Biographical Summary
The Billington family may have
originated from around Cowbit and Spaulding, in Lincolnshire, England.
Eleanor came to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620 with husband John, and
children John and Francis. Eleanor was one of only five adult
women to survive the first winter, and one of only four who was still
alive to partake in the famous 1621 Thanksgiving.
Her family is remembered as rather
ill-behaved, however. Just
after arrival, young Francis Billington shot off his father's musket in
the Mayflower's cabin, showering sparks around open barrels of
gunpowder, nearly causing a catastrophe. A few months later in
March 1621, husband John was brought before the company for "contempt of
the Captain's lawful command with opprobrious speeches", and was
sentenced to have his neck and heels tied together: "but upon humbling
himself and craving pardon, and it being the first offence, he is
forgiven." Son John wandered off in May 1621, and was brought by Nauset Indians to Cape Cod, where he was later retrieved. In 1624,
husband John Billington was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford scandal (a failed revolt
against the Plymouth church), but he played ignorant and was never
officially punished for involvement. In 1630,
Eleanor's husband shot and killed John Newcomen, and he was hanged for
the murder in September 1630.
Eleanor herself was not exempt from
ill-behavior, as she was sentenced to sit in the stocks and be whipped for
slandering John Doane in 1636. Two years later Eleanor remarried,
to Gregory Armstrong, but had no additional children.
|
