A Short Tribute to Edward Doty, My Mayflower Ancestor
Happy Thanksgiving!
Edward Doty arrived to the new world on the Mayflower as an indentured servant to Stephen Hopkins in 1620. He signed the Mayflower compact, lived his entire life in the Plymouth area and his descendants now number over 100,000.
Doty is my 9th great grandfather.
Apparently, he was quite rabble-rouser:
Doty's first problem with the law came just after the Pilgrims had begun constructing their settlement. The early eighteenth century notes of Thomas Prince describe an incident of June 18, 1621 when the first duel (with a sword and dagger) was fought in New England between two servants of Stephen Hopkins, Edward Doty and Edward Leister. The duel ended with one being wounded in the hand and one in the thigh. Their punishment was to be tied head and feet together for twenty-four hours without meat or drink. But soon their master Stephen Hopkins, apparently taking pity on their "great pains", made a "humble request, upon promise of a better carriage" and they were released by the governor.
Well, nothing much has changed. In that spirit of feistiness I will continue the fight on! I hope you’re up for it as well. Thanks grandpa Ed!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Justin
My ancestor on my mother’s side is governor Bradford.
Holy crud! Edward Doty is also my (not sure how many “greats”) grandfather! My dad did quite a bit of research tracing his family line back to Edward. My maiden name is Doty. Edwards signature actually appears as “Edward Doten” on the Mayflower Compact, but it is the same name.