Our 11th great-grandfather Francis Cooke and his son John Cooke were among the 102 passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, and our connection to them through Lydia Brown’s line is one of the most well-documented Mayflower descents possible.
Francis Cooke (c. 1583 – 7 April 1663)
Francis was a Leiden Separatist (part of the English religious group that fled to Holland to escape persecution and later became known as the Pilgrims). His exact birthplace and parents remain unknown, but he was almost certainly English—likely from the Canterbury or Norwich area (or possibly Yorkshire, though unproven). By trade, he was a woolcomber, a skilled craft involving preparing wool fibers for spinning.
In Leiden, Holland, he married Hester (Esther) le Mahieu (a French Walloon whose family had fled religious persecution) on 20 July 1603. They had seven children:
- John (our direct ancestor, baptized 1607)
- An unnamed infant who died young in Leiden
- Jane, Elizabeth, Jacob, Hester, and Mary (birth order is approximate)
In 1620, Francis (about age 37) and his oldest son John (age 13) decided to join the voyage to the New World. They originally sailed on the Speedwell, which was supposed to accompany the Mayflower, but after repeated leaks the Speedwell was abandoned. Father and son transferred to the crowded Mayflower and arrived at Cape Cod (Provincetown Harbor) on 11 November 1620 (Old Style). Francis was one of the 41 adult male signers of the Mayflower Compact, the foundational document that established self-government for the colony.
His wife Hester and the younger children stayed behind in Leiden until the colony was more stable. They arrived three years later in 1623 on the ship Anne. Francis and Hester had two more daughters born in Plymouth (some records list Hester and Mary as born in the colony). He lived a long, active life in Plymouth:
- Received land grants (including 2 acres in the 1623 division—one for himself and one for John)
- Participated in the 1627 cattle division
- Served on juries and in other civic roles
- Lived at “Rocky Nook” (now part of Kingston, Massachusetts)
Francis died in Plymouth on 7 April 1663 at roughly age 80—one of the longer-lived Mayflower passengers. Hester outlived him, dying after 1666.
John Cooke (c. 1607 – 23 November 1695)
Our 10th great-grandfather (and Francis’s oldest son) was baptized in the French Walloon Church in Leiden between January and March 1607. At just 13 years old, he was one of the youngest passengers on the Mayflower and one of only nine boys aged 11–17 on the voyage. He survived the brutal first winter (when nearly half the passengers died) alongside his father.
In 1634 (age ~27), John married Sarah Warren, daughter of fellow Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. This marriage gives our line a second Mayflower connection (through the Warrens), which is why the Cooke–Warren union is so prized by Mayflower descendants. They had five daughters: Sarah, Elizabeth, Hester, Mary, and Mercy.
John started as a deacon in the Plymouth Church but was later excommunicated (around the late 1640s/early 1650s) after adopting more radical religious views—he became a Baptist. He moved to Dartmouth (now the Fairhaven–New Bedford area of Massachusetts), where he:
- Served as a town deputy
- Advised on colonial defense during King Philip’s War
- Helped establish one of the earliest Baptist churches in the region (the Stone Church in Tiverton still traces its roots to his work)
John lived an extraordinarily long life—he died on 23 November 1695 at age 88 in Dartmouth and was the last surviving male Mayflower passenger. He had literally lived through the entire history of Plymouth Colony from its founding until it merged into Massachusetts Bay.
Why This Matters for Our Tree
Our line from Francis → John → Sarah Cooke (who married into the Brown family) is rock-solid and appears in the official Mayflower “Silver Books” and the Mayflower Society’s records. It’s one of the cleanest colonial connections you could have—double Mayflower (Cooke + Warren) and verified right down to Lydia Corinna Brown. Francis and John’s story is classic Pilgrim history: religious refugees who crossed the Atlantic, endured the first terrible winter, and helped build a new society while raising large families.
Lydia Brown's Mayflower lineage looks like this:
Francis Cooke Mayflower 1620 arrival 1584-1663 11th great-grandfather
John Cooke 1607-1695 Son of Francis Cooke Mayflower 1620 arrival
Sarah Cooke 1635-1712 Daughter of John Cooke
Hannah Hathaway 1660-1748 Daughter of Sarah Cooke
Elizabeth Cadman 1685-1768 Daughter of Hannah Hathaway
Sarah White 1709-1795 Daughter of Elizabeth Cadman
John, Jr Brown DNA match 1734-1772 Son of Sarah White
Solomon Brown 1765-1839 Son of John, Jr Brown DNA match
Samuel R Brown 1798-1877 Son of Solomon Brown
John Galloway Brown 1833-1915 Son of Samuel R Brown
Abraham Lincoln Brown 1864-1948 Son of John Galloway Brown
Lydia Corinna Brown 1891-1971 Daughter of Abraham Lincoln Brown -- Maternal grandmother
Thank you to Grok xAI for examining and confirming the details. — Drifting Cowboy
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