Biographical Summary
Very little is known about Mayflower
passenger John Crackston. He resided in Leiden, Holland, and it
was there on 16 June 1616 that he witnessed the betrothal of Zechariah
Barrow to Joan Barrow. On 19 May 1617, he witnessed the betrothal
of Henry Collet to Alice Howarth. And on 12 December 1618, his
daughter Anna married Thomas Smith.
The marriage record indicates Anna was
from Colchester, Essex, England, so presumably the Crackston family was
from there. Robert S. Wakefield found a John Crackston listed in
the lay subsidy roll of 1523, in the Parish of St. James, Colchester, so
this might be one of John's ancestors. A Margaret, daughter of William
Crackston, was baptized on 6 April 1569 at St. Botolph, Colchester. No other
Crackston records in Colchester have been noted.
The only John Crackston marriage listed
in the IGI is one John Crackston who married Catherine Bates on 9 May
1594 at Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk. Colchester, Essex is just six
miles south of Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk. The record seems very
promising because of the extreme rarity of the name John Crackston, the
proximity to Colchester, and the timing (daughter Anna was married in
1618, meaning she was likely born in the mid or late 1590s). I
have found no other apparent Crackston records at Stratford St. Mary,
Suffolk. Catherine Bates would seem to be the daughter of Thomas
and Agnes Bates, baptized on 5 October 1567 at Stratford St. Mary.
John Crackston came on the Mayflower to
Plymouth in 1620 with his son John. John Crackston (the father) died the
first winter, and son John survived until shortly after 1627 when he
lost himself in the woods, became frozen, developed a fever, and died.
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