William Mullins

William Mullins (c. 1572 – 1621) and his family traveled as passengers on the historic 1620 voyage to America on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact. Mullins perished in the pilgrims' first winter in the New World, with his wife and son dying soon after.<ref name="Museum">Pilgrim Hall Museum William Museum [http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/william_mullins.htm]</ref> Early life in England William Mullins was born about 1572 in Dorking, co. Surrey, England (about 21 miles south of London), most likely the son of John and Joan/Joane (Bridger) Mullins of that parish. John Mullins died in February 1584 and William's mother Joane married secondly Vincent Benham on 1 November 1585. Most unfortunately, the parish registers of Dorking were not maintained by the vicar between 1572 and 1578, so his baptism went unrecorded. William Mullins is first named in a Dorking record on 4 October 1595, when he was fined two pence, apparently for not attending the manorial court session of that year. He was recorded in that record as living in the Chippingborough neighborhood of Dorking. William Mullins then disappears from Dorking records until 1604. Mullins may have moved from Dorking to Stoke near Guildford, co. Surrey (a parish about ten miles to the west), where a man of that name appears on the militia list of 1596. He married sometime around this date, but (most unfortunately again) the parish registers of Stoke near Guildford have been lost for the period prior to 1662, so his marriage record, and the baptisms of his children, are not to be found. William reappears in Dorking on 5 October 1604, when he was elected tithingman for the Eastborough neighborhood. The tithingman was the head of a "frankpledge" – a group of about ten families that were collectively bonded to the king for their good behavior. When a member of the frankpledge was fined or punished, the entire frankpledge was held responsible, which is apparently what happened on 19 September 1605 when William Mullins was summoned and his frankpledge fined for an unspecified transgression.