The Great Migration Begins on AmericanAncestors has a much more detailed account of George Soule’s life in Massachusetts.

George Soule is my one and only Mayflower ancestor and, although I wrote about discovering my link to him several years ago, I realized that I’ve never done a family sketch about George and his wife, Mary Bucket/Beckett.

George Soule was born c1602, somewhere in England, but his ancestral origins haven’t yet been found. George married Mary Bucket/Beckett c1626, based on the 1627 estimated birth year of their first son.

He is called a man-servant of Edward Winslow on the Mayflower passenger list.

Mary’s origins haven’t been proven either, but there is a tantalizing clue. The Mayflower Quarterly, December 2013, has an article surmising that Mary Beckett, baptized 24 February 1605, St. Mary Watford, Hertfordshire, England, daughter of John Beckett and Ann Alden, might be Mary who married George Soule. She sailed on The Anne and arrived in Massachusetts in 1623. She sailed from Plymouth as a single woman, possibly as a maid to Elizabeth (Walker) Warren and her five daughters. This story is also in the Soule Kindred Newsletter, volume 40, no. 4, Fall 2013.

In spite of much research done on this family, there are many vital events not known.

George first settled in Plymouth, but removed to Duxbury, where his family lived. He left both a will and a codicil, written on 20 September 1677, but no death record has been found. His estate inventory was completed on 22 January 1679/80, so he likely died in December 1679 or early in January 1680.

Mary’s date of death is also unknown, but she predeceased George, dying about December 1672.

No birth records were recorded for the Soule family. However, as George’s name appears in Plymouth records until 1634 and then in Duxbury in 1639, it appears that Zachariah and John were born i n Plymouth. Nathaniel and George could have been born in either town, but the five youngest children were likely born in Duxbury.

Children:

1. Zachariah, born c1627; married Margaret (MNU). He died in the 1663 Canada expedition and an estate adminstration was held on 3 March 1663/64. There is no evidence that he had any children.
2. John, born c1632; died after 8 March 1706 when he gave a deposition; married (1) Rebecca Simonson, c1656 (2) Esther (MNU), c1679.
3. Nathaniel, born between 1634-1646; married Rose (MNU), c1680. In March 1674, Nathaniel was charged with fathering a child with an Indian woman and ordered to pay ten bushels of corn to her for keeping the child. Further, on 6 March 1678, Nathaniel’s brother John and his father, George, were sureties for him, as he was accused of verbally abusing Mr. John Holmes, a teacher at the Duxbury church. He was also fined in October 1678 and in June 1671 for telling lies.
4. George, born c1639; died before 17 May 1704, when his estate inventory was taken, Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts; married Deborah (MNU).
5. Susannah, born c1640; married Francis West, c1660.
6. Mary, born c1642; died, probably in Duxbury, unknown date, but after her father’s death; married John Peterson, c1667.
7. Elizabeth, born c1644; may have died c1707, Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey; married Francis Walker, before 23 July 1668. Elizabeth, like brother Nathaniel, also ran afoul of local law. She was charged with fornication and fined on 3 March 1663 and then, in October of the same year, sued Nathaniel Church for refusing to marry her. On 2 July 1667, she was ordered to be whipped because of a second charge of fornication.
8. Patience, born c1646; died 11 March 1705/06, Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts; married John Haskell, January 1667, Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
9. Benjamin, born c1652; died 26 March 1676, Pawtucket, Rhode Island during King Philip’s War; umarried.

My line of descent:

1. George Soule & Mary Bucket/Beckett
2. Francis West & Susannah Soule
3. Jeremiah Fones & Martha West
4. Ebenezer Hill & Mary Fones
5. William Boone & Ruth Hill
6. Richard Jones & Mary Boone
7. Peter Crouse & Rebecca Jones
8. William Coleman & Sarah Moriah Crouse
9. Hartwell Thomas Coleman & Anna Elisabeth Jensen
10. Vernon Tarbox Adams & Hazel Ethel Coleman
11. George Michael Sabo & Doris Priscialla Adams
12. Linda Anne (Sabo) Stufflebean – Me!