Degory Priest


BAPTIZED:  possibly 11 August 1582, Hartland, Devonshire, England, son of Peter Prust.
DIED:  1 January 1620/1, Plymouth
MARRIED:  Sarah (Allerton) Vincent, 4 November 1611, Leyden, Holland. (She is a sister of Isaac Allerton of the Mayflower).

CHILDREN:
NAME BIRTH DEATH MARRIAGE
Mary c1613, Leyden, Holland between 7 March 1686/7 and 22 July 1689, Charlestown, MA Phineas Pratt, c1630, Plymouth
Sarah c1615, Leyden, Holland aft. 1 August 1648, probably in  England John Coombs, c1631, Plymouth


ANCESTRAL SUMMARY:

It is thought that Degory Priest may be the "Digorius Prust" baptized in Hartland, Devonshire, England on 11 August 1582, the son of Peter Prust. (New England Historic and Genealogical Register, 111:320).  In April 1619 in Leyden, Degory Priest stated in a record that he was 40 years old, making him born about 1579.  


BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:

Very little is known about Degory Priest.  Since he was married in Holland in 1611, it is clear that he was a religious Separatist very early on, and was an early member of the Pilgrims' Leyden congregation.  He came to America on the Mayflower, leaving behind his wife and two daughters.  Degory Priest died the first winter.  His widow remarried to Godbert Godbertson (sometimes Cuthburt Cuthbertson), and they all came to America on the ship Anne in 1623.


SOURCES:

Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families for Five Generations: Degory Priest, volume 8 (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1994).


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