Edward Doty

Edward Doty was born on February 21, 1978 in Tarzana, California, USA.

Calling herself the wife of John Philips of Marshfield, Faith dated her will December 12, 1675 and died on December 21, 1675. The will was sworn June 6 – probably 1676, and named her daughters Mary, Elizabeth, and Desire, and her son John. On November 4, 1676, letters of administration were granted to her son-in-law John Rouse, Jr. of Marshfield, husband of her daughter Elizabeth. She was buried in Winslow Cemetery, Marshfield, Mass. where there is an existent memorial stone for her.

After Doty's death, Faith married John Philips on March 14, 1666/7 as his 2nd wife. She moved to Marshfield and died there December 21, 1675. She was buried at Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield.

Edward Doty (c. 1599  – August 23, 1655) was a passenger on the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower to North America; he was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.

Records do not show that Edward Doty ever served on any juries or held any political office nor was ever appointed to any governmental committees, which was unusual for a Purchaser and early freeman. The only recorded instance of his involvement in anything of a community nature was from a town meeting of February 10, 1643 when he was assigned with George Clark, John Shaw, Francis Billington and others to build a wolf trap in the town of Plain Dealing."

In the 1623 Division of Land, he received one acre and was later granted an additional twenty acres. Records of the 1630s and 1640s show numerous land transactions by him apparently making him quite prosperous. Per the record of December 4, 1637, one such land transaction involved land being granted to him and Tristram Clarke, "his father in law." It is known that he did own land in central Plymouth where the Mayflower Society House now stands.

The post-1632 records of the Plymouth Court, which has no existing records prior to that year, has twenty-three cases over the 20 years between January 1632 and October 1651 that involve Edward Doty. The records include suits/countersuits, and charges such as fraud, slander, fighting, assault, debt, trespass, theft, etc. But although Doty appeared before the court numerous times, he was never punished for criminal activities beyond small fines. So even though he was charged with fighting and was sued by many persons for fraudulent trading and goods sales, almost all were civil cases and were not of a criminal nature. And other than his duel in 1621, he never received any physical punishment that was commonly given for crimes such as theft, serious assault and adultery. He was quite fortunate in this regard as typical punishments at that time included whipping, branding, banishment and the stocks.

In the 1627 Division of the Cattle, in which Doty shared, he probably had completed his term of service to Stephen Hopkins, as he is not listed with that family. His name as "Edward Dolton", is listed with the family of John Howland and wife Elizabeth.

In Plymouth Colony records, Doty's name was also spelled variously as Doten (Mayflower Compact), Dotey (1626 Purchasers and 1643 bear arms lists), Dolton (1627 Division of the Cattle), and Dowty (1633/34 tax lists).

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.

Edward Doty departed Plymouth, England, aboard the Mayflower on September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30–40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, contributed to what would be a fatal journey for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come; after arriving at their destination, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.