what was called "The Ancient Beginnings" of the New World adventure.
More family
Much of what is known about Richard's early childhood is through legal documents, more specifically the aforementioned document written in 1622, in response to a petition of Richard More's mother Katherine More to Lord Chief Justice Sir James Ley, at which time she demands to know what has become of her children. Katherine's father, Jasper More, was master of Larden, a 1000-acre estate between Much Wenlock and Ludlow in Shropshire. Samuel's father, Richard More, was master of Linley, an estate near Bishop's Castle, close to the Welsh border. Both estates are in Shropshire, England.Jasper's sons died leaving no male heir. The estates were held in an entail whereby inheritance was restricted to male heirs and Samuel's father, but Richard, in the marriage settlement, paid £600 to Jasper More, so there must have been clear title. It was arranged that Katherine would marry her cousin and indeed, on 4 February 1610, Katherine, 25, married her cousin, seventeen-year-old Samuel More.
At some point, Samuel began working in London as secretary to Edward, Lord Zouche, privy councillor, diplomat and courtier. Over the next four years, Katherine bore four children: Elinor, Jasper, Richard, Mary. All were baptised at St James parish church in Shipton, Shropshire, with Samuel More as their father.
Plan, court action, and removal of the children
In 1616, Samuel More accused his wife of adultery and, at the direction of his father, Richard, devised a plan to rid himself of Katherine and the children. The adultery was supposedly committed with Jacob Blakeway, a young man near in age to Katherine who lived close by and whose family had been More tenants for several generations. In 1608, Jacob Blakeway and his father Edward, a yeoman, had renewed a lease on a parcel of land owned by Katherine More's father, Jasper More of Larden Hall. The manor of Larden Hall was about half a mile from Brockton where the Blakeway family lived. By a deed dated 20 April 1616, Samuel cut the entail on the Larden estate to prevent any of the children from inheriting. During the long court battle, Samuel would deny that he was the father of the children borne by his wife, Katherine, and stated them to be children of the adulterous relationship. Katherine did not deny her relationship with Jacob Blakeway, stating there was a former betrothal contract with him, and therefore he was her true husband. This would have made her marriage to Samuel invalid. Samuel quotes her words in his declaration, "though she could not sufficiently prove by witnesses yet it was all one before god as she sayed". At that time any of the usual witnesses would likely have been dead.In that same year, by his own account, Samuel went to his employer and a More family friend, Lord Zouche, Lord President of the Council of Wales, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Privy Counselor, to draw up a plan for the disposition of the children. Zouche had been a member of the Virginia Company and in 1617 he invested £100 in an expedition to the Colony of Virginia, which is where the Mayflower was supposed to have landed. It was his actions that were instrumental in putting the More children on the Mayflower. At that time, children were routinely rounded up from the streets of London or taken from poor families receiving church relief to be used as labourers in the colonies. Any legal objections to the involuntary transportation of the children were over-ridden by the Privy Council, namely, Lord Zouche. Most people thought it a death sentence and, indeed, many did not survive either the voyage or the harsh climate, disease, and scarcity of fresh food for which they were ill-prepared.
Additionally, in 1616, Samuel More, under his father Richard's direction, removed all four children from Larden and placed them in the care of some of his father's tenants near Linley. The removal was shortly after the youngest child had been baptised, which was on 16 April. According to Samuel's statement, the reason he sent the children away was "as the apparent likeness & resemblance … to Jacob Blakeway", quoting from: "A true declaracon of the disposing of the fower children of Katherine More sett downe by Samuell More her husband" together with the "reasons movinge him thereunto accasioned by a peticon" of hers to the Lord Chief Justice of England and it is endorsed, "Katherine Mores Petition to the Lord Chief Justice...the disposing of her children to Virginia dated 1622". Samuel goes on to state that, during the time the children were with the tenants, Katherine went there and engaged in a struggle to take her children back: "Katharine went to the tenants dwelling where her children had been sequestered, and in a hail of murderous oaths, did teare the cloathes from their backes". There were at least twelve actions recorded between December 1619 and 8 July 1620, when it was finally dismissed.
The statement details that, soon after the denial of the appeal on 8 July 1620, the children were transported from Shipton to London by a cousin of Samuel More and given into the care of Thomas Weston, "…and delivered to Philemon Powell who was intreated to deliver them to John Carver and Robert Cushman undertakers for the associats of John Peers for the plantacon of Virginia" in whose home they would be staying while awaiting ship boarding. Thomas Weston and Philemon Powell were both poor choices, and Thomas Weston especially was quite disreputable. Soon thereafter, Powell would become a convicted smuggler and Weston an enemy of the Crown. As the agent of the Merchant Adventurer investment group that was funding the Puritan voyage, Bradford states that Weston caused them many financial and agreement contract problems, both before and after the Mayflower sailed. Weston's Puritan contacts for the voyage were John Carver and Robert Cushman who jointly agreed to find the children guardians among the Mayflower passengers. Carver and Cushman were agents from the Puritans to oversee preparations for the voyage with Robert Cushman's title being Chief Agent, from 1617 until his death in 1625. Within several weeks of the More children's arrival in London, and without their mother Katherine More's knowledge or approval, they were placed in the care of others on the Mayflower, bound for New England.
After the Mayflower sailed, Katherine made another attempt to challenge the decision through the courts. It was this legal action in early 1622 before Chief Justice James Ley which led to the statement from Samuel explaining where he sent the children and why, the historical evidence for Richard More's early history.
Samuel in the aftermath
Samuel More continued to act as secretary to Edward la Zouche and on 11 June 1625, he married Elizabeth Worsley, daughter of Richard Worsley, Esq. of Deeping Gate in Northamptonshire and cousin to Lord Zouche's second wife, although he was only separated not divorced from Katherine More and neither party was allowed to remarry during the lifetime of the other. In February 1626, Samuel More obtained a royal pardon, possibly to protect himself against accusations of adultery. It is not known if Katherine was still alive at the time of his second marriage.''Mayflower'' voyage
Richard More and his siblings departed Plymouth, England on the Mayflower 6 September 1620, dangerously late in the season. They endured a rough three months at sea in cramped and unsanitary conditions, eventually landing at Cape Cod Hook on 11 November 1620. A number of colonists travelled as indentured servants on the Mayflower. Exactly what explanation was given for the More children's presence is not known, but many homeless waifs from the streets of London were sent to the New World as labourers. The More children were assigned as servants and wards of three adult passengers, as follows:- Elinor More, Ellen More, age 8, assigned as a servant of Edward Winslow. She died in November 1620 soon after the arrival of the Mayflower at Cape Cod Harbor. Her burial place is unknown and may have been ashore on Cape Cod similarly to her brother Jasper several weeks later. With many others who died that winter, her name appears on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb, Cole's Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
- Jasper More, age 7, servant of John Carver. He died of a 'common infection' in Dec. 1620 while the Mayflower was in Cape Cod Harbor. He was buried ashore in what is now the Provincetown area. Provincetown has a memorial plaque with his name and that of four others 'who died at sea while the ship lay at Cape Cod Harbor' in Nov./Dec. 1620.
- Mary More, age 4, assigned as a servant of William Brewster. She died sometime in the winter of 1620/1621. Her burial place is unknown, but may have been on Cole's Hill in Plymouth in an unmarked grave as with many others buried there that winter. She is mentioned on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb in Plymouth, misidentified after Ellen's name as "and a brother " – the statement coming from William Bradford's failing memory years after the event of her death.
- Richard More, age 6, servant of William Brewster. He resided with the Brewster family until about mid-1627 when his term of indentureship expired. This is about the time that his name appears, at age 14, in a census as a member of the Brewster family, in what was called then 'New Plimouth'. By 1628, Richard was in the employ of Pilgrim Isaac Allerton, who was engaged in trans-Atlantic trading.