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Book, page 31 / 43 William Butten, the first of the Pilgrim party to die, was, in all probability, a student-"servant" of Doctor Fuller at Leyden, and doubtless embarked with him at Delfshaven. Bradford calls him (writing of his death) "Wm. Butten, a youth, servant to Samuel Fuller." Captain Myles Standish and his wife Rose, we know from Bradford, were with the Pilgrims in Leyden and doubtless shipped with them. Arber calls him ("The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers," p. 378) a "chief of the Pilgrim Fathers" in the sense of a father and leader in their Israel; but there is no warrant for this assumption, though he became their "sword-hand" in the New World. By some writers, though apparently with insufficient warrant, Standish has been declared a Roman Catholic. It does not appear that he was ever a communicant of the Pilgrim Church. His family, moreover, was not of the Roman Catholic faith, and all his conduct in the colony is inconsistent with the idea that he was of that belief. Master William White, his wife and son, were of the Leyden congregation, both husband and wife being among its principal people, and nearly related to several of the Pilgrim band. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. White is duly recorded in Leyden. William Holbeck and Edward Thompson, Master White's two servants, he probably took with him from Leyden, as his was a family of means and position, though they might possibly have been procured at Southampton. They were apparently passengers in the SPEEDWELL. Deacon Thomas Blossom and his son were well known as of Pastor Robinson's flock at Leyden. They returned, moreover, to Holland from Plymouth, England (where they gave up the voyage), via London. The father went to New Plymouth ten years later, the son dying before that time. (See Blossom's letter to Governor Bradford. Bradford's Letter Book, "Plymouth Church Records," i. 42.) In his letter dated at Leyden, December 15, 1625, he says: "God hath taken away my son that was with me in the ship MAYFLOWER when I went back again." Edward Tilley (sometimes given the prefix of Master) his wife Ann are known to have been of the Leyden company. (Bradford's "Historie," p. 83.) It is doubtful if their "cousins," Henry Sampson and Humility Cooper, were of Leyden. They apparently were English kinsfolk, taken to New England with the Tilleys, very likely joined them at Southampton and hence were not of the SPEEDWELL'S passengers. Humility Cooper returned to England after the death of
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