John Turner (Mayflower passenger)

John Turner (c.1590 – winter of 1620/21) was a passenger on the historic Mayflower voyage with his two sons.Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers (Indiana: Xlibris Corp., copyright 2006 Caleb Johnson), p. 243.A genealogical profile of John Turner, (a collaboration of Plimoth Plantation and New England Historic Genealogical Society accessed 2013) ] </ref><ref name="americanancestors">Robert Charles Anderson, Pilgrim Village Family Sketch: John Turner (a collaboration of American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society) [http://www.americanancestors.org/pilgrim-families-john-turner/  Turner was also one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.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.

 English Origins 
Turner probably came from Great Yarmouth in the county Norfolk, where there were several Turner families at that time.

 Life in Leiden 
Turner was a member of the Separatist church.  That was a religion that was not allowed in England.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 365

Turner was one the original group who moved to Leiden Holland in 1610 to escape religious persecution with William Bradford and William Brewster. Turner was a merchant and a (political official) of Leiden.Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers (New York: Grafton Press, 1929), p. 91 

Many of these people lived in Middelburg, Holland. This is located in Zeeland. Turner also delivered mail to the Separatists from their family and friends in England. Turner also brought cargoes of English pewter from London to Holland.Nick Bunker, Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and their New World a History (New York: Knopf 2010), p. 230  He also carried letters between people in Leiden and London. On June 10, 1620, Turner carried information to the congregation on the progress of their planned trip to the New World.

 On the Mayflower 
According to William Bradford, John Turner traveled on the Mayflower with his two sons. 
Turner left Plymouth, England on 16 September 1620. There were 102 passengers and 30–40 crew. On 19 November 1620, the Mayflower reached land at Cape Cod hook. They landed on November 21. They wrote the Mayflower Compact, which made rules on how they would live and treat each other.  John Turner signed the Mayflower Compact.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691, (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), pp. 411-413George 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. The Mayflower was supposed to land in Virginia Colony, but the ship was too damaged and they were forced to land at Cape Cod now called Provincetown Harbor.Stratton, 20.

 In Plymouth 
After they landed, Turner was part of the group who went out on exploratory trips to look for permanent places to live. Turner was one of the Mayflower passengers who would make first contact with the Indians.

Turner also had a daughter Elizabeth, who stayed in Leiden. She would have been one year old. Elizabeth Turner married and travelled to New England before October 1635.  She joined the Salen Church.Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: A story of Courage, Community and War, (New York:Viking Publishing, 2006), p. 89

 Death and burial 
Turner and his sons died sometime in the winter of 1620/21. Turner was buried in Cole's Hill Burial Ground in Plymouth, presumably in an unmarked grave as with most Mayflower passengers who died in that first winter. Their names are all on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb on Coles Hill as “John Turner and two sons.”Memorial and photo of their legend on the Pilgrim Memorial Tomb 

 References 

Category:1566 births
Category:1644 deaths
Category:Mayflower passengers
Category:People buried in Cole's Hill