William Butten was a young

indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...

Samuel Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget B movie, genre movies with controversial themes, often ...

, a long-time leader of the

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

Church. Butten died during the voyage of the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' while traveling with Fuller, who had been appointed doctor for the group. At that time, children and young men were routinely rounded up from the streets of London or taken from poor families receiving church relief to be used as laborers in the colonies.Morison & Commager, ''The Growth of the American Republic, Virginia, 1618-1622'' (in H.S. vol. 1,(4th Ed., New York, 1950), p.40 Butten was sick the entire voyage and died at sea when near the coast of New England.

''Mayflower'' voyage

The ''Mayflower'' departed

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, England, on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, ''Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691,'' (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 413 On November 9/19, 1620, after about three months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was Cape Cod. And after several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The

Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, an ...

was signed that day. There were forty-one of the adult males, including the servants, who signed the Compact.

Parentage

William Butten's parentage is a mystery. His name is of an ancient French heritage introduced in England after the Norman Conquest. He seemed to be a long-time member of the Leiden congregation and therefore was probably one of the

Separatists Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

. Upon the death of his father, his mother being too poor to support him, he became an

. One theory is that he may have been the son of Robert Butten and baptized in

Austerfield Austerfield is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is to the north-east of the market town of Bawtry on the A614 road, and adjacent to the hamlet of Newington in Nottinghamshire, ...

12 February 1598. Another version is that his family were members of the Separatist Community in

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and was baptized March 13, 1605 there, near William Bradford and other Separatists. Butten is memorialized on the ''Mayflower'' Passengers Who Died at Sea Memorial.Memorial of William Butten ''Mayflower'' passengers who died at sea memoria

/ref>A small residential road in Austerfield (postcode DN10 6SQ) is named Butten Meadow after him, where there is also a memorial artwork

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butten, William American indentured servants Mayflower passengers 1620 deaths Year of birth unknown English domestic workers

''Mayflower'' voyage

Parentage

See also

References