Monday, May 13, 2013

Who Were the Tanner Family Ancestors on the Mayflower?

"Signing the Mayflower Compact, 1620," Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899). From Wikipedia.

One child of Joshua Tanner (b. 27 July 1757, d. 12 September 1807) and his wife, Thankful Tefft (b. 21 March 1757, d. 18 November 1822) was John Tanner (b. 15 August 1778, d. 13 April 1850). It is through Thankful Tefft that the descendants of John Tanner are able to trace their ancestry to three of passengers on the Mayflower who landed in America in 1620.

The three Mayflower passengers were Francis Cooke (b. aft. 1582, d. 7 April 1663), his son, John Cooke (b. abt. 1606, d. 23 November 1695) and Richard Warren (b. abt. 1579, d. 1628). Despite over a hundred years of very thorough research, many of the details of their lives have been lost. This extensive research has been unable to uncover exact birth dates for either Francis Cooke[1] or Richard Warren[2] nor has the research been able to establish any of their parents or ancestors.


The Joshua Tanner descendants are related to both Francis Cooke and Richard Warren, because John Cooke married Richard Warren’s daughter, Sarah Warren.[3]

The source material for information about the Mayflower passengers has been published extensively and is set forth in a series of books published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. These books have a silver binding and are commonly known as the “silver books.”[4]

Except for John Cooke, neither the wives nor the children of Francis Cooke or Richard Warren came over to America on the Mayflower. Francis Cooke’s wife, Hester (Mahieu) Cooke[5] with three other of the Cooke children, came to Plymouth on the Anne in August, 1623. [6] Richard Warren’s wife was not properly identified until fairly recently when research by Edward J. Davies was published in The American Genealogist. [7] She is now commonly accepted to be Elizabeth (Walker) Warren (b. abt. September, 1583, d. 2 October 1673). [8]

Both Francis Cooke and Richard Warren signed the famous Mayflower Compact of 1620.[9] Here is the transcribed text of that document:[10]
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.
In subsequent posts, I will outline the descendants of these original passengers to show the connection with Thankful Tefft.




[1] Wood, Ralph V. Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five Generations. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1996.
[2] Wakefield, Robert M. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620. Volume Eighteen, Part One. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2004.
[3] Wood, Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five Generations, p. 38.
[5] Wood, Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five Generations, p. 25.
[6] Wood, Francis Cooke of the Mayflower: The First Five Generations, p. 25.
[7] Davies, Edward J., “The Marriage of Richard Warren of the Mayflower,” The American Genealogist, Whole Number 310, Vol. 78, No. 2, April, 2003.
[8] Davies, “The Marriage of Richard Warren of the Mayflower,” p. 83.

1 comment:

  1. Cool stuff! Francis Cooke and Richard Warren? That makes us distant cousins!

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