White (Y-DNA)

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Status summary

As of 9 June 2018:

  • Recruiting Y-DNA descendants of William White for Next Generation Sequence/Whole Genome Sequence (NGS/WGS) testing. Interested persons contact MayflowerDNA1620@gmail.com

Paper Trail

For more information see: Sherman, Robert M. & Ruth W. (re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield), Mayflower Families through Five Generations: vol. 13 White

First Generation

Recent research by Caleb Johnson, Susan Allen, & Simon Neal[1] has determined William White was baptized at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, 25 Jan 1586/7 the son of Edward White & Thomasine CROSS May.[2] William was an uncle to Dorothy May, who was the first wife of Gov. William Bradford.

William's mother died in 1591 and his father died in 1594. William and his sister, Martha, were then raised by their maternal grandmother, Jacomine and her second husband, Thomas Robinson. Thomas died in 1595 and William's sister died in 1608. While this large number of family deaths is very unusual and shocking to us today, it was not a rare occurrence during William's time. William and his half-siblings (his mother was a widow when she married her father) received permission to settle in Amsterdam, Holland in 1608. This likely indicates William was a Separatist, or at least attended a religion other than the official Church of England.

William married Susanna Jackson, likely at Amsterdam, likely about 1615. The couple had two known sons: Resolved (about 1616) and Peregrine (born aboard the Mayflower around the end of November 1620).[3] The family decided to emigrate with some of the Scrooby congregation and William died at the New Plimouth colony on 21 Feb 1620/1.[4] The widow Susanna married widowed Edward Winslow on 12 May 1621, being the first marriage in the new colony.

Second Generation

William & Susanna had two sons before William's death.

Resolved White[5][6] was born in England, about 1615. He died sometime after September 19, 1687. He and his first wife were buried in Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield. He was married twice, but all of his children were by his first wife, Judith Vassall, daughter of William Vassall (married 5 Nov 1640 in Scituate). They had eight children (born Scituate): William (1642-1695 unm.), John[7] (1644-b1684/5), Samuel (1646), Resolved (1647), Anna (1649), Elizabeth (1652), Josiah (1654-1710) & Susanna (1656).

Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower while it was anchored in what is now called Providence Harbor. He died at Marshfield on 20 Jul 1704. He married Sarah Bassett, daughter of William Bassett, before 6 Mar 1648/9 (when they were fined in court for fornication before marriage[8]) and had seven children (born Marshfield): Daniel (c1649), infant son (c1651), Jonathan (1658), Peregrine (c1661), Sarah (c1663), Sylvanus (b1667) & Mercy (c1670).

Third Generation

Samuel White was born Scituate 13 Mar 1645/6 and died Rochester 20 Sep 1720. He married Rebecca ____[9] and they had nine children (born Rochester): John (1669 m Martha Doty), Samuel (1671 m Mary ___ & Susanna ___), Elizabeth (1673), Melatiah (1675 m Mercy Winslow [granddaughter of Kenelm Winslow), Judith (1681), Susannah (twin 1682), Hezekiah (twin 1682), Penelope (1687) and William (1690).

Josiah White was born Scituate 29 Sep 1654 and died Boxford 5 Jun 1710. He married Salem bef Dec 1680 Remember Read and they had: Hannah, Mary, Samuel (1696 m Dinah Kinne), Josiah (1705 m Mary Taylor), Joseph (m Beatrix Houghton) and Sarah (1713).


Daniel White[10] was born Marshfield 19 Aug 1649 and died there 6 May 1724. He married Hannah Hunt and they had: John (1675 m Susanna Sherman), Joseph (1678 m Elizabeth Dwelley), Thomas (1680 m Rachel Horton), Cornelius (1682 m Hannah Randall), Benjamin (1684 m Faith Oakman), Eleazer (1686 m Mary Doggett) and Ebenezer (1691 m Hannah Doggett).

Jonathan White was baptized Marshfield 4 Jun 1658 and died Yarmouth aft Feb 1736. He married twice, first Yarmouth 2 Feb 1682/3 Hester/Esther Nickerson and second aft 1703 Elizabeth ____. By his first wife Jonathan had: Mary (c1684), Esther (c1686), Jonathan (c1692 m Dorcas GODFREY Hamlin), Ebenezer (1698 m Mercy ___) and Joseph (c1702 m Elizabeth Baker).

Peregrine White (II) was born Marshfield abt 1662 and died Boston 20 Nov 1727. He married twice, Susanna _____ and Mary _____. By Susanna he had Sarah and Benoni. By Mary he had Mark.

Sylvanus White was born Marshfield bef 1667 and died Scituate in Jun 1688. He married Deborah ___[11] and had one son, William (c1683 m Elizabeth Cadman).


  1. ↑ Caleb Johnson's MayflowerHistory.com White profile
  2. ↑ Edward and the widow Thomasine were married at Wisbech on 11 Jan 1584.
  3. ↑ It is also possible the couple had either a stillborn child, or a child who died in infancy about 1618.
  4. ↑ Mayflower passenger deaths 1620-1621.
  5. ↑ See page 5 of this issue for one line of Resolved
  6. ↑ Pilgrim Hall Museum Resolved White biography.
  7. ↑ He either died young, or moved to Barbadoes, no further record.
  8. ↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England; printed by order of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by New Plymouth Colony, Vol. 2 Court Orders 1641-1651 p. 138 Boston: Press of William White, 1968
  9. ↑ Some sources state (without any source citation) her maiden name may have been Lapham.
  10. ↑ See p. 19 for one line of descent (owners of the White homestead)
  11. ↑ TAG 40:101 states she may have been Deborah Church but there is currently no evidence to support this claim.

DNA Results R1b-ZS8379

Previous Y-DNA testing

Previous Y-STR testing found at both the Mayflower DNA Project and the White surname DNA Project Group R --- 1324.1410.11-13.000---William W has disclosed that William White belongs to the Y haplogroup R1b-M269, which is quite common in Western Europe. In addition, the Nevgen.org R1b clade predictor has further refined the clade to likely fall under R1b L21>DF13>Z39589>DF49>>M222 with 99.99% probability.

According to the R M222 and Subclades Project "This diagnostic marker is associated with many individuals whose ancestry lies in the counties of Ulster (Northern Ireland), Northwest Ireland, and Scotland including certain Highland, Lowland, Western and North Eastern counties, and is not restricted to known ancestry in the UK/Ireland region." Thus, it appears William White's Y-DNA ancestors likely moved from Ulster Ireland to Scotland to Northern England and finally settling at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, where William was baptized.

NGS/WGS testing

As of Mar 2022, there are three individuals claiming their patrilineal (direct male line) ancestry goes back to William White who have ordered the Big Y-700 test. When these test results are published, we should be able to learn more about the White ancestry.

One Big Y-700 test result has come in on 12 Apr 2022. The haplogroup came out as: R-M222>Z2959>S658>DF104>DF105>ZS8379

Lineage of DNA testers

One of the three individuals has disclosed their White lineage: 

 William White (1586/7-1620/1)
   Peregrine White (1620-1704)
     Daniel White (1649-1724)
       Ebenezer White (1681-1733)
         Obadiah White (1716-1801)
           Joseph White (1747-1831)
             John Hamilton White (1780-    )
               Joseph Guthrie White (1827-1900)
                 John Sterling White (1856-1935)
                   Ray Presley White (1900-1981)
                     father of tester
                       tester

Speculative Origins

According to the Family Tree DNA R-M222 and Subclades Project: 

The R-M222 branch of the Y-DNA tree is defined by a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) called M222. This diagnostic marker is associated with many individuals whose ancestry lies in the counties of Ulster 
(Northern Ireland), Northwest Ireland, and Scotland including certain Highland, Lowland, Western and North Eastern counties, and is not restricted to known ancestry in the UK/Ireland region.

It is believed the M222 SNP/clade originated in Northwest Ireland and probably emigrated to what is now Scotland during the Dál Riata migration. From this history of the M222 clade, a logical hypothesis may be that William White (or at least his patrilineal ancestry) was more than likely from the North of England.

References and External links

  • Sherman, Robert M. & Ruth W. (re-edited by Robert S. Wakefield), Mayflower Families through Five Generations: vol. 13 White General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA. Third edition 2006
  • Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Increasings From the Files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, Second edition 1995, 1996. pp. 121-123
  • Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Passenger References (from contemporary records & scholarly journals) [www.stewartbooks.com Stewart Publishing & Printing], Canada. Second Edition, 2015
  • Anderson, Robert Charles, The Mayflower Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth, 1620 New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA 2020
  • Johnson, Caleb, Sue Allan and Simon Neal, The American Genealogist vol. 89 (2017):81-94, 168-88, 241-64


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