Moses Fletcher

Moses Fletcher (c.1564–1620/1) was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 and was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers (Indiana: Xlibris Corp., copyright 2006 Caleb Johnson), p. 142.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 291, 406, 409

Fletcher was born in Sandwich in England.  He married Mary Evans in 1589 and had 10 children.  Fletcher worked as a blacksmith.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 291–292Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers (New York: Grafton Press, 1929), p. 54

Fletcher did not want to be a member of the Church of England.  He did not follow some of the Church rules and told others that he did not believe in the teachings of the Church.A genealogical profile of Moses Fletcher   On June 12, 1609, Moses Fletcher, along with the wife of future Mayflower passenger James Chilton and several other persons were excommunicated from the church for the illegal burial of a child.

Fletcher became a Separatist.  This religion was illegal in England.  He and his family left England with the Chilton family and moved to Leiden in Netherlands.  His wife Mary died and he married Sarah, a widow from Leiden.

 On the Mayflower 
Fletcher came on the Mayflower without his family.Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers (Indiana: Xlibris Corp., copyright 2006 Caleb Johnson), p. 143Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 406

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620. There were 102 passengers and 30–40 crew. On 19 November 1620, they spotted land.  The Mayflower was supposed to land in Virginia Colony, but the ship was damaged and they were forced to land 21 November at Cape Cod now called Provincetown Harbor.Stratton, 20.George Ernest Bowman,  The Mayflower Compact and its signers (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920). Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document pp. 7-19.  They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.George Ernest Bowman,  The Mayflower Compact and its signers,  (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920). Photocopies of the 1622, 1646 and 1669 versions of the document pp. 7–19. Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 291, 411-413

 Plymouth Colony 
Fletcher died in the winter of 1620–1621 in the general sickness.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 409

Fletcher was buried in the Cole's Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth. His name is on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb. Memorial for Moses Fletcher 

 References 

Category:1564 births
Category:1621 deaths
Category:Mayflower passengers
Category:People from Kent
Category:People buried in Cole's Hill